24: DEADLINE is a Scribe Award Nominee!

I'm very pleased to announce that the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) have put forth their nominations list for the 2015 Scribe Awards, and my 24 novel Deadline has made the cut as a nominee for the Best Original Novel - General category!

As the press release states:

Acknowledging excellence in this very competitive field, IAMTW’s Scribe Awards honor licensed works that tie in with other media such as television, movies, gaming, or comic books. They include original works set in established universes, and adaptations of stories that have appeared in other formats and cross all genres. Tie-in works run the gamut from westerns to mysteries to procedurals, from science fiction to fantasy to horror, from action and adventure to superheroes.

This is my third time in the mix for the Scribes - I was nominated for Best Originial Novel - Speculative for my Warhammer 40,000 novel Faith & Fire back in 2007, and later won that category in 2009 for my Star Trek: Terok Nor novel Day of the Vipers, but this the first time I've been in the General category and I'm alongside a group of talented folks and veterans of the industry; I'm very proud to be there!

To check out the full list of nominees, click Here.

Fourteen'd

Like I was last year, I'm a little late with the first of my annual series of year-ending blog postings, and the reason is pretty much the same. 2014, like 2013, has been a tough one to assimilate. Without wanting to start off 2015 on a sour note, I kept getting reminded last year of a line from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where Indy says that sooner or later we all reach an age "where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away". Last year there was a lot of bad with the good, and the thing is, you tend to dwell on the bad stuff because that's what leaves the scar.
(And for the record? I thought Crystal Skull was a decent Indy movie. Seriously, if you're still getting your knickers in a twist over ancient aliens in the same milieu where angry Ark of the Covenant angels melt people or immortal knights exist, just let it go. But I won't quibble over the Shia/Monkeys thing, though.)
So; all of that is a long way of saying "Farewell 2014. Don't come back."

So what did I write last year? 2014 saw more than its fair share of crashing and burning, I have to be honest. I slaved away on something very important that went exactly nowhere, which reminded me about how a lot of what writers do comes out of sheer bloody-mindedness, that I [REDACTED] hate [REDACTED] and they should all [REDACTED], and most importantly, to just keep writing. In the crazy world of videogames, I had an awesome superhero project shot out from underneath the studio I was working for, and months later it still burns, damn it. But that's teh gamez for you, and out of the ashes of that came something even cooler which I am not yet allowed to talk about, but I will say it's something I've wanted to work on for a very long time. More on that in the months ahead. For fun, I penned some script shorts on spec, and a couple of new Horus Heresy audio dramas - Shield of Lies, which is out now, and Ashes of Fealty, which will be properly announced in the weeks ahead. I delivered Deadline, my first 24 novel and first action-thriller to deadline at the start of the year (see what I did there?), and a new Star Trek: Titan adventure called Sight Unseen, which will actually be seen some time in the Autumn. Lastly, I wrote the short stories "Gunsight" for the Death And Defiance anthology, "Reflection In Blood" for the Black Library Advent Calendar and a new Doctor Who tale which I'll talk more about later in the year. So, busy in spite of it all. On the edge. *snaps fingers* Where I gotta be. *snaps fingers*

I roved a bit in 2014 too, book-ending the year with panels about games with the great Animex festival at the start, and the now-annual "games writing thing" at the London University of the South Bank at the end; other game-related highlights were getting to crash both the Destiny launch and Eurogamer Expo, and getting deep in boardgame stuff at the UK Games Expo. As well as a couple of Black Library-centred events (Warhammer Fest and a blink-and-you'd-miss-me at Black Library Weekender III), I showed my face at the Worldcon in London - it's my hometown after all, it would have been churlish not to - but I reckon the best gig of the year was Destination Star Trek 3, which was warmly welcoming and just all-around nice to guest at. Travelling in 2014 saw me in Malta, soaking up history and getting too much sun, and San Francisco, where I met Yoda; and last but not least, closer to home, I pegged my fun-o-meter at the Red Bull Air Race, which was, quite certainly, hypercool.

And now onwards.

You Are Hearing Me Talk... To The 24 Podcast

Joshua Rivers over at The 24 Podcast site reached out to me a while back to have a chat about writing for Jack Bauer and my recent 24 tie-in novel Deadline...

You can check out the interview Here or visit the site and listen to all episode reviews and more...

Interview Round-Up: Horus Heresy Audio Dramas & 24: Deadline

I've been talking to folks about all kinds of stuff this week, and here's a gathering of some of the interviews I've been doing...

 

First up, the Geek Native and Connected Digital World blogs have put up some short Q&A's with me talking about my work writing the first of the new 24 tie-in novel series Deadline.

Check out the Geek Native interview Here and the CDW interview Here.

And a world away from the modern-day action and adventures of Jack Bauer, Greg Dann over at the Garagehammer site has interview me for the After Ullanor podcast, a series of regular shows that go into great depth and analysis of the Horus Heresy fiction. In this latest show, I talk to Greg about Black Library's audio drama series featuring Nathaniel Garro. Check it out Here.

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The Big Thrill interviews me

Top chap Jeff Ayers (whom Star Trek fans might recall as the author of the weighty tome Voyages of the Imagination) has interviewed me over at The Big Thrill webzine, the official monthly online publication of the International Thriller Writers group.

I talk to Jeff about writing my new 24 tie-in novel Deadline, the challenges of writing in an established universe, my original career choices when I was twelve years old and more besides...

Check it out Here.

Out Today - 24: Deadline

The clock has run out and the deadline has been passed; get ready for some explosive action with Jack Bauer as my latest novel 24: Deadline drops today.

24: Deadline is available in the USA as in hardback and digital from Forge Books, and as a large-format paperback in the UK from Titan Books. An unabridged audiobook version is available from MacMillan Audio as a digital download from Audible and also on a pre-loaded audio player.

The time is 5:00 PM.

One hour ago, federal agent Jack Bauer was declared a fugitive. If he wants to survive, he must get out of the country, and he doesn’t have much time.

With his former colleagues in the Counter Terrorist Unit now dead, under arrest, or shut down, Jack has no resources to call upon, no back-up, and nowhere to go—only his determination can drive him on. One thing remains clear to him: the promise he made to his daughter Kim. Jack vows that he will see Kim one last time to tell her he loves her...before he drops off the radar forever.

Meanwhile, a hastily-assembled FBI task force sets out to track down and capture Jack, even as a covert operations unit of Russia’s SVR sets out to do the same - only the remit of the Russians is to kill on sight. 

As the clock runs down, Jack must face old friends and past enemies in a desperate race to stay one step ahead of the hunters, leaving them with a grim warning -

Stay out of my way, and I’ll be gone within 24 hours. You’ll never see me again. Come after me...and you’ll regret it.

24: Deadline audiobook exclusive preview

My new novel 24: Deadline hits bookstores next week, in hardcover format from Forge Books for the US market and paperback from Titan Books for the UK - and in association with Audible, MacMillan Audio are releasing an unabridged audiobook edition read by actor Fred Berman.

Click on the Soundcloud link below to hear an exclusive preview of the complete prologue for 24: Deadline...

 

New Book Day: 24 Deadline, damn it.

New Book Day is always the best day; got a big box of the US hardcover editions of my forthcoming 24 novel Deadline today, and they look very cool...



Deadline will be available at all good bookstores from August 5th.

Win a copy of my new novel 24: Deadline!

If you live in the USA or Canada, and are a registered Goodreads user, click Here for a chance to win one of five copies of my new novel Deadline, set before the events of the action-thriller TV series 24: Live Another Day. The competition runs from now until 5th August.

Incoming! [May 2014]

This is May's 'Coming Soon' update on my future projects and events:

"The Turn of The Card" - Hardcover and paperback edition of the Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters anthology from Ragnarok Publishing, featuring my short story inspired by the Colossal Kaiju Combat gameworld. May.

UK Games Expo - I'll be appearing at this tabletop gaming event in Birmingham. May 30th-June 1st.

The Horus Heresy: Nemesis - A new hardback edition of my 2010 novel from the Horus Heresy saga, from Black Library. June 20th.

The Horus Heresy: La Fuite de L’Eisenstein - French hardback edition of my novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, from Black Library France. July 11th.

"The Turn of The Card" - Audiobook version of the Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters anthology from Ragnarok Publishing, featuring my short story inspired by the Colossal Kaiju Combat gameworld. July 15th.

Lon Con 3 - I'll be along for a couple of days of the World Science Fiction convention in London. 15th-16th August.

24: Deadline - An original hardback prequel novel set before the events of the new TV series 24: Live Another Day, from Forge Books. 5th August.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Der Stoff der Träume - German eBook edition of my novella The Stuff of Dreams. February 2015.

First Contact Day 2015 - I'll be appearing at this Star Trek convention at the Leicester Space Centre. 4th-5th April 2015.

The Horus Heresy: The Flight of the Eisenstein - A trade paperback edition of my 2007 novel from the Horus Heresy saga, from Black Library. TBC.

'Deus Ex 4' - A new chapter in the Deus Ex videogame series, for next-generation consoles and PCs, from Square Enix. TBC.

24: Deadline is approaching...

The Following Blog Takes Place Between 11.00am and 12.00pm. Events Occur In Real Time.

"Right now, Forge Books are planning to release a thriller novel written by me. It is based on the award-winning television series 24... and I'm pretty damn stoked about it. I'm New York Times Bestselling novelist James Swallow, and today is the longest day of my life."

Action hero Jack Bauer returns this week in the new television series 24: Live Another Day, set four years after the events of 24's eighth season - and I've written Deadline, a novel that bridges the gap between the last turbulent day of Jack's life and this latest adventure...

I'll be talking more about this project in the months ahead, but for know, here's the back cover blurb...

The time is 5:00 PM.

One hour ago, federal agent Jack Bauer was declared a fugitive. If he wants to survive, he must get out of the country, and he doesn’t have much time.

With his former colleagues in the Counter Terrorist Unit now dead, under arrest, or shut down, Jack has no resources to call upon, no back-up, and nowhere to go—only his determination can drive him on. One thing remains clear to him: the promise he made to his daughter Kim. Jack vows that he will see Kim one last time to tell her he loves her...before he drops off the radar forever.

Meanwhile, a hastily-assembled FBI task force sets out to track down and capture Jack, even as a covert operations unit of Russia’s SVR sets out to do the same - only the remit of the Russians is to kill on sight. As the clock runs down, Jack must face old friends and past enemies in a desperate race to stay one step ahead of the hunters, leaving them with a grim warning -

Stay out of my way, and I’ll be gone within 24 hours. You’ll never see me again. Come after me...and you’ll regret it.

24: Deadline will be on sale on August 5th and is available to pre-order in hardback and Kindle formats. For more information, click Here.

Incoming! [April 2014]

This is April's 'Coming Soon' update on my future projects and events:

RPG Narrative Session - I'll be running a workshop for gamesmasters and referees on how to create stories for roleplaying games at the Warboar Wargaming store in Kent. 27th April.

The Horus Heresy: The Scripts Volume II - Hardcover compilation of Horus Heresy audio drama scripts from Black Library, featuring my scripts for Sword of Truth and Burden of Duty, from Black Library. April.

"The Turn of The Card" - Hardcover and paperback edition of the Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters anthology from Ragnarok Publishing, featuring my short story inspired by the Colossal Kaiju Combat gameworld. April.

UK Games Expo - I'll be appearing at this tabletop gaming event in Birmingham. May 30th-June 1st.

The Horus Heresy: Nemesis - A new hardback edition of my 2010 novel from the Horus Heresy saga, from Black Library. June 20th.

The Horus Heresy: La Fuite de L’Eisenstein - French hardback edition of my novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, from Black Library France. July 11th.

Lon Con 3 - I'll be along for a couple of days of the World Science Fiction convention in London. 15th-16th August.

24: Deadline - An original hardback prequel novel set before the events of the new TV series 24: Live Another Day, from Forge Books. 5th August.

The Horus Heresy: The Flight of the Eisenstein - A trade paperback edition of my 2007 novel from the Horus Heresy saga, from Black Library. October.

'Deus Ex 4' - A new chapter in the Deus Ex videogame series, for next-generation consoles and PCs, from Square Enix. TBC.

Time Is Running Out...

Over the past few weeks I've been working against the clock on an intensive new writing project with a very challenging deadline...

Stay tuned; I'll be revealing more in the weeks ahead...