About
James Marshall Smith is a writer and scientist who has enjoyed an extensive career from space satellites to molecular biophysics. He has served as an advisor for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the G7 Global Health Security Action Group in Berlin, London and Paris, and for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
In recent years he has taken up writing novels, a guilty pleasure he started on and off throughout much of his life. SILENT SOURCE, his debut novel was released in October, 2016, and was one of three international finalists for the Clive Cussler Grand Master Award. HYBRID, another thriller to be published in 2017, was a short-listed finalist in the William Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and a finalist in the Colorado Gold Novel Contest. His fiction writing skills were honed in writing workshops in LA and NYC along with University of Iowa summer writing workshops and a summer session on creative writing at Oxford.
Born and raised in the heart of Appalachia--West Virginia--James now lives and writes in Georgia with his wife, June, also a WV native.
Featured Work
SILENT SOURCE
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You know that Atlanta PD has given up on a case when they call in Dr. Damon Keane. The sleuth scientist is quietly famous in forensic circles for unraveling the most daunting technical puzzles, but this case is bewildering. Two people are already dead. The third victim, a priest, is dying by inches in an Atlanta hospital, and the cause is a complete mystery to doctors and detectives alike.
As if matters weren't strange enough, the dying priest's rosary beads have suddenly turned the color of blood. Despite that bizarre transformation, Keane knows that he's not chasing something supernatural. The killer is a man—twisted by anger and a lust for vengeance—but still very much human. As the death toll mounts, the story races to London's Hyde Park and on to the edge of Siberia and a place once home to the world’s most secret atomic city. For all of his perception and skill, Keane is always one step behind.
Time is running out. The killer is making final preparations to unleash a cloud of death over the entire city of Atlanta. By now, Damon Keane has learned that the only way to take down this villain is to outmatch his cunning in a face-to-face showdown.
It’s the most hectic travel weekend of the summer at the world’s busiest airport …
Praise for Silent Source:
“… monumentally conceived and masterfully sculpted … spiked with surprising turns that will send readers jolting or gasping at times.” —Manhattan Book Review
"Smith spins an unsettling story in his stunning debut … a flurry of unpredictable, nail biting, and clock-ticking scenarios … " —San Francisco Book Review
“… hot action and heart-pounding adventure.” —Midwest Book Review
