Pen Name:
None
Genre:
Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mystery, Young Adult
Website:
www.FantasyByJoyceHertzoff.com
www.JoyceHertzoffAuthor.com
HertzoffJo.blogspot.com
Social Media:
Contact:
Bio
I received a B.S. in Chemistry from Queens College in New York City. I also attended business and management courses during my years in the scientific information business. After retiring, I switched gears from fact-based literature to writing fiction, but science still plays a part in my stories. National Novel Writing Month in 2008 gave me a great boost in just writing. After that, with the help of critique groups and writing classes, I’ve honed my craft. Recently, I’ve attended online creative writing courses at Writers Village University, and I’m a mentor’s apprentice during the survey writing class, F2K. In June 2014, my first fantasy novel, The Crimson Orb, was published by Assent Publications. The sequel is due out in September. I’ve also had a few short stories published in anthologies. My husband and I moved to Albuquerque in 2008.
SWW Interiews
2015: The Crimson Orb, Crystal Odyssey series
2017: Under Two Moons, Crystal Odyssey #2 and Bite of the Apple, Portal Adventures series
2019: So, You Want to be a Dragon? and Beyond the Sea, Crystal Odyssey #3
2021: Homeward Bound, Crystal Odyssey #4
2022: Winds of Change, Portal Adventures #2
2023: Train to Nowhere Somewhere, More Than Just Survival series #1
Books
Title: Train to Nowhere Somewhere: Book 1 of the More Than Just Survival series
Published: July 2023
Genre: Dystopian/Near Future Fiction
Forty passengers and crew stranded in the middle of Missouri after a train wreck due to the collapse of a trestle over a deep ravine must survive long enough to be rescued. Computer analysts Mimi, Eddie and Josh, Josh’s girlfriend Abby, retired British doctor Reginald Wainwright, New York lawyer Vivien Chang, train attendant Marlene Roberts, four children and the others settle in at a derelict motel after the wary people from a nearby town suggest it, but will their stay be temporary? With communication and electricity lost, how will they survive? What if, instead of a pandemic, we had a worldwide disruption of the power grid? We lost the ability to communicate due to failure of the satellites and cell towers that transmit our messages? Transportation was disrupted due to collapse of all the bridges? How would the world cope?
Available for Sale
Title: Winds of Change: Portal Adventures Book 2
Published: August 2022
Genre: YA Fantasy
The portals between worlds are changing in multiple ways. Bet and the other portal travelers, along with the wizards Cass and Morgan and Cass’s young apprentice, Bet’s friend Quint, must find out why before the winds that have decimated the other worlds will do the same to Nokar. Their investigation leads them to a world with few natives where invaders from another planet are intent on adding people by ripping them from their homes to start a new society according to the invaders’ way of life. Cass turns his attention to a way to return people to their home worlds, while Bet encourages those who want to stay to pick their own course.
Available for Sale
Title: Homeward Bound: The Crystal Odyssey Series Book 4
Published: December 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy
The voyage back from Fartek isn’t as uneventful as Nissa and her friends and family expected. There’s a sea monster to deal with and a new island that turns out to be an artificial landing surface for an autoplane. The pilot and passengers on the plane are from Northern Point and seek the Eye of Mulbari. In exchange for help with their search, the Northerners agree to remove a portion of their island to allow the ships to pass through. First stop is Fairhaven for Carys and Blane’s wedding. The group must deal with a squadron of Legionnaires there as well as on their way back to Solwintor and the Stronghold. Nissa, Madoc and company have their hands — and minds — full in the final novel in the Crystal Odyssey series.
Available for Sale
Title: So You Want to be a Dragon
Published: April 2018
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
When the harbor of Lorando is torched by three dragons, Bekka, her little sister Cora and their neighbor Derry devise a plan to keep the dragons away. They will parlay with the dragons, plead with them. But to get close enough to do that, they must transform themselves into dragons. They ask a shapeshifter for help, and he reluctantly tells them the steps needed to take on the form of a dragon. Can the three children achieve their plan to convince the dragons to leave Lorando alone? If they do, how will they shift back into their human forms?
Available for Sale
Title: Beyond The Sea: The Crystal Odyssey Series Book 3
Published: March 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
The artificial satellite retrieved from the bottom of Lake Dulno points to Fartek as the source of Madoc’s mysterious books. Nissa, her siblings, Madoc, Carys and a group from the Stronghold set out for the journey across the Great Sea to that unknown continent. After stops at Holm Manor and Fairhaven, they sail east on the royal ship and a freighter. Besides the books, the expedition hopes to determine what technology still exists anywhere in Fartek. What people and machines will they find? How much have they preserved? And why haven’t they contacted the people of Leara or Solwintor? Most important, will they be willing to share all that they know with the visitors or anyone else?
Available for Sale
Title: Under Two Moons: The Crystal Odyssey Series Book 2
Published: June 2017
Genre: YA Fantasy
Nissa, Madoc, their siblings and the Duke’s son Kerr travel north to Solwintor to seek the source of Madoc’s two books, written in a strange language. At a factory west of the town of Grenska they learn about a catastrophe a thousand years earlier, caused by the formation of their world’s second moon, and about the Stronghold, a cavern where people from many countries are attempting to recreate the lost crystal-based technology from before the catastrophe.
Nissa, dismayed that she’s assigned to the sewing room at the Stronghold, uses her assignment to instill a sense of experimentation among her new friends. More crystals are needed to power the devices recreated at the Stronghold so an expedition is sent to Dulno Lake in an attempt to retrieve crystals from its depths. Nissa accompanies those sent, including her companions. She helps the expedition fight against perils, including those who oppose them and monstrous fish at the bottom of the lake.
Will the expedition be successful, and will Madoc ever find the source of his books?
Available for Sale
Title: A Bite of the Apple: Portal Adventures Book 1
Published: August 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy
Anabet Haines has dreamed about traveling from the family farm to the exotic places her Aunt Gillian described over the years, so when her aunt recruits her as the next portal traveler, Bet jumps at the chance. In the capital of Nokar, Bet begins her training. But when circumstances force Bet to travel alone with little training and equipped only with an ornamental knife and four enchanted apples, Bet must use her wits to retrieve a stolen portal key in the intimidating world of The Big Apple. Has she bitten off more than she can chew?
With the help of new friends, including a young man from another world, and with apples that don’t work the way she expected, Bet searches for the thief and the stolen key.
This novella is filled with a variety of characters and locales. The action escalates as Bet learns what it takes to be a successful portal traveler.
Available for Sale
Title: The Crimson Orb: The Crystal Odyssey Series Book 1
Publisher: Assent Publications (2014)
Genre: YA Fantasy
While thousands of people travel to Meecham to seek the legendary Crimson Orb, teenage Nissa Day seeks her missing magic teacher, the wizard Madoc, who failed to return after a journey to care for his ailing father. Together with her older brother Blane, she rides east from Holm Manor to look for him, taking two strange books they found in Madoc’s chambers. They secure passage from East Harbor to Fairhaven, the capital of the East Islands. At the Citadel in Fairhaven, they are joined by Madoc’s brother Gareth, sister Carys, and two of Gareth’s men. Their perilous journey back across the sea, then south on horseback and west through the Frozen Tundra of Sorn eventually brings them to Meecham, a town teaming with Orb seekers. Madoc is being held by four outlaws, who believe he can lead them to the Orb before anyone else. Through their adventures, Nissa learns how little she knows about her world. She is able to develop unexpected skills, including the ability to mindspeak with Madoc.
Available for Sale
Anthologies
Title: Woven Pathways: The 2023 SouthWest Writers Winners Anthology
Publisher: Independently published (September 6, 2023)
“Ride Into the Night”
♦ Honorable Mention: Opening Pages of a Novel, Unpublished, Science Fiction/Fantasy
SouthWest Writers has released a new collection of award winning prose and poetry highlighting the talents of both experienced and novice wordsmiths. This delightful anthology weaves together diverse genres and viewpoints to bring you an eclectic mix of humor, pathos, and intrigue. These pieces were all winners in the 2023 SWW annual writing contest. This year’s contest includes writing categories in both prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction, spanning the gamut from opening pages of novels to flash fiction to memoirs. The Annual Writing Contest allows both new and seasoned writers to sharpen their skills by taking them out of their comfort zone. We the members of SouthWest Writers hope you enjoy this year’s anthology of contest finalists — after all, you the reader are the reason we write!
Available for Sale
Title: Challenge Accepted: A Charity Anthology
Published: March 2019
“A Woman Hobbles into a Bar” ♦ Sci Fi
A blind spaceship pilot. Cops and maintenance personnel in wheelchairs. Taking on bad guys with only one leg or no arms. It’s not what you are that makes you something special. It’s who you choose to be. Seventeen stories about people who rise above anything that tries to stop them, even their own limitations. With stories by Stephanie Barr, Misha Burnett, J. A. Busick, Adam David Collings, Steve Curry, Scott G. Gibson, Joyce Hertzoff, Jane Jago, Clarence Jennelle, Jeanette O’Hagan, Layla Pinkett, Jen Ponce, Connor Sassmannshausen, Lynne Stringer, E. M. Swift-Hook, Margret Treiber, Andy Zach. Coordinated by Stephanie Barr with all proceeds to go to the Special Olympics.
Available for Sale
Title: The Way Back
Publisher: DangerBoy Books (2014)
“Princess Petra” ♦ Fantasy
This anthology of stories is something special. It’s the culmination of four months of extremely hard work and dedication by eleven outstanding authors. Through a course at Writers’ Village University, we offered them a chance to go beyond regular teaching and learn how to dramatically improve their storytelling to the point of having their stories publishable. But it came with a catch: they had to be willing to put in the work. Lots of work. This book is the result of those months we watched them transform from “just writers” into full-blown professionals. They were asked to take chances that some of then, frankly, weren’t prepared to take. Our class started with twenty-five students. It ended with these eleven stories. Eleven fantastic stories spanning all genres, each tale deserving recognition. Don’t miss this chance to read a handful of authors on the brink of breaking out in the industry.
Available for Sale
Title: Tasteful Murders
Published: September 9, 2014
“Say Cheese” ♦ Mystery
A well-done murder should leave a good taste in the survivor’s mouth, like a delicious dinner accompanied with pleasant conversation. Gentle reader, please enjoy this killer forty-three course feast. Bon appétit. Contributors to this murder anthology are: Rose Anderson, Judy Beaston, Tom Britz, Candace C. Bowen, Candy Burke, Dovey Mayali Cralk, Paul R. De Lancey, SK Delph, Nandy Ekle, Ellorien, Lisa Finch, Lorenz Font, Rose Gardener, Amy Buckheister Gettinger, Joyce Hertzoff, Michelle Hickman, Rob Houglan, RJ Jeffreys, V.E. Jorden, Mark Kennet, Karen M. Kidd, H. A. Lamb, Kelli Sue Landon, Sarah Laurenson, Elizabeth M. Lawrence, Desirée Lee, D.K. Mason, Eileen Matsumuro, JT Norton, Mysti Parker, Roxe Anne Peacock, Leona Pence, D.J. Pitsiladis, Pearl Prokopowicz, Sandra Riley, Riley Ross, Vivian Samuel, P.D. Shaw, Kally Jo Surbeck, M.J. Sydney, Beth Tully, Carol R. Ward, Alex Westhaven.
Available for Sale
Anthology: The Darwin Murders
Published: August 18, 2013
“Natural Death” ♦ Mystery
The dark humor of The Darwin Awards inspired this anthology. The authors here achieved the same mood with murder, feeling humanity should be better off without their victims. Happy murdering for goodness sakes.
[…] and website at FantasyByJoyceHertzoff.com. For more about Joyce and her writing, visit her SWW author page and follow the links to previous interviews. Visit Amazon for all of her […]