Giles Kristian

Giles Kristian (born 1975) is an English novelist, known for his action adventure novels in the historical fiction genre. He is best known for his Raven series, about a young man's coming of age amongst a band of Viking warriors. His first novel, the bestselling Raven: Blood Eye, was published to great acclaim (including an accolade from Bernard Cornwell). Two further novels complete the Raven Saga; Sons of Thunder and Odin's Wolves, and to date the books have been published in eight languages. He has written two books set during the English Civil War The Bleeding Land and Brothers Fury published by Transworld Publishers. In 2015, he co-wrote Golden Lion with Wilbur Smith, part of Smith's bestselling Courtney series. This book was a no.1 bestseller across three continents. Kristian's second Viking series, The Rise of Sigurd trilogy, comprises God of Vengeance (a Times Book of the Year) Winter’s Fire and Wings of the Storm. Kristian worked as a narrative designer on the Multiplayer online survival roleplaying game Valnir Rok, developed by encurio GmbH. Kristian's novel, Lancelot, published in 2018 tells the story of one of the great figures of British myth and legend. It reached No. 6 in The Sunday Times bestseller list and No. 3 in The Times bestseller list. Its sequel Camelot, was published in May 2020.
Kristian is also the co-founder of UK based production company World Serpent Productions, for which he writes and produces; his 2016 short film, The Last Viking, (written and produced by Kristian and directed by Philip Stevens) was selected for the 2017 Aesthetica film festival, and the 2017 Midlands Movies Awards. Kristian is an executive producer for World Serpent Productions debut feature film Lapwing, due for release in winter 2020.
Background
Giles Kristian was born in 1975, in Leicestershire, England, to a Norwegian mother and an English father. During the 1990s, he was selected from 8000 hopefuls to become lead singer of the pop group Upside Down, achieving three top twenty hit records in the UK Singles Chart with the boy band, performing at such venues as the Royal Albert Hall, N.E.C. and Wembley Arena. As a singer-songwriter, he signed to the record label The M-Company and toured for two years in Europe, releasing the record I Just Wanna Know in 2001. He has worked as a model, appearing in press campaigns and TV commercials. He has been an advertising copywriter and lived for nearly three years in New York, where he wrote copy for the movie marketing company, Empire Design.
Works
Raven saga
2010 Raven: Blood Eye
2011 Raven: Sons of Thunder
2012 Raven: Odin's Wolves
Rise of Sigurd saga
2014 Rise of Sigurd: God of Vengeance
2016 Rise of Sigurd: Winter's Fire
2016 Rise of Sigurd: Wings of the Storm
Civil War series
2012 The Bleeding Land
2013 Brother's Fury
The Arthurian Tales series
2018 Lancelot
2020 Camelot
Other works
2015 Golden Lion with Wilbur Smith
2022 Where Blood Runs Cold
References
External links
Gileskristian.com/
Giles Kristian's page at the Historical Writers' Association
The story behind God of Vengeance - Time and Tide - Online Essay by Giles Kristian at Upcoming4.me
1975 births
Living people
English people of Norwegian descent
Musicians from Leicestershire
English pop singers
English historical novelists
21st-century English singers