James Swallow

I’m a BAFTA-nominated scriptwriter, and the award-winning New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author of over sixty-five novels, with millions of books in print worldwide.

James Swallow author photo
I write action-packed espionage thrillers, fast-paced science fiction, videogames and more…

I have experience in television, radio drama and games; along with my bestselling Marc Dane series, my stand-alone thrillers and my Sundowners steampunk westerns, I’ve written fiction in the worlds of Star Trek, Doctor Who, 24, Marvel, Tom Clancy, Halo, Warhammer 40,000, Stargate, 2000AD, Blake’s 7 and many more. My script credits include Star Trek: Voyager, the blockbuster Deus Ex series, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, The Division 2, Ghost Recon Wildlands and Battlestar Galactica.

My work has been published in several languages and territories around the world, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Finland, Brazil, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

My love of fiction and writing kicked off at an early age, but it wasn’t until my teens – when I started writing articles for small-press fanzines – that my intention to become a full-time writer really got going. In the early 90’s I worked on numerous entertainment magazines, but my first real break came in 1998 when I pitched a storyline to Paramount Network Television in Hollywood – the first of two original story premises later turned into episodes of the TV series Star Trek: Voyager. I’m proud to say that to date, I’m the only British writer to have worked on a Star Trek show.

In 2001, I moved into fiction for the first time with the Sundowners novels, an original series of four “young adult” steampunk adventures set in the Old West, and over the next decade and a half I worked extensively in the realm of tie-in fiction, writing novels (including three New York Times bestsellers) and audio dramas set in the worlds of popular television shows, comics and games – such as Star Trek, Doctor Who, 24, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Halo, Warhammer 40,000, Stargate, 2000AD, Blake’s 7 and others.

Along the way, I became part of the growing community of games writers, creating narratives and building worlds for dozens of videogames, such as the BAFTA-nominated Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Fable: The Journey, Disney Infinity, Ghost Recon Wildlands and most recently Fracked, Phantom Covert Ops and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

In 2016, I took on a new challenge – to write a series of original novels, 21st Century, tech-savvy action-adventure thrillers with the feel of the high-octane, high-concept fiction I loved from the 80’s and 90’s, with an everyman hero facing off against deadly threats; the Marc Dane series began with the Sunday Times bestseller Nomad, followed by Exile, Ghost, Shadow, Rogue and Outlaw, along with with the novellas Rough Air and Moscow Rules, which you can read for free on this site.

I’ve since followed up that series with my original stand-alone novels Airside and Dark Horizon, with more to come.

James Swallow at Calderón Hondo, Fuertaventura
As a reader (as much as a writer!) I love the thriller and sci-fi genres, along with military history and technology, and when I have a moment between projects I like to lose myself in a book, binge-watch TV shows or movies, or dive in the virtual world of a video game.

I enjoy travel to mountains and beaches, volcanoes and oceans – often the locations I’m researching for my books! – as well as good wine, strong vodka, dark coffee and fine cheese.

And as a born-and-bred Londoner, I’m an urbanite through-and-through, always enthused by the pulse of a city.