James L. Nelson

Author Information
James L. Nelson's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    27 Books (4 Series)
  • First Book:
    February 1997
  • Latest Book:
    June 2023
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Full Series List in Order

Brethren of the Coast

1 - The Guardship (Jan-2000)
2 - The Blackbirder (Feb-2001)
3 - The Pirate Round (Aug-2002)

A Novel of the Civil War at Sea

1 - Glory in the Name (Apr-2004)
2 - Thieves of Mercy (Apr-2005)

A Novel of Viking Age Ireland

1 - Fin Gall (Jan-2013)
2 - The Lord of Vik-Lo (Apr-2015)
3 - Dubh-Linn (Dec-2015)
4 - Glendalough Fair (Dec-2015)
5 - Night Wolf (Jul-2016)
6 - Raider's Wake (Oct-2017)

Revolution at Sea Saga

1 - By Force of Arms (Apr-1999)
2 - The Maddest Idea (Feb-1997)
3 - The Continental Risque (Aug-1998)
4 - Lords of the Ocean (Aug-1999)
5 - All the Brave Fellows (Jun-2000)

Book List in Order: 27 titles

  • The Maddest Idea

    Revolution at Sea Saga - 2

    Late summer, 1775. General George Washington discovers that his cache of gunpowder has dwindled to a mere nine shots per man. Desperate, he adopts the plan designed bg group of Rhode Island patriots--send a ship to Bermuda to capture British powder k...

  • The Continental Risque

    Revolution at Sea Saga - 3

    With the flash of cutlass and the roar of cannon fire, this sweeping saga of high-seas adventure continues -- as the revolutionaries' fight for freedom explodes into all-out war.... It's the winter of 1776, a gear that brings with it a fiery new spi...

  • By Force of Arms

    Revolution at Sea Saga - 1

    As the War of Independence begins in earnest, American merchant seamen prepare to strike the first blows. None strikes more deftly than Isaac Biddlecomb, captain of the Judea, whose smuggling activities are making a mockery of His Majesty’s Royal N...

  • Lords of the Ocean

    Revolution at Sea Saga - 4

    James L. Nelson's Isaac Biddlecomb series has brought to life a never-before-seen side of America's war for independence. With the expertise of a seasoned mariner, a historian's vivid attention to detail, and a natural gift for sensational storytelli...

  • The Guardship

    Brethren of the Coast - 1

    Shortly after Thomas Marlowe's arrival in Williamsburg, Virginia, all in that newfound capital city are speaking his name. With the bounty from his years as a pirate--a life he intends to renounce and keep forever secret--he purchases a fine plantati...

  • All the Brave Fellows

    Revolution at Sea Saga - 5

    It is 1777, the Year of the Hangman, and Captain Isaac Biddlecomb is bound for Philadelphia with his wife and child in the Continental brig Charlemagne. His orders are to take command of the newly built 20-gun frigate Falmouth and get her out to sea ...

  • The Blackbirder

    Brethren of the Coast - 2

    In the torrential wake of The Guardship comes the second in the Brethren of the Coast trilogy and the swashbuckling adventures of former pirate Thomas Marlowe. In a blind rage, King James, ex-slave and now Thomas Marlowe's comrade in arms, slaughter...

  • The Pirate Round

    Brethren of the Coast - 3

    In 1706, war still rages in Europe, and the tobacco planters of the Virginia colony's tidewater struggle against shrinking markets and pirates lurking off the coast. But American seafarers have found a new source of wealth: the Indian Ocean and ships...

  • Glory in the Name

    A Novel of the Civil War at Sea - 1

    April 12, 1861. With one jerk of a lanyard, one shell arching into the sky, years of tension exploded into civil war. And for those men who did not know in which direction their loyalty called them, it was a time for decisions. Such a one was Lieuten...



  • Only Life That Mattered

    Fed up with an outlaw existence, Calico Jack Rackam swears off the pirate life, until he meets Anne Bonny, a woman who would as soon stab a man as give him a good tumble -- that is, unless he's a pirate. Soon Jack finds himself out on the high seas, ...

  • Thieves of Mercy

    A Novel of the Civil War at Sea - 2

    Having survived the bloody Battle of New Orleans and the loss of their ironclad Yazoo River, captain Samuel Bowater, engineer Hieronymus Taylor, and the survivors of their crew are given new orders -- take command of an ironclad warship being built i...

  • With Fire and Sword

    A masterful new history of the first real battle of the Revolutionary War If Lexington and Concord was the shot heard around the world, then Bunker Hill was the volley that rocked Parliament and the ministry of George III. The Battle of Bunker Hil...

  • Fin Gall

    A Novel of Viking Age Ireland - 1

    852 A.D. For centuries, the Vikings have swept out of the Norse countries and fallen on England, Ireland, whatever lands they could reach aboard their longships, and few could resist the power of their violent onslaught. They came at first to plunder...

  • The Lord of Vik-Lo

    A Novel of Viking Age Ireland - 2

    Book III of the ongoing Norsemen Saga. In this riveting follow-up to Fin Gall and Dubh-linn, Thorgrim Night Wolf makes ready to leave the Viking town of Dubh-linn for the long journey back to his home in Norway. Having recovered from the wounds of ba...

  • The French Prize

    Acclaimed, award-winning author James L. Nelson returns to the world of sea and sail in The French Prize, a page-turning historical novel. Jack Biddlecomb has much to live up to, being as he is the eldest son of the esteemed Captain Isaac Biddleco...

  • Dubh-Linn

    A Novel of Viking Age Ireland - 3

    Coming in the wake of Fin Gall, Dubh-Linn continues the story of Thorgrim Night Wolf and his band of Viking warriors as they plunder the Irish coast. Eager to return to his native Norway, Thorgrim agrees to participate in one last raid under the comm...

  • Glendalough Fair

    A Novel of Viking Age Ireland - 4

    Spring has come to Ireland, where Thorgrim Night Wolf, new-made Lord of Vik-lo, and the three hundred Viking warriors under his command have suffered through a brutal winter. Despite having accomplished much during the months of cold and rain, the pa...

  • Night Wolf

    A Novel of Viking Age Ireland - 5

    With their ill-fated raid on the monastary at Glendalough torn apart by betrayal and defeat, Thorgrim Night Wolf and his handful of survivors from the crew of Sea Hammer find themselves in desperate and tenuous straights. Stranded far from the safety...

  • Full Fathom Five

    For fifteen years Caleb Hayes built and ran one of the most successful security firms in Los Angeles, catering to celebrities at the top of the A-list. Now, desperate for change, desperate to be free of the secret that tortures him, he has come back ...



  • Raider's Wake

    A Novel of Viking Age Ireland - 6

    After the treachery and slaughter they met during the raid on Glendalough, Thorgrim Night Wolf and his small band of surviving Northmen have returned to Vik-lo, where Thorgrim again sits as lord of the Viking longphort. But the Northmen are a restles...

  • Loch Garman

    Driven ashore on the coast of Ireland, their longships nearly wrecked by the gods who seem unwilling to let them leave, Thorgrim Night Wolf and his band of Northmen once again face a fight for their survival. Helpless without their ships, they must f...

  • A Vengeful Wind

    Summer comes to Ireland and an uneasy peace holds at Loch Garman. The Northmen, eager to get to sea, work relentlessly on their ships, with the aid of their unlikely allies, the Irish, who are just as eager to see them go. But not everyone is willing...

  • Kings and Pawns

    With their longships storm-blown to the southern coast of Engla-land, Thorgrim Night Wolf and his men find themselves rich with plunder and safely ensconced in a priory called Christchurch. But that cannot last. Thorgrim, in a wolf dream, has seen th...

  • The Midgard Serpent

    Thorgrim Night Wolf, now somewhere on the south coast of Engla-land, may be closer to his goal of returning home than he has been since reaching Ireland years before, but he is still very, very far away. His son Harald, however, has ambitions beyond ...

  • The Buccaneer Coast

    More than one hundred years after Columbus blundered onto Hispaniola, the West Indies are held in Spain's iron fist, and no threat to that absolute rule is tolerated. But such total control cannot last, not with the riches of an empire at stake, and ...

  • The Falmouth Frigate

    The year 1777 is bleak indeed for the cause of American Independence, with the British army twice defeating Washington and taking the capital city of Philadelphia and the Royal Navy sweeping aside the defenses of the Delaware Bay.And for Captain Isaa...

  • The Narrow Seas

    Thorgrim Night Wolf and his men, hunkered down behind their ad hoc defenses and facing off against the powerful army of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, must find some means to continue their voyage home. But Æthelwulf, too, is trapped, unable to...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

James L. Nelson has published 27 books.

James L. Nelson does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Narrow Seas, was published in June 2023.

The first book by James L. Nelson, The Maddest Idea, was published in February 1997.

Yes. James L. Nelson has 4 series.
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