James Grady (author)

James Grady (author)
James Grady (born April 30, 1949) is an American writer and investigative journalist known for his thriller novels on espionage, intrigue, and police procedurals, as well as his screenwriting work for TV shows with Stephen J. Cannell and film work with Brandon Lee, William Katt and David Hasslehoff. Grady’s edited fiction anthologies, published numerous short stories and poems. In 2008, London’s Daily Telegraph named Grady as one of “50 crime writers to read before you die.” In 2015, The Washington Post compared his prose to George Orwell and Bob Dylan..
Early life
Grady’s mother Donna J. Grady’s Martin family settled northern Montana in 1884. Her father was a cowboy and card dealer for Shelby, MT saloons.
Grady’s father Thomas W. Grady’s family were homesteaders.
Until Grady was near 17, his father managed the Roxy movie theater in Shelby.
Grady claims the sixth month period during his Junior year of high school when his father was out of work as being crucial to his development. His mother then became a Toole County (Shelby) Assistant Librarian.
As a Teenage Republican, Grady was the youngest member of the 1964 Republican Party State Convention’s Platform Committee.
He was the worst player on his high school football team.
His first creative writing success was authoring his high school senior class 1967 play.
Grady graduated from the University Of Montana School of Journalism in 1972, though he technically finished university studies in 1971. He studied with poet Richard Hugo and was a Sears Congressional Journalism Intern from Jan. to April, 1971, assigned to the D.C. staff of U.S. Senator Lee Metcalf (D-MT). He was the movie reviewer for the university student newspaper The Kaimin.
Grady received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Montana in 2005.
Grady lovingly credits his four college summers working on his hometown Shelby, MT’s city road, water and sewer crew with both letting him pay his own way through university and increasing the scope and depth of his education.
Career
In 1971, Grady worked as a Research Analyst and committee aide for the Montana Constitutional Convention, which adopted a renewed state Constitution in 1972. He received a Fellowship to spend 1974 on the staff of U.S. Sen. Lee Metcalf (D-MT). From 1975 to mid-1980, during the post-Watergate era, he worked with muckraking investigative journalist Jack Anderson.
Grady is the author of the 1974 espionage thriller novel Six Days of the Condor, which was famously adapted to film as Three Days of the Condor (1975), starring Robert Redford and directed by Sydney Pollack.
Grady has contributed journalism to Slate, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, American Film, The New Republic, Sport, Parade, Perfect 10, The Great Falls (Montana) Tribune, The Shelby (Montana) Promoter, The Daily Missoulian (Montana), PoliticsDaily.com and the Journal of Asian Martial Arts.
Grady is a member of the Writers Guild of America, East.
Personal life
Grady married Bonnie Goldstein in 1985. He is the stepfather of Rachel Grady, director of the documentary Jesus Camp. He is the father of Nathan Grady.
Works
Novels
Six Days of the Condor (1974)
The Great Pebble Affair (1975) [as Brit Shelby
Shadow of the Condor (1976)
Catch the Wind (1980)
Runner in the Street (1984)
Hard Bargains (1985)
Razor Game (1985)
Just a Shot Away (1987)
Steeltown (1989)
River of Darkness (1991,reissued as The Nature of the Game)
Thunder (1994)
White Flame (1996)
City of Shadows (2000) [as James Dalton]
Mad Dogs (2006)
Last Days of the Condor (2015)
This Train (2022)
Unusual Suspects (1996) anthology editor
Montana Noir (2017) anthology co-editor w/Keir Graff
Short stories
· “The Train” (Regardie’s Magazine -- First Place fiction award 1988)
· “The Devil’s Playground” (tribute, Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe –1988)
· “The Arranger” (Regardie’s Magazine – 2nd Place fiction award 1991)
· “OMJAGOD” (Murder For Halloween – 1994)
· "The Championship Of Nowhere" (Best American Mystery Stories 2002)
· "Kiss The Sky" (Unusual Suspects – 1996 & D.C. Noir 2: The Classics – 2008. A fund raiser for Share Our Strength)
· “condor.net” (Perfect 10 Magazine 2005)
· “Broken Heroes” (Perfect 10 Magazine 2006)
· “The Bottom Line” (D.C. Noir – 2006)
· “What’s Going On: A Political Fiction In Nine Episodes” (Politics.Daily.com – 2009)
· “Border Town” (Son Of Retro Pulp Tales – 2009)
· “The Big Time” (Bad Cop, No Donut – 2010)
· “Dark Stalkings” (The Dark End Of The Street – 2010)
· “Destiny City” – (Best American Mystery Stories 2011)
· “The Mansion Of Imperatives” (Home Improvement Undead Edition 2011)
· “This Given Sky” (Kindle novella about Montana -- Open Roads Media – 2011)
· “Falling Into Forever” (Bethesda Magazine 2011)
· “We’ve Got To Stop” (SOL English Writing In Mexico – 2012)
· “The Ride You’ve Got” (To Hell In A Fast Car 2012)
· The Fires Of Forever” (Phnom Penh Noir 2012)
· “The Giggler” (The Washington Post – 2013)
· “Hometown Sun” (The Strand Magazine 2013)
· “Thunder Road” (Trouble In The Heartland – Bruce Springsteen tribute – 2014)
· “PAT In Love & War & Soccer” (Explosions – funding Mines Advisory Group -- 2014)
· “You’re Worth It” – as Nick Russell – (Explosions – funding MAG – 2014)
· “Caged Daze Of The Condor” (Red Bulletin – 2014)
· “Next Day Of The Condor” (No Exit Press – 2015)
· “Condor In The Stacks” (The Mysterious Bookshop – 2015)
· “Jasmine Daze Of The Condor” (Playboy – 2017)
· “The Road You Take” (Montana Noir anthology – 2017)
· “Ring Of Fire” (Just To Watch Them Die – Johnny Cash tribute – 2017)
· “Russian Roulette Of The Condor” (Mysterious Press – Open Road – 2019)
· “The Lifeguard” (Invisible Blood 2019)
· “Demolition Derby” (Gargoyle 2021)
· “Condor” (novella, The Mysterious Bookshop – 2023)
· “The Next Five Minutes” (Report From The Deep End, J.G. Ballard homage 2023)
References
External links
American thriller writers
American male screenwriters
American television writers
American investigative journalists
University of Montana alumni
1949 births
Living people
American male novelists
American male television writers
People from Shelby, Montana
American male non-fiction writers
Screenwriters from Montana