Jonathan L. Howard is a British writer and game designer, known mainly for his novels about
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. He lives with his wife and daughter near Bristol.
Work
Howard worked as scriptwriter and video game writer since the early 1990s, and co-wrote the ''
Broken Sword'' series of games, among others. He came to readers' attention with his series of
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
novels about the necromancer Johannes Cabal.
Other works include the ''Russalka Chronicles'', a series of
young adult
In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...
submarine warfare
Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions of underwater warfare, the others being anti-submarine warfare, Naval mine, mine warfare and Naval mine, mine countermeasures.
Submarine warfare consists primarily of Diesel engine, diesel and nu ...
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
novels. Set on the
ocean planet
An ocean world, ocean planet or water world is a type of planet or natural satellite that contains a substantial amount of water in the form of oceans, as part of its hydrosphere, either beneath the planetary surface, surface, as subsurface ...
Russalka, named after the
mythical mermaid by its Russian colonists, they follow young civilian submariner Katya Kuriakova as she lives through a time of increasing conflict between the colonists' two main factions and the remnants of a failed Terran invasion. The first novel, ''Katya's World'' (2012) was well received by critics, with ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' noting its "strong cast and a believable sense of danger", and ''
io9
''io9'' is a sub-blog of the technology blog ''Gizmodo'' that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under ...
'' highlighting that, unusually for young-adult fiction, the novel featured a broad cast of competent adult supporting characters and refrained from giving the protagonist a romantic interest.
Bibliography
;The ''Johannes Cabal'' series
*Novels:
:*''
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer'', 2009
:*''
Johannes Cabal the Detective'', 2010
:*''Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute'', 2011
:*''The Brothers Cabal'', 2014
:*''Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day: And Other Tales of the Necromancer'', 2015 (collection)
:*''The Fall of The House of Cabal'', 2016
*Short fiction (included in the 2015 collection):
:*"Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day," 2004
:*"Exeunt Demon King," 2006
:*"The Ereshkigal Working," 2011
:*"The House of Gears," 2011
:*"The Death of Me," 2013
:*"Ouroboros Ouzo", 2014
:*"A Long Spoon", 2014
* Short story (title unknown) in the ''Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers'' anthology (February 2025)
;The ''Russalka Chronicles'' novels
:*''Katya's World'', 2012
:*''Katya's War'', 2013
Carter & Lovecraft Series
:*''Carter & Lovecraft'', 2015
:*''After the End of the World'', 2017
; Standalone novels
:* ''The Shadow on the Glass (Call of Cthulhu)'', 2024
;Short story collections
:*''Kyth the Taker'', 2017
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Jonathan L.
Writers from Bristol
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)