Dark Fantasy, Black Authors, and a Toxic Hottie or Two with Cheryl Hodges of The Obsidian Archive

Episode # 129 Dark Fantasy, Black Authors, and a Toxic Hottie or Two with Cheryl Hodges of The Obsidian Archive Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤 She decided to write a book. Then figured she should probably start reading again.

Then opened a bookstore. Cheryl Hodges kept watching the girlies on Instagram open romance-only bookshops and realized nobody had built one for dark fantasy and speculative worlds.

So she did, in January of this year, while writing her own novel, working a full-time job, and raising a kid. Indie authors and Black authors in the genre are the whole point.

What We Talk About What dark fantasy actually is, why Maleficent counts, and why all our millennial fantasy obsessions trace back to Disney How she decides which books to carry, what she's looking for in author submissions, and why she'll point you to a different bookstore if you're not a fit What indie authors are still fighting for against publishers with real marketing budgets The unexpected turn: her nonprofit plans are about literacy as comprehension, shaped by teaching her own son to read and by knowing a grown man who can't If you love origin stories that don't skip the scary parts, this episode is for you. Chapters: 00:10 - Celebrating Black Business Month 03:27 - The Journey to Opening a Bookstore 18:01 - The Struggle of Indie Authors in Today's Market 25:55 - Literacy Initiatives and Challenges 34:24 - Launching a Bookstore and Publishing House 38:44 - The Vision for the Future Bookstore All about Cheryl Hodges You're gonna love Cheryl — she's a Brooklyn library kid turned bookstore owner.

Founder of The Obsidian Archive, an online bookstore for dark fantasy and speculative worlds, and author of Crown of the Morning Star , a dark mythic fantasy that follows Lucifer after the fall. She reads six books a month on her Kindle and listens to four or five more.

Book two, a vampire duology following Lucifer's son Cain, drops at Halloween. Where she's headed: a brick and mortar with a cafe, a nonprofit running book drives and book clubs, and the biggest selection of indie titles she can build.

Things We Mentioned The Obsidian Archive → Crown of the Morning Star by Cheryl Hodges, available on Kindle and paperback Legendborn by Tracy Deonn , her beginner's guide to fantasy pick The Daggermouth pre-order campaign, and Lee Rivers Her banned books section, including Animal Farm and 1984 This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤 Connect with Cheryl Hodges IG: @the_obsidian_archive_bookshop Website: Stay Connected 📬 Get the noseyAF Dispatch → Subscribe here 🏡 Grab the Good Neighbor Playbook → Download it free More ways to connect Email: stephanie@ Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham Listen to more episodes: Support & Feedback noseyAF is listener-supported ; thank you for being here. 💛🫶🏾 ⭐ Rate & Review the Show 📣 Share noseyAF with a friend who needs to hear this Episode Credits Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham Lyrics: Queen Lex Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick