WI #5 - THE FORTY-SEVEN WORDS..., YA Fantasy

Title: THE FORTY-SEVEN WORDS OF THE BROKEN GIRL
Word Count: 95,000
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

System(s) of Oppression: Ableism (physical disability and neuro-atypical). The MC is also a person of color (but lives in a village where most people are also) and a religious minority.
Author’s identity: It’s possible I am neuro-atypical.

Query:
When disabled math genius Jinxx Relinkerys observes imperial soldiers killing independence protesters, she swears to God she’ll find a way to stop soldiers from hurting people again. Learning magic should have given her the tools to help, but when she accidentally casts a potent light spell, it’s mistaken for a stupid miracle and turns into a source of violent dissent between faiths. Now she has to stop religious tensions from turning into civil war.

Armed only with a best friend who loves scandal and whatever books they can smuggle out of her mentor’s library, Jinxx must figure out how to undo the miracle before it turns into a war that will surely kill thousands—and her brother. It won’t be easy, with both her mother and her mentor trying to keep her from doing anything. She might not understand people—or even jokes—very well, but she won’t let anyone stop her from fixing the disaster she created.

THE FORTY-SEVEN WORDS is like a mash-up of Mary Robinette Kowal’s GLAMOURIST HISTORIES with Phillip Pullman’s THE GOLDEN COMPASS if Sazed from Brandon Sanderson’s MISTBORN trilogy showed up and a Dumbledore-ian mentor-mage threw the MC out of a hole in the sky without thinking of how it would effect her PTSD. This is a stand-alone first book in a planned trilogy.

First 250 Words:

The yapper at Mr. Taálix's Book Emporium frowned at Jinxx and her mother. He looked at Jinxx, his gaze moving down her crutches before pausing on her twisted foot. "Not another one.” He sighed.

Jinxx shifted so her skirt denied his view.

The clerk shook his head and looked at Jinxx’s mother. "I’m sorry, ma’am, but whatever that other one told you, we send our charity to a reading program in the city. I can't give coins to every broken child who comes in here. The Strivers have an asylum for broken people."

He glanced over at Jinxx again. "I could draw you a map, but it might be best to take her to the Convent Virgins. They accept broken girls, too, as well as orphans and widows."

Her mother said, "We’re here to buy, not ask for charity."

The yapper blushed bright pink. The color looked so nice with his natty brown suit that he should wear a dusty rose vest embroidered with white lilies.

"Well, we have the finest collection outside Timodíuv. I’m sure whatever you want, we have it. If not, our brokers can get it for you. Would you like my personal assistance or to peruse our catalog?"

"Mom, can I look at the catalog while you ask about the hymnals?"Her mother nodded. Jinxx walked up to the counter and the massive tome on the desk that surely was the index of books. Her smile was so big it hurt. The book emporium possessed so many books they couldn’t fit them on the copious shelves; they had stacked texts on the benches and every other surface available.