Books I’m Querying
Though I’ve written four books over these last twenty years, I currently have two polished, beta-read, and heavily revised novels I’m querying:
A near-future, high-concept Frankenstein retelling and a character-driven, dark literary fantasy.
Body Insurance, the near-future Frankenstein retelling, was my MFA thesis and has received praise from editors, authors, and agents while being represented by my first agent.
The Cost of Undying, the character-driven literary fantasy, was my next novel, which I wrote while on sub with the previous novel.
For any agents or acquisition editors interested, below I’ve detailed information on both books.
Body Insurance (High-Concept SF)
BODY INSURANCE is a near-future Frankenstein epic that blends the dark intrigue of Blade Runner that culminates into the wild grit of Mad Max: Fury Road.
In particular, this story is steeped in recent discoveries of organ growth that, ultimately, melds the grounded reality found in Station Eleven by Emily St. Mandel and the humanity-shattering exploitation of science by corporations in Borne by Jeff VanderMeer. Body Insurance is a standalone 113,000-word high-concept sci-fi novel with series potential.
Secretly assembled by Viacorp Industries, Rose is the byproduct of her DNA twin’s biopod—interconnected body parts grown to be harvested as ubiquitous “body insurance.” Her existence threatens to shatter society’s dependence on these individually crafted flesh composites. Held in captivity and experimented on, Rose discovers she was designed to die and must escape to survive, fight those chasing her, and claim a sense of humanity.
The following are a few of the pre-publication blurbs:
“Body Insurance is an express train of a science fiction novel, equally thrilling and scary. Judah Mahay does a beautiful job in making us believe the unbelievable. A book for and about the troubling future, which is already here.” – NYT Bestselling Author Roger Rosenblatt.
“A moving, disturbing science fiction tale, as if Frankenstein met Flowers for Algernon and explored the continually evolving possibilities of what life can be in the 21st century.” – Jason Sanford, Nebula Award Finalist, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, and Nominee for the BSFA Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Pushcart Prize.
“BODY INSURANCE is the spinechilling story of “Rose” whose fragile, neo-Frankensteinian existence depends on her ability to provide human organs for privileged candidates. Mahay cleverly blends his science fiction tale with an insidious touch of horror, leaving the reader to question the very definition of humanity.” – Jeannine Garsee, author of The Unquiet.
Awakening to a life trapped in an experimental lab, Rose learns that as a biopod, her heart had been harvested and swapped to stave off the cancer that killed her DNA sister. A dying organ now beating in her chest, Rose attempts to escape, but is thwarted by Viacorp, which never lets her out of sight as they wait for her to quietly die. As Rose’s hope for freedom and survival diminishes, she befriends one of the nurses, Lilly, who funnels messages to the outside through a famous blogger, Signclocke. These recordings reveal a horrifying truth. Despite Viacorp’s assurances, biopods are complete humans. Rose is the proof, and her memories of living a compartmentalized, fractured life of being harvested threaten the very structure of society’s dependence on organ growth.
Soon thereafter, Rose is secretly contacted by the Archi, an anarchist, pro-bionics group. They promise aid if she can meet them at the Blood Trap, an underground black market of flesh—the byproduct of “body insurance” where the leeches of society prey on the organs of those in need. The Archi’s message offers her a palatable, if illegal, solution—a bionic heart—but only if they are who they say they are. Now, Rose must put aside any reservations about the Archi to pursue her only hope for survival by venturing into the unknown.
Excerpt:
Behind the viewing glass, half-assembled, the biopod twitches with the promise of life unintended, twisted into this manifested vulgarity. Baked in fluorescent glare, a handless arm is knitted to the torso by a countless number of white-cloaked surgeons and medical techs. A web of thin crimson tubes snakes down from the ceiling interconnected, pumping life into a cadre of yet-to-be-assembled organs, limbs, and digits as if the panoply of flesh hopes to be made whole.
Body Insurance by Judah Mahay
Promo Reel: Watch on YouTube
Querying Status
As noted at the top, this book was on sub with my previous agent, though that was back in 2020, and the novel was sent to just a few major publishers. I have that list of editors and the response emails upon request. Also, I’ve since heavily revised the beginning to layer in more interiority.
Currently, I have multiple agents who have requested the full for Body Insurance.
The Cost of Undying (Dark Literary Fantasy)
To save her little brother, Lunith bound his soul to his dying body—cursed to an unlife. Then, after years of searching, she finally finds a forbidden cure in a dragon god’s fiery rebirth, yet with dire consequences for all.
THE COST OF UNDYING is a literary, character-driven fantasy layered with a Medieval English mysticism that collides the dark realities of The Witcher into the thought-provoking magic of His Dark Materials.
In particular, The Cost of Undying is a 129,000-word standalone fantasy novel with series potential and crossover appeal that leans literary. This story fuses themes of a mother’s strife found in Gabriela Houston’s The Second Bell with the grounded myth in The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winters.
A past she wishes to forget. Five years ago, a fourteen-year-old, gifted soul’weaver, Lunith, found herself with no way to save her brother except to bind his soul to his dying flesh—cursed to an unlife. Now determined and desperate, Lunith ventures to the drækynth’s temple and infiltrates the sisterhood beholden to the divine, the gestating god, the first in well over a hundred years. All the while, she must hide her dark intent, planned for the forthcoming time of resurrection and Rebirth: to slice a sliver of her god’s soul. Just a thread of the divine. Not too much to ask, she hopes. Betray the sisters who invited her into their family, save the brother she accidentally cursed, and now she must convince a god to give up its soul or steal its Rebirth if she must.
As the drækynth prepares to reclaim her divine mantle, Lunith breaks into the lair—her brother’s soul-tethered corpse in tow. She needs a sliver, no more, no less, of her god’s soul. Yet failure and folly meet her ill-advised conceit as the Rebirth fizzles in flame and fury, a dræk’child is unexpectedly born, her brother, consumed in the maelstrom, perishes, and Enitheria’s bodiless spirit is unleashed to haunt the lands. Lunith flees the lair’s desolation with the orphan godchild cradled in her arms. Soon after, Enitheria’s spirit returns to her lair, driven by vengeance to possess the corpse of Lunith’s brother, and rises, transformed as undead, voidtorn, and terror. Now, Lunith must save her adopted dræk’child, escape capture, and defeat the darkness she inadvertently created.
Excerpt:
Too often, Lunith has scraped blood from her fingers, harvested souls even, to keep her dead brother tethered to this life, but why was this time different, strangely…difficult? Not in a physical sense. She had learned well the artcraft of mortality and deception these few years. Especially, the latter. Yet, something felt different this time, as if her spirit chaffed with each killing, twisted and grew into something dreadful while the culmination here that will end these deaths arises a kind of morbid yearning for what is about to be lost.
The Cost of Undying by Judah Mahay
Promo Reel: Watch on YouTube
Querying Status
Since querying The Cost of Undying, I’ve made some edits to the beginning in an effort to help readers ease into the novel and I’ve updated the name from Embers of Rebirth which was too generic.
I’ve had a few publisher requests for this novel, but nothing has come through as of yet.
WIP: Land of a Thousand Ashes (Alaskan Urban Fantasy)
I’m currently working on a novel that pulls from my Alaskan upbringing where my parents homesteaded and actually lived off the land (dirt floor and all). I also take a bit form my time as a jet boat captain for the family business navigating uncharted river whitewaters in this rather unforgiving but enthralling land. The novel is a gunslinging monster hunter set in an alt-history, 1990s, Alaska military state where myths roams free.
I’ve also written a YA urban fantasy book that explores a world that is unknowingly after the Ragnarök where the gods have died and something sinister is trying to crawl into that vacuum of power.
Beyond that, I have numerous other novel ideas in the works, along with short stories, a novelette, and more.
In tandem with this, I have a comprehensive Marketing Plan to assist in the launch of debut and further novels that pulls from my education, contacts, and background in business as well as my many years as an English professor. For more information on me, please check out my Short Biography.
Once again, for any agents or acquisition editors interested in my works, I have ready for each novel a synopsis, marketing plan, excerpts, and of course, the complete manuscript. Please reach out to me through my contact form or any of my social profiles. Thank you all in advance.