Welcome to our Writers Wednesday Spotlight! Each week we will be highlighting a different geeky writer we think you might like to check out. For this week’s spotlight, we are excited to introduce you to Andrea Judy (writing as Judy Black)!
Her novella “Cabinet of Aberrations: A Shadow Council Archives Novella” was recently released August 2, 2018!
You can purchase “Cabinet of Aberrations: A Shadow Council Archives Novella” here.
About Andrea Judy
(in her own words)
Andrea Judy (aka Judy Black) is an author of fantasy and a lover of folklore. With an M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition, she makes a living slinging words of all shapes and sizes. Judy is a vocal supporter of bringing conversations about mental health and illness into the light. She makes her home in Atlanta where she lives with two cats.
About “Cabinet of Aberrations: A Shadow Council Archives Novella”…
If Sam Winchester was the illustrated lady in a traveling sideshow in the 1900s, he’d be Hazel Finnegan.
Hazel has a power, and with that power, a responsibility. She hunts down the things that go bump in the night, and once she kills them, traps them into her skin via magical tattoo transference. Then she can call upon the monsters she’s vanquished to help her take out other baddies. But she may have bitten off more than she can chew this time.
The troll was big, dumb, and strong as an ox, but that wasn’t the real threat. The real threat lurks in the woods, and just maybe in whatever made her father disappear…
The Shadow Council Archives are historical novellas set in the universe of the Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter books. They are the tales of folklore and legend collected by The Shadow Council in the centuries since their founding.
5 Questions with . . . Andrea
- When did you first realize you were interested in becoming an author? What drives you to write?
I’ve been lucky enough to know I wanted to be a writer since I was young. While I knew I wanted to write, it took until my twenties to think of myself as an author, and to realize I could publish the things I’d written. A bit of a delayed reaction, huh?One of the things that drives me to write is to get stories out into the world to show people they’re not alone. I want to share words that help people and share the experiences I’ve had in the world. I always say that I try to write the stories that 16-year-old me would have read and would have needed to see. She’s why I write.
- How would you describe your style or genre of writing to a potential fan?
I am colorfully morbid in style. I love creepy, gothic things and bright colored worlds. My newest series is set in the Finnegan Family Cabinet of Aberrations, a traveling sideshow in 1903. The world they live in is both colorful and filled with monsters.I tend to write stories with women protagonists who are taking the reins of their own destiny and finding their way in the world. It’s often action-filled with very little to any time for romance. I love fast-paced stories filled with magic, wonder, horror and a little bit of hope.
- What are you currently working on? What are you working on next?
Right now I am finishing up the final book for season 1 of my Cabinet of Aberrations series. It’s made up of 4 novellas, and finally writing the end of the final novella feels bittersweet. It’s strange saying goodbye (at least for now) to these characters that I’ve grown to love.My next project is something totally different. I’ll be writing a Dungeons and Dragons adventure module starring the Headless Horsewoman, the Dullahan. I’m really excited to stretch myself by writing in this totally different genre. I love DnD so it’s exciting to get to share that with others.
- What existing book do you wish you had written and why?
I so wish I had written Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey. It’s such an incredibly interesting world of cowboys riding hippos and the dangers of that in the water. It’s just such a fun, brutal, hopeful series. I read the ending chapter about 4 times in a row because I loved it so much. - What is one piece of advice you would give to a budding writer?
Finish. Your. Work. Get to the end of one idea before starting on the next. That new shiny story idea is going to abandon you too once you get into the murky middle. The only way to level up your writing is to finish your work and learn how to edit it. You’ve got to focus all the way to the end.
