the mark of rubideaux
Dark kingdom fantasy | work-in-progress
Three kingdoms. One prophecy. An awakened power.
A desperate king. A determined queen. A soul that needs saving.
Blood. Sea. Aerth.
their own dark places
Fantasy | 77,000 words, unfinished
This slow burn romance takes place in an accessible urban setting in a different world from ours, where people can exchange emotions and steal memories…
When Asher stumbles on an old newspaper article about a lower borough girl who survived a spin and a mother powerful enough to pull her out of it, he heads out to find them. Grett, of course, wants nothing to do with helping him, but Asher wiggles his way into her good graces by bringing her lavender drips and charming her twin brother. Besides, he’s not quite as bad as she’d figured a buttoned-up university boy to be. After the kindness he shows her father, the hope he offers her with respect to her mother, well, she can’t very well say no to helping him. When what they uncover links their lives up in a way they could never expect, will it heal both of them, or pull them apart for good?
bonefire and starlight
Epic fantasy | 84,000 words
The earth is stagnant, and the sky is still. Starlight stories are told of seasons and weather and growth, but such a world is so long forgotten, it’s nothing but children’s fancy.
The hero: Cairn wants a better life for his people, a life that the starlight stories promise. But when he wakens a tree with roots of lava, he must find the tree of life to counteract the resulting winter before it dooms the villagers to certain death.
The misfit: Between the sun and a sister who can spin fire from her fingertips, the village has no need for Ray’s light. But when she discovers what else her warmth can do, she finds that not only her identity, but also her world and people, are at stake.
The sister: Whip is desperate to hide her baby brother’s emerging power, lest the holies take him as their own. Besides, what use would there be for a baby who has animals sacrificing themselves at his feet? Enter an untimely death, and Whip worries he might be the cause.
beauty of whatever kind
Science fantasy | 70,000 words
In a world split between those who choose to take and those who choose to give, Roya Guiderian is attacked for the skin she molts every month to stay young and beautiful. In order to find out who put her on the black market skin list before they get into her father’s lab and use old secrets to destroy her people, she joins hands with an intentional communal, Keian Quist, who might only want her for her science.
either/or
Contemporary | 65,000 words
When they cut the umbilical cord, my mom tried to reattach it so I’d keep her alive. But it’s not a two-way street, that umbilical cord, and the only way to save myself was to push back.
It doesn’t take long for a kid to realize they’re no longer the parasite, but the host, and that damaged connection before I truly even knew what connection was.
This is the story of how that eventually split me in two, and how I ultimately put myself back together.
joanna hinsey 