C. Jean Hardy

Author, Translator, Linguist

Biography | Selected Excerpts from By Smoke and Flame | Contact

C. JEAN HARDY
is an author and linguist based in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Born and raised in Boulder (with a brief sojourn to Jacksonville, FL),
she has lived the clear majority of her life in view of the Rocky Mountains.
The rugged geography of the Front Range has been
a huge influence on her worldbuilding.

Jean is the author of the forthcoming By Smoke and Flame, to be released 2026,
as well as its unnamed sequel novel, tentatively slated for 2027.
A lifelong lover of Science Fiction and Fantasy, her greatest influences are
Anne McCaffrey, Hiromu Arakawa, and Eiichiro Oda. In her own stories,
Jean strives to strike a balance between fantasy and realism, but notes that,
"Realism doesn't mean everyone is just miserable all the time!
It means people who act how people act."

Jean stands firmly in opposition to generative "A.I." and its deleterious
effects on various creative industries. The plagiarism machine has no place here!

All works shared here are her own.

QUEER COMING-OF-AGE FANTASY

The Reliquary trilogy, beginning with By Smoke and Flame, is Hardy's first
plunge into writing Fantasy, informed by a life of exposure to queer and fantasy media,
and a desire to see these two streams crossed. By Smoke and Flame is a story about
love, hate, trust, betrayal, and a desperate flight from consequences.

BLUESKY