So the good news first. The final draft of New Messiah is done. Axel Cain appears from the wilderness, speaking with the voice of Gaia – the collective consciousness behind the biosphere, able to take tough decisions to sustain life, including getting rid of us if needs be… Axel has been chosen to avoid a …
A very short story about the plight of the pangolin, seen through the eyes of two-year-old pangolin Lucky. ‘Up to 200,000 are estimated to be taken from the wild every year across Africa and Asia, and the pangolin is critically endangered. Their meat is considered a delicacy by some in China and Vietnam, while their …
Pangolin – a short story about greed and ignorance Read More »
A question for you Is it just me or is this world getting increasingly crazy? Does the work of urban fantasy writers actually matter in the end, or is it just plain old escapism? I feel like we are heading towards a moment where the human race can choose between the traditional and unsustainable Trumpish …
Do urban fantasy writers really make a difference? Read More »
Background This latest novel from John Frank Marshall opens in a future world fighting over ever-shrinking resources. New age messiah Axel Cain is born in Isoland – a vast, circular expanse of darkness, desert, storms and suffering. Isoland was created for research by biotech industries. Separated from the rest of the world (the ‘Outside’) by an insurmountable wall, test …
Background to New Messiah John Frank Marshall’s latest novel New Messiah is a dystopian urban fantasy. The year is 2070. Global confederations war over ever-shrinking resources, and the last hope for a polarized society is to utterly change. The combined forces of AI and Biotechnology control the world and decide what is true. The planet is spiraling …
Artwork: David Collins, DCcovercreations New Messiah is a dystopian urban fantasy set in a world fighting over shrinking natural resources. Messiah Axel Cain comes from Isoland – a vast expanse of darkness, desert, storms and suffering. Isoland was created for research by biotech industries and is ruled by oligarch Maxim Vorn. Axel falls for Heidi Vorn, Maxim’s daughter, and is imprisoned and tortured in …
I was really pleased with the way that this third and final(?)episode of the Trilogy ‘Where Giants Sleep’ played out, with the distant past and the present coming together to build a new future (hence the name Ouroboros, which I have trouble spelling btw). It stretched me as a writer, which what I was seeking. …
‘Where Giants Sleep’ – 3rd book Ouroboros Finished! Read More »
The novel Second Dawn ended up writing itself, which was great. But now Second Dawn is complete, how does the trilogy end? How can Rift Queen Caia Esvane outwit the Scitha fleet, intent on reclaiming planet Eco for themselves? The power of magic will not be enough this time, and Caia isn’t prepared to sacrifice …
I deliberately left a few story stubs I could build out on for the sequel to Emergence, the first novel in the trilogy ‘Where Giants Sleep‘, and am now spoiled for choice as to what happens next to the many and varied characters. In Emergence, a monstrous undersea authoritarian city, learns that the surface of …