JAMES SWALLOW

The Official Site of Bestselling Author James Swallow - COMING SOON!

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The Horus Heresy: Ashes of Fealty – Available Now!

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Folks who came along to The Horus Heresy Weekender event last week were treated to some advance releases from Black Library, one of which was Knight Errant, a collected box set edition of all the Horus Heresy Nathaniel Garro audio dramas released to date, along Ashes of Fealty, a brand-new original Garro story that ties into events from the end of my novel The Flight of the Eisenstein.

audio-garro-ashes-of-fealtyThe rest of the world will be able to pick up the box set in April – and very nice it is too, if I do say so myself – but if digital is your thing and you can’t wait a few weeks to hear the newest story in Nathaniel’s saga, you can head over to Black Library by clicking Here to hear an excerpt from the story and download a copy of Ashes of Fealty right away; in this two-hander, the ever-awesome Toby Longworth reprises his role as Garro, and is joined by Jonathan Keeble as Meric Voyen, the former Death Guard apothecary who joined Garro in his rebellion aboard the Eisenstein.

Filed Under: 40k

The Horus Heresy Weekender UPDATED!

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So the folks at ForgeWorld have taken on the running of The Horus Heresy Weekender event this month, and as well as doing lots of things involving dice-rolling, small spikey soldiers guys and giant expensive models, there will also be a Black Library presence over this weekend at the regular haunt of the Belfry Hotel in Nottingham.

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I’ll be there, along with fellow heretical authors Graham McNeill, John French, Chris Wraight, Guy Haley and Nick Kyme, and we will be signing stuff, talking about new Horus Heresy projects and (I believe) debuting some new early releases for attendees.

You can check out the full program Here.

UPDATE!

Black Library will be releasing two new advance exclusives from me at the event – the hardcover collector’s edition of my Horus Heresy novel Fear To Tread, featuring new artwork and an author afterword, and Knight Errant, a slipcased box set collection of all my Nathaniel Garro audio dramas (Oath of Moment, Legion of One, Burden of Duty, Sword of Truth and Shield of Lies) and the all-new story Ashes of Fealty.

Coming Soon…

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For the new year, I’ve decided to reinstate the “Incoming!” list of my new releases and event appearances, but I’m changing the format a little; from now on, there’s a permanent listing page set up Here that I will update as and when cool new stuff pops.

The list will show release dates for all the new books, short fiction, videogames, audios and other projects I’m working on (and are allowed to talk about), including reprints, foriegn editions and so on. I’ll also include event dates for any signings, panels or seminars that I’m at, in case you want to have me write my name on stuff or just heckle.

You can also go directly to it by clicking on the COMING SOON link that has been added to the navigation bar at the top of this page…

Something Borrowed (2015 Edition)

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Happy PLR Day! Where the blogs and twitter feeds of writers all across the nation celebrate the the Public Lending Right, the gift of free money, and most importantly, that libraries are awesome.

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 2014 (with 2013’s position in brackets)
1    (1)    Peacemaker
2    (2)    Fear To Tread
3    (4)    Nemesis
4    (7)    Cast No Shadow
5    (4)    Hammer & Anvil
6    (-)     The Poisoned Chalice
7    (10)  Synthesis
8    (6)    Red Fury
9    (9)    The Blood Angels Omnibus
10  (5)    The Flight of the Eisenstein

As always, my Doctor Who Western adventure Peacemaker remains welded to the top slot in the chart, and my most recent Horus Heresy novel Fear To Tread remains in second place for a second year; I was also pleased to see my Star Trek: The Fall novel The Poisoned Chalice make an appearance.

My thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books!

Looking through the Gunsight – New Horus Heresy eBook

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GunsightLast year, Black Library published a new Horus Heresy anthology, Death And Defiance, a limited release hardback special as part of their ongoing series of bespoke super-lovely editions; but for folks who couldn’t pick up the dead tree version, BL has now made each tale in the collection individually available in glittery digital form.

That includes the story I wrote called Gunsight, which is can be downloaded directly from BL’s website right Here.

I won’t blow the plotline (despite the fact that the front cover strapline contains is a major spoiler!) but I will say that Gunsight is a direct sequel to the events of my second Horus Heresy novel Nemesis, which featured a disparate squad of Imperial assassins working together in hopes of terminating the archtraitor Horus Lupercal.

As anyone familiar with the larger scope of the Horus Heresy will know, it didn’t go well for them, but it’s in the “for want of a nail” what-if, almost-but-not-quite that story lives – and you can think of Gunsight as a coda for it. In this tale, readers meet someone forever changed by his near-miss with the Warmaster, and get a look into the doom that lies at the end of his particular fate line.

Alternatively, if you’d like to pick up the full Death And Defiance collection, you can find it Here.

Filed Under: 40k

2K14 Movies

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My last list-of-the-year-end, and it’s movies. I got a little more flicks in over 2014 than in previous years. The split between my two favourite genres (action vs. sci-fi) was pretty much 50-50 and top picks for 2014 were (perhaps unsuprisingly for me) the hugely fun Guardians of the Galaxy and the great LEGO Movie, which I found unexpectedly clever and charming. Can I just say, being a Marvel comics geek since the 70’s, I am still a little amazed that I live in a world where there’s a GotG film (and that there’s going to be another one). What with the slate of Marvel movies announced way up until 2019, this is probably the best time ever to be a superhero fan.

Here’s the list:
A Good Day To Die Hard, Drive, The World’s End, Alter Egos, Cloud Atlas, Cars 2, After Earth, Django Unchained, Jack The Giant Slayer, Shoot ‘Em Up, Click Print Gun, Fast and Furious 6, Planes, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel, Marooned, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The LEGO Movie, Iron Man/Hulk: Heroes United, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Europa Report, Moneyball, White House Down, Kick-Ass 2, Edge of Tomorrow, The Wolverine, Empire of Dreams, The Hunger Games, The Lone Ranger [2013], Guardians of the Galaxy, R.I.P.D., Fire With Fire, Tower Heist, Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, End of Watch, 47 Ronin, The Sky Crawlers, Lone Survivor, R2B: Return To Base (aka Black Eagle [2012]), Death Race 2, Captain Phillips, Death Race 3: Inferno