[null, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kdrMKSwkJMI/XA_GFIIpvpI/AAAAAAAAApg/j7CQ0Dld8joVOinfquSx0m3TwwnznNmVwCLcBGAs/s400/ghost%2Bpb%2Bbox.jpg", "src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kdrMKSwkJMI/XA_GFIIpvpI/AAAAAAAAApg/j7CQ0Dld8joVOinfquSx0m3TwwnznNmVwCLcBGAs/s400/ghost%2Bpb%2Bbox.jpg", "formatted_filename": "ghost Bpb Bbox", "rendered_width": 400, "rendered_height": 400}, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lkbvc5UeNJs/W_bHJYroI0I/AAAAAAAAAo0/evYLH2gOFhkM6c3tAIkKbUs_RqfR3Q7uACLcBGAs/s1600/ghost%2Bpb.jpg", "src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lkbvc5UeNJs/W_bHJYroI0I/AAAAAAAAAo0/evYLH2gOFhkM6c3tAIkKbUs_RqfR3Q7uACLcBGAs/s1600/ghost%2Bpb.jpg", "formatted_filename": "ghost Bpb"}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oof9TQE87vQ/W_Wm35qmhnI/AAAAAAAAAnk/9uSDEyTnAJwBVgZaA4gOB2E1QGckcYLCwCLcBGAs/s640/01.jpg", "src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oof9TQE87vQ/W_Wm35qmhnI/AAAAAAAAAnk/9uSDEyTnAJwBVgZaA4gOB2E1QGckcYLCwCLcBGAs/s640/01.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 251}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VYMlphKKOzM/W_WnYD8wSZI/AAAAAAAAAns/rFl7VJjqARoR3M2tW5oHo7zzFLCPg5zQgCLcBGAs/s640/02.jpg", "src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VYMlphKKOzM/W_WnYD8wSZI/AAAAAAAAAns/rFl7VJjqARoR3M2tW5oHo7zzFLCPg5zQgCLcBGAs/s640/02.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 214}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KcaoTyrt0OU/W_WnvaUX4oI/AAAAAAAAAn4/5A3WTsHRCbAkuJoYIZ4ZLqtgv0eRx-aRQCEwYBhgL/s640/03.jpg", "src": "https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KcaoTyrt0OU/W_WnvaUX4oI/AAAAAAAAAn4/5A3WTsHRCbAkuJoYIZ4ZLqtgv0eRx-aRQCEwYBhgL/s640/03.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 252}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vvoikIHztrs/W_Woa7V8UDI/AAAAAAAAAoA/898qW7K2ACgH9AQYhDGOEzGm1DsWaXdGACEwYBhgL/s640/04.jpg", "src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vvoikIHztrs/W_Woa7V8UDI/AAAAAAAAAoA/898qW7K2ACgH9AQYhDGOEzGm1DsWaXdGACEwYBhgL/s640/04.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 232}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T1u1HywceL4/W_WotJYeOzI/AAAAAAAAAoI/v-yj2mZuTtI7KuPm5MVK-yfpA3oQJre4gCLcBGAs/s640/05.jpg", "src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T1u1HywceL4/W_WotJYeOzI/AAAAAAAAAoI/v-yj2mZuTtI7KuPm5MVK-yfpA3oQJre4gCLcBGAs/s640/05.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 252}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-68aOS2OTqDw/W_WpBWA9inI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/pX9M_iSHcGElYqamaxdHZ9ENJBJG2ysUQCLcBGAs/s640/06.jpg", "src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-68aOS2OTqDw/W_WpBWA9inI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/pX9M_iSHcGElYqamaxdHZ9ENJBJG2ysUQCLcBGAs/s640/06.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 252}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PndpW_yFrEk/W_Wpe9xZrSI/AAAAAAAAAoY/hJfy7Kv6-1APrfsIn7ltfBmfM81tOWcvQCLcBGAs/s640/07.jpg", "src": "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PndpW_yFrEk/W_Wpe9xZrSI/AAAAAAAAAoY/hJfy7Kv6-1APrfsIn7ltfBmfM81tOWcvQCLcBGAs/s640/07.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 246}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aedl7z2lmN8/W_WpljFSmtI/AAAAAAAAAoc/_tqBIsQuD2cc21CeL1rGNZoXNH5tR6jnQCLcBGAs/s640/08.jpg", "src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aedl7z2lmN8/W_WpljFSmtI/AAAAAAAAAoc/_tqBIsQuD2cc21CeL1rGNZoXNH5tR6jnQCLcBGAs/s640/08.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 336}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uzkIn4Psak/W_Wpyd1MYCI/AAAAAAAAAok/0ZGqMhfRQwgGdwwvOiam2to2paVXXzrgACLcBGAs/s640/09.jpg", "src": "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uzkIn4Psak/W_Wpyd1MYCI/AAAAAAAAAok/0ZGqMhfRQwgGdwwvOiam2to2paVXXzrgACLcBGAs/s640/09.jpg", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 252}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zq-L0qk8xuM/W-a-iq3QvgI/AAAAAAAAAnY/YPH0T1-y4qAXIwDNGvGO81grmd6vEJ8HQCLcBGAs/s1600/burieddagger.jpg", "src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zq-L0qk8xuM/W-a-iq3QvgI/AAAAAAAAAnY/YPH0T1-y4qAXIwDNGvGO81grmd6vEJ8HQCLcBGAs/s1600/burieddagger.jpg", "formatted_filename": "burieddagger"}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7HCXufyrq8/W-QwX0gyg6I/AAAAAAAAAnI/ZzAG8oc-oPElxAjftmAhfeVVleGbj4ingCLcBGAs/s640/fotepodhc.jpg", "src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7HCXufyrq8/W-QwX0gyg6I/AAAAAAAAAnI/ZzAG8oc-oPElxAjftmAhfeVVleGbj4ingCLcBGAs/s640/fotepodhc.jpg", "formatted_filename": "fotepodhc", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 270}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cvbmsBAI0go/W-QwU-JD08I/AAAAAAAAAnE/MBe5je-SY1IZCE-nJLbR3cBDA5bMIXeDQCEwYBhgL/s640/BLWeekenderReveals-Nov4-40kOmnibuses13hvfr.jpg", "src": "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cvbmsBAI0go/W-QwU-JD08I/AAAAAAAAAnE/MBe5je-SY1IZCE-nJLbR3cBDA5bMIXeDQCEwYBhgL/s640/BLWeekenderReveals-Nov4-40kOmnibuses13hvfr.jpg", "formatted_filename": "BLWeekenderReveals Nov kOmnibuses hvfr", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 380}, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NmDhegvJ3zA/W-QtzdxZF2I/AAAAAAAAAmw/xWRq_oQN2b8Lnenfv17VPgsr7z8etTVNQCEwYBhgL/s400/ftt%2Bpartwork%2Bedition.jpg", "src": "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NmDhegvJ3zA/W-QtzdxZF2I/AAAAAAAAAmw/xWRq_oQN2b8Lnenfv17VPgsr7z8etTVNQCEwYBhgL/s400/ftt%2Bpartwork%2Bedition.jpg", "formatted_filename": "ftt Bpartwork Bedition", "rendered_width": 308, "rendered_height": 400}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://jamesswallow.blogspot.com/", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8tPvB5PaMGk/WtDcHubg9OI/AAAAAAAAAfM/wAA3dCiVuswQ67gLjTj5mGku02irnkw6wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/JSwallow-Join.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8tPvB5PaMGk/WtDcHubg9OI/AAAAAAAAAfM/wAA3dCiVuswQ67gLjTj5mGku02irnkw6wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/JSwallow-Join.jpg", "formatted_filename": "JSwallow Join", "alt_text": "Sign Up For Free!", "rendered_width": 250, "rendered_height": 125}, null]

GHOST Out Now In Paperback! Ghost - book three of my Marc Dane thriller series - is out now in a new paperback edition from all good bookstores, so if you didn't catch it in hardcover, now is the time to snap it up!

This new edition also features a first look preview chapter from book four in the series - Shadow, which will be on sale later in 2019.

Ghost is available for order right Here - (FYI, I've heard that Amazon UK have been slow this month with their shipping, so there may be some delays over the Xmas period...)

You can also check out a preview via Readers First or read a blog about the unofficial Ghost soundtrack right Here...
Posted by James Swallow at 10:00 am No comments: Labels: Marc Dane, rubicon


SHADOW cover reveal!

I can now officially reveal the fourth novel in my Marc Dane action thriller series... Things are about to go viral in Dane's most dangerous adventure yet . . .

Ex-MI6 field technician Marc Dane and his partner - former US Delta Force sniper Lucy Keyes - are pitted against their most terrifying challenge yet, when a genius bio-researcher with the ability to create a deadly biological weapon is kidnapped by a ruthless terrorist.

Their desperate search for the missing scientist takes them across the world, from the desolate wilderness of Iceland to the dark underbelly of a fracturing Europe, where they will discover a shocking atrocity in the making.

Backed by shadowy interests, a cadre of hard-line ultra-right-wing extremists plan to unleash a lethal virus among the population of a major European city.

Only Marc Dane can prevent this devastating attack from taking place - before a whole continent is plunged into terror...

Shadow will be on sale in hardcover, export trade paperback and eBook editions in May next year, but you can pre-order copies right now at Amazon (click Here) or wherever you buy your fiction.

You can also check out a teaser of the first chapter of Shadow in the back of the new paperback edition of Ghost!

Keep watching this blog and my twitter feed for more information on the Marc Dane series, as well as competitions and giveaways.

You can also sign up to my Reader's Club for email newsletters by clicking the button up in the top right of this page for advance intel on Shadow and more...
 

GHOST paperback release One month from today, the third novel in my bestselling Marc Dane action thriller series is released in paperback...

When a shattering betrayal strikes at the heart of the Rubicon team, Marc Dane and his partner – ex-Special Forces sniper Lucy Keyes – must uncover the plot of a deadly cadre of digital terrorists.

These ‘ghosts’ plan to use their terrible virtual weapons against vulnerable civilian targets; but is this elite team of hackers merely out to spread chaos and destruction, selling their skills to the highest bidder? Or is there a deeper, more personal agenda at work?

As devastating attacks unfold across the globe – power grids crippled, cities blacked out, trains crashed and riots triggered – Marc must call on all his skills and ingenuity to track down the mysterious figure behind it all – a faceless criminal known only as “Madrigal”...

Before they plunge the world into war...

Marc Dane returns in the explosive new thriller from the internationally bestselling author of NOMAD and EXILE...

The GHOST paperback also includes an exclusive first look at the first chapter of the next book in the Marc Dane series...

Visit ReadersFirst to download a pdf of the first two chapters of GHOST or check out the official website of the series at WhoIsMarcDane.com.

To keep up to date on the Marc Dane series, click on the tab on the top right of this page ("Sign Up For Free!") to join the Reader's Club mailing list.
Posted by James Swallow at 10:30 am No comments: 

The (Tie-In) Wish List

One of the coolest things I’ve been able to do during my writing career is work in fictional universes that have given me a lot of enjoyment over the years; in the industry we call this “tie-in writing”, and it basically means creating new stories in existing worlds based on intellectual properties (IPs) from television, film, games and so on.

A while back, m’colleague Dayton Ward – himself the author of several nifty works of tie-in fiction – posted up a blog where he talked about the other IPs he’d love to take a crack at; you can read it right Here.

Looking at Dayton’s wish-list got me thinking about the question posed to him that I am also often asked - “Given the opportunity, what fictional worlds would you want to write for?” So here’s my take.

I’ve been lucky enough to write for several different flavours of Star Trek from “classic” to Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Discovery. If you know the Trek saga, you’ll notice there’s a couple of iterations missing from that list. I can’t deny I have an urge to write both for Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise, and for the Kelvin timeline iteration of Kirk and company, just so I can “collect the set”! But it’s more than that; I liked the frontier, first-steps feel of Enterprise and I think it would be fun to tell a Right Stuff-style story of space exploration with that crew. As for the Kelvin-verse, I think playing around with the parallel versions of those well-established characters would be a lot of fun.

Elsewhere in the realm of TV IPs, I’d leap at the chance to write a gorram Firefly novel – and in fact, I did! Back in 2005 I was one of several authors writing for Pocket Books who pitched novels for a post-Serenity series. Sadly, that option lapsed when Mutant Enemy productions showed no interest in carrying on the franchise in prose. But, Firefly is returning in novel from later this year from Titan Books, so you never know... The other TV show I always coveted a chance to write is a little-known Brit SF/cop series from the 80’s called Star Cops. It only lasted one season, but I loved the acerbic and spiky characters, the moondust grit in the narratives and the near-future setting. And like Firefly, Star Cops has also come back from the black, in the form of a new audio drama series from the folks at Big Finish. I wasted no time in hitting them up for potential story pitches...

And I reckon I can squeeze some anime into this category as well, even if it isn’t strictly “TV”; writing something in the cyberpunk sagas of Bubblegum Crisis, Appleseed or the mecha-dominated worlds of Robotech and Captain Harlock would be pretty sweet. But when I think of all the fictional worlds I’d most want to visit, there are three right at the top of the list; the first one is the Marvel Universe.

Cards on the table here, I’ve been a Marvel fan since the early 1970s, when I first encountered copies of Ghost Rider and Daredevil. But it was Iron Man that I first connected with and bought regularly (and still do!). Tony Stark remains my favourite Marvel hero, with Clint Barton’s Hawkeye a close second, and I would quite happily eat an Infinity Stone to write for them... Or any other Marvel property, to be honest! Marvel’s been a part of my nerd landscape forever, and to give something back to that world would be very cool. The second is Star Wars, which should come as no surprise to anybody. I’m a child of the SW generation, from an era when there was just one movie and not an entire galaxy of far far away stories to enjoy. Like Marvel comics, I grew up alongside the Star Wars saga and I’ve always felt connected to it.

I’ve been fortunate enough to write for Clone Wars and Rebels characters in my video game work, but a Star Wars novel is the thing that I’d love to take a crack at. I’ve made a few approaches over the last decade and never quite connected, but maybe when the time is right I’ll give it another try... And the third? Bond. James Bond.
Bond movies were a bonding (ahem) experience that my whole family shared over the years and they’re woven into my film-loving, action-thriller fan soul. I love the spy-fi genre enough that I’ve created my own take on it with my Marc Dane series of original novels – but to be able to write a story about 007 himself... That would be an incredible opportunity. I think if the chance ever came my way, as much as the “classic” novels and the recent stuff by Faulks, Boyd and Horowitz are great, I’d follow the route of the older post-Fleming books by Gardener, Benson and Deaver, and write a modern era Bond. On the subject of movie-based IPs, when I look back over my favourite flicks, I can’t help but think it would be great to spin out more stories about those worlds and characters.

Diving back to my youth and other films that were formative for me as a fan and a writer, I’d love to tell a story about Indiana Jones (who spurred my interest in history and pulp adventures) or revisit the world of Tron (my Atari-era gamer’s Narnia analogue). Writing about Escape from New York’s Snake Plissken or Big Trouble in Little China’s Jack Burton would be a blast... And if I could get my inky hands on Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers, I’d die happy. To pick something more current, I would absolutely pay off the joke I made recently about writing a sequel to Battleship, or maybe a tie-in to The Fast & The Furious franchise. Vin? Let’s do lunch, buddy. There’s one other place past TV, movies, books and comics that also calls out to me as a space for more great stories – and that is games. As a fan of the Tom Clancy-verse series, I reckon there’s a lot of opportunity to tackle tales based on the lone wolf covert ops of Splinter Cell, the tactical action of Ghost Recon and the survival drama of The Division.

Elsewhere, I think Bungie’s Destiny gameworld is absolutely crying out for long-form fiction. There’s a few webcomics, but the rich lore glimpsed in the game begs to be explored and expanded upon. Beyond this – well, who knows? I’ve written for Star Trek; six different Doctor Whos; Stargates SG-1, Atlantis and Universe; 24’s Jack Bauer; the rebel crew of Blake’s 7; the grimdark future of Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy; 2000AD’s iconic Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper; British space hero Dan Dare; and gameworlds as diverse as Deus Ex, Dark Future, Battletech, Kaiju Rising, Tannhauser, Halo, Space 1889 and No Man’s Sky.

Although my own original fiction is now a core part of my writing, I don’t think I’m ever going to turn my back on the world of tie-ins... There’s just too much cool stuff, just too much opportunity to visit amazing worlds and tell stories there.

I’ll finish this off by posing the same question Dayton did - For those of you who read my stuff and/or read these types of books, which property would you like to see me take a crack at? Drop me a line here at the blog or message me in Twitter...
 Labels: books, writing

Thursday, November 08, 2018

New Covers!

Some news dropped at the recent Black Library Weekender event about a few of the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 projects I have on the horizon; first (or maybe last!) was the official cover reveal for the final Heresy novel, The Buried Dagger... Black Library also announced that print-on-demand hardbacks of the first four Horus Heresy novels, including The Flight of the Eisenstein by me, will be back in print from November 17th. On the subject of reprints, new Warhammer 40,000 omnibus editions are on the way, compiling my Blood Angels fiction, and the Dark Angels and Iron Warriors by m'colleagues Gav Thorpe and Graham McNeill... And not to be forgotten, the Warhammer Legends partwork series will be re-releasing a new hardcover edition of my Horus Heresy novel Fear to Tread this month. Posted by James Swallow at 12:49 pm No comments: Labels: 40k

Sign Up For Free!