Sean Russell

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Sean Thomas Russell (* 1952 in Toronto , Ontario ) is a Canadian fantasy author and writer of historical sea ​​novels .

Life

At the age of three, Russell and his family moved to what was then a rural suburb of the city, where they lived in a shack on the shores of Lake Ontario . Life on the coast awakened his love for water, which is evident in many of his books. In his childhood he was fascinated by the adventure novels by Mark Twain . At the age of 10, he decided to become a writer. However, he came to fantasy much later, inspired mainly by reading JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings . After completing his studies, he first moved to Vancouver and two years later to Vancouver Island , where he still lives with his family today. He wrote his first novel in 1991 and has since made a name for himself as an author of sophisticated fantasy.

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Barbarians (Initiate Brother)

  • Vol. 1: The Initiate Brother , 1991
Volume 1: Der Erleuchtete , Heyne, 2000, ISBN 3-453-16235-8
  • Vol. 2: Gatherer of Clouds , 1992
Volume 2: Wolkensammler , Heyne, 2001, ISBN 3-453-17901-3
Volume 3: Der goldene Khan , Heyne, 2001, ISBN 3-453-18804-7

Tristam Flattery (Moontide and Magic Rise)

  • Vol. 1: World Without End , 1994
Volume 1: World without End , Bastei-Lübbe, 2001, ISBN 3-404-20405-0
  • Vol. 2: Sea Without a Shore , 1996
Volume 2: Sea without Shores , Bastei-Lübbe, 2001, ISBN 3-404-20410-7

The River into Darkness

  • Vol. 1: Beneath the Vaulted Hills , 1997
Volume 1: The Empire under the Hills , Ullstein, 2001, ISBN 3-548-25160-9
  • Vol. 2: The Compass of the Soul , 1998
Volume 2: Der Seelenkompaß , Ullstein, 2002, ISBN 3-548-25313-X ( planned but not published )
  • Vol. 1-2: The River into Darkness , 1998

Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner

These novels were written by Sean Russell with Ian Dennis and published under the common pseudonym TF Banks.

  • Vol. 1: The Thief Taker , 2001
  • Vol. 2: The Emperor's Assassin , 2003

The Lost Kingdom (Swans' War)

  • Vol. 1: The One Kingdom , 2001
Volume 1: Nachtvogel , Heyne, 2003, ISBN 3-453-87200-2
Volume 1: Nachtvogel , Heyne, 2006, ISBN 3-453-53244-9
Volume 1: The Swan War , Ullstein, 2001, ISBN 3-550-08339-4 ( planned but not published )
  • Vol. 2: The Isle of Battle , 2002
Volume 2: Goldvogel , Heyne, 2004, ISBN 3-453-87792-6
Volume 2: Goldvogel , Heyne, 2006, ISBN 3-453-53243-0
  • Vol. 3: The Shadow Roads , 2004
Volume 3: Sturmvogel , Heyne, 2005, ISBN 3-453-53067-5 ( planned but not published )
Volume 3: Sturmvogel , Heyne, 2006, ISBN 3-453-53245-7

Themis series

The historical sea novels are set in the years 1793/94, that is, in the years after the French Revolution of 1789. Robespierre's reign of terror is discussed, as is the welfare committee and the bloody revolutionary tribunals . The military clashes between France and England take place during the First Coalition War .

The main character of the sea novels is Charles Hayden, who begins his career as first lieutenant on board the English frigate "HMS Themis".

Russell writes very convincingly in the tradition of classic sea novels by authors such as CS Forester (Horatio Hornblower series) and Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey Maturin series about British naval officer Jack Aubrey and Irish-Catalan ship's doctor Stephen Maturin).

Volume 1: Under enemy flag , Bastei Lübbe, 2011, transl. H. Hanowell, ISBN 978-3-404160419 (Original: Under Enemy Colors (2007))
Volume 2: The Last Escort , Bastei Lübbe, 2012, transl. H. Hanowell, ISBN 978-3-404166510 (Original: A Battle Won (2010))
Volume 3: Zu feindlichen Ufern , Bastei Lübbe, 2013, transl. H. Hanowell, ISBN 978-3-404168491 (Original: A Ship of War (2012) - or Take, Burn or Destroy (2013 US title))
Volume 4: Gegen den Wind , Bastei Lübbe, 2015, transl. H. Hanowell, ISBN 978-3-404171354 (Original: Until the Sea Shall Give up Her Dead (2014))

In 1793 Charles Hayden - he has a Breton mother and an English father - becomes a lieutenant on the frigate "HMS Themis" and serves under Captain Josiah Hart, a tough and ruthless but ultimately cowardly officer in the Royal Navy. While the "Themis" has to stand up to enemy ships, Hayden gets caught between the fronts of a mutinous crew and their brutal, inconsiderate captain.

From the winter of 1793, after Captain Hart was recalled, Hayden was the deputy captain of the "HMS Themis" and was given the task of escorting a supply convoy into the Mediterranean.

In the spring of 1794, Hayden's assignment was to contact a British spy in Le Havre who was aware of the French army's plans to invade. Hayden and his crew of the "Themis" are taken prisoner and have to fend for themselves in enemy territory. A race against time begins.

In the last volume of the "Themis series", the mission takes the "HMS Themis" to the Caribbean to fight the enemy there. On the way, the "Themis" picks up Spanish shipwrecked people who are becoming more important than meets the eye.

In the "Themis series" the reader encounters a fixed circle of main characters from the officers' mess, including Captain Charles Hayden, the lieutenant of the Marines Hawthorne, the ship's doctor Griffiths, the first lieutenant Archer and the midshipman Wickham. The love affair between Hayden and Henrietta runs through several volumes. Russell knows how to develop these characters and how to portray them with their idiosyncrasies in a complex way.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. the description of the fictional "Themis" on Russell's website http://www.sthomasrussell.com/themis01.htm
  2. ↑ cf. the table of contents and review on Histo-Couch http://www.histo-couch.de/sean-thomas-russell-unter-feindlicher-flagge.html
  3. ↑ cf. the table of contents and review on Histo-Couch http://www.histo-couch.de/sean-thomas-russell-die-letzt-eskorte.html
  4. ↑ cf. the table of contents and review on Histo-Couch http://www.histo-couch.de/sean-thomas-russell-zu-feindlichen-ufern.html
  5. ↑ cf. the table of contents and review on Histo-Couch http://www.histo-couch.de/sean-thomas-russell-gegen-den-wind.html

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Russell, Sean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Russell, Sean Thomas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian fantasy author
DATE OF BIRTH 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Toronto , Ontario