James Barclay (born 15 March 1965) is a British

high fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Pl ...

author who has written multiple series including '' Chronicles of the Raven'' and ''Legends of the Raven''."James Barclay." ''Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors'', Gale, 2012. ''Gale Literature Resource Center''. Accessed 18 April 2023. ''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'' has called him "One of the UK's most popular genre fantasy authors."

Biography

Early life

Barclay was born in

Felixstowe, Suffolk Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northea ...

in 1965. He attended

Sheffield City Polytechnic Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...

. Prior to his breakthrough as an author in 2004, Barclay worked as an actor and a policeman. He was also an advertising manager for a financial investment company.

Writing career

Barclay said his main inspirations as a writer were

David Gemmell David Andrew Gemmell (; 1 August 1948 – 28 July 2006) was a British author of heroic fantasy, best known for his debut novel, ''Legend (Gemmell novel), Legend''. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fict ...

and the novel ''

The Legacy of Heorot ''The Legacy of Heorot'' is a science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes, first published in 1987. Reproduction and fertility expert Dr Jack Cohen acted as a consultant on the book, designing the no ...

'' by

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...

Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...

, and

Steven Barnes Steven Barnes (born March 1, 1952) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He has written novels, short fiction, screen plays for television, scripts for comic books, animation, newspaper copy, and magazine articles. Career ...

. A reviewer has since compared his work with Gemmell's. An origin story of the company of The Raven entitled "Or So Legend Has It" appears in the 2013 short story collection ''Legends: Stories in Honour of David Gemmell''.

Works

Chronicles of the Raven series

* ''Dawnthief.'' Gollancz, 2002. * ''Noonshade''. Pyr, 2009''.'' * ''Nightchild''. Pyr, 2009.

Legends of the Raven series

* ''

Elfsorrow ''Elfsorrow'' is a book by James Barclay James Barclay (born 15 March 1965) is a British high fantasy author who has written multiple series including '' Chronicles of the Raven'' and ''Legends of the Raven''."James Barclay." ''Gale Literatur ...

''. Pyr, 2010. * ''Shadowheart''. Pyr, 2010. * ''Demonstorm''. Pyr, 2011. *''Ravensoul''. Gollancz, 2008.

Elves series

* ''Once Walked with Gods''.Gollancz, 2010. * ''Rise of the TaiGethen''. Gollancz, 2012. * ''Beyond the Mists of Katura''. Gollancz, 2013.

The Ascendants of Estorea series

* ''Cry of the Newborn''. Orion Publishing Group, 2005. * ''A Shout for the Dead''. Gollancz, 2006.

Other novels

* ''Heart of Granite'' (Gollancz, 2016) * ''The Queen's Assassin'' (Gollancz, 2022)

References

External links

Official website

James Barclay
on

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

Interview with James Barclay
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, James 1965 births Living people 21st-century English novelists English fantasy writers English bloggers English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century English male writers British male bloggers