What inspired you to become an author?
They say that everyone has a book in them, so I decided to put that theory to the test. Well, I think it’s fair to say that this statement is a stretch. It may be true, but it does rather gloss over the effort required to go from idea to passable manuscript – or maybe that’s just me! It’s been quite a long-running experiment…
I rediscovered fantasy fiction in my early twenties, and it was old faithful – the Lord of the Rings – that really stoked the flames. I’ve never been shy of exercising my imagination, and so conjuring a world-scape in my head came quite easily. Next stop – turning it into a readable manuscript. How hard could that be, right?
As it turns out, very hard. At least for me. Sure, life has thrown plenty of curve balls into the mix, but bottom line, it has been a long hard slog since that kernel of an idea. But despite this challenge, I have become ever so slightly obsessed with bringing it to life. Hopefully we’re getting there, but there’s still much to do (as you’ll find out in the next question).
Please tell us about the Godslost series.
The Breaking of Godslost is the first “sub-series” of books in the imagined world-scape of Godslost. How many series are there, exactly? Well… A few. The Magic of Godslost (series #2) is already drafted, and the Darkening of Godslost (series #3) is “roughly planned”. At current pace, that’s quite a bit of work, so that’s probably getting ahead of ourselves.
As the name might suggest, Godslost is a world where the gods have (or one god in particular has) become distant, and without that guiding hand, darkness closes in. We start with the darkness of a dysfunctional empire in the Breaking of Godslost, but as that series develops, we see that there are much deeper threads pulling at the fabric of society. The objective of these deep-set true antagonists is world domination and all that (is there any other objective for a fantasy antagonist?), but the way in which they seek to achieve it through the subtle magic of the world give it a slightly different flavour (I think). Hopefully you’ll agree.
What draws you to create action and fantasy?
If I think about it (which I’m only doing now), I have always been drawn to either fantasy (where the lack of technology is a barrier to communication) or sci-fi (where the vastness of space creates a barrier to communication). So perhaps I see better drama arising through miscommunication. And if I think about the amount of time my characters sit there chewing on scant facts, I realise this is very true. The poor things.
The other thing that has always drawn me to fantasy is the escapism. Being able to completely and knowingly divorce oneself from day-to-day has a real power in it, and for that reason I tend to read fantasy, historical, or sci fi.
As for the action part – I think that comes with the territory a little. Assassin’s Paradox is about an assassin, so we’d probably be a little disappointed if there wasn’t action. Book #1 (Queen’s Descent) centres on an imperial princess, so in this novel, the action is a little less important.
Please tell us about the projects that are next for you.
As mentioned earlier, the world of Godslost is the gift that will probably keep on giving for many years to come, so I’m not planning to go anywhere else any time soon. Next up is Queen’s Descent, which follows on from Assassin’s Paradox and is due for release in early 2023. I also have aspirations of releasing books #2 and #3 of that series next year too, but don’t want to over-promise (I have a hate-hate relationship with plans and so tend to try and avoid them as far as possible).
There are also some “spin-off” novels I would like to write, but I keep resisting at the moment for fear of losing focus on actually releasing books. It’s a hard line to walk that one…
Where can readers find out more about your work?
Sadly, I am terrible with social media. This is not exclusive to the “author me” – this is very true of the “personal me,” too. I don’t know what it is about social media which turns me off, but my previous attempt at an author Facebook page became what can only be described as a “desolate waste-ground”. Oh dear.
So, the best places to keep up with what’s going on are as follows (with an increasing scale of up-to-dateness [yes, I know that’s not a word]):
Website (https://jhockley.com). I try to keep this reasonably up to date, but largely speaking it is a “front” for the World of Godslost and fairly slow moving. There is a blog, but at the moment I am favouring email broadcasts.
Email list: there is a monthly email newsletter I put out called the “Godslost Gazette”. This is probably the best source of current information, and I also try to keep it fun with giveaways / advance reader copies / beta read opportunities. It’s still a work in progress, but it is the best way of keeping up to date with the world of Godslost. You can join up here if you’re interested.
Email: or you can just bypass the list and mail me direct at mailto:jh@jhockley.com. I’ll try and respond to most emails within a couple of days, so if you really have a direct question, then please just fire away.
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