A BROMSGROVE based author’s debut fantasy novel has netted him a writers award across the pond in America.
Jon Ford’s first ever fantasy book, Hunters, has won the ‘speculative fiction’ category at the Queer Indie Awards, run by a US based writers alliance aimed at supporting literature which recognises the LGTBQ+ community.
The book was commended for incorporating LGBTQ+ representation in the narrative, which is inspired by dark fantasy dramas such as Underworld and Game of Thrones.
Jon’s debut novel sees factions of vampires, werewolves and humans competing for worldwide dominance.
Hunters is the first book of The Ballad of the Songbird series, which will eventually feature seven books written by Jon.
Jon’s award win comes recently after the release of a 13-story magical mystery anthology book he co-wrote called They Walk Among Us: Malarkey’s ImaginOmnibus. The book recently reached number one in Amazon’s Fantasy Anthology rankings in the UK, US and Canada.
The Hunters author is an implementation consultant at Tamworth based Crown Workforce Management by day and unwinds from his 9 to 5 job by indulging in his hobby of writing about mythical creatures three to four times a week.
“Five years ago I decided to have a go at writing Hunters, which was my first book and took me three years to whip it into shape, so to receive an award from a respected writers’ alliance such as
Queer Indie really blew me away as I was up against around twelve really good writers,” said Jon.
He added: “I don’t personally consider myself to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but my books do have representations in there, and as such, my work is classified as ally literature as it deals with gender-fluid characters and same-sex relationships.
“Some of the characters in Hunters, for example, feature ice giants – which because of what they’re made from they can flow between any gender they want – as do the shape shifter characters.
“My ethos is that a character’s gender identity or sexuality isn’t what defines them, and so I present them in a very matter of fact way by not drawing attention to the fact that they are trans, gender fluid, gay or bisexual, and readers seem to have appreciated that.”
Jon has so far sold more than 900 copies of Hunters and his second book Blood To Earth has sold around 400 copies.
And his third book, Tooth And Claw is set to be released later this summer.
“I’m no JK Rowling or Stephen King, but I’m pleased with how the sales are going,” said Jon.
“I’m hoping to have my third book out in July time which will focusing on a civil war.
“My employer is really supportive of a good work-life balance, so I am able to log off at 5pm, grab my tea, and then settle down for three hours or so – although at the minute my spare time is taking a bit of a battering because we’re house training a new puppy,” he continued.
Visit: jonfordauthor.com for more information.
