Hello and welcome to the first post in my SSBA Finalist Series. I will be highlighting a number of the finalists from the Small Spec Book Awards. The SSBA is all about promoting small press and indie speculative authors. More information on the awards can be found here.

The first author I am spotlighting is Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, author of Cursed Under London, and previously included in my semi-finalist series.

 Gabby Hutchinson Crouch – Author Biography

Gabby Hutchinson Crouch (Horrible Histories, Newzoids, The News Quiz, The Now Show)
has a background in satire, and with the global political climate as it
is, believes that now is an important time to explore themes of
authoritarianism and intolerance in comedy and fiction. The Darkwood Series does so in a funny, engaging way that never loses the warmth of
humanity, even as its villainous Huntsmen try to dehumanise their
victims as well as anonymising and dehumanising themselves. Drawing on
inspiration from other satirical stories set in a magical universe such
as Shrek and the Discworld novels, the Darkwood adventures
create a world where readers can enjoy more grown-up versions of
fairytales, while also holding up a mirror to our own society.

Born in Pontypool in Wales, and raised in Ilkeston,
Derbyshire, Gabby moved to Canterbury at 18 to study at the University
of Kent and ended up staying and having a family there.

Where you can find Gabby Hutchinson Crouch: 

Gabby can be found mostly on Bluesky as scriblit.bsky.social and on TikTok as GabbyHCWrites with the occasional appearances on
Mastodon and The Website Formerly Known As Twitter, also under the
handle Scriblit. All of their books are available on my
publisher’s website here https://farragobooks.com/fb-author/gabby-hutchinson-crouch/

In 2025, Gabby was a part of both Dead Funny History and Horrible Science.

Interview

1. How did your writing journey begin/come about?

I’ve always written for fun, I’ve always been consumed by stories knocking about in my head. I am, first and foremost a comedy writer. I started out professionally on BBC radio 4 Extra’s topical comedy show ‘Newsjack’, which was an open door show that accepted unsolicited material from new writers. I got a few sketches broadcast on that, then was given some commissioned work on it and from there went on to a year working inhouse with BBC radio comedy on their bursary scheme for developing comedy writers. The book writing came later; an idea I’d really loved and pitched as a CBBC show had been knocked back and I wasn’t prepared to let go of it just yet, so I rewrote it as prose, and happened upon a callout from Farrago asking for writers with new comedy fantasy book series and that was my first trilogy, Darkwood. Before all of that though, there was fanfic. I’ve been writing it forever, and still occasionally dabble – as strange as it might seem to leave the writing I do for a living once I’ve ‘finished work for the day’, and just go straight on to a different file I’m writing for fun. I’ll defend fanfic to my dying days – it’s a great way to experiment with writing styles, really hone your voice,  do deep dives into the mindset of a character – but it’s also great practice for practicing writing in the voices of others, which is something that a professional writer has to do a lot.   

2. Who are your biggest influences/favourite authors/books?

Let’s just get Pratchett out of the way immediately here – I make no secret of the fact he’s been one of my main inspirations for a very long time. I love his humour and worldbuilding, but also his humanity and warmth, his kindness but also his rage at inequality and cruelty. I also love Vonnegut, with his whimsical personal tone. His 3rd person narrative voice always sounds as if he’s just sitting you down and speaking to you, one to one. And, I’m a huge fan of Shirley Jackson, and the way she’s able to infuse mid 20th century domesticity with horror. I think with all three of these, they’re really good at blending the fantastic with the mundane, which has always been something that I love both reading and writing.

3. What are some recent books you’ve enjoyed and can recommend?

I loved Queer as Folklore by Sasha Coward, which is non-fiction, an exploration of LGBT+ text & subtext in folktale, fairytale and myth through history. He was unfortunately one of many authors stiffed by the Unbound/Boundless fiasco – if you’re getting it please do not buy the Unbound/Boundless hardback version as he won’t see a penny, but the paperback published by Manchester University Press is a safe bet. I also recently really enjoyed Pagans by James Alistair Henry, which is another great combination of the fantastic and the mundane, being a police procedural but set in an alternate modern Britain where Celts and Anglo Saxons are still adversarial tribes. 

4. Please tell us a bit about some of your other writing/work

Cursed is my third trilogy published with Farrago/Duckworth. There’s also the Darkwood trilogy, which is a family friendly fantasy adventure series with reimagined fairytale characters; and the Rooks Trilogy, which is a supernatural comedy adventure series about a family of psychics who bust ghosts in various run down bits of Britain from their Ford Focus. Both of those trilogies are available as paperback, e-reader or audiobook from wherever you buy your books. I also write comedy for TV and radio. I’ve written on Horrible Histories from series 8 onwards, and I’ve written on Horrible Science series 1 and the upcoming series 2. I’ve just produced my first comedy show, which I also co-wrote, for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, called Dead Funny History, which should be out as a podcast on Sounds over Christmas, and I think drops internationally a month later – so, mid January for outside the UK.

5. What’s next for you?

With the books, I’m in the process of editing the third and final Cursed novel. As with all my trilogies, I made myself cry writing some bits at the end, big wuss that I am. In terms of other writing, I’m not allowed to say right yet, but I’m working on a very exciting project that I hope preschool kids and their parents will enjoy!

Cursed Under London by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch

In
a dark alleyway in an alternative Elizabethan London, Fang’s heart
stops. Moments later, it magically restarts again. A grumpy traveller
from the Ming empire, Fang is disappointed to discover that not only is
he still alive, but he’s also become another creature entirely: an
immortal. The first of his kind.

That is until he meets Lazare de
Quitte-Beuf, an annoyingly cheerful – and undeniably handsome –
Frenchman who shares the same curse. But in a world where immortality is
a coveted commodity, Fang and Lazare quickly realise that eternal life
is far from a blessing. With both of their futures at risk, will they
ever admit that they have finally found something – or someone – to live
for?

Buy the book here!

Semi-Finalist Interview 

1. What inspired you to write this book?

When
I sent Cursed Under London to my publisher in 2023, they asked if I’d
done any research that found Romantasies were hot at that point – I
hadn’t at all! It’s just that, being a comedy writer and a romantic soul
at heart, I’ve always wanted to write a romcom, and being very Fantasy
minded, it made sense for me to write a romcom set in a fantasy world. I
set it in an alternate Tudor Britain because I love the Tudors. I’m a
writer on Horrible Histories and wanted to throw in some of the fun
facts I’ve learned in the writers room (you will notice a lot of
references to Qin Dynasty China in the book as well – another historic
era I was fascinated by while writing kids’ comedy history shows). I
love Shakespeare and Marlowe and had been thinking for years about
writing a frienemies comedy about those two, that ended up a long
running background plot of the Cursed series. I’m also fascinated by
King James Stuart’s obsessive hatred and fear of witchcraft, and felt
him waiting to take over the crown of England would make a great threat
to a land of dragons and alchemists. I came out as bi really quite late
in life – just before turning 40 – and all of the romances in Cursed
are, in my words, “aggressively bisexual” because, well. Why the Hell
not. All of my previous books have had LGBT+ romances in them, but I
wanted to write a romcom that had one front and centre, and to set it in
a world where them being bi+ wasn’t the issue, the issue was that the
middle of a dangerous quest is a dreadful time to fall in love. I made
Fang and Lazare (and Nell) immigrants, since the first story is one
about London, and the London I know is one made great by immigration.
Also, as a bisexual middle aged woman, and a Welshwoman who’s spent most
of her life in England, I wanted to explore the internalised feeling of
being not quite one thing nor another, hence the main characters’
‘curse’ leaving them not quite a part of the human world nor the magical
world.

2. What was your favourite part of writing it?

I
love making myself laugh and making myself cry. There aren’t that many
tears in Cursed Under London, although I empathise desperately with Fang
and his grief, his deep sadness, his lack of self esteem. I will freely
admit to making myself laugh a LOT. Amber and Wulfric, both intended
initially to be there as plot points that we quickly move away from,
both delighted me as I wrote them so much that I knew I had to make them
part of the regular crew. I also have a habit of making myself laugh by
slipping injokes or pop culture references into chapter titles, and
playing around with tropes. You will notice that in Cursed there is only
one bed. There is ALWAYS only one bed. The Only One Bed follows them
around. Sharing a bed was a standard in Tudor days, for warmth, which is
my excuse. I also enjoyed looking up lesser known mythological
creatures, like the puca, and non-european mythological beings like the
jiangshi. I had a LOT of fun with Susu, she’s part Pepe le Pew and part
Colin Robinson. I will also admit, I enjoy writing horrible people.
Besides the main villain, who I won’t say much about because of
spoilers, I also loved writing Kit Marlowe far too much. My version of
him is such a terrible person, but he’s so charming and his total lack
of filter, manners or regard for others’ feelings just made him great
fun to write.


 

 

Thanks for reading! 

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