Intro Post - Author J. Bridger

I'd like to thank Emma for letting me join the team before I start. I'm excited to be contributing regularly to The Writer's Voice, and can't wait to engage with everyone. So that said, here we go.

I was trying to think about how best to introduce myself and I guess I'll start with the basics. I've been writing  for about eight years, but I started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction and then to sharing short stories with friends from real life and online. I published my first novel, a young adult paranormal novel about werewolves and shapeshifters called  Shifted Perspective, in August and am working on a series of Christmas stories from that same universe for release this December.

I have a variety of interests in writing. I do love horror and my own site, Publishing the Paranormal, does look at horror movies and books, but I have to confess that, even at twenty-eight, the largest passion of mine continues to be young adult books. I started really getting into them when I was in that age bracket with K.A. Applegate's Animorphs and Everworld series. I think it stuck with me even as I got older, and I went from Animorphs to the Daughters of the Moon and the Cirque Du Freak series. I think that most of  what  has drawn me to Young Adult, has been that love it shows for the paranormal and for humanizing those with unusual abilities and histories. Yes, I did once long ago have a Sweet Valley High phase (what can I say, I'm a twin), but it's always the preternatural elements in YA that draw me back.

I was reading a lot of that before it was necessarily the coolest thing out there, and it makes me happy that there's been such an explosion in it over the last seven years. It's like this amazing smorgasbord of supernatural goodies. If you love vampires, you know you're more than covered by works by Smith or Meyer. Werewolves have their part to play too and not only as second fiddles but in their own right. I still say, even if it's fifteen years old, that Klause's Blood and Chocolate sets the gold standard for lycanthropic drama. You have angels in Hush, Hush and tragic witch love stories and struggles in the Beautiful Creatures series. There are demons, mermaids, and dystopian horrors. There's really no limit to what the YA genre is now offering and if you have a passion or a supernatural element that you love, I am pretty confident you can find it out here.

The best part to me is that paranormal YA really can explore the world in a way that contemporary can't . it almost always comes back to the questions of "What does it really mean to be human?" and "Where does that line between good and evil lie?" It goes larger than life, creates metaphors that crystallize these esoteric struggles, and captivates us all the way.

That's why I say Viva Young Adult and I can't wait to see what the future brings!