Gabrielle Harbowy attended Taos Toolbox in the last pre-pandemic year, 2019. Since then she’s made good use of her time. A story, “The Dybbuk Ward,” will appear in the March issue of Fantasy magazine, and her novel Aether’s Pawn will appear at the end of February. Here’s a synopsis:
Indigo Steelquill — Quills — left her native realm a thousand years ago and hasn’t looked back. A jinn, an inker in the long and magical tradition of her kind, she enjoys the simplicity of life as a tattoo artist in modern-day London. Content to quietly explore the alchemical and magical properties of her ink, she doesn’t want anything to do with the local jinn. But her talents make her too useful a tool to be left alone.
When a notorious jinn overlord is murdered, all signs point to the leader of a rival faction. But that leader claims innocence, and knows that someone else has access to her signature powers: Quills, the inker who takes blood and magical essence in payment for her magic-enhanced tattoos. So if she didn’t do it, then who?
Quills’ chase for answers leads her across much of England and into the company of an astute human named Amy Jane (whom she’s definitely NOT falling for). Meanwhile, the murdered jinn’s followers are out for retribution. She only has five days to find the killer and clear her client’s name, or she’ll be the one set up to take the fall.
“[Harbowy’s] ability to create realistic portrayals of otherworldly lives is astounding.” – Lambda Literary
Harbowy writes with the precision of an editor, and the sensibility and passion of a writer.” – Leah Petersen, author of “The Physics of Falling” series
