about

North Arrow Press is an independent publisher dedicated to bold, research-driven geopolitical fiction that challenges readers to think about the world we live in — and the one we may be headed toward.

The mission of North Arrow Press is simple: publish smart, global thrillers for readers who crave authenticity, depth, and adrenaline.

Flagship author Mark James is an award-winning writer whose novel Friendship Games earned both the prestigious Kirkus Star and a Bronze Medal from the Military Writers Society of America.

The mission of North Arrow Press is simple: publish smart, global thrillers for readers who crave authenticity, depth, and adrenaline.

The story continues in James's gripping sequel, The Compass Room, which escalates the high-stakes drama of Friendship Games and cements The Wartmann Series as a must-read saga for fans of intelligent, high-octane thrillers.  The Compass Room is now available.

flagship author
Mark James

Mark James writes intelligent, research-driven geopolitical thrillers and dystopian fiction. His award-winning novel Friendship Games reimagines the USS Maine incident that sparked the Spanish–American War of 1898 — only this time it's a U.S. aircraft carrier sinking in the Persian Gulf, plunging America into crisis. The novel earned a Kirkus Star, was chosen as one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of the Year, and received a Bronze Medal from the Military Writers Society of America.

Friendship Games launched The Wartmann Series, with its sequel, The Compass Room, available now. Together they explore the fault lines of a changing world order. His debut novel, Alter Road, is a powerful standalone story of unrest in Detroit after decades of economic decline, set in the same universe.

A U.S. Navy veteran of the late Cold War and after, James served in the Philippines, Japan, Guam, the Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii. Afterward, he earned a PhD in Geography from the University of Cincinnati and has taught political, economic, and urban geography for more than twenty years.

When he's not writing, you might find him on a surfboard chasing the breaks off Maryland and Delaware's Atlantic coast.