The Official Site of Bestselling Author James Swallow - COMING SOON!
I’m sorry to hear this – Una and I had a great time at last year’s First Contact Day – and I hope the FCD team can return for another event in the future.
New book day is always the best day.
Since Monday, Black Library have been running one of their regular ‘Quick Reads’ weeks, releasing a digital eBook short story each day for direct download from the BL website.
You can check out the full set of stories right here.
Today’s the last release of the week, and it’s a double-header from me – two all-new linked tales in the form of a the novelette “Ghosts Speak Not” and the short story “Patience“.
When Nathaniel Garro carried word of the Warmaster’s treachery to Terra, he also brought with him seventy loyal sons of the XIV Legion. Distrusted by their kinsmen, they languished in seclusion on Luna… until now. Amendera Kendel, once a Sister of Silence but more recently in service to the Sigillite, gives Helig Gallor of the Death Guard a new purpose, and a new duty – one that will ultimately see him reunited with his former battle captain on the field of war.
The stories are available for digital download Here; or you can grab a free extract for mobi or epub formats.
For those unfamiliar with the PLR, here’s my annual public service announcement on the subject:
If you are a writer/editor/illustrator/etc, a resident of the UK or Ireland and you ever need a reason for donating your books to the library – on top of all the obvious ones like promoting reading and supporting this valuable and increasingly undermined public service – this is it. The PLR is a system where authors who’ve written books that are in public libraries get a little revenue each time somebody borrows their works. It’s a way to repay writers who won’t be earning a royalty from a sale in a bookstore. The hardworking folks at the PLR office pay a nominal fee based on how
borrowed you were – and in the interests of fairness, you can’t earn more than around £6000, so the big names don’t get to hog all the money.
In the current political climate, both the PLR and the libraries it springs from are under threat, so if you are a writer or a reader, please do your bit to help support both as best you can.
Here’s my Top Ten Library Loans of my novels for 2015 (with 2014’s position in brackets)
1 (-) Deadline
2 (1) Peacemaker
3 (6) The Poisoned Chalice
4 (3) Nemesis
5 (2) Fear To Tread
6 (5) Hammer & Anvil
7 (7) Synthesis
8 (10) The Flight of the Eisenstein
9 (-) Icarus Effect
10 (4) Cast No Shadow
The big shake-up in my top ten this year was the arrival of my 24 novel Deadline straight into the top slot – number one with a bullet, which seems apt for a story about Jack Bauer! That kicked back my Doctor Who Western Peacemaker to second place for the first time in years, which was closely followed by my Star Trek: The Fall novel The Poisoned Chalice. Also new in the list this year is my Deus Ex novel Icarus Effect.
As always, my thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books!
