S Jae Jones Books in Order

S. Jae-Jones was born and raised in Los Angeles, where books became an early way to travel far beyond the room she was in. She spent childhood summers in Seoul with her grandmother, and Korean was her first language. Those experiences, along with a love of fantasy and folklore, continue to echo through her fiction.

Her route to writing started with play. As a child, she built such detailed make-believe worlds that she began writing them down just to keep the stories straight. Before that, she also wanted to draw comics, and from ages nine to fourteen she made daily comics about her life instead of keeping a diary.

Storytelling came before the job title.

Jae-Jones studied English and American Literature and Art History at New York University. She also studied abroad in London, where she met her partner. Her interests have never stayed in one lane for long: she has played several instruments, made art, learned bits of invented languages in high school, and kept finding new hobbies to explore.

Her first novel, Wintersong, arrived in 2017. It follows Liesl, a young musician who enters the underground realm of the Goblin King to save her sister. The book draws on fairy-tale danger, music, romance, and the uneasy pull between duty and desire. Its sequel, Shadowsong, stays with Liesl as the costs of that journey follow her back into the world above.

The duology introduced the kind of fantasy Jae-Jones likes to write: emotional, character-focused stories where magic has rules and consequences. Her protagonists are often young women who have spent a long time making themselves smaller for family, safety, or expectation. Then the world asks more of them.

She later began the Guardians of Dawn series with Zhara, set in the Morning Realms, where magic has been outlawed and old forces are beginning to wake. The books follow several young women, including Zhara, Ami, Yuli, and Suhwa, as each is drawn toward a larger fight involving elemental magic, monsters, political conflict, friendship, and first love. The series gives Jae-Jones room for bigger journeys while keeping the focus on people trying to understand their own power.

Readers who enjoy her work often come for the fairy-tale setups and stay for the messy choices inside them. Music, art, hidden magic, family loyalty, longing, and identity all matter as much as the external threat. Her worlds can be dangerous, but her characters are allowed to be awkward, funny, stubborn, frightened, and hopeful.

She now lives on the East Coast, a place she jokes requires far too much winter. When she is not writing, she works toward her next black belt in taekwondo, spends time with her twin dogs, Castor and Pollux, and continues collecting hobbies. She also holds a skydiving license, which feels suitably on-brand for a writer drawn to risk, motion, and a little bit of magic.