Jonathan French

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-25

Jonathan French is an American fantasy author who lives in Atlanta with his wife and son. Before securing a major publishing deal, French spent roughly two years as a self-published writer, attending conventions and selling his books directly to readers from vendor tables, building a grassroots following for his fiction. He is best known for The Grey Bastards, published by Crown, an epic fantasy novel set in the Lot Lands and centered on Jackal, a member of a brotherhood of half-orc riders who patrol their unforgiving frontier astride massive war hogs. The novel explores themes of loyalty, leadership, and power within a rough-edged fantasy society, and became the first installment of a planned trilogy under the umbrella title of Bastards, continuing with a sequel released in 2019. French has described his inspiration for the series as a fusion of his interests in tabletop role-playing games, particularly fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons, miniature painting, and television shows such as Sons of Anarchy, noting that wearing a Sons of Anarchy shirt at a convention helped spark the idea of blending motorcycle-gang culture with orc-centered fantasy. Outside his novels, French maintains an active interest in comic books and tabletop gaming, including collecting and rolling polyhedral dice, and remains a regular presence at genre conventions.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Grey Bastards (2015) · The Lot Lands Core Canon
• The True Bastards (2019) · The Lot Lands Core Canon
• The Free Bastards (2021) · The Lot Lands Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 3 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 1 (1 won)

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