About

I’m Joseph Barder (he/him.) I’ve been creating my whole life, from simple stories and freeform role-play games with my friends as a teenager to game design documents when I dreamed of working in the video game industry.

Currently, I have been focusing on the written word. I’ve been writing novels since 2003 as a hobby and am currently working to make it into a career. So far, I have eleven novels at various stages of development from a completed first draft to viable for querying.

Beyond novel writing, I also have written five screenplays and have a tabletop game system that is currently under development. While the novels are my focus for now, I would be interested in exploring a multi-media writing career if possible.

My inspirations include the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy series, the Discworld novels, the Sandman and other works by Neil Gaiman, and the various versions of Scott Pilgrim. Recently, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once has rapidly become one of my favorite movies of all time.

My writing emphasizes strong dialogue and voice, dynamic action sequences, and unconventional blendings of settings and character origins. I have a thematic philosophy of “Love the monster,” showing empathy to the demonized and finding humanity in the inhuman.