Jade Griffin, author of "The Journals of Lacy Anderson Moore"
Stephen H. Provost
Jade Griffin is the author of the two-book series The Journals of Lacy Anderson Moore, 19th-century tomboy driven by an insatiable need to hunt and kill the evils of the world, including vampires and the undead. (A third book is on the way.)
Jade was first inspired to write after reading her first Anne McCaffrey book at the age of 15, and her continuing inspirations include children, cats, dinosaurs, Cub Scouts, and other authors and illustrators.
She is the Illustrator Coordinator for SCBWI Nevada; author/illustrator for the long-running fairytale-superhero webcomic 56 SHARDS; and author/illustrator of “Author Ity” in the Nevada SCBWI’s WriteRiders newsletter. She’s also completing the design work, art, and written material for the National Automobile Museum’s Lego Build-It Display.
The tabletop roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu© Chaosium inspired her to explore the world of Lovecraftian horror. The first in a series of ttrpgs, Taken For Granite, is on drivethrurpg.com. The Lacy Moore journals not only marks her debut into horror, it is a companion to her ttrpg series and therefore both a player handout and a minor mythos tome.
Jade recently sat down with The Open Book to discuss her writing, and her latest work.
The author
Jade can be found on her website, jadegriffinauthor.com.
She’s active on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JadeGriffinAuthor/.
You can find her on Twitter at @JGAuthorIty
Who are you? Jade Griffin, 47, Medical Records coordinator
Where and with whom do you live? I live in Sparks, NV with my husband, two kids, and an array of phylum Animalia.
If you could co-write a book with any author, living or dead, whom would you choose? Cat Bowser, my internet sister, my bycan sisco. Been round robin-writing with her collaborating on various fanfictions for years now.
Why do you write? The ideas and people and places are there and I want to share them.
Where do you write? Wherever and whenever I can. The fastest writing is usually done at night on my computer
Are you a planner or a “pantser”? Planner, for the most part. I love lists.
What imaginary land would you choose as your home, and why? I already live in paradise and several stories have the semi-desert landscape similar to northern Nevada as their setting. If I were to pick, it would have to be one of my own stories.
What animal, real or imaginary, would you choose as your constant companion? Oviraptor. Loves me the dinosaurs.
What fairy tale describes your life, and why? Ha ha! My mom asked once if a story I wrote was autobiographical. It’s called The People Of Masks. Vaguely Alice-In-Wonderlandish. That… is not my favorite fairy tale, but it describes the girl-goes-to-an-alien-world in my story pretty accurately. Is my life like Sara’s in The People Of Masks? No. Mine are more like the Jade Griffin Journals: magical and mundane mixed with plenty of life with kids. I’ll be working on publishing those this year, or a version of them.
Your superhero alter-ego: Jade Griffin, the gargon. She’s a mix between a gargoyle and a gorgon.
Historical period you’d like to visit: Any of them :)
Favorite games: Call of Cthulhu tabletop roleplaying game. Written 4 of them so far and more on the way. Second favorite would be a tie between the boardgames Catan, Dinosaur Island, Wingspan, Betrayal: Legacy, and Azul and the old video game Culdcept Saga. We… own a LOT of games.
Famous person you’ve met: Greg Weisman might be the closest I can claim to actually meeting.
Famous person you’d like to meet: Robert Culp, but he is deceased. So… Patrick Stewart?
Complete this sentence: People are most surprised to learn that I… curse, and can have a bawdy sense of humor at times. Only in the right company, though.
The BOOK
Title: The Journals of Lacy Anderson Moore: Monster Hunter of the 1800s, Book 1
Genre: Horror short story/novelette
Length: 60 pages
When and where does it take place? 1840s to 1860s, and all over the world
Would you live there and why/why not? It is fun to visit her life but I don’t think I’d like living it. I’m not the monster-hunting type.
How did you come up with the title? I debated something shorter but, really, the title describes the book perfectly so I left it as-is.
What inspired you to write it? When I started running my group of ttrpg players through custom campaigns, I was encouraged to write them as marketable adventures and sell them. One of the things I did for the players is buy an old-looking journal and hand-write a player handout full of notes and journal entries from one of the player character’s relatives. I was invited to a book signing but had no book, so I brushed off the journal, filled in the gaps, and published it.
Is there a sequel in the works? Done, and out! The Journals of Lacy Moore: Monster Hunter of the 1800s, Book 2. Yes, another long title and very similar to the first one, but I took out her maiden name, because she is married. Still going strong on the monster-hunting though. The third and final volume will be out later in 2023 – The Death of Lacy Moore: Monster Hunter of the 1900s, Book 3. Gonna be good! I have other books I am working on in the short story Horror genre so look for them as well.
Where, how can you get it? Amazon Kindle, available in digital, paperback, and hardback:
Describe your book in one word that most people don’t normally use. Bull-headed
What would you select as your book’s theme song? Who would you choose to write the musical score? The main themes from Pirates of the Caribbean work really well to get me in the mood. James Horner or John Williams!
What’s your most interesting story or chapter title? I get a lot of grins from the punny titles of my ttrpgs: Taken For Granite, Deep-Seeded Secrets, and Mail-Order Bribe.
Who would want to ban it? Religious folks, as it deals with horrors that may or may not control the world and that tends to go against the grain. And, honestly, I think my main character may actually be Asexual, so anyone anti-LGBTQAI would also ban my book, or because I have a strong female who needs no man in her life whatsoever.
To whom did you dedicate it and why? I dedicated the first book to my Girl’s Night group, whom I run all my rpgs through. Literally, they have to play through my crazy world. The second is dedicated to my amazing father, who passed away in August 2022. I read it to him, and every part I managed to write. Sadly, he did not hear the end of Book 2.
How long did it take you to write it? The first one took approximately a year of on and off writing and not being too serious until the last 2 months before publication. The second one took about 5 to 6 months of on and off serious work.
What was your biggest challenge in writing it? Looking back, I wish I had not dragged my feet and finished it before my dad died. After he passed away, I left it be for about a month, picked it up, and finished the thing. I wanted it done. I wanted it published the year he died. So that’s what I did. I am struggling with the end and am debating rewriting part of it. Nothing major. I just don’t like what happened at the very end for the head nun, Suora Superiora. And if I don’t like it, why should anyone else?
The MAIN CHARACTER
Name, age, and occupation: Lacy Moore, age ranges from 15 to 40s in the first two books, and she is a wife, a mother, but mostly a globe-trotting monster hunter.
Where and with whom does he/she live? She is often a lone wolf but, when home, she is either in Leicester, England or Graniteville, Vermont with her husband, Richard and son, Randall.
Who would play this character in a movie? Clea DuVall mixed with Kristen Stewart and Milla Jovovich but no innocence or femininity. Lacy does not have much of a soft side. She is ruthless. Scarlet Johansson doesn’t cut it either, so maybe a mix of the top three.
What real-life person would be this character’s hero, mentor, or role model? My dad. He was a hunter, too.
What’s his or her celebrity crush? None. She doesn’t do that. But she would get along hella well with Dean Winchester.
What’s her biggest fear/phobia? Losing her son, Randall, to the things that she hunts; or becoming such a ruthless monster herself that she should never return home
On what TV show would he/she appear as a special guest? Supernatural
What’s her favorite quote or motto? Can’t go home till the monsters’re gone.
Weapon of choice (gun, knife, intellect, magic, manipulation, etc.): She fancies a pair of blades she enchanted herself with a simple magic spell. Magical blades do more damage than normal weaponry.
At the beginning of the story, this character is … a fiery teenager escaping the confines of her family’s rigid and drab plans for her future.
Worst habit? She isn’t sure if she can stop killing.
Best feature? Relentless, skilled dispatcher of evil things.