Mark Barrowcliffe (born 14 July 1964), also known as M.D. Lachlan and Mark Alder, is an English writer.

Career

Barrowcliffe wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"M.D. Lachlan" for the Wolfsangel series, which began with ''

Wolfsangel (, translation "wolf's hook") or () is a heraldic charge from mainly Germany and eastern France, which was inspired by medieval European wolf traps that consisted of a Z-shaped metal hook (called the ''Wolfsangel'', or the ''crampon'' in F ...

'' in 2010 and continued to '' Lord of Slaughter'' in 2012. A fourth novel in the series, " Valkyrie's Song", is in progress. He was drawn to fantasy after penning '' The Elfish Gene''. In 2013, Barrowcliffe began a new series, 'The Banners of Blood', under another pseudonym "Mark Alder", with the first book titled ''Son of the Morning''.

Early life

He was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

and studied at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. After graduating, Barrowcliffe worked as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

before penning his first novel, '' Girlfriend 44''. He then made a name for himself writing "

lad lit Lad lit was a term used principally from the 1990s to the early 2010s to describe male-authored popular novels about young men and their emotional and personal lives. Emerging as part of Britain's 1990s media-driven Lad culture, ''lad'' subcultu ...

". He currently lives and writes in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, and

South Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 162,119 at the 2021 census. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambri ...

with his son, James, and daughter, Tabitha. Barrowcliffe felt that, as he was growing up, he kept his distance from girls and "cool kids", and he turned his attention to the role-playing game

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

. His experiences as a child are detailed in his

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, ''The Elfish Gene''.

Bibliography

The Wolfsangel series

*''

'' (2010, as M.D. Lachlan) *'' Fenrir'' (2011, as M.D. Lachlan) *'' Lord of Slaughter'' (2012, as M.D. Lachlan) *'' Valkyrie's Song'' (2015, as M.D. Lachlan) *'' The Night Lies Bleeding'' (2018, as M.D. Lachlan)

The Banners of Blood series

*''Son of the Morning'' (2014, as Mark Alder) *''Son of the Night'' (2017, as Mark Alder)

Stand-alone works

*'' Girlfriend 44'' (2000) *'' Infidelity for First-Time Fathers'' (2002) *'' Lucky Dog'' (2004) *'' The Elfish Gene'' (2007) *'' Mr. Wrong'' (2008) *'' Celestial'' (2022, as M.D. Lachlan)

Adaptations of his works

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

has secured the film rights for Barrowcliffe's novel ''Girlfriend 44'', and ''Infidelity for First-Time Fathers'' is in development with

2929 Entertainment 2929 Entertainment, LLC. is an American integrated media and entertainment company co-founded by billionaire entrepreneurs Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. 2929 maintains companies and interests across several industries including entertainment develo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrowcliffe, Mark 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English memoirists 1964 births Living people English male novelists English male non-fiction writers Dungeons & Dragons Alumni of the University of Sussex