James Swallow's Blog

Each year on April 14th – the birthday of Gerry Anderson, creator of such beloved telefantasy shows as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray, Space: 1999 and UFO – the team at Anderson Entertainment dedicated to keeping Gerry’s creations alive host a livestream to announce their forthcoming projects…

And I am very pleased to say that part of 2026’s reveals is a project I have been working on for the past several months – something I’ve been keeping under wraps, which was no easy fea...

The months of April and May are set to be full of Star Trek adventure!

First off, my most recent Star Trek tie-in novel, the bestselling Strange New Worlds tale Toward The Night, is out in April in a new paperback edition – so if you didn’t pick this up on first release, here’s your chance to grab it!

While patrolling the Federation’s border with the Klingon Empire, Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the Enterprise detect subspace echoes from a desolate planet orbiting a volatil...

Two decades ago, I wrote the first Warhammer 40,000 novel featuring the unstoppable Sisters Of Battle, those paragons of virtue and scourges of evil ranging the depths of the grim, dark far future. That book was FAITH & FIRE, and this month it’s 20th Anniversary is being celebrated with a brand new hardcover edition that features an intro by the awesome Danie Ware (whose amazing Battle Sisters books continue the crusade across the dominions of the 41st Millennium…

Disgraced by the esc...

Ten years ago this week, my 8th Star Trek tie-in novel The Latter Fire was released by Simon & Schuster in paperback and eBook – while I’d been writing stories from the Final Frontier for some time at that point, this novel was the first time I got to go back to the “source” and pen an adventure set in the era of “Classic Trek”…

The five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise has brought the vessel and her crew to the forefront of an important first contact situation. Under the command o...

For the first time, the complete series of my explosive Marc Dane action thrillers is available on audio for audiences in the USA, thanks to a new agreement with Bolinda Audio!

Previously, the series was left unfinished, but now my American readers (and listeners!) can find all six books as read by actor Colin Mace (FBI International, A Spy Among Friends, Slow Horses), these action-packed adventures are perfect for fans of Brad Taylor, Mark Greaney, Ward Larson, Chris Hauty and Robert Ludlum...

As 2026 gathers momentum, all the hard-working authors across the UK check their emails for 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 libraries over the course of 2025.

How does it work? Here’s my annual explanation; the PLR is a system whereby 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 w...

My first new publication of 2026 is a throwback to one of my favourite war comics of the 1980s, given new life in the pages of DC Thomson’s Commando – issue #5929 “Armistice Day” brings back the heroes of Harrier Squadron, last seen over 30 years ago in the pages of DCT’s venerable Warlord weekly…

The year is 1993. Across Battleground Europe, World War III rages as the invading armies of the ASBLOC (Asian Bloc) battle the defending forces of WESFED (the Western Federation). At the tip of the ...

My final year-end round-up reviews the movies I watched in 2025; somehow I ended up seeing repeats of Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible 2 a bunch of times throughout the year, but I did deliberately schedule re-watches of Die Hard (at Christmas, of course) and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (to round out a Gerry Anderson-themed marathon).

In total, I got through nearly 70 new films this year; there was a lot of stuff across many of my favourite franchises – the MCU, new kaiju, Tro...

My next year-ender blog is my annual review of the games I played – 2025 was an even spread between new tabletop games and new videogames, plus a bunch of stuff I’m continuing to enjoy.

One of my regular plays over the last couple of years was The Crew 2, an open-world racer that I’ve enjoyed as much for the achievements as I have in just “unplaying” it, noodling around in cool cars or stunt planes at the end of the week to unwind and relax – but in 2025 I upgraded to the new title in the...

On with the New Year, and so I continue with my annual series of round-up blogs; next in line is a review of my reading habits for 2025…

Last year, my books read were a fairly even split between sci-fi and thrillers on the fiction side and a big chunk of non-fiction on the other – my tastes remain pretty consistent, and I ended the year with 68 titled done and dusted. Sadly, my trusty 3rd Generation Kindle eReader finally conked out after around a decade-and-a-half of service, forcing me to u...