About
Hi, I’m Jen.
I live with my husband, twin boys, and cats in an off-grid camping trailer on a permaculture farm in the California Sierra Foothills.
I write inspiring middle grade fantasy novels that explore environmental themes.
I am an active member of the SCBWI. I participate in and contribute to http://www.kidlitcraft.com/, a book club and blog where writers discuss contemporary middle grade novels from a craft perspective. I’ve participated in the Better Books and Big Sur Writing Workshops, SCBWI Asilomar conference, and critique groups, and have taken many classes and webinars on writing for children. Prior to writing fiction, I was a technical writer in the software industry for 20 years.
Books
I am working on three middle grade novels. I have not yet queried or published any of them.
Tempest
Rayne and Sturm are the giant Tempest creatures who live in and nurture the last remaining Punga tree. Without the Tempests, the people of neighboring Niewtown would lose their only source of water.
Willow lives in the forest with Rayne and Sturm. One day, Rayne tells Willow that she has laid an egg. After all but giving up hope, she and Sturm are going to have a child.
Somehow, the Queen’s spies find out, and steal the egg. The queen wants the Tempest child for herself so she can control the town’s last source of water. Willow didn’t tell a soul, but the Tempests blame her. She was the only one they told.
Willow must return the egg to its parents before it hatches, if she has any hope of restoring her friendship with the Tempests and of securing the health of the Puunga tree.
Extinct
Christopher is a timid 12 year old boy whose mom, a research scientist, gets stuck in the future when she accidentally drinks an experimental teleporting serum she’s invented. Christopher has to stop the multinational logging company his dad works for from destroying the rainforest habitat of the plant that makes up the antidote so that his mother can create the antidote in the future and return to him.
The Magnitude of Friendship
In the aftermath of an earthquake that destroys his home and neighborhood, Lucas realizes that his best friend Shawn has been left behind in the wreckage. Lucas decides to go back for Shawn and bring him to safety, but to do so, he must team up with Shawn’s friend Julia. Lucas and Julia despise one another, but they must set their own feelings aside to save their mutual friend.