James L. Nelson (born 1962) is an American historical nautical novelist.

Early life

Nelson was born in Lewiston, Maine in 1962. He expressed an interest in boats from a young age, building a skipjack in

ninth grade Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of secondary school, high school in the United States, or the last year of middle school#United States ...

and a canoe in

eleventh In music or music theory, an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh. The interval can be also described as a compound fourth, spanning an octave plus a f ...

. In 1980, Nelson graduated from Lewiston High School. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst,

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

for two years, and then transferred to UCLA, with the ambition of becoming a film director. After living in

Marina del Rey Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...

, Los Angeles, Nelson found work aboard the ''

Golden Hinde ''Golden Hind'' was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as ''Pelican,'' but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Ha ...

'', where he met future wife Lisa Page. In 1992, Nelson completed his first novel, ''By Force of Arms''. He and Lisa were married the next year. Nelson currently lives in

Harpswell Harpswell is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. The population was 5,031 at the 2020 census. Harpswell is composed of land contiguous with the rest of Cumberland County, called Harpswell Ne ...

, Maine, with Lisa and their four children, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Jonathan, and Abigail. Nelson continues to write full-time, and has published over twenty-five books, both fiction and nonfiction.

Awards

Nelson received the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction from the American Library Association in 2004 for his novel, ''Glory In The Name: A Novel of the Confederate Navy''. He won the 2009

Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature The Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature is for literature about the United States Navy. The award was created in 1982 by the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States, who administers and chooses the winner which is ...

for ''George Washington's Secret Navy''.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''

Revolution at Sea Saga The ''Revolution at Sea Saga'', sometimes known as the ''Isaac Biddlecomb Series'', is a series of five novels written by James L. Nelson, published from 1997 to 2001. It centers around the exploits of protagonist Isaac Biddlecomb during the Americ ...

'' series # ''By Force of Arms'' (1997), # ''The Maddest Idea'' (1997), # ''The Continental Risque'' (1998), # ''Lords of the Ocean'' (1999), # ''All the Brave Fellows'' (2001), * '' Brethren of the Coast'' # ''The Guardship'' (2000), . Spanish edition published by Ediciones B as "El vigía" in 2004. # ''The Blackbirder'' (2001), . Spanish edition published by Ediciones B as "El negrero" in 2005. # ''The Pirate Round'' (2002), . Spanish edition published by Ediciones B as "La ronda del pirata" in 2007. *''

Civil War at Sea Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

'' series # ''Glory in the Name'' (2004), # ''Thieves of Mercy'' (2005), *''

The Norsemen Saga ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' # ''Fin Gall'' (2013) # ''Dubh-Linn'' (2014) # ''The Lord of Vik-lo'' (2015) # ''Glendalough Fair'' (2015) # ''Night Wolf'' (2016) # ''Raider's Wake'' (2017) # ''Loch Garman'' (2017) # ''A Vengeful Wind'' (2018) *Standalone novels ** ''The Only Life that Mattered: The Short and Merry Lives of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack'' (2004) ** ''The French Prize'' (2015) ** ''Full Fathom Five'' (2016)

Non-fiction

* ''Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack'' (2004) * ''Benedict Arnold's Navy: the Ragtag Fleet that Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain But Won the American Revolution'' (2006), * ''George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea'' (2008), * ''George Washington's Great Gamble: And the Sea Battle That Won the American Revolution'' (2010), * ''With Fire and Sword'': The Battle of Bunker Hill and the Beginning of the Revolution'' (2011) Review, Publishers Weekly, http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-57644-8

References

External links

James L. Nelson Official site

Bibliography at Fantastic Fiction

Interview
at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

recorded on March 14, 2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, James L. 1962 births American historical novelists American military writers Nautical historical novelists Living people People from Lewiston, Maine University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Novelists from Maine People from Harpswell, Maine University of California, Los Angeles alumni Maritime writers American male novelists American male non-fiction writers Lewiston High School (Maine) alumni