From New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, James Swallow, come two novellas set within the worlds of two live-action Gerry Anderson TV shows, Space: 1999 and UFO. The novels will be published by Anderson Entertainment, the company founded by Gerry Anderson MBE – who, along with his then partner, Sylvia Anderson, was behind such iconic TV shows as Thunderbirds, Stingray, as well as the live action series Space: 1999 and UFO.
Jamie Anderson, Managing Director of Anderson Entertainment and Gerry Anderson’s son acquired World All Language rights to the novellas directly from the author, who is a life-long fan of Gerry Anderson’s classic TV shows.
James Swallow continues the adventures of Moonbase Alpha and S.H.A.D.O with these brand-new stories which are set within the worlds of two of the biggest live-action Anderson properties and are an official part of the Space:1999 and UFOcanons.
Both novellas are published on 13th September 2024 for ‘Breakaway Day’, which is a significant day in the Space: 1999 universe and a milestone for fans – the date that Earth’s moon was blown out of orbit by a massive nuclear explosion in the first episode of the series.
The books will be published in a limited-edition hardback and paperback, with eBooks to follow at a later date.
Space: 1999 The Armageddon Engine
Adrift in deep space, Commander John Koenig and the people of Moonbase Alpha face an uncertain fate when a planet-killing alien weapon at the heart of a sinister cloud diverts their lost Moon on to a fatal trajectory.
As each moment brings the Moon closer to total obliteration, Koenig leads a desperate mission into the unknown to save all life on Alpha. Does hope lie within a rag-tag colony of refugees hiding in the shadow of devastation? Or can the Alphans find a path into the heart of the war machine and end its destructive rampage? With time running out, the answer will mean the difference between survival… or annihilation.
UFO Shadow Play
The last line of defence in a clandestine war, SHADO is all that stands between humanity and a force of alien invaders – and leading that fight is the uncompromising Ed Straker, commanding Earth’s defenders around the clock.
But what happens when the man at the top is pushed too far?
After an experiment goes wrong, Straker awakens from a coma with missing memories and strange hallucinations that threaten his grip on reality – but is it the result of alien interference, or has the commander’s iron will finally cracked?
James Swallow is a BAFTA-nominated scriptwriter and novelist, the New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author of over sixty-five books, including Dark Horizon, Airside, and the Marc Dane action thriller series.
His work also includes fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Doctor Who, Warhammer 40000, Halo, Stargate, 2000AD, Blake’s 7, 24, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, and many more. His other credits feature scripts for comics, videogames and audio dramas, including Deus Ex, No Man’s Sky, The Division 2, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Disney Infinity: Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. He lives and works in London.
“Growing up, Space: 1999 and UFO were a big part of my sci-fi landscape,” says James, “so it’s been great fun for me to revisit these characters to tell some exciting new stories. Gerry Anderson’s creations are unique retro classics, and I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Jamie and everyone at Anderson Entertainment for this new era of adventures.”
“We started to publish non-fiction titles in late 2021, and since then we’ve been working with our partners at ITV Studios to create brand new stories based on these amazing TV shows,” says Managing Director of Anderson Entertainment Jamie Anderson of the new adventures genesis.
“Working with James has been a real pleasure, he’s a genuine fan and we’re sure that they’ll appeal to long-time as well as new readers. We have much more to come.”
At the end of the 1960s, Gerry Anderson moved from Supermarionation into live action with the darker series UFO. UFOs were becoming a more and more popular topic in the 1960s, and in the mid-1960s the first heart transplants were taking place. The timing was perfect to design and produce a brand-new series concerned with Earth defending itself from aliens intent on harvesting human organs to be transplanted into their own bodies. UFO was born.
Space: 1999 entered production in 1973 and would run for 48 episodes over the next two years. The series followed the adventures of the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, a human colony stranded on the Moon after it gets blown out of Earth’s orbit by a massive nuclear explosion. Hurled off into deep space, the Alphans struggled to survive in an overwhelmingly hostile universe long enough find a new planet to call home, whilst also exploring what it truly meant to be human as their journey continued.
• Find James online at jswallow.com
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Books, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Science Fiction, Television
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