A man with glasses, a beard, and gray hair sitting on a chair in a cozy, well-decorated living room with bookshelves, a leather armchair, and a patterned rug.

I tell tall tales, build strange worlds, and explore the hard truths in between.

I’m an author who loves blending deep characters, cinematic action, and big ideas into stories that don’t quite fit one genre box. My debut novel, Calamity: Being an Account of Calamity Jane and Her Gunslinging Green Man, reimagines a Western icon with a sci-fi twist. It was a Philip K. Dick Award and Georgia Author of the Year nominee that readers and critics alike praised for its grit, originality, and heart.

Since Calamity, I’ve found a growing audience of readers hungry for bold, brainy, and emotionally grounded speculative fiction.

My short stories have appeared in Creative Loafing, The Grantville Gazette, Tales from the Magician’s Skull, and other venues. I write across dark fantasy, hard sci-fi, and speculative satire, exploring haunted ruins, AI-driven nightmares, and the complicated costs of belonging in a cosmic world. Readers often compare my work to Firefly, Deadwood, and Black Mirror—which feels about right.

I’m based in Atlanta where I’m raising a pack of incredible kids and working on a new hard sci-fi novel along with a follow-up to Calamity. For sample chapters, book club guides, media kits, and more, contact me any time.

I’m a member of SFWA and represented by The Zack Company.

A book titled "Calamity" with a red, black, and white cover. The cover features a silhouette of a person wearing a cowboy hat and holding a rifle. The title appears in bold, red letters. The author's name, Jo Jordan, is visible, along with a quote at the top by Peter David. The publisher, Heliosphere, is also indicated on the cover.

There is another west.
Much wilder.

Calamity: Being an Account of Calamity Jane and Her Gunslinging Green Man is a gritty, violent reimagining of a frontier legend, where a tough teenage outcast and her alien gunslinger fight for survival across a Wilder West unlike any you’ve seen before. Together, they face down savage spacemen, vengeful posses, and native tribes on the warpath, blending Western grit with a sharp sci-fi twist.

Explore sample chapters, discover Jane’s calamitous saddle slang, and dive into bonus stories, and book club resources that bring this wild tale to life. Whether you’re a longtime fan of Westerns, sci-fi, or just great storytelling, there’s something here for you.

Looking for something shorter?

Short fiction
“The Shortcut.”
“The Shortcut.”

A dark-fantasy excerpt featured in Tales from The Magician’s Skull.

When a shortcut strands two travelers in a haunted ruin, a reluctant swordsman must follow his friend—freshly murdered and unnaturally reborn—into a cursed swamp where ancient love and unholy vengeance still stir. The Shortcut is a dark-fantasy tale of spectral possession, decaying empires, and the dreadful cost of loyalty.

Read More →
“Sh/ft.”
“Sh/ft.”

A modern-day sci-fi short featured in The Granville Gazette.

When sixteen-year-old Winnow discovers she’s not the only Hopi who can teleport, she’s thrust into a world of government ops, cosmic myth, and viral fame—but what shakes her most is the fear of losing the one thing she’s never had before: being seen. In a future shaped by ancestral magic and modern exploitation, Sh/ft is a blisteringly sharp coming-of-age story about power, identity, and the price of belonging.

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“Hope Under My Fingernails.”
“Hope Under My Fingernails.”

An award-winning short featured in Creative Loafing.

Bullied, grieving, and forgotten, a boy buries his pain in clay—shaping a silent protector in the shadows of his home, just like in his father’s old books. Hope Under My Fingernails is a tender, unsettling story about love, loss, and the magic a lonely child will believe in to feel safe again.

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Or maybe something a little more grounded?

Non-fiction
The best cross-genre books with highly personal narratives.
The best cross-genre books with highly personal narratives.

Character-driven stories set in huge speculative worlds.

’ve always been interested in personal, character-driven stories set in huge speculative worlds. Not every story should be about saving the world/galaxy/multiverse. Sometimes, the best story is just about surviving growing up or navigating a rocky relationship. If that happens on a spaceship or in the Wild West, great. And if that spaceship happens to be in the Wild West, all the better!

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UX your life.
UX your life.

Applying the user-centered process to your life (and stuff).

The defining characteristic of UX design is its focus on user research and on an iterative, user-centered, approach to creating solutions. But what if we applied the user-centered design process to ourselves, our lives, and our careers?

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How writing my debut novel was like buying lottery tickets and getting struck by lightning.
How writing my debut novel was like buying lottery tickets and getting struck by lightning.

Writing a book is hard. But the hardest part was getting struck by lightning.

But even as a shiny new novelist with absolutely no reputation (yet) folks have already started asking me how I did it: How did I get the idea, how long did it take to write, how long to publish?

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Find me on LinkedIn.

Check out my CV and let’s connect. I’m always down to chat with fellow creatives (and folks who need creatives).