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Author JW Orchard portrait wearing glasses and a dark shirt against a neutral background.

My name is JW Orchard, the author of the PROACTIVE Agents, Out of Purgatory, and Oceans of Fire series.

 

I started writing as a form of therapy, and found out I liked writing stories. I'm a veteran, world traveler, and international author. If I'm not writing, I'm researching a story or taking classes to improve my writing skills. 

My philosophy about writing success. Write what you like to read. Remember, other people like what you like. If one percent of the population of the planet likes what you like, then eighty million people like what you like. Write what you want to read, and you will be fine.

Research & Real World Locations

Every location in the PROACTIVE Agents series is researched on-site.


From historic towns to major cities, I travel to the places where my characters operate. I walk the streets, studying the terrain, absorbing the atmosphere, and understanding how the setting shapes the story.

Because in high-stakes fiction, geography matters.

Street layouts, sight lines, architecture, and local culture. These details aren’t imagined. They’re observed.

When PROACTIVE moves through a city, it moves through a real one.

Crowded escalator at a large convention in Orlando with hundreds of attendees, representing the high-density event setting in Ghost Hunters.

Ghost Hunters-Orlando, FL

MEGACON. 100,000 + attendees. The story takes place in and around a similar event. The PROACTIVE team must find an assassin among 100,000 attendees.

Scuba diver swimming over coral reef in the Red Sea, Egypt, representing the underwater setting in Veil of Chains.

Veil of Chains-Red Sea, Egypt

In this story, Mike is forced to guide a SHADOW operative to find a hidden Bitcoin wallet in the wreck of the S.S. Thislegorn.  I dove on the wreck when I spent a year in Egypt.

Atomic Museum exhibit in Las Vegas showing nuclear-era equipment, tied to the Las Vegas setting in Aces & Eights.

Aces & Eights-Las Vegas, NV

This story happens in and around Las Vegas. The antagonist, Victor Sobovich, takes a tour of the Atomic Museum to advance his plan against the Mafia.

Group of people in pirate costumes posing for a selfie in New Orleans, reflecting the setting and tone of Dance of Shadows.

Dance of Shadows-New Orleans, LA

This picture was taken on Bourbon Street. These folks were nice enough to celebrate my birthday with me. In this story, the team uses a pirate convention as cover to investigate an eccentric plantation owner.

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Plata O Plomo-Yellow Stone, WY

A part of the story has Gary meeting an unknown contact at Norris Geyser Basin in the morning. I walked all around the basin to get a feel for what he would see and feel.

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