A late Christmas present...

For everyone!

Now I know Krampusnacht was celebrated back on the 5th December and the Feast of Saint Nicholas was on the 6th December, but Family Green are away in the snowy Austrian Tyrol at the moment, and in a fit of seasonal generosity, inspired by the inspiring surroundings, I am giving away a story I wrote back in 2012.

You can download a pdf of Claws here.

If you enjoy Claws, and you like you future police enforcement Mega-City One-flavoured, then chances are you will also enjoy my latest seasonal Judge Dredd offering, You'd Better Be Good, For Goodness' Sake.

And of course you can find out all about the Krampus in my Christmas book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Have a Dredd-ful Christmas

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 18

I've been sitting on this news for a while, but since Judge Dredd Megazine #331 is in newsagents as of today I can at last announce some very exciting news.

I've written a Judge Dredd story!

Yes - you read that right - I really have written a Judge Dredd story!

Now, admittedly, most people spend years writing for 2000AD (or the Megazine) - first working on Future Shocks, or Tales from the Black Museum, and then, if they're lucky, developing series and characters of their own - before being let loose on the House of Tharg's premier strip. I've yet to even have a Past Imperfect story appear in 2000AD, but I've snuck in the back door, as it were.

Regular readers of the Megazine will know that in recent months short fiction has made a reappearance in the monthly mag, so I got in touch with editor Matt Smith and... the rest is history.

What genuinely surprised me was that Psimple Psimon was my first pitch, and the first draft was accepted as finished. (That said, it was an idea I'd had filed away for a long time.) So why not pick up Megazine #331, and check out my story for yourself. It's got everything you'd want from a Dredd story: violence; puns; and pithy put-downs.

Now, what to do for a follow up...?