Kiwi authors’soon-to-be-released novel captures the zeitgeist of a troubled era
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The New Zealand father-and-son writing team Lance and James Morcan, authors of some 35 published fiction and non-fiction books, today announced the likely release date for their next co-authored novel Anno 2021.
An international action-thriller, its planned pre-Christmas (early December) release follows James Morcan’s successful adaptation of his first solo-authored novel, Anno 2020, to a feature film screenplay and subsequent new-release movie.
The younger Morcan, who is also an actor and director, acted in and directed the Australian-produced movie, which celebrated its world premiere at a red-carpet screening in Sydney last month.
“Anno 2020 is a mystery-drama whereas this novel (Anno 2021) is more of an action-thriller,” said Sydney-based James.
“Their common theme is that both cover the dramas experienced by individuals around the world caught up in the COVID lockdowns of those two unforgettable years, and they capture the zeitgeist of this troubled era as society gets ever more fractured.
“They are both controversial as we, the writers, don’t shy away from covering the contentious issues that divided nations during those years.
“Like the earlier novel, which was set in 17 different destinations on four continents, Anno 2021 will be truly global with a vignette of storylines and characters based in America, England, South Africa, Tahiti and New Zealand.”
Papamoa-based novelist-screenwriter Lance Morcan, who is also Story Consultant and Associate Producer on Anno 2020 the movie, said he and son James were already thinking about the screenplay adaptation of Anno 2021 while they undertook final editing of the novel.
“We are no strangers to this process,” said Lance. “We’ve adapted several of our co-authored novels to feature film screenplays and these are in early development with known and mainly American actors attached in some cases.”
As novelists, the Morcans are best known for their bestselling thrillers The Ninth Orphan and Silent Fear, and for their historical adventure novels White Spirit, Into the Americas and Fiji; their non-fiction books include Genius Intelligence, The Catcher in the Rye Enigma and Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories, which have all been regular visitors to Amazon’s bestseller lists.
Their books all appear under the banner of New Zealand publisher Sterling Gate Books and are currently exclusive to Amazon.
Link to Morcan film projects:
