Laurel Bollinger & Katherine Jones
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bollingerjones.bsky.social
Laurel Bollinger & Katherine Jones
@bollingerjones.bsky.social
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Writing speculative fiction together for more years than we'd like to admit
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bollingerjones.bsky.social
THE LAST SWORDTRAHGER

Unprepared to be her nobleman uncle's heir, her world verges on war. Naivety is dangerous. It may cost her sanity—or her life. To survive, she’ll have to mindbond with the one man she can trust to help her.

Gothic SFF: Dune x Jane Eyre

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An Agent's Guide to The Last Swordtrahger: A Gothic Science Fantasy Novel a young woman with forbidden abilities must confront her culture's past to preserve her planet's future (artwork of 3 riders on horseback approaching spaceport) FOR FANS OF: tech-induced intimacy (photos of covers of the novels: A Memory Called Empire & First Sister) girls with swords hidden powers dangerous attractions family secrets gothic atmosphere complex worldbuilding dark & twisty political machinations (photo of cover of The Frozen Crown) complex relationship between necromancer & cavalier (photo of cover of Gideon the Ninth) The Pitch Never tell anyone what you can do. Her father’s words echo in her ears as Treya confines herself to the stables, training horses with her powerful mindcall. It’s a telepathic ability banned by the interstellar empire because it could convert her into a soulstealer, hungering to absorb others’ minds. A monster. Then she is unexpectedly named her aristocratic Uncle Halden’s heir. She commits herself to his ancient House but finds Halden bedridden with a festering wound, slowly slipping into insanity. Beside him stands his swordtrahger, Mykhol—a knight mind-bound to Halden as a second self, his voice in ruling and his body in combat. Swordtrahger used to be common, but the empire banned the traditional practice decades ago as corrupting mindcall, although the bond also prevents soulstealers. Treya discovers Halden’s bond with Mykhol is fraying, sickening them both and drawing her into their growing madness by arousing her monstrous hunger. Now she must decide: save herself by abandoning her House, Halden, and Mykhol—or break the empire’s laws and take a swordtrahger herself, ignoring the consequences. Either way, she’ll become a monster. artwork: a castle on a cliff over a city in moonlight a girl swinging a sword a grim-looking aristocratic older man a gothic interior of a castle a young woman comforting a man a man in uniform & a young woman looking away on a parapet Dune x Jane Eyre
April 16, 2025 at 7:47 PM