JAMES SWALLOW

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Books

Something Borrowed (2024 Edition)

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With the new year now firmly under way, it’s time for all the hard-working authors across the UK to get a nice little bonus from the equally hard-working team at the British Library’s Public Lending Right – and find out which of our books were borrowed from UK libraries over the course of 2024.

How does that work? Here’s my annual explanation of how the PLR helps writers in the UK…

Administrated by the British Library, 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 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.

After 2023’s shenanigans (where a crippling cyber-attack that brought down the British Library’s computers, knocking the whole PLR system off-line for months) those heroic librarians have things back up and running. If you are a writer/editor/illustrator/etc. and 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 – the PLR is it.

Looking over numbers, here are the Top Ten Library Loans of my novels for 2023-2024, with the previous year’s position in brackets…

1 (-) Dark Horizon
2 (2) Airside
3 (1) Rogue
4 (3) Outlaw
5 (4) Ghost
6 (5) Nomad
7 (6) Shadow
8 (7) Exile
9 (-) Dragonfire
10 (-) Here be Dragons

It’s great to see my two stand-alone thrillers Dark Horizon and Airside at the top of the list, with the former coming in like a bullet! The rest of the chart fills out with my Marc Dane novels still riding high, clocking up over 11,000 combined loans across all formats, and in for the 9th and 10th positions are my 2nd Tom Clancy Splinter Cell novel Dragonfire and the graphic novel release of Here Be Dragons, my story for Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series – my first comicbook work to make the list! Just outside the top ten are my last two Warhammer tie-ins Garro: Weapon of Fate and The Buried Dagger – and somehow, against all reason, my novelization of the movie Ghost in the Shell is still defiantly hanging on!

Once again, my heartfelt thanks go to everyone on the PLR team at the British Library, and to all my readers borrowing books and keeping the lifeblood of libraries flowing…

2K24 Books

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Part three of my annual year-end round-up of stuff is books, glorious books…

Over the 70 titles I read in 2024, science-fiction stuff just edged out thrillers and non-fiction, and I got through a few audiobooks as well over the last twelve months.

I also had 2 DNFs (did-not-finish) titles this year which aren’t on the list; that’s rare for me – usually I stick it out to the bitter end, but sometimes it’s just not worth the candle, as the old saying goes.

My top picks for 2024 were Rowland White’s gripping true-life WW2 story Mosquito, David Goodman’s debut thriller A Reluctant Spy and Duncan Harris’ exhaustive look at the WipEout videogames.

Here’s the full list – Death’s Kiss (Josh Reynolds); The Untold History of Television: Archer and Bob’s Burgers (Kathleen Olmstead); Waste Tide (Chen Qiufan); Operation Afterlight (Robert Lassen); I Was Killed Yesterday (Andrew Smith); Outlaw (Jack Stewart); The Subplot (Megan Walsh); SubOrbital 7 (John Shirley); Adventures in Amity: Tales from the Jaws Ride (Dustin McNeill); The Treadstone Rendition (Joshua Hood); Daughters of Death (Nicola Baldwin); Dragon’s Domain (Marc Platt, Nicholas Briggs); Mosquito (Rowland White); Medal of Honor (Chris Ryan); Blind Fear (Brandon Webb & John David Mann); Troubled Waters (Una McCormack); The Masquerades of Spring (Ben Aaronovitch); MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, Gavin Edwards); Stingray (Bill Keith); Invasion (Frank Gardner); Curious Video Game Machines (Lewis Packwood); Unmanned (Dan Fesperman); Satellite Scare (Various); Gunfight on Europa Station (Various); Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life (Arnold Schwarzengger); London Zone (Smith); High Noon on Proxima B (Various); Welcome to the Game (Craig Henderson); To Everything That Might Have Been – The Lost Universe Of Space: 1999 (Robert E Wood, David Hirsch, Christopher Penfold); Devis (Roland Moore); Blood and Gasoline (Various); Nightstalker (Timothy Rizzi); Iron Man: Tony Stark Declassified (Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore); Voyager’s Flight (Karen McCreedy); A Reluctant Spy (David Goodman); The Untold Stories of the Space Shuttle Program (Davide Sivolella); The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War (Antonio J. Méndez, Jonna Méndez, Matt Baglio); Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West (Calder Walton); Hercules (Scott Bateman); Liftoff (Eric Berger); Death in the Desert (Jim Eldridge); Four Hours to Eternity (Various); Bold Forager (Tom Willard); Operation Carib (Mack Maloney); Operation Sea Ghost (Mack Maloney); Reentry (Eric Berger); Legacy of the Stars (John Gregory); The 37th Parallel (Ben Mezrich); Area 51: An Uncensored History (Annie Jacobsen); Bogey Spades (Jack Stewart); The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal); V UK: Visitation Episode One (Jonathan Morris); Mech: Age of Steel (Various); V UK: Visitation Episode Two (Morris); V UK: Visitation Episode Three (Morris); WipEout Futurism: The Graphic Archives (Duncan Harris); Wolf Six (Alex Shaw); Full-Throttle Franchise: The Culture, Business and Politics of Fast & Furious (Various); Maybe There: The Lost Stories From Space: 1999 (Hirsch & Wood); Terror Fake (Briggs); Stone and Sky (Aaronovitch); Rogue Trooper: Welcome to Nu-Earth (Gerry Finley-Day & Dave Gibbons); The Science Fiction in Traveller (Shannon Appelcline); The Nowhere Man (Gregg Hurwitz); Savage Road (Chris Hauty); Kidnapped (James Patterson with Robert Gold); 80s Action Movies on the Cheap (Daniel R Budnik).

UFO – SHADOW PLAY author’s notes

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My new UFO tie-in novella Shadow Play released in September, and the audiobook edition will be available later in the year for those who prefer a “talking book” format – so today I’m posting a second ‘author’s commentary’ for the month with insights into the background of the storyline – but first here’s a couple of comments from reviewers…

“Shadow Play cleverly takes us deep into the mind of Ed Straker, and wow – what a ride it is… These aren’t just action-packed space adventures (although they absolutely deliver on that front, too) – they’re deep dives into what makes these characters tick.” – Jack Knoll, Security Hazard

“A strong effort in adding to the UFO story… Fans of the series will not be disappointed and enjoy this a great deal.” – Mark Yon, SFF World

UFO ran for a single season in 1970, following the beleaguered members of a top secret defence force fighting a desperate battle against a race of extraterrestrials intent on using humanity as spare parts for their own failing bodies, all while trying to keep the deadly secret from the rest of mankind. To learn more about the show, click here.

The last line of defence in a clandestine war, SHADO is all that stands between humanity and a force of alien invaders – and leading that fight is the uncompromising Ed Straker, commanding Earth’s defenders around the clock. But what happens when the man at the top is pushed too far? After an experiment goes wrong, Straker awakens from a coma with missing memories and strange hallucinations that threaten his grip on reality – but is it the result of alien interference, or has the commander’s iron will finally cracked? Facing danger from within and without, Straker must find the truth. Even if it kills him.

Spoiler Warning! These notes give away story points from UFO – Shadow Play and other episodes of the UFO TV series.

The novella’s title is a play (!) on words, obliquely referencing UFO’s secret organization SHADO.

Among the inspirations for this story are the 1960s TV series The Prisoner and the fiction of Philip K. Dick (notably “The Zap Gun”, “Imposter” and “The Father-Thing”).

Doctor Jackson submits Ed Straker to “a standard V-K series” of questions; ‘V-K’ is a nod to the Voight-Kampff machine from Blade Runner, which is used to determine if a person is a human or a replicant.

Straker sees a Cyranian Airlines jet taking off as he approaches Heathrow Airport; that airline appears in “Splashdown”, an episode of Joe 90, another Gerry Anderson production.

Passing through the backlot of the Harlington-Straker film studio, several props that regularly appear in UFO’s backgrounds (such as the giant white hand!) are mentioned.

In conversation with Paul Foster, Alec Freeman mentions EUROSEC, the European-based space agency from the Anderson-produced live-action movie Doppelganger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun); he also mentions nuclear-powered spacecraft being designed by the World Space Commission, an oblique reference to the Eagle Transporters of UFO’s sister-show Space: 1999.

UFO episodes referenced in the novella include “Exposed” (Foster’s recruitment into SHADO), “Confetti Check A-O.K.” (Straker’s family life, and his long friendship with Freeman), “A Question of Priorities” (the death of Straker’s son), “Reflections in the Water” (an alien plot to duplicate SHADO HQ), along with events from “Mindbender”, “The Man Who Came Back”, “Timelash” and “The Cat with Ten Lives”.

As well as the episodes of the original series and the UFO comics, Chris Bentley’s The Complete Book of Gerry Anderson’s UFO and Chris Thompson’s and Andrew Clements’ SHADO Technical Operations Manual were invaluable resources for the writing of Shadow Play.

UFO – Shadow Play is available to pre-order in audiobook format from Big Finish Productions as a digital download here; and as Limited Edition Hardcover from Anderson Productions at this link.

SPACE: 1999 – THE ARMAGEDDON ENGINE author’s notes

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My Space: 1999 novella released last month – fittingly on the day the Moon was blown out of orbit, September 13th! – and today I’m posting another ‘author’s commentary’ with some insights into the background of the storyline – but first here’s some comments from reviewers…

“This is vintage Space: 1999 in every sense of the word. It’s clever and dark and has a massive central idea and an even bigger heart.” – Alaistair Stewart, Sci-Fi Bulletin

“Swallow does a fantastic job building the tension… The ticking clock feels real, and the stakes couldn’t be higher, aided by the suitably fast pace.” – Jack Knoll, Security Hazard

“Capture(s) that feel that the series had… Anyone wanting to read further the adventures of Moonbase Alpha will enjoy this one.” – Mark Yon, SFF World

Space: 1999 ran for two seasons in the early 1970s, and the series centred on the adventures of the 311 crewmembers of Moonbase Alpha, who find themselves on an odyssey through the void when the Moon is blasted into space after a nuclear accident on the far side – and along the way they encounter alien races, horrible monsters and strange cosmic phenomena. To learn more about the show, click here.

Adrift in deep space, Commander John Koenig and the people of Moonbase Alpha face an uncertain fate, when a planet-killing alien weapon at the heart of a sinister cloud diverts their lost Moon on to a fatal trajectory. As each moment brings the Moon closer to total obliteration, Koenig leads a desperate mission into the unknown to save all life on Alpha. Does hope lie among a rag-tag colony of refugees hiding in the shadow of devastation? Or can the Alphans find a path into the heart of the war machine and end its destructive rampage? With time running out, the answer will mean the difference between survival… or annihilation.

Spoiler Warning! These notes give away story points from The Armageddon Engine and other episodes of the Space: 1999 TV series.

In terms of chronology, The Armageddon Engine takes place late in the first season of Space: 1999.

The Eagle pilots of the series were all male during the TV series, so I decided to break that up by introducing the new character of German female astronaut Elke Lange in the novella’s opening chapter. Other new Alphans appearing in the story are Indian astrogeologist Pari Mishra and Greek astrophysicist Markos Galani.

Helena Russell refers to the Black Sun phenomena from the episode of the same name.

Alan Carter recalls flying Griffons and Falcons, predecessors of the venerable Eagle Transporter.

The strange Zython never appeared in the TV series, but it did show up in Mattel’s line of Space: 1999 action figures as a “mysterious space alien” whose “head glows in the dark”(!), so I thought it would be fun to place this unseen being in this story. Read more here.

In addition, among the survivors in the alien Refuge there are beings from races the Alphans have encountered in previous TV episodes, including Kaldorians (from “Earthbound”), Bethans (from “The Last Enemy”) and Sidons (from “Voyager’s Return”).

The scenes set aboard the alien scientist Vhor’s spacecraft take place in zero gravity – something that would have been too expensive and complicated to create on a 1970s TV series budget.

Koenig’s line “You unleashed a doomsday machine” is a deliberate nod to another story about a world-eating construct from the Star Trek TV series.

As well as drawing from the original series and the novelizations of the show by writers like Brian Ball, E.C. Tubb and John Rankine, I used Tim Heald’s The Making of Space: 1999, Robert E. Wood’s Destination: Moonbase Alpha, Chris Bentley’s Space: 1999 – The Vault and the Moonbase Alpha Technical Operations Manual by Chris Thompson and Andrew Clements as reference materials throughout.

Space: 1999 – The Armageddon Engine is available in audiobook format from Big Finish Productions as a digital download here; and as Limited Edition Hardcover from Anderson Productions at this link.

“Twenty Years in the Cubes, Creep!”

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September has been a busy month for me, but it also marks another career milestone for my writing – it’s been two decades since the publication of Eclipse, my first full-length story featuring future cop Judge Dredd from 2000AD, the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic!

Eclipse wasn’t my first Dredd tale – that was the audio drama Dreddline – but it was the first time I got to pen a novel based on this iconic character, the jut-chinned, stony-faced embodiment of the law who’s been a fixture of British comics since he first rolled on to the pages of 2000AD in the 1970s… Just in time, in fact, to blow the mind of a young Jim Swallow and make that kid a fan for life.

Judge Dredd Eclipse cover

By 2004, I was writing fiction and I got the chance to pitch some ideas to Marc Gascoigne, editor at the Black Flame book imprint, who had taken up the licence for prose fiction based on the characters from 2000AD’s strips. As well as Eclipse, I’d go on to write Whiteout, a second Dredd novel, and Blood Relative, featuring the Rogue Trooper, another iconic 2000AD character.

Originally titled Red Moon, then Total Eclipse, my 2004 novel has Judge Dredd returning to the Space-Wild-West colony of Luna-1, of which he was briefly Judge-Marshall back in a 1977 comic story. When chaos and lawlessness threaten to overwhelm the beleaguered lunar justice department, Dredd leads an international force of fellow Judges to assist, discovering old enemies from his past bent on revenge and a deadly conspiracy that plunges Luna-1 into a firestorm.

I enjoyed writing Eclipse – re-reading it after a couple of decades, I can see I was clearly having a lot of fun, I packed it with everything I loved about the Judge Dredd comics and more besides!

Judge Dredd Megazine #225
Judge Dredd - Jihad
Judge Dredd - Grud is Dead

2004 turned out to be pretty Dredd-filled for me, as Eclipse was just one of four stories featuring him that I published that year; as well as the novel, I wrote Passive/Aggressive, a short story for issue #255 of the Judge Dredd Megazine (later reprinted in the collection Judge Fear’s Big Day Out and Other Stories) and I scripted two more original audio drama’s for Big Finish Productions, Jihad and Grud Is Dead. Click on the titles for more about those stories.

After publication in paperback, Eclipse was later reprinted in the mega-collection I Am The Law: The Judge Dredd Omnibus, but after Black Flame closed down in 2008, the books went out of print. However, 2000AD’s publisher Rebellion revived all the prose fiction a year later for their digital store, and Eclipse remains available there in eBook format – so check it out if you’re in the mood for some future law…

SHADOW PLAY & THE ARMAGEDDON ENGINE out now!

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We all remember where we were, 25 years ago today in 1999, when the Moon was blasted out of orbit after a freak nuclear accident, less than two decades after a secret agency had been fighting a clandestine war against bodysnatching aliens… Or at least you would if you were a fan of Gerry Anderson’s sci-fi dramas Space: 1999 and UFO.

Fittingly, as it is “Breakaway Day” this weekend, this Saturday I’ll be at Heathrow at the London 1999 Convention (no better place!) for the official launch of my new tie-in novellas UFO – Shadow Play and Space: 1999 – The Armageddon Engine. Based on these two classic television shows, the novellas are all-new, officially-sanctioned stories, releasing today in signed, limited-edition hardcovers – and my thanks to everyone who pre-ordered their copies!

For those of you unfamiliar with the shows – UFO ran for a single season in the early 1970s, following the challenges faced by the members of SHADO, a covert agency charged with defending the Earth of 1980 against an insidious alien invasion; Space: 1999 ran for two seasons a few years later, centred on the adventures of the crew of Moonbase Alpha, who find themselves on an odyssey through the void when the Moon is blasted into space. For more about the shows, check out these primer videos for UFO and Space: 1999.

UFO – SHADOW PLAY

The last line of defence in a clandestine war, SHADO is all that stands between humanity and a force of alien invaders – and leading that fight is the uncompromising Ed Straker, commanding Earth’s defenders around the clock.

But what happens when the man at the top is pushed too far?

After an experiment goes wrong, Straker awakens from a coma with missing memories and strange hallucinations that threaten his grip on reality – but is it the result of alien interference, or has the commander’s iron will finally cracked?

Facing danger from within and without, Straker must find the truth.

Even if it kills him.

SPACE: 1999 – THE ARMAGEDDON ENGINE

Adrift in deep space, Commander John Koenig and the people of Moonbase Alpha face an uncertain fate, when a planet-killing alien weapon at the heart of a sinister cloud diverts their lost Moon on to a fatal trajectory.

As each moment brings the Moon closer to total obliteration, Koenig leads a desperate mission into the unknown to save all life on Alpha.

Does hope lie among a rag-tag colony of refugees hiding in the shadow of devastation?

Or can the Alphans find a path into the heart of the war machine and end its destructive rampage?

With time running out, the answer will mean the difference between survival… or annihilation.

Working on this project has been a lot of fun for me, with Jamie Anderson and his team giving me great freedom to create new and engaging fiction for these iconic shows I love – I’m excited to bring Shadow Play and The Armageddon Engine to long-time devotees and new fans alike!

Hardcover editions of the books are available for order; click here for UFO – Shadow Play and here for Space: 1999 – The Armageddon Engine or grab the two-book bundle; and if audiobooks are your preference, you can find those here and here.