James Clancy Phelan

James Clancy Phelan
Born	21 May 1979 Melbourne, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Genres	Thriller
www.jamesphelan.com.au

James Clancy Phelan (born 21 May 1979) is an Australian author, published as James Phelan. His first fiction novel, Fox Hunt, went into reprint in its first month.

Biography

Phelan was born in Victoria, Australia. He was introduced to the world of books at an early age, with such works as The Hobbit, Treasure Island and The Jungle Book helping to inspire his overactive imagination. As a teenager, he read many thriller novels, like the work of Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy. In 1995, at the age of fifteen, he began his first novel and the character of the protagonist of Fox Hunt was born. After attending Eltham High School, he went on to study architecture and English literature and graduated with a Master of Arts in Writing from RMIT while working for The Age newspaper. As of 2009 he teaches writing at Swinburne University in Melbourne and is a PhD candidate there.1 In 2006 he was one of the Cleo (magazine) 50 Most Eligible Bachelors in Australia.[1] As an architecture student he worked for two years on the Federation Square design team. [2]

Writing

Phelan's writing covers a broad range, from newspaper work to books of fiction and non-fiction. With his first published book being the non-fiction author interview book, Literati, and his short story, "Soliloquy for One Dead", appearing in Griffith Review's 2006 edition, "The Next Big Thing", many believed he would embark on a career at the "literary" end of the writing spectrum. His first published novel, Fox Hunt, surprised many by being a blatant commercial thriller, highlighting the diversity of his writing skills. He has also written for The Age newspaper and Cosmopolitan magazine, and several short story anthologies and a serialized novel. 1

Literati: Australian Contemporary Literary Figures Discuss Fear, Frustrations and Fame was Phelan's first book publication, released by John Wiley & Sons in 2005. In a series of interviews, Phelan asked questions of a broad range of literary figures in Australia, including Matthew Reilly, Tara Moss, John Marsden, John Birmingham and Peter Craven.

Fox Hunt, Phelan's first fiction release, was released in August 2006, published by Hachette. Through the protagonist, investigative reporter Lachlan Fox, Phelan evokes the qualities typical of most action heroes; charisma, strength, intelligence and rugged good looks. For the main character it is a story of friendship and redemption. The story is set as a bridge between the aftermath of the Cold War and the perilous age of the War on Terrorism, with Lachlan and his best friend thrown unwittingly into a war that crosses time. The book exists as both a homage to trials past and contemporary issues of today, emphasising the role of politics in issues as far reaching as political instability in Chechnya to the Star Wars Missile Defence system.

Patriot Act, the second instalment in the adventures of Lachlan Fox, was released in August 2007.2. Set mainly in New York city, Washington, and France, it tells the story of Lachlan Fox investigating a series of murders in Europe that are linked to a pending hack on the NSA's computers. For the main characters, it is a story of love and betrayal, on personal and patriotic levels. The USA Patriot Act is referenced throughout, as is the NSA program, ECHELON, and the Bilderberg Group. While Fox's character shows growth from the previous book, and there is hope in the form of a love interest in Kate Matthews, by the end of Patriot Act Fox is left dark and angry - hinting at the tone of the next book ina the series.

James Phelan has stated in media interviews and on his website that the personal journey of Lachlan Fox has many parallels to that of Siddhartha, the protagonist of Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha. Fox's quest for enlightenment is set to span the first five books of the series. Gammaldi has similarities to Govinda, particularly as each character, as friends to the protagonists, follow them anywhere out of great respect for the potential in Fox and Siddhartha respectively.

The third Lachlan Fox novel, Blood Oil, was published 2008, and is set in Nigeria, US, and the UK. Blood Oil is a story of trust and revenge, and it depicts the chaos around Fox and Gammaldi, as well as that of Africa and a running theme throughout the book: Disaster capitalism.

A fourth book "Liquid Gold" was published in 2009. This book is set in the US, Pakistan, and India, and has a macro theme of water scarcity and religions.

James is a favourite author of many other novelists, including Vince Flynn who stated: 'James Phelan is one of the hottest thriller writers to arrive on the scene in years. His hero, Lachlan Fox, is just the kind of gritty man the world needs in a time of crisis.'[3]

The author has also written a trilogy of Post Apocalyptic Young Adult novels called the ALONE trilogy which have been very successful worldwide. They consist of the three novels Chasers, Survivor and Quarantine and are about a 16 year old teenager, Jesse, and a group of close friends who escape from a crashed Subway train to find New York City in ruins after an attack. They contain many twists and surprise plot turns that make them unputdownable. In Australia, Chasers is in its 7th reprint as of 2011.

This September (2011) he released a free Lachlan Fox short story titled "Trust". It was released through Get Reading and is in a collected of short stories entitled "10 Must Read Short Stories for 2011". James has had two books selected on the Get Reading list of "50 books you can't put down": Fox Hunt, and Alone: Chasers, for which he has done national tours.

James is currently writing a Psychological Thriller for adults and a series of Young Adult novels about a series of adventurous teenagers. He claims it to be mix of The Famous Five and Indiana Jones and they are under contract with Scholastic Publishers.

Phelan is represented in Hollywood by United Talent Agency, and by the literary agencies Writers House and Curtis Brown.

Lachlan Fox novels

• Fox Hunt (2006)
• Patriot Act (2007)
• Blood Oil (2008)
• Liquid Gold (2009)
• Red Ice (2010)

ALONE Trilogy

• Chasers (2010)
• Survivor (2011)
• Quarantine (2011)

Non-fiction

• Literati (2005)

Short stories

• "Trust" Get Reading (2011) A Lachlan Fox short story.
• "I Am Alone" Pearson (2010) Features Jesse from the ALONE trilogy.
• "Watchlist" Vanguard (2010) A serialised novel with Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, and others.
• "Soliloquy for One Dead" Griffith Review (2007), Affirm Press (2008), SUP (2009)

External links

• Phelan's Biography
• Phelan's Website
• Publisher's page for James Phelan
• International Thriller Writer's page for James Phelan
• Website for the ALONE series of books