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Ellis, Mark

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

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(?   -    ) US publisher and author much of whose creative work – since beginning his career in the 1980s with storylines for Star Rangers and other Comics – has been tied closely to visual projects, including Graphic Novels such as H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness (1991-1992 H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness; 1993). He is of sf interest initially for his creation of and contributions to the long Outlanders sequence, under the House Name James Axler, beginning with its first title Outlanders: Exile to Hell (1993). In the sequence, a Ruined Earth – some decades after a terminal Holocaust – is subject to exorbitant Alien technologies as a cadre of warriors attempts to free the devastated planet from Slavery; there is much male violence and an emphasis on martial arts and weaponry typical of Survivalist Fiction, though Ellis has been commended for his frequent use of proactive women protagonists. The majority of the fifty-plus volumes of the sequence published during Ellis's period of involvement, which ceased in 2009 [see Checklist below], are by Ellis, most of the remainder being by Victor Milán. See the James Axler entry for further contributors.

A later sf sequence is The Spur, opening with Loki's Rock (2012). Though set on the out-of-touch colony world Loki, this too has a Post-Holocaust flavour: nearly two centuries have passed since worldwide Disaster, and sf action-adventure tropes (including resurrected Nazi Supermen) abound in a chaos of fragmented cultures. Still more recent is Parallax Prime, opening with Of Dire Chimeras (2017), a reboot of the Outlanders universe in which – according to the author's website – "a new setting was created, the backstory somewhat reframed and the canvas expanded."

This author should not be confused with the UK thriller writer Mark Ellis (1953-    ). [JC/DRL]

Mark Duane Ellis

born Flora, Indiana

works

series

Deathlands

Outlanders (only titles by Ellis are listed)

The Spur

  • Loki's Rock (Newport, Rhode Island: Fortuna Books, 2012) [The Spur: pb/]
  • Helldorado (Newport, Rhode Island: Millennial Concepts Publishing, 2016) [The Spur: pb/]

Parallax Prime

  • Of Dire Chimeras (Newport, Rhode Island: Millennial Concepts Publishing, 2017) [Parallax Prime: pb/]

individual titles

links

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