Welcome to this instalment of my Author Spotlight series of interviews, in which I’m chatting to author Justin Woolley about his background, his approach to writing and some of his published work to date. We’re also taking a look at his latest release in particular – Prisoners of WAAAGH!, Justin’s first novella for Black Library, which is available to order right now and looks like being a lot of fun! Read on to find out a bit more about this 40k novella, and get a few hints about what Justin’s working on for publication at some point in the future.
Without further ado, let’s get straight into the interview.
Track of Words: To start off with, tell us a little about yourself as an author – who you are, where you’re from, what you like to write etc.
Justin Woolley: First of all, thanks for having me Michael – I’ve been impressed with Track of Words since I’ve been following the site, keep up the great work! [Thanks Justin, much appreciated! – ToW]
I grew up in Hobart, Tasmania (that little island state of Australia at the bottom of the world) and, after a decade and a half in Melbourne, I’ve recently moved back to Hobart where I live with my wife, two sons and a dog.
I’ve pretty much been writing since I could first scrawl illegibly with a crayon. I’ve always been drawn to stories – reading them, watching them, but the telling of them in particular. I wouldn’t say I was a class clown or anything but I was always ready to spin a yarn to anyone who would listen. I write relatively widely but almost always in the genres of science fiction and fantasy with occasional dives into horror. I write for both young adults and adults.
In my other life I’m an Aerospace Engineer – knowledge I draw on regularly to write sci-fi.
ToW: You’ve published a few different novels – We Are Omega, and the Territory trilogy – and had a couple of short stories published by Black Library. Could you give us a quick rundown of some of these, and what readers can expect from them?
JW: My published novels up until this point – The Territory Series (A Town Called Dust, A City Called Smoke and A World of Ash) and We Are Omega – are all young adult aimed although they have plenty of cross-over adult appeal. The Territory Series is a post-apocalyptic trilogy set in the Australian outback that I usually describe as Mad Max meets The Walking Dead. We Are Omega is a science fiction adventure with hacking, telekinetic powers, giant alien crabs and two teens stuck in the middle of it all.
Despite being known mostly as a YA author I’ve actually written a significant amount of adult work which is either in progress, or done but not published yet. So my shorts for Black Library are some of my first adult work to hit the world! So far, I’ve got two short stories released from Black Library: Redemption Through Sacrifice – a story about a penal legionnaire facing down chaos cultists – and Night Shriekers – a story of an all-female fighter pilot unit written as a tie-in to Aeronautica Imperialis.
In terms of my Black Library work I suppose it’s fair to say it’s on the lighter side of the grim darkness of 40k. True to the setting but with a focus on the absurdity of the 41st millennium. It’ll come as no surprise to those that read my work, particularly the upcoming stuff, that my favourite Black Library novels are the Ciaphas Cain books. [Clearly a man of excellent taste – ToW]
ToW: Can you remember a defining moment when you were growing up, or a particular book or author, that steered you towards science fiction and/or fantasy?
JW: I was raised on a steady diet of Star Trek, Red Dwarf and Terry Pratchett and was always drawn to the more ‘nerdy’ pursuits so I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that this is the sort of thing I ended up writing. Through my schooling, high school and university, so much of my study was in the area of science and mathematics that science fiction was a natural fit, an obvious interest, but I found myself increasingly reading fantasy, maybe as something of an escape. As a writer I really enjoy the world-building and what-if scenarios that fantasy and science fiction provide.
ToW: What would you say your strengths are as a writer? Alternatively, what do you enjoy writing the most?
JW: I think my strengths as a writer lie in world-building – both in the sense of developing fictional worlds as in fantasy settings but also in extrapolating real-world science into science fiction. I also think I’m decent at writing humour within the context of genre fiction. I don’t think I could write a pure comedy – that’s incredibly difficult – but I think writing witty characters and humorous character interactions is a strength of mine. It’s probably good that I think those are my strengths because they’re also what I’d say I enjoy the most.
ToW: Do you have any key pieces of advice for anyone wanting to write professionally, whether in terms of pitching, writing or generally just working with editors and publishers?
JW: My key piece of advice for anyone who wants to write professionally is to read professionally. By that I mean read a lot, read critically, and read widely. This last one cannot be overstated. Sure, fantasy and science fiction are the genres I write, and the genres I read the most BUT I also read biographies, non-fiction, thrillers, literary fiction. In my opinion if you want to write in a specific genre you should know that genre but the worst thing you can do is read only that genre.
ToW: How did you end up writing for Black Library?
JW: I’ve been a fan of Warhammer since I was probably 12 or 13. I played 40k and Warhammer Fantasy back then and read Black Library books off and on over the years. My playing of Warhammer on the tabletop died off as I got older, but I continued my interest in the setting, particularly 40k, through fiction and video games. A few years ago I picked up playing Warhammer 40k again and that rekindled a desire I had from way back when I was 12 to want to write 40k fiction, but I now had the advantage of being a published author.
I knew another author writing for Black Library and they introduced me to one of the editors. The Black Library editorial team checked out my work and asked me for a couple of pitches for short stories. One of these was the basis of Redemption Through Sacrifice, and that short story became my trial run as a Black Library writer. They liked it, wanted me to write more and here we are.
ToW: Your latest release for Black Library is a Warhammer 40,000 novella, Prisoners of WAAAGH!. Tell us a bit about this story.
JW: In a nutshell Prisoners of WAAAGH! is The Great Escape in the universe of Warhammer 40k. It’s the story of captured Imperial Guardsmen attempting to escape from an ork prisoner of war camp. Though, because it’s the orks it’s probably more accurate to say it’s Hogan’s Heroes in the universe of Warhammer 40k.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
JW: The main character in Prisoners of WAAAGH! is Sergeant Marcus van Veenan, who is the somewhat cynical main character from my first Black Library short story Redemption Through Sacrifice. After making it out of a penal legion, a near-impossible accomplishment in itself, he can’t catch a break as he finds himself part of a regiment taken captive by orks and used as slaves. He, rather reluctantly, agrees to lead a daring escape attempt.
ToW: Why this story? Of all the possible stories you could have written about these characters, what made you go for this one?
JW: I’d never read anything in 40k fiction about prisoners of war, probably because most factions would never do anything so merciful as taking prisoners I suppose, but I thought it would be interesting to explore what a 40k prisoner of war camp would look like…and the orks are, as far as I’m concerned, the most fun faction to write!
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished this?
JW: More than anything I hope 40k fans are entertained by this story but I’m also hoping they see how varied the 40k setting can be. It’s such a rich setting with the possibility for so many different types of stories. I’ve really tried to write this story to mix the dark violence of 40k with humour, explorations of humanity and the absurdity of the orks in a way I haven’t seen Black Library do a lot in the past.
ToW: What else can you tell us about what you’re working on (for BL or otherwise), what else you’ve recently had released or what you’ve got coming out over the coming months?
JW: I’ve recently finished a comedic science-fiction novel called Shakedowners which I’m currently looking for a home for, and I’m about halfway through writing my first full-length 40k novel. I probably can’t say too much about that quite yet but Black Library have asked me to return to writing orks, and I’m exploring the Astra Militarum and orks in what I think is quite an interesting multiple perspective story.
In terms of my upcoming releases there is an audiobook version of We Are Omega that’s been delayed because of COVID-19 but should be out very soon!
ToW: When you’re not writing, what might we find you getting up to?
Well, apart from my day job as an engineer I enjoy hiking with my family, reading, playing basketball, video games and of course playing and painting Warhammer 40k!
ToW: If someone wants to keep up with what you’re doing, how’s best to do that?
JW: I have my website at www.justinwoolley.com and I’m also reasonably active on Twitter where my handle is @Woollz.
***
Thanks so much to Justin for taking the time to do this interview and give us the lowdown on Prisoners of WAAAGH! If you haven’t already, make sure you check out some of Justin’s novels or short stories, and take a look at my review of Redemption Through Sacrifice. Keep an eye out for more reviews of Justin’s work coming up in future.
If you enjoyed this interview and would like to support Track of Words, please consider leaving a tip on my Ko-fi page.
