Ruth Frances Long

Ruth Frances Long / Jessica Thorne / R. F. Long writes romance and fantasy from the heart which often strays into weird and wonderful liminal places. She works in a specialized library of rare & occasionally crazy books.

As Ruth Frances Long she writes fantasy. In 2015 she won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy for A Crack in Everything. Her latest series Feral Gods, an adult fantasy trilogy from Hodderscape featuring “an alternate-Renaissance fantasy world and inspired by the early days of printing in Europe” begins with The Book of Gold, continues with The Lore of Silver (November 2025) and finishes with The God of Bronze (November 2026). The Book of Gold was longlisted for the 2025 BSFA award and was selected for the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2024.

As Jessica Thorne she writes adult fantasy women’s fiction, which wanders from Space Opera to time travel to epic fantasy, including The Lost Queen trilogy (A Touch of Shadows, A Kiss of Flame and A Crown of Darkness), The Water Witch, The Bookbinder’s Daughter, The Lost Girl’s of Foxfield Hall, The Queen’s Wing, The Hollow King duology (Mageborn and Nightborn). The Stone’s Heart was nominated for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Fantasy novel of the year in 2020. Her Irish gothic romance Wildewood came out in January 2026.

Ruth has been nominated for the European Science Fiction Society (ESFS) 2026 Hall of Fame Awards as Best Author.