Joshua Mowll
| Joshua Mowll | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1970 |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | English |
| Genre | Historical, thriller |
| Notable works | The Guild of Specialists trilogy |
| Website | |
| joshuamowll |
|
Joshua Mowll is a British writer of children’s fiction. His award-winning The Guild of Specialists trilogy has been published in 20 countries worldwide.
Mowll's book The Great Space Race was published in the UK on 2 August 2010
The trilogy was the subject of an international bidding war in 2004. Publishers were sent boxes of artefacts and documents taken from an archive apparently bequeathed to Mowll by his recently deceased great aunt; the archive is said to have provided the material for the three books in The Guild of Specialists trilogy.
Walker Books won the auction and Operation Red Jericho was published in 2005, followed by Operation Typhoon Shore in 2006, and Operation Storm City in 2008 (May 2009 in the USA).
Mowll's books are unusual for having extensive colour illustrations linked to proper novel length plots. The writer's experience as a graphic artist for one of the UK's national newspapers, The Mail on Sunday, is clearly evident, with an abundance of pullout illustrations, cutaway technical drawings, sketches and maps.
There are also many photographs of characters, artefacts and ephemera connected to the story; extensive side notes and appendices support the text. The production values are exceptionally high.
The Guild of Specialists trilogy is set in Asia in 1920 and follows the adventures of Becca and Doug MacKenzie hunting for clues to the mystery of why their parents went missing on a secret expedition to Sinkiang (Xinjiang) in the remote desert wastes of western China. It is very much Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown in genre, with secret societies, amazing weaponry and ripping-yarn villains.
Book 1: Operation Red Jericho
In 1920, the heroes of the story Rebecca and Doug MacKenzie, leave Shanghai aboard their uncle's ship Expedient, intent on discovering the whereabouts of their missing parents who have disappeared while on a secret mission to the deserts of Western China. Faced with terrifying bloodthirsty pirates, submarines and deadly torpedoes, their task quickly becomes a dangerous struggle to survive. Rebecca and Doug discover the answers they seek lie in a tangle of mysterious age-old societies guarding ancient secrets, and particularly a strange substance which lies at the heart of the mystery called Zoridium. Imprisoned on a pirate island off the China coast and facing certain death, they must find a way to escape if they are to continue their desperate quest.
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Wikipedia