A Gremlin in the Works

With the British computer game scene about to explode, a small shop appeared on Sheffield’s Carver Street. It was called Just Micro, and was founded by the partnership of Ian Stewart and Kevin Norburn, both with retail backgrounds but a desire to get into the business of games publishing. Fortunately, the shop attracted local talent such as Pete Harrap, Shaun Hollingworth and Tony Crowther, and so, in 1984, Gremlin Graphics was formed.

This lavish, 560-page book plots the course of the company, from initial successes with Monty Mole, Jack the Nipper and Thing on A Spring, to its ground-breaking Lotus-branded racing games, and eventual purchase by Infogrames in 1999.

Officially endorsed by founder Ian Stewart, A Gremlin In The Works by Mark Hardisty features interviews and anecdotes from all of Gremlin’s key members, including Chris Kerry, Ben Daglish and Greg Holmes, along with stalwarts of the UK gaming scene: Rod Cousens, Tim Chaney, Jeremy Heath-Smith, Geoff Brown and Infogrames founder Bruno Bonnell, among many others.

Filled with game imagery, memorabilia and archive material such as old letters, business cards, staff photos and game design documents, this is an exhaustive and comprehensive chronicle of one of Britain’s best-loved developers, and a fascinating exploration of the meteoric rise of the gaming scene in the ’80s and ’90s.

Each copy of A Gremlin In The Works now comes with a free PDF, plus a PDF of extra DLC content that didn’t make the printed book. If you previously purchased A Gremlin In The Works direct from Bitmap Books, you will be emailed this second edition PDF free of charge.

Includes contributions from:
George Allan, Lizi Attwood, Ashley Bennett, Sarah Bennett, Violet Berlin, Neil Biggin, Paul Blythe, Bruno Bonnell, Chris Box, Geoff Brown, Richard Bridgwater, Adrian Carless, Carl Cavers, Steve Camber, Tony Casson, Joe Chetcuti, Tim Chaney, Matthew Clark, Anthony Clarke, Richard Costello, Rod Cousens CBE, Antony Crowther, Ben Daglish, Mike Dailly, Colin “Fungus T. Bogeyman” Dooley, Philip Durbidge, Andrew Findlay, Andrew Fox, Peter Frith, Will Frost, Matthew Furniss, Malcolm Gillott, Stuart Gregg, Ian Harling, Jacob Habgood, Simon Hallam, Steve Hammond, Peter Harrap, Jeremy Heath-Smith, Tim Heaton, Damian Hibbard, Paul Hiley, Shaun Hollingworth, Greg Holmes, Peter Andrew Jones, George Karboulonis, Tony Kavanagh, Roger Kean, Chris Kerry, David Kirk, Wayne Laybourn, Barry Leitch, Steve Lycett, Ricki Martin, Sean Millard, Andrew Morris, Kevin Norburn, James North-Hearn, Christopher Payne, Gary Penn, Jason Perkins, Pat Phelan, Simon Phipps, Phil Plunkett, Jenny Richards, Ian Richardson, Mark Rogers, David Rowe, Christian Shrigley, Shaun Southern, Les Spink, Chris Stamp, Richard Stevenson, Ian Stewart, Patrick Strassen, Patrick Titley, Andy Turner, Tony Wills, Glyn Williams, Phil Wright, Mario van Zeist and Antal Zolnai.

For even more information about Gremlin, check out the Gremlin Archive: http://www.gremlinarchive.com