Joseph Delaney Books In Order

Publication Order of The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Spook’s Stories Books

Publication Order of The Spook's Apprentice: Brother Wulf Books

Publication Order of The Starblade Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Arena 13 Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Aberrations Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Born in Preston, Lancashire, England on July 25, 1945, Joseph Delaney is the author of several renowned science fiction and fantasy novels. Such as, The Wardstone and Starblade Chronicles. He attended Preston Catholic College before working as an apprentice engineer and fitter. Studying A levels at night, Delaney earned entry into Lancaster University, whereby he eventually became an English teacher at the Blackpool Six Form College. It was at this College where Joseph Delaney helped start the Media and Film Studies Department.

As a child, Delaney had a re-occurring nightmare where he was sitting on the carpet and suddenly the room would be overtaken by a deep chill and a dark shadow-like figure would rise up from the coal cellar. It would pick him up and carry him back down to the cellar with it. This nightmare is the main muse for Joseph Delaney’s style and writing subject matter.

Delaney first wrote under the pseudonym J.K Haderack. It wasn’t until 2004, however, where he finally received international recognition as a novelist with The Wardstone Chronicles. Following this success, he retired from teaching and concentrated exclusively on writing. The series chronicles the adventures of the lead character Thomas J. Ward – the seventh son of a seventh son, apprenticed to become a ‘Spook’. Which, in Delaney’s definition, is a ‘master fighter of supernatural evil’. John Gregory is Ward’s mentor, teaching him how to take on ghosts, witches, ghasts and other creatures that serve ‘The Dark’.

The Starblade Chronicles are a trilogy which follow the continued life of Tom Ward. He has finished his apprenticeship and is now a full-fledged ‘Spook’. It’s difficult for the now 17 year-old Ward to win over trust in his community, his issues even more complicated by the 15 year-old Jenny pestering him to become his apprentice.

Delaney tells us ‘The Spook Battle’ is set in the Pendle District, of which he did a lot of research on accounts of the witch trials held in this area in 1612. Choosing to be as unique as possible with the story, Joseph created his own witch clans and Malkin Tower a very formidable fortress to be reckoned with.

To reading buffs and those familiar with Joseph Delaney’s work, The Chronicles series are quite often referred together as The Spook’s Series.

Joseph Delaney has averaged one novel per year with the Wardstone series. They have been published in 24 countries, with 3 novels being short-listed for the Lancashire Children’s Book for the Year Award. Having spent 7 weeks in the best seller charts, The Spook’s Apprentice was a great success for Delaney. It has sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

Finally released in theaters in 2015, The Spook’s Apprentice was featured in a film starring Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore entitled The Seventh Son. The film wasn’t incredibly well received by critics and audiences alike, most likely due to the large amount of differences between the details in the book and those in the film.

There have also been spin-off projects of Joseph Delaney’s work. Such as, his son Stephen Delaney adapting The Spook’s Apprentice into a 160-page play script. Also, The Spook’s Tale/Interception Point is a short story which was joined with Mark Walden’s Interception Point as a major aspect of an extraordinary distribution for World Book Day UK 2009.

Although not well-known, it is worth noting Joseph Delaney’s work under his pseudonym of J. K Haderack, such as Mysterious Erotic Tales. Which was published in 1996 within a short story compilation entitled Elvara Should Be Easy. Mercer’s Whore is another of Haderack’s works and while the storyline is unique to Delaney’s familiar writing style, there are elements which only Delaney himself could have conjured up within his darker fantasy mind.

Joseph Delaney is now 70 years old and even after more than a decade of being a widely published author he still continues to amaze us with his broad imagination. His fantastic mind seems to be an endless pit of fascinating places to see and adventures to go on. Still quite youthful in his mature years, Joseph Delaney has no intention of putting down his pen any time soon. This is great news for his fans across the globe. In fact, Joseph stated in a recent interview that he is usually working on two books at the same time.

Sipping red wine or gulping beer is one of Joseph Delaney’s favorite pastimes whenever he isn’t writing. Exploring new places and being near the sea are also experiences our featured author partakes in. He admits to reading a lot, and does, in fact, read a good amount of science fiction and fantasy. A big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and Frank Herbert, he is also enjoying making his way through Stephen Baxter’s books.

Joseph Delaney feels he has grown in confidence and self-belief over his 11 years of writing. His plots seem to just come to him, which is a gift very people are born with. His characters are developed through dialogue as they speak to him and other characters in his stories. Years ago, he wasn’t sure whether this would always work, but his work over the years has proven otherwise. He is now more certain as to what the outcome of a book will be.

While the author didn’t expect his series of books to do as well as they have done, he is, needless to say, quite pleased with what he has achieved within the science fiction and fantasy niche. Delaney says he certainly never expected his stories to be published in translation to thirty countries.

Deeply rooted in Lancashire’s rich folklore, mythology and geography, Joseph Delaney has quite a talent for intertwining real world locales, fantasy, horror and folklore into his stories. They come across as very inventive and fresh for science fiction and fantasy story lovers. Which isn’t an easy thing to do, considering the amount of science fiction and fantasy writers history has produced over the past few hundred years. His characters come alive through the pages, taking the reader right into the very world Mr. Delaney’s childhood nightmare took him so many years ago. And the nightmares and fantasies never seems to stop.

One Response to “Joseph Delaney”

1. Jess: 6 years ago

   In the Spooks Starblade Chronicles , The Dark Assassin , at the end do Alice and Tom get together when Alice is with the boggart.

   Reply