Win a signed copy of The Flight of the Eisenstein

After the success of the Fear To Tread competition I ran back in August, I'm giving another go of it; this time I'm offering two lucky people the chance to win signed copies of the new hardcover limited edition of my first Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein over on Twitter.

The limited edition reprints the novel with four new original pieces of artwork, an author's afterword and full colour dust jacket.

The book is available for purchase from Black Library Here, but if you’d like a chance to get a signed copy of your own, here's what you need to do.

1) Follow me - @jmswallow - on Twitter.

2) Tweet this message:

Win a signed copy of The Flight of the Eisenstein; follow @jmswallow & retweet this link http://tinyurl.com/amdxmtb #winfote #HorusHeresy

Everyone who follows me and retweets that message gets their name put in the hat, and two winners will be chosen by random draw. Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world, one entry per follower.

I'll contact the winners via DM after the announcement, and they will both receive a signed & personalised copy of The Flight of the Eisenstein. Don't forget the hashtag!

The competition starts now and runs through to 10:00pm GMT on Thursday 31st January; the winners will be announced on Friday 1st February. Good luck!

[UPDATE!] The competition is now over; congratualtions to Rob Jones of Wigan and Ventura Sánchez from Spain, who were the winners!

Something Borrowed (2013 Edition)

Christmas may be long gone, but the gift of reading keeps on giving and now is the time for authors to celebrate with some (almost) free money: the Public Lending Right. If you are 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.

What is the PLR?

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 2012 (with 2011's position in brackets)
1 (1) Peacemaker
2 (3) The Flight of the Eisenstein
3 (2) Nemesis
4 (-) Hammer & Anvil
5 (6) Red Fury
6 (8) Icarus Effect
7 (-) Cast No Shadow
8 (4) The Blood Angels Omnibus
9 (5) Synthesis
10 (9) Day of the Vipers

My Doctor Who Western Peacemaker continues to remain top of the charts, although my first Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein came in a strong second. As always, my thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books.

Incoming! [January 2013]

Here's January's 'Coming Soon' update on future projects and events:

Star Trek Week: The Fall is Coming

In a couple of months - March, specifically - my next Star Trek book will be released; Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Stuff of Dreams is an eBook novella centred around the character of Jean-Luc Picard, drawing on story threads from the movie Star Trek Generations and the events of m'colleague David Mack's recent ST:TNG Cold Equations trilogy and focusing on the Enterprise crew's involvement in a plan to change the course of history. I'll be blogging more about this story as the release date closes in.

But beyond that, in the latter part of 2013 I'm pleased to announce that I will also be writing a novel as part of Star Trek: The Fall, a five-part miniseries spanning several Star Trek crews and characters.

The Fall connects to recent events in the Star Trek fiction line, with the rise of a new threat force called the Typhon Pact and political schisms at the heart of the United Federation of Planets.

The official blurb says "The Federation is rocked to its core as the Typhon Pact is suspected of being behind a barbarous act that shatters the fragile peace of the Alpha Quadrant."

I'll be writing book #4 of the series, returning to William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan, whom I first wrote about back in my 2009 novel Synthesis.

Star Trek: The Fall shakes out like this:
Book #1 is Revelations and Dust by David R. George III, and features characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine saga
Book #2 is Una McCormack's The Crimson Shadow, featuring the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew and Garak on Cardassia.
Book #3 is A Ceremony of Losses by David Mack, featuring characters from DS9 and the U.S.S. Aventine.
Book #4 is The Poisoned Chalice by me, concentrating on characters from the Star Trek: Titan series.
Book #5 concludes the miniseries with Dayton Ward's Peaceable Kingdoms, which features the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew.

One thing we're looking to do with The Fall is showcase cross-series storylines, so you can also expect to see characters from different fiction streams teaming up and working together; in addition, some of the novels will be taking place simultaneously in different parts of the galaxy, and we've been working to make sure that the events in each story connect seamlessly to form one coherent narrative. It's an exciting project and I'm enthused about taking part. Revelations and Dust is due out in September and I believe the plan is to release one novel a month through to January next year, so look for The Poisoned Chalice just in time for Christmas...

Star Trek Week: You Are Hearing Me Talk...to the G & T Show

My second bit of bloggage here at Red Flag about my current work on Star Trek projects is another podcast, this time the laid-back lazy Sunday afternoon hang-out that is the G & T Show.

Another fun community podcast, hosted by Nick Minecci, Terilynn Shull and Michael Medeiros, broadcast via livestream on Sundays, the G & T Show focuses on Star Trek fiction in and around the TV shows and movies, with an eye toward spin-off in books and games, especially the Star Trek Online MMO. Conversational and irreverent, the G & T Show always reminds me of hanging out in a convention bar chatting with my fellow nerds and generally just grokking Trek...

G & T Show 76 – James Swallow Live! This week, Nick, Terry, and Mike are joined by the amazing James Swallow for an in depth interview and for our regular rounds of discussion. James touched upon his books, novellas, audio dramas, game scripts, convention experiences, writing, and more. You don’t want to miss this. then, when we get around to this week’s show, we talked about Star Trek: Into Darkness News, an all new Ask Dayton, Listener Mail, a full recap of STLV 2013 Update with some new guests, and Nick and Mike share what they are reading.

Thanks to Nick, Teri and Mike for having me back once again!

Check out the podcast Here, visit the G & T Show site Here or tune in to their Livestream Here every Sunday from 2.00pm GMT.

Star Trek Week: You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Literary Treks

This week on Red Flag I'm going to be revealing a little more about my upcoming Star Trek projects, and as I've got a bunch of stuff to blog about, I decided to make a thing out of it. I'm kicking it off today with a link to a interview I did a few weeks ago with Matthew Rushing over at the Trek.FM podcast site.

Along with his co-host Christopher Jones, Matt presents the Literary Treks podcast discussing Star Trek novels and comics and in previous shows they've talked to my fellow authors Dayton Ward, Una McCormack, Kirsten Beyer and Keith R.A. DeCandido - and this week's episode features me.

From Terok Nor to the Myriad Universe, from the bridge of the Titan to the aftermath of The Undiscovered Country, author James Swallow has played in many corners of the Star Trek universe. In this episode of Literary Treks we’re joined by James to discuss what it’s like to tell stories from the lost era of Deep Space Nine, why it’s difficult to write Picard, what it takes to redeem Valeris, and many more topics from across Star Trek literature.

I had a great time chatting about all things Final Frontier, and I want to thank Matt and Chris for having me on the show.

Check out the interview Here, or subscribe to Literary Treks via iTunes Here.

A TARDIS and a sip of G & T

No new stuff to blog about for weeks and then a bunch of things come along at once...

As well as announcing the forthcoming release of my latest novel Enigma downblog, I can now also reveal that I've written a brand new original audio drama for the 50th anniversary of everyone's favourite timelord, Doctor Who.

The big 5-0 for the Doctor this year means there's a lot of cool stuff coming out to celebrate his half-century and as part of that, production companies AudioGo and Big Finish have come together to create an eleven-part episodic series of monthly releases called Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor.

Why eleven episodes, you may ask? That's one for every incarnation of the Doctor, one story told in the style of Big Finish's 'Companion Chronicle' tales featuring each version of the Doc from William Hartnell through to Matt Smith. I've written a tale of the Seventh Doctor called Shockwave, which will be out in July.

Here's the full list of episodes:
Hunters of Earth (by Nigel Robinson), Shadow of Death (by Simon Guerrier), Vengeance of the Stones (by Andrew Smith), Babblesphere (by Jonathan Morris), Smoke and Mirrors (by Steve Lyons), Trouble in Paradise (by Nev Fountain), Shockwave (by James Swallow), Enemy Lines (by Alan Barnes), Night of the Whisper (by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright), Death’s Deal (by Darren Jones) and The Time Machine (by Matt Fitton).

I'll talk more about Shockwave in the weeks to come; but in the meantime I'll be talking about other stuff this Sunday afternoon (the 13th, from 2.00pm GMT) on the G & T Show live podcast.

Specifically, Star Trek stuff like my upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation eBook The Stuff of Dreams and a new novel I'm working of called The Poisoned Chalice, featuring Will Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan as part of a five-book miniseries called The Fall.

Check out the G & T Show's website Here, complete with downloads of their previous episodes.

You can also post questions for me on the G & T forum Here or log on directly to the Livestream Here on Sunday afternoon.

Enigma Variations

I've been playing this one pretty close to my chest over the past few months, but now the book I hinted at in my year-end post is all official and I am proud to announce that I have a new original novel called Enigma coming out in the spring this year, as part of the world of the Tannhäuser board game.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Tannhäuser universe, it's a dieselpunk alternate history set in a 1950's world where the First World War never ended, and the global powers fight their endless conflicts using super-science, dark magic and recovered alien technology...

"The free nations have joined together to form the Union under the keen leadership of President Thomas Edison, while the lands of the European Reich lie under a cloud of demonic darkness. 

Meanwhile, the mighty Matriarchy, thanks to the mystical technology of Nikolai Tesla, has ushered in a new age of gods; and in the Far East, Emperor Meiji has united Japan once more. Its armies now march toward the mainland to join the struggle for power. 

Balance will never be found while the war still rages, for there can be only one victor. That victory will determine the fate of man."

Enigma is the third Tannhäuser novel from Fantasy Flight Games, and I gotta say, I had a ball writing it. This is all the World War II action movies I loved - The Guns of Navarone, Operation Crossbow, Where Eagles Dare, 633 Squadron and more - packed into a high-octane jet and launched at the enemy lines!

"When the occult-obsessed Reich unveils a weapon with the power to grant its army demonic powers, RAF pilot Nick Cross and special agent Caitlin “Hoax” Lambsbury must join forces with unlikely allies to capture the device at any cost. 

In the face of overwhelming odds, can these two agents survive long enough to complete their mission? Prepare for a gripping battle to determine the fate of the world!"

Check out the FFG news page Here for a short excerpt from the novel; the book also has it's own mini-site Here (and there'll be more stuff there in the months ahead) and a dedicated forum Here where I will doubtless parachute in from time to time...

Y2K12 Games

And the final part of my year ending time-wasting review is games, games and more games.  Again, the Xbox 360 dominated my gamescape (helped no doubt by my PS3’s seemingly constant need for lengthy system updates) and I did a lot of first person shootery, channelling my inner need to explode things at regular intervals; but that didn’t stop me from playing a browser MMO where everyone is a cat and finally getting into the Assassin’s Creed series.

Here’s my list:

Medal of Honor (Xbox 360 version), ChatChat, Syndicate, Goldeneye Reloaded, Mindjack, Rage, Binary Domain, Assassin's Creed II, I Am Alive, Sniper Elite V2, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Spec Ops: The Line, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride Online, Glow Hockey, Star Trader RP, World of Warplanes, Hitman: Sniper Challenge, Sleeping Dogs, Judge Dredd vs. Zombies, Borderlands 2, Dust 514, Crysis 3, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Jetpack Joyride, Thomas Was Alone, Dear Esther, Journey, Deadlight, XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Xbox 360 & PS3), Dishonored, Motorstorm RC, Joe Danger 2: The Movie, Hitman: Absolution, Assassin's Creed III, The Unfinished Swan, Pure Chess, When Vikings Attack!, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Also, this year was marked by playing a title that was so infuriating and hands-down poor that it has since become my benchmark for bad games; but rather than dwell on that, I’d sooner celebrate the titles I did enjoy – most notable among them the sublime Journey and the tone-perfect action fest Sleeping Dogs.

Y2K12 Movies

Part two of my annual "things I did last year instead of working" survey is all about movies; I saw over fifty films this year, an improvement on last year and, I'm pleased to say, a tick against the New Year's Resolution I set myself to watch more.

Here's the list:
Bolt, Megamind, The Green Hornet, The Social Network, John Carter, Season of the Witch, Sanctum, Limitless, True Grit [2010], The Adjustment Bureau, The Ghost, Priest, Battle Los Angeles, Ironclad, Tomorrow When The War Began, Super, Fast Five, Sucker Punch, Ghost Recon: Alpha, The Avengers, The Eagle, Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Munich, The Incredible Hulk, The Expendables, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Deja Vu, Super 8, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Raid, 13 Assassins, Up In The Air, Inception, Attack the Block, Real Steel, Chronicle, Haywire, Wrath of the Titans, The Bourne Leagcy, Toy Story 3, Puss In Boots, Lockout, Killer Elite, Dredd, Indie Game: The Movie, The Amazing Spider-Man, Prometheus, Battleship, Treasure Planet, Immortals, Apollo 18, In Time, Total Recall [2012], The Expendables 2, The Dark Knight Rises, The Losers, Skyfall.


Once again, my tastes for SF, action and stuff-blowing-uppery are fairly self-evident; my best of the year were all comic booky – The Avengers, Dredd and Crucible were great, and I also have to give it up for Indie Game: The Movie, which I found funny, touching and painfully true in equal measure. (And for the record, Hollywood? I kinda liked Battleship and John Carter...)

Y2K12 Books

So with another year over, my thoughts briefly turn to recollection of the things I did in between all the other things I did; as part of my jet-set gadabout lifestyle (you there at the back, stop laughing), I often feel like I don't get to read as much as I'd like to. Still, a fair bit passed under my gaze in 2012, and I was interested to note that nearly a third of it was presented in digital form rather than dead-tree. Does this represent a trend? Nah. I still like paper books, but I'm damned if I'll tolerate snobbery over formats. A read is a read, end of.

Here's the full list:

Zero Sum Game (David Mack), Paths of Disharmony (Dayton Ward), Seize the Fire (Michael A. Martin), Rough Beasts of Empire (David R. George III), Home Fires (Gene Wolfe), Thrill-Power Overload (David Bishop), DVD Extras Include: Murder (Nev Fountain), The Russian (Andy McNab & Peter Grimsdale), Cursed Among Sequels (Fountain), Fatal Alliance (Sean Williams), Carte Blanche (Jeffrey Deaver), Embedded (Dan Abnett), Adrift on the Sea of Rains (Ian Sales), Jacked (David Kushner), Excession (Iain M. Banks), Operation Night Eagle (Blaine Lee Pardoe), Rising Sun, Falling Shadows (Robert T. Jeschonek), Operation Herod (Andrew Cartmel), The Persistence of Memory (Mack), Silent Weapons (Mack), The Body Electric (Mack), Empire of the Clouds (James Hamilton-Paterson), Stolen Thunder (David Axton), Mephiston (David Annandale), Shadows of Treachery (Various), The Cole Protocol (Tobias S. Buckell), The Primarchs (Various), Black Library Weekender 2012 Anthology Volume One (Various), Redshirts (John Scalzi), Phoenix Squadron (Rowland White), Damnation (Raymond Benson), The Quantum Thief (Hannu Rajaniemi), Priests of Mars (Graham McNeill), Marvel Comics: The Untold Story (Sean Howe)

As with previous years, I'm still reading a lot of SF and a fair few tie-ins; I got back into Trek fiction, as evidenced by the sheer amount of stuff by m'colleague David Mack in this years list. There were plenty of contenders for both best and worst, although I'll concentrate on the former; shout outs to Nev Fountain for his ongoing Mervyn Stone fan-dunnit mysteries, David Bishop for his engaging history of 2000AD, the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, and to Hannu Rajaniemi for his funky debut work The Quantum Thief.

Twelve'd

The year ends, not with a bang, but with a long, drawn-out sigh. You know the kind, the one you emit when you slip into a nice, warm bath? That noise is 2012’s workload slipping off my shoulders and the sudden arrival of a moment where I can stop and actually hear myself think. My Yuletide break gave me some much-needed downtime to appreciate the events of the past twelve months and reflect on where I want to go in the new year.

A whole bunch of stuff by me hit the stores this year; my third Horus Heresy novel Fear To Tread, which was a huge hit, and the second omnibus of my Warhammer 40,000 Blood Angels books. In fact, I wrote a whole lot of stuff from the grimdark world of the 41st millennium, with several eBooks, short stories, novellas, scriptbooks and foreign-language editions; I also did a couple of Horus Heresy audio dramas, Burden of Duty and Sword of Truth. Elsewhere in the audio medium, the Stargate series I’d been writing and editing since 2010 was finally released in two box sets, the first featuring my episode Half Life. I didn’t neglect videogames either, having co-written the Xbox 360 Kinect game Fable: The Journey.

It seemed like ever other weekend was a convention or an event of some sort – from the great Doctor Who and SF conventions run by the Starfury team, lit-cons like Olympus and Alt.Fiction, the multiple Black Library events in Chicago and all over the UK – but the highlight of those was the brilliant BL Expo over in Chestermere, just outside of Calgary in Alberta. A bunch of us authors made the trip to Canada’s great white north and we were delighted by the warmth of the welcome.

It was also a decent year for accolades; I got nominated for BAFTA’s Best Story videogames award for my work on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and while we sadly didn’t bring home the gold, DXHR did go on to rope in a whole bunch of other gongs, including the Canadian Videogames Award for Best Writing. I also made it on to the New York Times Bestsellers list for the second time in my career, with Fear To Tread; the book also topped the UK’s science-fiction and fantasy charts, beating out the entire Game of Thrones saga and The Hobbit for first place. I was pretty damned pleased about that.

I think I’m also going to remember 2012 as the year tabletop gaming came back into my life with a vengeance (I’m looking at you, Wil Wheaton), and it was a welcome return. I also don’t want to think about how much money I’ve spend on board games since last January.

So looking forward to 2013 means new Star Trek projects, with my eBook The Stuff of Dreams out in March and my participation in the new “event” miniseries The Fall later in the year. There will be more Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy fiction to come, and I’m hoping my long-delayed Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles story will finally see light of day. In the weeks and months ahead I’ll also be announcing the release of a new novel based on series I’ve never worked on before, and a cool tie-in to the anniversary of a certain traveller in time and space; and I may just be able to reveal more about the epic top secret videogames projects I’ve been working on…