Joshua Mowll (born 1970) 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 Guild of Specialists trilogy outline

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 Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

won the auction and '' Operation Red Jericho'' was published in 2005, followed by '' Operation Typhoon Shore'' in 2006, and ''

Operation Storm City Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

'' 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 ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

, is evinced by 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.

Summary

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 Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

) 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.

The books

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 that 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. Book 2: '' Operation Typhoon Shore''''.'' The second book is separated from the first by only a few days. Becca and Doug's journey continues, but now the stakes are even higher than before. Their uncle's ship ''Expedient'', partially wrecked during the battle with the pirate Sheng-Fat in Operation Red Jericho, battles through a typhoon to pursue the evil Julius Pembleton-Crozier who has taken over an archipelago of islands in the Celebes Sea. He and his confederates have and built an extremely dangerous machine there powered by the strange substance zoridium, and they must be stopped. A new array of deadly enemies and challenges face Becca and Doug. Vital clues to past and present must be found which will lead them to their ultimate goal – to discover the whereabouts of their parents. Book 3: ''

'' Operation Storm City is the final installment of the trilogy. From

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to the desert wastes of China, Becca and Doug must follow every clue and scrap of information discovered so far in their adventures to guide them to the truth about their missing parents. Old friends join them in new alliances, for Becca and Doug know now that they must find Ur-Can, the fabled machine at the very heart of the story, which is hidden deep in the

Taklamakan Desert The Taklamakan Desert ( ) is a desert in northwest China's Xinjiang region. Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang, it is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the ...

– the so-called 'Desert of Death'. They now know Ur-Can holds the answers they seek, as it was the destination of their parents' lost expedition. But Ur-Can has fallen into the hands of a mad Russian general intent on using the machine's colossal power for his own evil ends. Becca and Doug are tested beyond anything they have so far endured in the trilogy as they try to conclude their grueling quest. Awards On publication Operation Red Jericho won the prestigious Poppy Red Award for Innovation in Children's Books at the British Book Trade Awards, (2006). Operation Typhoon Shore was listed one of the UK Government's 160 recommended reads for teenage boys in 2007.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, London 16.05.07 The books were well received, with Operation Red Jericho being the

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

Children's Book of the Week during September 2005.

The Guild of Specialists trilogy reviews

“This is not just an adventure story; it is a designer object..." Sunday Times, London 25.09.05 “Mowll's genius, though, is in his clever mixing of old and new storytelling devices, and a clear and intelligent voice that should appeal to both girls and boys..."

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

, Hong Kong 28/08/05 “...hypnotically packed with detail... "

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

, London 09.12.06 “...beware of the cheap imitations it will undoubtedly spawn."

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, London 12.11.05 “Makes an Indiana Jones adventure look half asleep" The Ultimate Teen Book Guide “A cracking adventure... Crammed with maps, blueprints and illustrations."

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddes ...

, London “A fascinating and witty mixture of factual and fictional detail which will have any half-awake child revisiting it time and again."

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

, Scotland “Presented as a mock journal with maps and diagrams, this is an intriguing debut set in Twenties Shanghai."

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

, London

International publication

The books have been published in over 20 countries worldwide. In June 2004 it was reported in Publishing News that

had notched up its highest-ever rights sale in a fiercely contested auction for Japanese rights to Operation Red Jericho. The book was sold to Sony Magazines Inc for an undisclosed six-figure sum. Many of the foreign editions of the trilogy have kept with the design and illustrative content of the original, although in France the trilogy has been published by

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, second wife of Camille Flammarion * Sylvie Flammarion (1836-1919), French feminist and paci ...

under alternative titles: Les aventuriers du cercle, Tome 1 : Opération Zoridium Les aventuriers du cercle, Tome 2 : Opération Typhon Les aventuriers du cercle, Tome 3 : Opération Désert de la mort

Post-Guild of Specialists work

Mowll's first book following his Guild of Specialists trilogy, called ''The Great Space Race'', was published in the UK on 2 August 2010. It is unrelated to '' The Guild of Specialists trilogy'', and follows a family trying to regain their fortune by landing a rocket on the Moon. In 2014, Mowll's fifth book, ''Beautiful Titan'' was made available through Amazon Kindle.

References

External links

Author's blogOfficial UK publisher's page on authorOfficial US publisher's page on authorOfficial French publisher's page on author
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mowll, Joshua British children's writers Living people 1970 births