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WORK TITLE: The War in the Dark
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Bath
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, journalist, television scriptwriter, reviewer, and magazine features editor. SFX (a British genre magazine), features editor. Reviewer for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Scriptwriter for television programs, including Spitting Image.
WRITINGS
Contributor to magazines, including Total Film.
SIDELIGHTS
Nick Setchfield is a writer, novelist, and editor in Bath, England. He is the features editor at the magazine SFX, the British genre publication that covers science fiction and fantasy films, television, and games. He also writes for other film magazines, including Total Film, and has served as a reviewer for the BBC. He has contributed scripts to the British comedy program Spitting Image, which featured lookalike puppets that satirize current political and social events.
The War in the Dark is Setchfield’s debut novel. It’s a Cold War-era spy thriller spiced up with demons and occult powers,” remarked a Publishers Weekly writer. The story begins in London in 1963, when global tensions are high and conflict with Russia is a perpetual worry. Protagonist Christopher Winter is an espionage agent working with British Intelligence. In the autumn, Winter has been assigned to kill a priest who is suspected of passing secrets to the Russians. Winter succeeds in finding and eliminating his target, but the assassination is anything but routine. When the priest is slain, he doesn’t simply fall down dead: he erupts into a swarm of insects, seemingly either full of, or transformed by death into, a cascade of vermin. At this moment, Winter realizes that he may have taken on more than he bargained for in this case.
Later in the story, Winter meets Karina, a mysterious woman with detailed knowledge of occult matters and highly developed fighting skills. Soon the pair are caught up in a caper that brings them into close contact with frightening supernatural beings, ruthless Nazi agents, and spies who have no concern for the lives of others.
“Setchfield knows his genre roots, cherry picking the juiciest elements from each of the genres present in the book to deliver a story that is equally thrilling as it is chilling,” commented a reviewer on the website Ginger Nuts of Horror. “The mix of supernatural menace and high adventure spy story is nicely balanced and will appeal to fans of both genres,” the Ginger Nuts of Horror website writer further stated. The author “stays true to his predecessors [in the crime and horror genres] in putting together a thrilling, macabre tale of espionage, reliquaries, and demonology,” remarked reviewer Doreen Sheridan, writing on the Frumious Consortium website.
Luke Marlowe, reviewing The War in the Dark on the website Bookbag, commented: “A mark of a good book is when eagerly turn the page to the conclusion but, about ten pages before, feel a slight wave of sadness, knowing that I’ll be leaving the characters and the world behind in a few short moments. That happened with The War in the Dark, and given just how good it is. I’m extremely hopeful that there’ll be more to follow.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2018, review of The War in the Dark, p. 78.
ONLINE
Bookbag, http://www.thebookbag.co.uk (August 10, 2018), Luke Marlowe, review of The War in the Dark.
Crime Fiction Lover, https://www.crimefictionlover.com/ (August 1, 2018), review of The War in the Dark.
Frumious Consortium, http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/ (July 17, 2018), Doreen Sheridan, review of The War in the Dark.
Ginger Nuts of Horror, http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/ (July 25, 2018), review of The War in the Dark.
Julie Crisp Literary Agency website, http://www.juliecrisp.co.uk/ (July 19, 2016), “Nick Setchfield Signs with the Agency.”
July 19, 2016
Nick Setchfield signs with the agency
Agenting, On writing
While I wait to hear back from editors about Sam Hawke's submission (yes, it really does take that long!) and other clients are busy reworking their scripts - I can announce that I've signed up a very exciting author to my list.
nicklatestpic.jpg
Nick Setchfield is the features editor at the UK's bestselling genre magazine SFX. For years I've been asking him to write a book and he finally sat down and did it. I think there was probably quite a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it but it was well worth it. Currently called The War in the Dark, it's a thriller set against the Cold War with a touch of the demonic about it. The novel reads like the love child of John le Carré and Susanna Clarke with a dash of Ian Fleming and a soupçon of Ben Aaronovitch.
With a main character that feels like a mix of James Bond and Indiana Jones, an incredibly strong female partner who could kick his ass and anyone else's into the middle of next week (who I, of course, just loved); and enough pace, action and tense plotting to keep the most demanding of thriller and genre readers engaged, this is a book that just kept me turning the pages voraciously.
The War in the Dark
Europe. 1963. And the true Cold War is fought on the borders of this world, at the edges of the light.
When the assassination of a traitor trading with the enemy goes terribly wrong, British Intelligence agent Christopher Winter must flee London. In a tense alliance with a lethal, mysterious woman named Karina Lazarov, he’s caught in a quest for hidden knowledge from centuries before, an occult secret written in the language of fire. A secret that will give supremacy to the nation that possesses it.
Racing against the Russians, the chase takes them from the demon-haunted Hungarian border to treasure-laden tunnels beneath Berlin, from an impossible house in Vienna to a bomb-blasted ruin in Bavaria where something unholy waits, born of the power of white fire and black glass . . .
It’s a world of treachery, blood and magic. A world at war in the dark.
Nick Setchfield is a writer and features editor for SFX, Britain’s best-selling magazine of genre entertainment in film, TV and books. A regular contributing writer to Total Film, he’s also been a movie reviewer for the BBC and a scriptwriter for ITV’s Spitting Image. Combining a lifelong love of spy thrillers, international adventure and occult weirdness, The War In The Dark is his first novel. He lives in Bath.
I'm absolutely thrilled to be representing Nick. I think he's a terrific writer with a fresh and sophisticated voice and I can't wait to start sending this out to editors.
Tagged: Nick Setchfield, SFX magazine, Genre, Thriller, John Le Carre, Susannah Clarke, James Bond, Ian Fleming
The War in the Dark
Publishers Weekly.
265.22 (May 28, 2018): p78+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The War in the Dark
Nick Setchfield. Titan, $14.95 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-78565-709-2
Setchfield's clunky debut is a Cold War-era spy thriller spiced up with demons and occult powers. Christopher Winter is an assassin for British Intelligence. When one of his assigned targets, a priest, declares himself "beyond flesh" and then erupts in a shower of insects, Winter finds himself dangerously in over his head. He is guided in occult matters by a mysterious woman, Karina, who fights with deadly grace, saves his life multiple times, and introduces him to her most secret contacts for no apparent reason except to propel the plot forward. Winter's adventures are meant to be dreamlike and horrifying, but they miss the mark, and his successes against foes more powerful and better informed seem farfetched, even when he has Karina's assistance. As he bounces from peril to peril, it becomes obvious that Karina is the more interesting character: she acts instead of passively reacting and uses her knowledge and skill to win the day while Winter bumbles along behind her. The writing is competent, but the novel as a whole is uninspiring, dragged down by a poor choice of protagonist. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The War in the Dark." Publishers Weekly, 28 May 2018, p. 78+. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541638816/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=85556bfa. Accessed 9 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A541638816
1 of 1 8/9/18, 12:07 AM
BOOK REVIEW: THE WAR IN THE DARK BY NICK SETCHFIELD
25/7/2018
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The genre mash-up has become a popular and competitive field in recent years, from the occult detective novels of Ben Aaronovitch to the cold war supernatural thrillers such as Rasputin's Bastards by David Nickle. When genre mashups are done correctly, the blurring of the genre lines can be hugely entertaining, but it is a blurring that can go wrong very quickly. Sometimes you are left with not just a pig's ear and no silk purse, you are also left with a complete pig's dinner of a novel.
Nick Setchfield's The War in the Dark, is the latest genre mash-up to hit the bookshelves. Mixing James Bond espionage and Lovecraftian nightmares with a Cold war Background, The War in The Dark is a satisfying read that thankfully more silk purse than Pig's ear.
Christopher Winter is a British Intelligence Agent, when what should have been a standard assassination of a traitor goes horribly wrong Winter is thrown into a world that he just does not understand, where eldritch forces and dark horrors beyond imagination are fighting for the pages of a book that could not only put an end to the Cold War but life as we know it on this small insignificant planet. On the run from both sides of the war with the mysterious Karina Lazarova as his only ally can Winter, can he survive this world of treachery, blood and magic and bring salvation to this plane of existence?
The War in the Dark can best be described as a rocket-fuelled rip-roaring read if you are looking for intrigue and high adventure then this is the book for you. Setchfield knows his genre roots, cherry picking the juiciest elements from each of the genres present in the book to deliver a story that is equally thrilling as it is chilling.
His sense of place is exceptional, The War in the Dark never suffers from feeling out of place with regards to its setting, as the sights, sounds and smells of the Cold War era are captured perfectly. His descriptions of this world could almost have been lifted straight out of a James Bond novel; such is their authenticity.
Setchfield also keeps the level of characterisation and insights into the characters themselves at just the right level, we end up not knowing everything about how or why the characters have become who they are, but we know enough about them to become invested in their story while not bogging the fast-paced narrative pace down with too much exposition. I'm sure we will get more insights into them with future volumes in this series, but for this novel, this area of the story works well.
This is Winters story when we are first introduced to the character he is a suave, confident man who is apparently in complete control of his world, but when his life is turned upside down, he quickly loses much of this confidence and becomes like a fish out of water. It's Karina Lazarova who becomes more like your typical adventure hero, with Winter almost taking up the role of the sidekick. This is perhaps one of the most enjoyable elements of the book, Setchfield turns the tables on practically every other book written about or written in that era with regards to the super cool secret agent. Having Karina as the driving force is a refreshing change to typical damsel in distress or eye candy love interest role that some many female characters are resigned to in these types of books.
The mix of supernatural menace and high adventure spy story is nicely balanced and will appeal to fans of both genres. Setchfield has some excellent concepts and creatures on display in this story, which ensures that the story is kept fresh and doesn't feel like we have read this all before, or have become jaded with coming face to face with the same old denizens of the netherworlds.
The War in Dark may sound like your typical genre clash novel, but Setchfields crisp writing and fresh takes on some genre stable tropes lifts this book above the many others of its Ilk, a thrilling rollercoaster of a novel that is just screaming out for a big screen adaptation.
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The War in the Dark
August 1, 2018
Written by RoughJustice
Published in Kindle, Print, Reviews
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Written by Nick Setchfield — Christopher Winter works for British Intelligence, and although he’s a spy, his talents lie more in removing threats to the state than tradecraft or espionage; he is somewhat of a blunt instrument.
It is London, in the autumn of 1963 and Winter’s job is to kill a priest suspected of leaking secrets to the Russians. The hit takes place, but Winter is left shaken. Upon his death, the priest seems to dissolve into a flood of insects, and later Winter discovers his spotter dead in the back of his car. All around him, people’s faces seem to be changing, and some have no face at all. Could the strain of his job be getting to him, or is Winter going to be forced to question everything he’s ever believed in?
At an evening debrief in a derelict building by his superior, Malcolm Hands, Winter learns the truth. Communism, he is told, doesn’t represent the greatest peril to the United Kingdom. There exists a second cold war, in which men and women of all nationalities are united against an otherworldly, or supernatural, threat and this cold war is getting hotter.
It’s a cracking start, and before I knew it I was 50 pages in to the book. A lot of writers who attempt to blend fantasy or horror elements with crime don’t hit the right mix. Either the crime elements seem hackneyed or the fantasy elements don’t convince, but debut author Nick Setchfield seems equally at home with either. The sense of Winter as a spy who is deprived of crucial knowledge – either by accident or design – and always a step behind events, had me purring, and the atmosphere of dread played perfectly to the horror fan in me.
Hand’s murder, which Winter is just too late to prevent, marks the end of the introductory part of the novel and the main narrative begins. Winter’s first stop is Vienna. Information from a dead drop possibly implicates Emil Harzner, a German with a sordid history in the Nazi party who currently runs a plastics factory. When he arrives in town Winter discovers another British agent, Griggs, already has the target under surveillance. Comparing notes, the pair guess that Harzner is a trader of political information, and as more agents from foreign powers arrive in the city, Winter and Griggs feel compelled to take a deadly gamble. Harzner must possess vital information that other countries are going to bid for. Britain must have a seat at the table, and without an invitation, Winter and Griggs will have to bluff their way in.
From here on in, the fantasy elements dominate as Winter, with the aid of Harzner’s beautiful Russian assistant, chases across the continent in search of a key (in the form of a book of magic) which will allow beings from another dimension to enter our world. There is still a strong element of crime fiction, but this feels less a spy novel that, say, LeCarre or Charles Cummings would write, and more of a thriller. John Buchan’s classic The Thirty-Nine Steps comes repeatedly to mind, and while The War in the Dark might not be affectionately 100 years from now, it is a very enjoyable diversion.
It is the nature of the occult that things are not as they seem, and the author has a sting in the tail for his put-upon protagonist. If there is a sequel, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Titan Books
Print/Kindle
£4.31
The War In The Dark by Nick Setchfield
By Doreen Sheridan in Doreen, Horror, Thriller
I cannot get over how stunning that cover is.
Anyway! This is a really cool mash-up of old school James Bond and what I feel is best described as Lovecraftian horror, with demons and cultists and sorcerers galore. It is 1963, and British Intelligence agent Christopher Winter is set to complete the assassination of a traitor, a priest named Father Costigan. Winter feels a bit badly about going after a man of the cloth, then doesn’t know how to feel when the priest turns into a flesh bag of murderous insects. Winter’s echo man (which is a term I’d never heard before for cleaner — I learn a new thing every day) goes missing and the next thing he knows, Winter is being hauled in for a debriefing that seems to involve a lot of drugs. Winter’s life very rapidly goes to shit, and he’s soon run away to Vienna, pursuing the only lead he has to the nightmare his life has become: the name of a broker in the occult, as well as a national secret that is his only currency in his search for answers.
In Vienna he meets the deadly and self-contained Karina Lazarova, whom he discovers is more than just a double agent. They wind up going on the run together, evading capture by both sides as they strive to collect all the pieces of a book written in a language of fire that could hold the key to not only ending the Cold War but, if they’re not careful, all life as they know it.
So here’s the thing with both the works of Fleming and Lovecraft: the characterization isn’t the greatest. Nick Setchfield stays true to his predecessors in putting together a thrilling, macabre tale of espionage, reliquaries and demonology, but I couldn’t help feeling as if our characters had only the barest traces of personality, and then usually in relation to a loved one (e.g. Winter with Joyce, Malcolm with Tobias.) Defining a character by their external relationships is fine, but I really wanted more interior life. Why, for example, had Tobias and Karina become the persons they were? Oh, sure, we had a brief sketch of Karina’s background, but why was she so willing to let Winter go with her? It’s a little weird when the most understandable characters on the page are a near-cadaver (Kelly) and a soulless killing machine (the Widow.) I literally had no idea what drove Malcolm or Karina to do the things they did. That said, I was pleasantly surprised at Malykh’s reasoning: even if it was wrong/flawed, it was still very consistent for that character.
This was a really fun concept novel that fell short — perhaps deliberately given its source material — on characterization. It had as many cool occult twists as it did spy thrills, and it’s pretty great to go along with Winter as he slowly unravels the web of deceit that’s been spun around him. I’d love to read more novels set in this world and am honestly rather surprised that I’ve never encountered anything like this before.
(Edited to add that yes, I have read and love Charles Stross but the few stories I’ve enjoyed were more FBI than CIA, so clearly, I need to read more of his work!)
The Frumious Consortium is participating in a book tour for The War In The Dark, so stay tuned for our author interview on the 25th! In the meantime, check out some of the other tour dates in the infographic to the right.
Doreen, Horror, Nick Setchfield, Thriller
Doreen Sheridan
Professional book critic, amateur housewife, full-time polymath. I like a good story.
he War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield
The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield
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Buy The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: Luke Marlowe
Reviewed by Luke Marlowe
Summary: A gritty mix of James Bond with Supernatural elements, The War in the Dark expertly genre hops to create a gripping, thrilling and hugely readable adventure – one that blends the real with the fantastical in such brilliant style that I'm hopeful this is the first of a series.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 416 Date: July 2018
Publisher: Titan Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1785657092
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Europe – 1963. The world is used to the constant tensions between the West and Russia, with the Cold War a seemingly never ending threat in the lives of everyday people. What they don't know however, is that the real cold war is fought on the borders of this world, far from prying eyes at the edges of the light. British Intelligence agent Christopher Winter is forced to flee London when an assassination attempt goes horribly wrong, and is forced into a tense, unwelcome alliance with the lethal Karina Lazarova. As the threats rise, Christopher finds himself caught in a quest for centuries old hidden knowledge – an occult secret that will give instant supremacy to whichever nation possesses it. Racing against the enemy, Christopher is taken from ruins in Bavaria through to the haunted Hungarian border, all in search of something unholy – born of the power of white fire and black glass. It's a world of treachery, blood and magic. A world at war in the dark.
Take James Bond. Not the campy, bewigged later Sean Connery Bond, or the jovial, jokey Roger Moore Bond, but the grim, determined Bond that we saw appear in Dr No, From Russia with Love, and the more recent Casino Royale. Take that tense cold war setting – a climate so primed to explode that the merest spark could light everything into flames in an instant. Tense enough? Well, why not throw some demons into the mix…
Author Nick Setchfield is a writer and feature editor for SFX magazine – Britain's best selling magazine of genre entertainment in film, TV and books. He's also a contributing writer to Total Film, and a movie reviewer for the BBC – so, in short, a man who knows his genres. That's why, in The War in the Dark he's able to blend those genres so incredibly well – the lovechild of John le Carré and Stephen King is not necessarily something I want to picture – but it's exactly what Setchfield appears to be, with his carefully studied dedication to both the spy and supernatural genres blending expertly with a fantastically paced plot and some truly superb bits of writing.
I can't describe quite how well Setchfield's moments of the supernatural blend with the cold war setting – it's an extremely clever choice, and allows Setchfield to easily turn up the tension, with a base of deceit, espionage and potential destruction already established underneath his characters. Those characters are well drawn – with Christopher Winter an excellent combination of suave spy and flawed human, and Karina Larzarova a strong, powerful force – no mere window dressing as often happens in spy novels, but a plausible, readable character who both the reader and Christopher Winter would be stupid to underestimate. One thing often overlooked in spy novels can be settings – with the characters jetting from one vaguely non-descript setting to another. Here Setchfield is careful to craft his settings distinctly – and in particular his Berlin really stood out to me as almost a character in its own right – damaged, wounded and trying to recover.
A mark of a good book is when eagerly turn the page to the conclusion but, about ten pages before, feel a slight wave of sadness, knowing that I'll be leaving the characters and the world behind in a few short moments. That happened with The War in the Dark, and given just how good it is I'm extremely hopeful that there'll be more to follow – Nick Setchfield is a very talented man and I'm keen to revisit Christopher, Karina and the dark demons that surround them, as soon as I can…
Many thanks to the publishers for the copy, and for further reading I recommend Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell for another read that blends the supernatural with the mundane to compelling, gripping and hugely readable effect.
Buy The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield at Amazon.co.uk
Buy The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield at Amazon.com.
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