December is release month for the paperback edition of my 4th MarcDane novel Shadow from Bonnier Books, and I’m taking part in a virtual tour with a bunch of great book bloggers from today; check out the full list below…
The SHADOW blog tour
Marc Dane
The SHADOW Falls…
This month, my fourth Marc Dane action thriller novel SHADOW arrives in a new paperback edition…
Marc 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 slums of the Near East and 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.
For more details about SHADOW, check out the book page Here, and to pre-order a copy of the novel in paperback, go Here.
Thrilling Events in London…
I’ve got a couple of new events happening this month, both of which I am very pleased to be taking part in…
This weekend, on Saturday 21st September from 3:00pm, I will be appearing my friend and colleague Ben Aaronovitch (author of the Rivers of London urban fantasy series) at Kensal Rise Library in North London. Ben and I will be talking about our writing, taking questions from the audience and signing books – come along and get two bestselling authors for the price of one!
I’m especially happy to be making an appearance at Kensal Rise, celebrating this terrific library originally opened by none other than Mark Twain in 1900, shuttered by government cut-backs in 2011 and now reopened by the hard-working Friends of Kensal Rise Library. This is a brilliant example of community action keeping books available for all who want to read them; you can learn more at their website and Facebook page, or donate here.
Tickets to the Kensal Rise Library event are £5.80, available here.
Later this month – from Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th September – I’m also participating in the very first Capital Crime Festival at the Grand Connaught Rooms near Holborn. I’ll be there along with dozens of other talented crime and thriller authors for an inaugural event that will be amazing for readers and writers alike. Details are on the official website here.
Capital Crime features dozens of big names – Lynda LaPlante, David Baldacchi, Robert Harris, Martina Cole, Don Winslow, Antony Horowitz, Peter James…. The list goes on and on! Check out the full score here.
I’m appearing on Saturday from 4:00pm in the Grand Hall, on a panel titled “High-Octane Thrillers” alongside Adam Hamdy, K.J. Howe and Chris Ryan, and I’ll also be signing books afterward. The whole packed programme can be viewed here.
For all Capital Crime ticket options and prices, click here.
MARC DANE #5
I’ve had a busy few months recently – I spent a fair bit of July in New York City for the big ThrillerFest XIV convention, where I got to rub shoulders with great thriller writers like John Sandford, Harlan Coben, Peter James, Brad Taylor, C.J. Carver, Mark Greaney and many more! I also took a moment to visit the amazing SpyScape museum – where I signed a few copies of the American Forge editions of my Marc Dane novels – and I recommend it to any thriller fans visiting the Big Apple.
Speaking of conventions, I’m also appearing and signing books at London’s Capital Crime at the end of September – I’ll be on a panel with Adam Hamdy, K.J. Howe and Chris Ryan, and you can learn more about that event right here. Tickets are selling out fast for what looks certain to be a blockbuster event, and I hope to see some of you there!
But of course, the thing that’s been taking up most of my time is my current writing project – the 5th Marc Dane novel! And so without further ado, I’d like to reveal the title and a brief synopsis…
Six months have passed since the events of SHADOW, when resourceful ex-MI6 field technician turned reluctant intelligence agent Marc Dane and his partner – former US Delta Force sniper Lucy Keyes – foiled the plans of right-wing terrorists to release a lethal bioweapon in Europe.
But in the aftermath, a dangerous group of global power brokers known as the Combine – a cabal of amoral billionaires who bank-roll extremist groups and manipulate the war on terror for their own ends – have turned their full attention to destroying Marc and his team. Dane and Keyes have thwarted their schemes for the last time, as the Combine launch an insidious plan to wipe them out once and for all.
After British agents are savagely murdered in Norway, in a brutal echo of Marc’s past, his MI6 mentor reveals a terrible truth as a face from the dead threatens to tear Dane’s world apart. As the Combine move to obliterate everything Marc and Lucy hold dear and turn the world against them, they are forced to become fugitives – hunted across the Mediterranean from the glitz and glamour of Monaco to the dust and fire of East Africa.
There, in a lawless warzone where long-buried secrets come to light and loyalties are tested to the limit, old enemies return and new foes strike in a deadly showdown that not everyone will survive…
Coming in Summer 2020, the new novel in the bestselling Marc Dane action thriller series…
I’ll be updating with more information in the months ahead about the paperback release of SHADOW and more details about ROGUE…
…Bur if you can’t wait to pre-order ROGUE, you can find it online at Amazon right here.
The Mail I Get (July 2019)
Since the launch of my new website in April, I’ve been getting a steady stream of emails from readers and fans, all of which have been greatly appreciated! It’s always nice to hear from people who enjoyed something I’ve worked on, but I don’t often have the opportunity to reply directly each time.
So here’s a quick compilation of answers to some questions from my virtual mailbox…
Glenn Misztal says…
“I’ve been reading your Star Trek books for a couple of years. Do you sell any signed bookplates that I can stick in the front of mine?”
Thanks for your interest in my Trek fiction, Glenn! I don’t have bookplates at the moment, but I am looking into getting some printed in the near future, so stay tuned.
Aaron Spuler asked about my Warhammer 40,000 audio drama Corsair: The Face of the Void…
“I am curious if a follow-up to the adventures of Captain Santiago and her crew is planned.”
I have some more stories in mind for the crew of the Rogue Trader Corsair, and I’m in discussion with Black Library about continuing the series, but so far we’ve made no hard and fast plans.
Damian Bouch had an interesting theory about characters from the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution…
“My pet fan theory is that Megan Reed was an agent of some party, perhaps unwittingly, who was romantically involved with Adam Jensen for the sake of getting greater access to his genetic material. Am I on the mark, more or less? Someone aware of Jensen’s unique genetic therapy could have fed the information downstream to Dr Reed, prompting her to act.”
I can tell you that Megan’s backstory had her interest in Adam growing from her own attraction to him, but who is to say that a shadowy force might not have manipulated her to follow that path? This is Deus Ex, after all, where everything is a conspiracy…!
Ross Sidor has a question about the future of my Marc Dane series…
“In the author’s note at the end of Shadow, you ominously mention the end game beginning. Are you planning to bring the series to an end, or (hopefully) just wrapping up the ongoing Combine story line?
As Lucy would say, I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.
Seriously, though – my plans for the next couple of Marc Dane novels will bring our heroes and the forces of the Combine into direct, open conflict…and it’s not going to end well for anyone involved! Where we go from there will be up to my readers – I have many more stories I’d like to tell with Marc and Lucy!
Ryan Pearlman, who has been putting together a great model army for his Horus Heresy tabletop war games based off characters in my novel Fear to Tread has a query about armour that sent me on a deep dive into all my lore notes…
“Did pre-Decree of Nikaea librarians use the blue colour pattern as in Warhammer 40,000 or the standard red battle plate of the Blood Angels?”
Good question! I don’t think we ever explained that in the Horus Heresy novels, but it feels to me like the blue livery was a tradition that came later, after the Heresy was over – the most likely explanation is that it was established as part of the Codex Astartes, years afterward. (Thanks to Loreman Laurie for checking the logic on this one!)
Annie Whittenham got in touch to say she had some problems downloading the deleted scene from my Marc Dane novel Nomad, which is available to everyone who signs up to my Reader’s Club. If anyone else has had the same problem, please drop a line to the mailing list – and don’t forget you can also download my full Marc Dane novelette Rough Air for free right here.
Lastly, a big thank you to reader John Dwarka from the Netherlands, who offered some great pointers about some of the Dutch references in my most recent Marc Dane novel Shadow. Much appreciated, John!
If you’d like to get in touch (and maybe appear in a future blog), I’ve got an “Ask the Author” page set up here for Goodreads members that I try to get to on a regular basis, and you can usually find me on my Twitter feed for quick 240-character conversations. There’s also the CONTACT page on this website and my Reader’s Club, which you can find at the bottom right of this page. I look forward to hearing from you!
(Picture by Siarhei Plashchynski, sourced via Unsplash).
More Events in July! (Updated)
Thrillerfest XIV in the USA was great, but that was just the first of my events scheduled for this month. If you’d like to meet me, get me to sign your books or hear me talk about writing my Marc Dane novels and more, here’s where you can find me in July…
On Thursday 25th from 6:30pm, I’ll be “in conversation” with my fellow author Ben Aaronovitch at Waterstones Bromley; full details Here.
And to round out the month, I’ll be appearing at Waterstones Orpington on Saturday 27th from midday. Details Here!
