Story Worlds
Janessa writes novels that transpire in one of two worlds: Earth or Thervade. Bhel-Silvest, as a force that crosses both time and space, reaches multiple worlds.
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Earth​
Thervade
Bhel-Silvest
At this Elevation
When Satya sneaks into the Khumbu Valley of Nepal, famous for the trekking route to Mount Everest, he expects solitude. The entire valley has been evacuated and closed due to rinderpest, a cattle disease, but rumors about disappearances and murder run to the contrary. As a graduate student obsessed with folklore, Satya couldn't ask for more. By exploring the valley, he expects to craft the thesis project of a lifetime. What he doesn’t expect (or particularly want) is company.
Nicki and Jared are trouble from day one with their strained relationship. As two trekkers intent on reaching Everest Base Camp, their route overlaps with Satya's, creating an uneasy alliance that shifts from temporary to permanent when the group is waylaid in Namche Bazaar. It is the one place they shouldn't linger, and as each attempt to leave circles back in misfortune, tensions and self-interest escalate, crippling the very trust on which survival hinges. If folklore has taught Satya anything, it's this: the three of them are not alone.
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*Note: This novel has not been published.
A Bite this Deep
Nine years ago, Dresgar witnessed her family’s murder. The man responsible, tattooed in red across the knuckles, vanished without a trace.
Nine years ago, Dresgar struck a deal with a bitterbite—a dreaded tradesman of magic and merchandise—for help in pursuing her family’s killer. Instead, she became chained to his bidding deep within the northern city of Waergradt, locked into a mission as likely to kill her as free her. The resulting fallout forced both her and the bitterbite to flee, but in separate directions, and Dresgar never looked back.
Nine years seems long ago until Dresgar encounters a stranger with red knuckles, reminding her that blood justice runs deep in the north. Confronted by a history of violence and promises, she demands answers, yet isn’t prepared for her entire past to come knocking.
Folk wisdom says that a bitterbite never forgets and should never be trusted, but circumstance can create strange bedfellows. In Dresgar’s case, a mutual appetite for revenge might make for the strangest ones yet.
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*Note: This novel has not been published.
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An Intimacy of Bones
Inof Dorr, headhunter of the Eisenhaut, knows better than to cross a crone. Theirs is a primeval magic drawn from Nomsk’s deepest wilderness, but this means nothing to high mage Evyan Ceriph. When Inof guides Evyan north on the trail of prophecy, the resulting catastrophe and a vengeful crone hardly seem worth the gold involved. Fortunately, Inof has larger purses to chase for easier kills.
No kill seems as easy as Idane Victrell, an apprentice mage who is about to make a grave mistake.
Idane too knows of prophecy: a key to divinity will reveal itself beneath a star alignment of old. She too thought to investigate the prophecy before Evyan ditched her in Krauwergradt, where a newborn babe has been sentenced to death by exposure. Unable to pursue prophecy alongside Evyan and unable to tolerate infanticide, Idane upsets local order by absconding with the doomed infant.
A headhunter, high mage, apprentice, and babe. Prophecies are slippery by nature, and crones do not forgive. In a dogfight of ambition and survival, magic burns bone deep, forging bonds of marrow, just as an even greater power lurks beneath the northern ice, waiting to feed.
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*Note: This novel has not been published. The sequel, A Tithing of Pain, is currently being written.