Juliet Kemp (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, writer. They live in London by the river, with their partners, kid, and dog. The first book of their fantasy series, The Deep And Shining Dark was a Locus Recommended Read; the fourth and final book, The City Revealed, came out in 2023. Their short fiction has appeared in venues including Uncanny, Analog, and Cast of Wonders. They were short-listed for the WSFA Small Press Award in 2020 and 2023, and had a story in the 2021 Lambda Awards shortlisted anthology Trans-Galactic Bike Ride.

When not writing or child-wrangling, Juliet knits, indulges their fountain pen habit, and tries to fit an ever-increasing number of plants into a microscopic back garden. They can be found at https://julietkemp.com, or on Twitter (@julietk), Mastodon (@juliet@zirk.us), or BlueSky (@julietk.bsky.social).

The Deep And Shining Dark by Juliet Kemp

The Deep And Shining Dark was a Locus Recommended Read; Juliet has been shortlisted twice (2020 and 2023) for the WSFA Small Press Award and was part of a Lambda Awards shortlisted anthology (2021).

You know something's wrong when the cityangel turns up at your door.

Magic in the city-state of Marek rests on an ancient agreement between the cityangel and the city's founders; and sorcerer Reb has just discovered that the cityangel has disappeared, apparently through foul play. Marcia, Heir to House Fereno, one of the few in high society who acknowledges magic, runs into Reb while looking for her disreputable sorcerer brother Cato, and realises that the cityangel's woes are just part of a much more ambitious political plot. One which threatens not only Marek, but its neighbours too, including the sea-traders of Salina upon whom Marek relies.

Reluctantly, Reb and Marcia agree to work together, alongside the temporarily-human cityangel and Jonas, a messenger from Salina with his own secrets. To discover who's behind the plot, and restore the cityangel, they'll all have to make some dangerous decisions about who to trust; and what to do about it.

CURATOR'S NOTE

Magic and politics intertwine in this fascinatingly queer take on power, family, and responsibility, with a unique magic system. The start of a series! – Melissa Scott and Catherine Lundoff

 

REVIEWS

  • "A rich and memorable tale of political ambition, family and magic, set in an imagined city that feels as vibrant as the characters inhabiting it."

    – Aliette de Bodard, Nebula-award winning author of The Tea Master and the Detective

  • "A novel that's one part high fantasy, one part political fantasy, and one part old-fashioned sword-and-sorcery – without the swords or the lack of realistic diversity to which old-fashioned sword-and-sorcery was often prone."

    – Liz Bourke, Locus

  • "Juliet Kemp's The Deep And Shining Dark (Elsewhen) was one of the best debuts of the year, set in a chewy and thought-provoking secondary world that one hopes to see more of."

    – Graham Sleight, Locus Recommended Reading List 2018
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Beckett moved closer to Cato's door, head to one side. They looked almost as if they were smelling the air.

"There has been another spirit here," they said, abruptly. Their face settled into a scowl. "Another spirit. In my city."

"You're sure?" Reb said, then shook her head. "Stupid question."

Beckett, still scowling at the door, didn't reply. Reb chewed at her lip, then seemed to come to a decision.

"Right. I really shouldn't be doing this, but, given what we're here for, and that there's been another spirit here... Stand back."

She laid one hand on the door, muttering under her breath. Jonas couldn't hear the words, but the rhythm caught at the nape of his neck. Reb dipped her other hand into the bag at her belt, withdrew a pinch of something, and threw it against the doorframe, left, right, top. The pressure at the back of Jonas' neck popped, and the door swung open. He followed Reb over the threshold.

The room was in a state of massive disarray. Clothes and papers were strewn across the floor, with half-eaten food in various states of decay on every surface. The only remotely tidy part was a small table in one corner with two shelves of small jars above it, and a bowl, mirror, and feather nib placed on the table. It was immediately obvious that Cato wasn't there; there was nowhere in the room for a full grown human to hide. The room reeked of smoke and herbs that Jonas couldn't immediately put a name to; with an overlay of rotting food, and human urine coming from the half-full chamber pot in the corner.

His back prickled, and he stood in this room, looking at a dark-haired, brown-skinned Mareker with a bony face, a little shorter than himself, talking animatedly and gesturing at the jars and the table. He blinked and looked around, but Reb still hadn't noticed. At least this flicker hadn't been like the last one. That must surely be Cato that he'd seen; so he would get to talk to Cato about his flickers at some point, even if he wasn't here right now? Not for the first time, Jonas wished that his flickers came with a time stamp.

Reb was turning around slowly with a dissatisfied expression. "You might as well come in," she called to Beckett.

Beckett stepped just inside the door and stopped, looking slowly around the room. "Cato is not here," they said.

"You got it," Reb said. "So there was a spirit here, and now Cato's gone."

"And wherever he was off to, apparently he didn't have time to clear up properly," Jonas said, wrinkling his nose. In his experience all Marekers were less tidy than he was brought up to – not much room on board ship. But this was something else again, and it had the look of a habitual state, not the disarray caused by someone searching.

"He's left some of his kit," Reb said. "But... not all of it. Not the essentials. Those are all gone." She was looking closely at the table. "What he's left out, here... If I had to bet, I'd bet that he was talking to a spirit, before he left. The feather nib, and the mirror... He wouldn't pack this mirror to carry, and if he used the nib, it's used up now..."

Jonas blinked at her, uncertain if she wanted a response. Not that he had the first clue what she was talking about.

"He spoke to a spirit?" Beckett was prowling around the room, still almost sniffing. "I can tell that it was here, but if he spoke to it..."

Reb looked over at them and nodded slowly. "Yeah. That occurred to me as well. You've left a space, up there, haven't you?"

Beckett's lips had drawn back a little from their clenched teeth. "It is my space."

Reb was looking around again, chewing on her thumbnail. "Fishscales," she swore. "I suppose I'll have to."

She went to pick up the bowl on the table, then obviously thought better of it and dug into her pockets, pulling out little bags of this and that. Carefully, she mixed a pinch from each of them into her cupped hand, muttering something Jonas couldn't hear as she did so, then gently blew it over the table and shelves. Jonas' neck prickled again as the dusting of scraps settled across table, bowl, feather, and floor.

"You should probably stand back a bit," she said absently, mixing up another collection of bits and scattering it around her. "I don't like working with someone else's things – and Cato would have my guts – but we need to know. I don't like the feel of this." She glanced up, and said sharply, "Stand back, I said!"

Jonas retreated to the door. Beckett didn't move.

"You too," Reb said without looking round. "I told you, I don't like the feel of any of this. You're why we're here. Let's not find out the hard way if that's related to whatever happened to Cato. Especially not if he really was talking to a spirit before he left. Or before he was made to go, perhaps, but – well. Let's see what I can find out."

Beckett, face expressionless again, stepped backwards to join Jonas. Reb scattered the latest mixture around her on the floor, then, hesitantly, picked up Cato's bowl with her sleeves tugged down over her fingertips. She made another mixture, this time in the bowl, shaking rather than stirring it, and carefully stowing her little packets away after she had taken what she needed from each one. Finally, she tipped the mixture out of the bowl onto the table, set the bowl down very carefully, and picked up the feather, again with the edges of her fingers.

"Sorry," Jonas heard her say under her breath, then she began to draw patterns in the dust on the table top.

Jonas could feel the pressure building in his head, but this time nothing popped. It just kept building, as Reb kept drawing patterns. He shook his head and swallowed, trying to disperse it, without any effect. Reb had stopped drawing now, and was staring down at the table and the bowl and the patterns. Jonas' head felt almost unbearably tight, and he clenched his teeth against the urge to say something, or do something, to break it.

Then, with a noise that was almost a thunderclap inside his head, the pressure vanished, just as Reb sailed backwards across the room. She landed, hard, against the wall, and crumpled to the floor. In front of the table was a ripple in the air, blue and green with swirls of red. It intensified and grew, the red streaks getting wider and brighter.

Jonas' ears were ringing, the noise growing louder as the ripple grew bigger. Reb was slumped unmoving on the floor, Beckett stood to his left. The ripple was growing, moving, reaching out towards Beckett... That was here, wasn't it? Here and now? He'd seen this thing in his flicker, seen it pulling Beckett in...

The ripple had nearly reached Beckett, and Beckett wasn't moving. Jonas wasn't sure if Beckett was even seeing what he was seeing. Did that mean it wasn't really there? The colours intensified, the air looking hot and strange, and Beckett was starting to move as it reached towards him...

He should run. He should run right now.

Instead, without conscious decision, he stepped between Beckett and the ripple. With another thunderclap, the ripple disappeared.