STAMPER BROTHERS JOIN THE JOHN JARROLD LITERARY AGENCY
Chris and Tim Stamper have joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare, with 150 published titles to their credit and over 100 million units sales. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies around the world, but later became developers and publishers for the ZX Spectrum home computer in the early 1980s. Chris programmed the games, while Tim designed the graphics. They found success as Ultimate with games including Jetpac and Knight Lore. After reverse engineering the Nintendo Entertainment System and deciding to shift their focus to console development, the brothers founded Rare in the mid-1980s. They became Nintendo’s first major Western developer. Over the next two decades, Rare enjoyed a close relationship with Nintendo and developed multiple major titles for the company, including Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye 007. Their original concept Battletoads was expanded into an animated cartoon Thanksgiving Special syndicated for US Television and the Perfect Dark franchise spawned two novels and comic books. Microsoft acquired Rare in 2002, and the brothers left the company in 2007. Whilst under the Stamper Brothers creative direction, Rare won 5 BAFTA and 8 Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Awards. After spending several years out of the public eye, the brothers were acknowledged as Developer Legends at the 2015 Develop Awards.
They are now working on a multi-faceted project, One Step Left, which will include novels, games and visual media.
John Jarrold will be discussing the publishing aspects of this project with major publishers in London and New York.
“This is the widest-ranging and most exciting project with which I’ve ever been involved,” said John Jarrold. “I’ve had long conversations with Chris and Tim, and the first novel is complete, undergoing editing now before I touch base formally with publishers. Its world, one step left of our own, is fascinating – both dark and humorous, and the novel’s characters are wonderfully rich and varied. Chris and Tim’s long background in video games gives them a real world-building brilliance.”
“One Step Left is our most wonderful creation, our best work to date. We can’t wait to share it with you,” said the brothers, reaching out to their many fans.
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