{"id":44,"date":"2014-04-27T08:45:55","date_gmt":"2014-04-27T08:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/?page_id=44"},"modified":"2025-10-05T04:46:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T04:46:44","slug":"fiction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Long-form works:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Incandescent<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Incandescent Girl<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“A new queer fairy tale full of heart, charm and surprises, which turns the old warning of ‘be careful what you wish for’ on its head.”<\/em>– Lisa Tirreno, author of Prince of Fortune<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sharp characters handled with incredible authorial tenderness, a narrative structure that understands and expresses trans experience with straightforward, intimate clarity, and a sweet, human warmth and connection that cannot help but break through any bitterness that the world has instilled into its inhabitants.”<\/em>– Erin Kyan, Writer and Podcast Producer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

A pay-what-you-want\/free novella for download.<\/p>\n\n\n

Before Robin was born, the queen begged the enchanter Sebastian for her child to be a daughter. He promised she would be. The delivery was long and hard, and nearly killed the queen, and then at the end… a boy <\/em>baby. The disappointment left the queen bitter and unkind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Robin knows the truth: she is <\/em>a girl. In the way of all fey gifts, Sebtastian’s promise was a trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Robin is sixteen, and the queen is dying. Her only hope may lie in magic once again. But after a lifetime of cruel treatment, does Robin even want <\/em>to help?<\/p>
\u00a0

\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"Die<\/a><\/h3>The Hollow Witch<\/strong><\/a>

\u201cBeautiful and macabre, Borsellino weaves a darkly spellbinding tale of sapphic love in a world where the dead aren\u2019t always gone.\u00a0THE HOLLOW\u00a0WITCH\u00a0will keep you turning the pages deep into the night.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\u2013 C.S. Pacat, New York Times bestselling author of\u00a0DARK RISE<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u201cThis is a wild, magical, powerful story; a force to be reckoned with. Our queer disabled heroine may live in a world of zombies and witches, but like our own it\u2019s also rife with corruption, oppression & violence. Can love, friendship & hope survive in such a place?\u00a0THE HOLLOW WITCH\u00a0dares us to imagine what ending we\u2019d choose for this story, and perhaps even our own world\u2026 red fan, or white?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\u2013 Jess Walton, author of Stonewall Book Awards Honour Book\u00a0STARS IN THEIR EYES<\/em><\/strong><\/p>
<\/div>When child soldier Silvie loses her magic and part of her hearing, her life as she knew it is over. Sent to the far-away canal city of Arteria to be an alchemist\u2019s apprentice, she is forced to begin again.


Azura, the alchemist\u2019s daughter, has always lived among Arteria\u2019s wealthiest and most comfortable. She and Silvie couldn\u2019t be more different, and yet the two are drawn to one another, each trapped by the circumstances of their birth.<\/p>

But Arteria is plagued by the high cost of its magic use: the\u00a0cadaveri<\/i>, walking corpses that prey on the living. When the city comes under unprecedented threat, can Silvie and Azura save it? Do they even want to?<\/p>

<\/div>
<\/div>
\u00a0

\"Little<\/a> \"Little<\/a> \"Little<\/a><\/h3>
Little Ghosts<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>Growing up on a crumbling plantation at the beginning of the 20th century can profoundly shape an imagination, and when I grew up and went away to university in New Orleans, I realised my imagination wasn’t the only weird thing about me. My family’s reaction to my wild new life almost killed me. The way back to feeling alive was stranger than even I expected. Now I want to tell you all about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While very much a work of historical fiction, set in a period when women were struggling to find a voice and path to empowerment, Little Ghosts is at the same time a work with powerful resonance for our own age, where many of the same problems persist. And, last of all, it is a truly beguiling work, written with a unique voice that demands to be heard. I loved it.”<\/em><\/strong>
— Black Static Magazine<\/em><\/strong>



\"Ice<\/a>

Ice in Sunlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\u201cI think I\u2019m supposed to be dead.\u201d<\/em>

Corwen\u2019s emotions are a frozen wasteland after years of enslavement and abuse. When he\u2019s finally rescued, freedom isn\u2019t enough to thaw the wintry landscape of his heart.

Slowly, his new compatriots teach him that physical intimacy is a sacred gift, that pleasure can be shared without pain. With endless patience, they offer him a different way of being.

In order to be whole, Corwen must surrender the self-loathing he wears like armor. Can he learn to see himself the way his new companions do? Or will he hide from love forever in the icy vault that shields his deepest soul?

Written under the pen name Julia Leijon.



\"Thrive\"<\/a>
Thrive<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>
In a time and place where the gulf between the haves and the have-nots has grown painfully wide, Olivia lives a life cushioned with abundance.

Until the day she is kidnapped and held for ransom by Hannah, a girl from a very different kind of life.

Olivia discovers a taste for things not commonly condoned in her world: black-market books, daring friends, wild creativity.

From the depths of factory oppression to the dizzying heights of vigilante rooftops, Olivia travels the margins of society, where the misfits gather and build homes for themselves out of whatever they can get their hands on – and fight to make a life worth living.



\u00a0<\/a>\"Ruby<\/a> \"Ruby<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\"Rubin<\/a>
Ruby Coral Carnelian<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>
Where do you hide if the forces out to destroy you can find you anywhere? For three students on the run from cruel sorcerers, discovering an answer to that question is a matter of life and death. Del, an apprentice mage, Kelsie, a natural leader, and Nicholas, a born survivor, are in way over their heads and time is running out.

“Among the many joys of Ruby Coral Carnelian, I especially like the keen understanding of ways in which young people seek out lasting friendship. The intelligent artistry of Mary Borsellino’s writing is matched by a natural and mature exuberance, a zest for all that is possible and all that ought to be. It’s a rare delight to travel in her world.” <\/em><\/strong>
\u2014S.P. Miskowski
Shirley Jackson Award nominated author of Knock Knock, Delphine Dodd and Astoria<\/em><\/strong>



\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"The<\/a>
The Devil’s Mixtape<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>
“It\u2019s pretty dark, but damn, it\u2019s really f***ing good.”\u00a0— Erin Kyan, Love and Luck Podcast<\/span><\/strong><\/em>

In 1999, Ella was one of three students who arrived at her Denver school with a cache of weapons and a plan to use them. Years later, she sifts through accounts of other violent young women, writing letters to a little sister who had to grow up in the aftermath of that day.

In 1952, Sally was a runaway, hitch-hiking around Australia with a strange, secretive girl named Amy. Each outcasts in their own way, the pair navigate a landscape scarred by old memories and tragedies, searching for a place that will feel like safety and home.

And in 2011, Charlotte was a music journalist on tour with a band, listening to their stories of loss and hope. Though they are in very different times and places, the three are linked by a web of legacies and second chances.

Demons, fallen soldiers, hunters, rock & roll stars, and high-school heartbreaks are all thrown together. The result could never be anything but the Devil’s mixtape.



\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"Origins<\/a>\u00a0\"Origins<\/a>\u00a0\"Roads<\/a>

\"Roads<\/a>\u00a0\"Fair<\/a>\u00a0\"Fair<\/a>\u00a0\"Fire<\/a>\u00a0\"Fire<\/a>

\"Last<\/a>
The Wolf House<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>
\u201cElectrifying. Chilling. Enthralling. Amazing.\u201c \u2014 L.J. Smith, author of The Vampire Diaries<\/b><\/em>

The mean streets of Chicago belong to The Wolf House \u2014 a pack of vampires like:

Blake<\/b>, who loves toying with hunters;
Tim<\/b>, who\u2019s lost several centuries of his memory;
Cora<\/b>, who has an unquenchable thirst for cruelty.

Facing off against them are a collection of artists, punk rockers, and misfit high schoolers\u2014 smart, talented, angry … and doomed:

Bette and Rose<\/b>, best friends lured into the vampires\u2019 world;
Lily and Will<\/b>, vampire hunters, musicians, and all-around human disasters;
Sofie and Jay<\/b>, who barely survived Cora\u2019s brutality and now are Blake\u2019s pawns.

In the world of the undead, love is a curse and friendship a weapon. When the sun goes down, the games begin \u2026 and innocence dies.

1. Origins and Overtures<\/b>: At first, Bette and Jay are more fascinated than frightened by the secret underworld of vampires … but they’re about to find out just how wrong they are.

2. Roads and Crosses<\/b>: When death creeps in closer than ever, it destroys the equilibrium Lily and Will shared. Can the new people they’re becoming hope to regain what’s been lost?

3. Fair Game<\/b>: Vampires obsessively stalk those they love and gleefully manipulate those they oppose. As tensions between humans and vampires begin to boil over, Bette and Tim wonder how much of a person’s identity can survive those new instincts.

4. Fire Proof Heart<\/b>: Having an eating disorder was miserable enough as a human. Now that Ash is a vampire, it’s a living hell. She’s the latest victim of Cora’s evil games against Blake, but now Blake — capricious, charming, endlessly bloodthirsty — is the only one who can save her.

5. Last Girl<\/b>: In the horror movies Michelle watches with her friends, the last girl is the one who kills the monster and gets to live, even when everyone else is dead. It’s not a role Michelle wants, but that’s not her choice to make. And it seems as if Alexander’s only reward for tenaciously surviving all this time is to lose everything over and over again. When all’s said and done, is being the last one standing a blessing or a curse?

\u201cRock’n’roll, sex, tattoos, feminism, bisexuality, and a sense of what teens really are about.\u201d \u2014The Age<\/b><\/em>



\"Ophelia's<\/a>\u00a0\"Ophelia's<\/a>
Ophelia’s Salvation<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>
Written in 2000, when she was eighteen years old, Mary Borsellino’s first novel is the story of Amy and Jordan, a pair of restless young lovers who set out on a road trip and soon find themselves caught in a world of uncertainty, murder, medical malpractice, and other souls as lost as they are.



Short stories:<\/h3>
\"Detritus\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Wolf<\/a>\u00a0\"Little<\/a>\u00a0\"31 <\/a>\"Australian<\/a> \u00a0\"And <\/a>\"Kraljevstvo <\/a>\"Monochrome<\/a>




<\/div>
Audiobook:<\/h5>
\"Origins<\/a>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long-form works: Incandescent Girl “A new queer fairy tale full of heart, charm and surprises, which turns the old warning of ‘be careful what you wish for’ on its head.”– Lisa Tirreno, author of Prince of Fortune “Sharp characters handled with incredible authorial tenderness, a narrative structure that understands and expresses trans experience with straightforward,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-44","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2314,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44\/revisions\/2314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryborsellino.com\/mary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}