James Clancy Phelan (born 21 May 1979), known professionally as James Phelan, is an Australian writer of thrillers and young adult novels, including ''Fox Hunt'', ''The Last 13'' series for teens, and the Jed Walker and Lachlan Fox thrillers. He has also written short stories and the non-fiction book ''Literati''.
Early life
Phelan was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Victoria, Australia
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
. He was introduced to the world of books at an early age. In 1995, at the age of fifteen, he began writing his first novel, ''Fox Hunt''. After attending
Eltham High School
Eltham High School is a secondary school in Victoria, Australia. It is located in Eltham, Victoria, Eltham, a suburb which is north-east from Melbourne. The school has 'free dress' policy and is the only non-uniform secondary school in the Elt ...
and Wonthaggi Secondary College, Phelan studied architecture and English literature, graduating with a Master of Arts in Writing from
RMIT
RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia.
Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...
while working for ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' newspaper. In 2015 he graduated with a Doctorate in young adult fiction from
Swinburne University of Technology.
In 2006, Phelan was selected as one of the
Cleo Cleo may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Cleo'' (magazine), an Australian magazine established in 1972, now active in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand
* Cleo (group), a South Korean girl group formed in 1999
* ''Cleo'' (play), by Lawren ...
50 Most Eligible Bachelors in Australia. As an architecture student, Phelan worked for two years on the
Federation Square
Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy ra ...
design team.
Career
Phelan's first published book was the 2005 non-fiction work ''Literati''. His short story, "Soliloquy for One Dead", appeared in ''Griffith Review''s 2006 edition: ''The Next Big Thing''. His first published novel was ''Fox Hunt''. His first book, ''Literati: Australian Contemporary Literary Figures Discuss Fear, Frustrations and Fame'', was released by John Wiley & Sons in 2005. It documents a series of interviews in which Phelan asked questions of a broad range of literary figures in Australia, including
Matthew Reilly,
Tara Moss
Tara Rae Moss (born 2 October 1973) is a Canadian-Australian author, documentary maker and presenter, journalist, former model and UNICEF national ambassador for child survival.
Biography
Moss was born in Victoria, British Columbia, where she a ...
,
John Marsden,
John Birmingham
John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'', and his ''Axis of Time'' trilogy.
Early life and education
Birmingham was born in Liverpool, United ...
, and
Peter Craven.
''Fox Hunt'', Phelan's first fiction book, was published by
Hachette Hachette may refer to:
* Hachette (surname)
* Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing
** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary
** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm
See also
* Hachett ...
in August 2006. The story is set as a bridge between the aftermath of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and the
War on Terrorism
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
, with Lachlan and his best friend thrown unwittingly into a war that crosses time. ''Patriot Act'', the second installment in the adventures of Lachlan Fox, was published in August 2007. Set mainly in New York City, Washington, D.C., and France, it tells the story of Fox investigating a series of murders in Europe linked to a forthcoming hack on
NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
computers. The third Lachlan Fox novel, ''Blood Oil'', was published in August 2008 and is set in Nigeria, the US, and the UK. The fourth Lachlan Fox novel, ''Liquid Gold'', was published in August 2009 and is set in the US, Pakistan, and India. It was during these early years as a novelist that James completed his
PhD in Young Adult Literature, which lead to his next creative venture.
Phelan wrote a series of post-apocalyptic young adult novels called the ''ALONE'' trilogy, consisting of the novels - ''Chasers'', ''Survivor'' and ''Quarantine'' - and features 16-year-old Jesse and his three close friends, who escape from a crashed subway train to find
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in ruins after an attack.
In September 2011, Phelan released a free Lachlan Fox short story titled "Trust". It was released through
Get Reading. Phelan has had two books selected on the Get Reading list of "50 books you can't put down": ''Fox Hunt'', and ''Alone: Chasers''. The 2013 thriller ''The Spy'' began Phelan's series starring intelligence operative Jed Walker. He also began a 13-book series of young-adult novels about a series of adventurous teenagers, who are destined to save the world from an evil being, Solaris. He claims the latter is a mix of ''
The Famous Five
''The Famous Five'' is a series of children's Adventure fiction, adventure novels and short stories written by English author Enid Blyton. The first book, ''Five on a Treasure Island'', was published in 1942. The novels feature the adventures ...
'' and ''
Indiana Jones
''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...
'', titled ''The Last Thirteen'' and they are under contract with
Scholastic Publishers for publication monthly from December 2013 through to December 2014. Scholastic renewed the series, the first book titled ''X'', for publication in 2017.
From 2013 James has released a Jed Walker suspense
thriller each year, of which the world's fastest selling thriller author
Lee Child
James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American ...
has said
Reacher">"Jed Walker is right there in Reacher’s rear-view mirror.". The Spy dealt with the dangers of "
private spy" outsourcing per
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_''The_Last_Thirteen''_series_for_teens
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*''12''_(Dec_2013)
*''11''_(Feb_2014)
*''10''_(Mar_2014)
*''9''_(Apr_2014)
*''8''_(May_2014)
*''7''_(Jun_2014)
*''6''_(Jul_2014)
*''5''_(Aug_2014)
*''4''_(Sep_2014)
*''3''_(Oct_2014)
*''2''_(Nov_2014)
*''1''_(Dec_2014)
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*''Kill_Switch''_(2015)
*''Dark_Heart''_(2016)
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.
In_2016_Phelan_began_teaching_first_year_fiction_at__Swinburne_University_of_Technology.
_''The_Last_Thirteen''_series_for_teens
*''13''_(Sept_2013)
*''12''_(Dec_2013)
*''11''_(Feb_2014)
*''10''_(Mar_2014)
*''9''_(Apr_2014)
*''8''_(May_2014)
*''7''_(Jun_2014)
*''6''_(Jul_2014)
*''5''_(Aug_2014)
*''4''_(Sep_2014)
*''3''_(Oct_2014)
*''2''_(Nov_2014)
*''1''_(Dec_2014)
_Jed_Walker_thriller_novels
*''The_Spy''_(2013)
*''The_Hunted''_(2014)
*''Kill_Switch''_(2015)
*''Dark_Heart''_(2016)
*''The_Agency''_(2017)
_Lachlan_Fox_thriller_novels
*''Fox_Hunt_(novel)">Fox_Hunt_
Fox_hunting_is_an_activity_involving_the_tracking,_chase_and,_if_caught,_the_killing_of_a_fox,_traditionally_a_red_fox,_by_trained_foxhounds_or_other_scent_hounds._A_group_of_unarmed_followers,_led_by_a_"master_of_foxhounds"_(or_"master_of_hou_...
''_(2006)
*''
shut_down_the_internet_in_event_of_catastrophe,_and_Dark_Heart_is_about_refuges_and_border_control._James_ha
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.
In_2016_Phelan_began_teaching_first_year_fiction_at__
Swinburne_University_of_Technology.
_''The_Last_Thirteen''_series_for_teens
*''13''_(Sept_2013)
*''12''_(Dec_2013)
*''11''_(Feb_2014)
*''10''_(Mar_2014)
*''9''_(Apr_2014)
*''8''_(May_2014)
*''7''_(Jun_2014)
*''6''_(Jul_2014)
*''5''_(Aug_2014)
*''4''_(Sep_2014)
*''3''_(Oct_2014)
*''2''_(Nov_2014)
*''1''_(Dec_2014)
_Jed_Walker_thriller_novels
*''The_Spy''_(2013)
*''The_Hunted''_(2014)
*''Kill_Switch''_(2015)
*''Dark_Heart''_(2016)
*''The_Agency''_(2017)
_Lachlan_Fox_thriller_novels
*''Fox_Hunt_(novel)">Fox_Hunt_
Fox_hunting_is_an_activity_involving_the_tracking,_chase_and,_if_caught,_the_killing_of_a_fox,_traditionally_a_red_fox,_by_trained_foxhounds_or_other_scent_hounds._A_group_of_unarmed_followers,_led_by_a_"master_of_foxhounds"_(or_"master_of_hou_...