Jules Arbeaux

Science Fiction and fantasy author

PAPERBACK out Feb 6, 2025!

One Curse. Two sworn enemies. Thousands of lives in the balance.

When his own death curse backfires onto him, a grieving young man must work together with the interstellar outlaw who killed his brother to save his own life—and thousands more he inadvertently doomed with his curse.

You'll like this book if you like...

  • Authors like Becky Chambers, TJ Klune, Everina Maxwell, or Grace Curtis, and books like Nophek Gloss and Winter's Orbit.

  • Criminal found family, space-based shenanigans, forced proximity (with soulbonds), and a hate-to-queerplatonic love story.

  • Stories that hurt you before they heal you.

PAPERBACK RELEASE COUNTDOWN:

    PAPERBACK PREORDER:

    *Blackwell's offers free international shipping.

    NEWS:

    Goldsboro Books selected Lord of the Empty Isles as the June pick for their GSFF subscription box! Their signed and numbered exclusive first-print hardcover edition features sprayed edges (block-sprayed top and bottom and a digitally printed fore-edge) and an absolutely gorgeous foil design under the dust jacket!

    What readers are saying...

    • I sobbed, I laughed, I screamed.
         — Frances White, Sunday Times Bestselling author of Voyage of the Damned

    • A fantastic debut for fans of found family, queerplatonic relationships, and deeply human characters who are allowed to be monstrous: vulnerable and violent at once.
         — Essa Hansen, author of Nophek Gloss

    • A fierce cry of grief and call for connection, with soul tethers and space heists and families lost and found. Deliciously, devastatingly entertaining.
         — Leanne Schwartz, author of A Prayer for Vengeance

    • Arbeaux has a voice so crisp and compassionate that you can’t help but fall in love.
         — Sunya Mara, author of The Darkening

    • Once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down without finding out how it ends.
          — Hana Lee, Author of Road to Ruin

    • A heartwarming - gut-wrenching - and thrilling adventure.
         ― Kate Dylan, Sunday Times Bestselling author of Until We Shatter

    • A laughing, crying, gut-punch of a ride... 10/10, totally worth the book hangover.
         — L.M. Sagas, author of Cascade Failure

    • Guaranteed to break your heart and simultaneously mend it, Lord of The Empty Isles is an un-put-downable magical space adventure with a lovable found family cast as morally complex and clever as they are chaotic!
         — Rosie Talbot, author of Sixteen Souls

    —

    About

    Longlistee for the 2022 Bath Novel Award and a 2020 Pitch Wars alum, Jules is a science fiction and fantasy author and inveterate enjoyer of visceral, wrenching poetry and prose, complex characters, and powerful relationships of every flavor.Cat parent, artist, learner of languages, and professional neglector of many thriving succulents, Jules subsists on sour gummy worms and far-fetched dreams.

    Get in Touch

    I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to say hello on Twitter or drop me a line through the contact form!

    Literary Agent

    Jules is represented by Maddy Belton of the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV and Film Agency.

    © Jules Arbeaux 2024. All rights reserved.

    Hardcover (Out now!)

    Paperback Preorder:

    *Blackwell's offers free international shipping.

    One curse. Two Sworn enemies.
    Thousands of lives in the balance.

    Ash, dried flowers, and a drop of blood. Remy has everything he needs to avenge his brother's death.Five years ago, interstellar pirate Idrian Delaciel ordered a withering—a death curse—cast on Remy's brother, costing him his life. Now, Remy has what he needs to return the favour, but when he casts the withering, it also rebounds onto him. The implications are unthinkable: Remy is fatebound to his brother's killer.The only way to slow the curse is to close the distance between them, so Remy infiltrates Idrian’s criminal crew, hiding his identity. But he soon learns that Idrian is the sole provider of life-saving supplies to thousands of innocents. If Idrian dies, they'll die with him.With more at stake now than just revenge, Remy must find a way to break the curse. Too bad for him—the only way to stop a withering is to kill the witherer.Winter's Orbit meets The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet in this stunning emotional yet action-packed adult science fiction novel, perfect for fans of found family and queerplatonic relationships.

    Content Notes (click to view): grief, loss of a sibling (off-page but prominent in the book), on-page depictions of death and injury (children, adults, the elderly) in a mass-casualty event, advancing illness (due to a death curse)

    FAQ:

    • What's the genre? Simple answer: Sci-fi. More specific answer: Low, character-centric, feelings-forward sci-fi (highly regulated post-climate-disaster world with three man-made pseudo moons in orbit around the planet) heavy on the fantasy flavoring in the form of tether/soulbond magic.

    • Is it standalone? Yes! At this time, I don't have plans for a follow-up.

    • Is this a romance? For lack of more accurate marketing terminology, you might find some websites have auto-categorized this book as romance, and it does focus on an intense hate-to-love story (and many other forms of love) that I ambitiously hope might hold their own against other love stories. However, it's more of a queerplatonic relationship, and the book itself—including the tether system—focuses on and foregrounds platonic, fraternal, and found-familial bonds.

    • How do I get this in the US? At the moment, Lord of the Empty Isles has been licensed for publication in the UK with Hodderscape/Hachette, but I still have hope that it may one day find a US home. Until then, if US or international readers want to get their hands on it, I can highly recommend getting it through Blackwell's, which ships free internationally.

    PRaise for LORD OF THE EMPTY ISLES:

    • A laughing, crying, gut-punch of a ride... 10/10, totally worth the book hangover.
         — L.M. Sagas, author of Cascade Failure

    • Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming... A fantastic debut for fans of found family, queerplatonic relationships, and deeply human characters who are allowed to be monstrous: vulnerable and violent at once.
         — Essa Hansen, author of Nophek Gloss

    • Set in a vividly realized universe shaped by environmental devastation and soul-bonds, Lord of the Empty Isles brims with big, fascinating ideas... Amidst all the magic and space-faring adventure is a stunning, thoughtful treatise on grief and love in all its forms. A wonderfully cathartic experience.
         ― Julie Leong, author of The Teller of Small Fortunes

    • A glorious cast of misfits that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure - even as they hold a gun to your head.
         ― Kate Dylan, author of Mindbreaker

    • I sobbed, I laughed, I screamed.
         — Frances White, author of Voyage of the Damned

    • Once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down.
         — Hana Lee, Author of Road to Ruin

    • Guaranteed to break your heart and simultaneously mend it... an un-put-downable magical space adventure with a lovable found family cast as morally complex and clever as they are chaotic!
         — Rosie Talbot, author of Sixteen Souls

    • Deliciously, devastatingly entertaining.
         — Leanne Schwartz, author of A Prayer for Vengeance

    • Arbeaux has a voice so crisp and compassionate that you can't help but fall in love. Lord of the Empty Isles is an absolute delight.
         — Sunya Mara, author of The Darkening

    • If you love space pirates and heists, intricately-woven magic systems and found family, and most of all, books that make you laugh on one page and cry the next, you cannot miss picking up Lord of the Empty Isles.
         ― Christy Healy, author of Unbound

    • I am an emotional wreck after finishing this.
         ― Five-star Goodreads Review

    • Lord of the Empty Isles by Jules Arbeaux is a fast-paced yet thoughtful debut... perfect for those who love reading deeply human imaginings of future societies.
         ― Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, author of The Principle of Moments

    Preorder on:

    *Blackwell's offers free international shipping.

    RELEASE DATE: Summer, 2025

    Don't make waves, don't get attached, and never let anyone see the tattoos.Those rules have kept Tory Arknett alive, alone, and on the run for years in a country eager to put his healing hands to work on the front lines of a brutal war. When a desperate display of magic outs him to the authorities, Tory flees—right into the hands of cold and competent Sena Vantaras. Caged in a cruel training facility and implanted with a magical tracker, Tory needs to get out before he gets dead. There’s just one thing to do before he goes: make Sena pay.But Sena is already paying more than Tory knows, and when a mission strands them both in enemy territory, they must cooperate to survive. As they learn the truth about each other and the myth behind the magic that connects them, Tory and Sena find belonging with each other.But their trackers will kill them in three days if they don't return to the facility. Soon, Tory and Sena face a desperate decision: their freedom, or their lives?A grumpy healer must work with his captor when a mission strands them in enemy territory in this action-packed, queer romantic fantasy by the author of Lord of the Empty Isles.

    You might like Cage of Starlight...

    • If you like intensely character-focused stories, messy people doing their best (and sometimes their worst), gentle boys who could destroy the world, healers who want to tear out throats, a good dollop of hurt/comfort, indulgent original mythology, and/or hate-to-love stories.

    • If you ever asked yourself, "What if Captive Prince met Fullmetal Alchemist, but make it ace-romantic?" Or even, "What if X-Men, but sad and gay(er), with a sprinkling of eldritch plants?"

    • If you've enjoyed the vibes in these works: Down Comes the Night, The Goblin Emperor, Captive Prince, Fullmetal Alchemist, Crier’s War, or RW&RB but in a Mad Max:Fury Road sort of way.

    MEDIA KIT

    Thanks for taking a look at my resource page! Click to expand and save any of the images on this page.

    Author Photos

    • Representation: Maddy Belton at Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency

    • Photo credit: No credit needed. Images are 2000 x 2000px. Click to expand and save.

    • Find Me Online: On Twitter @julesarbeaux or at my website, julesarbeaux.com

    • Pronouns: they/them, she/her, or just use my name.

    Resources

    Click to be directed to the full-size images.

    Inspirations

    Having grown up in poverty without electricity or running water, I enjoy crafting worlds with differing levels of technology, often split along socioeconomic lines. Forager, muddy-kneed mischief maker, and fallen tree climber from a young age, I ground each story in a love for nature and the natural world. Some other favorite themes include trauma and healing, cycles of abuse (and their ends), and isolated characters finding connection and community.

    Short Bio (50 words)

    Born in the big city but raised reckless and barefoot deep in the woods, Jules Arbeaux is the author of debut science-fantasy LORD OF THE EMPTY ISLES and forthcoming romantic fantasy CAGE OF STARLIGHT. When not writing, Jules paints, folds increasingly tiny paper animals, and artfully neglects a throng of thriving succulents.

    Shorter Bio (25 words)

    Cat parent, artist, learner of languages, and professional neglector of many thriving succulents, Jules Arbeaux is the author of debut science-fantasy LORD OF THE EMPTY ISLES.

    Long Bio (100 words)

    A longlistee for the 2022 Bath Novel Award and 2020 Pitch Wars mentee, Jules Arbeaux graduated summa cum laude from a no-name college with a major in English, minors in creative writing and studio art, and the full knowledge that those areas of study would likely lead to starvation. As a writer and reader, Jules enjoys visceral, wrenching poetry and prose, multi-faceted characters, and powerful relationships of every sort. When not writing, Jules sells watercolor paintings and strange handmade jewelry at a local open-air market. LORD OF THE EMPTY ISLES is the author's debut novel.

    Other Projects

    YA Dark Romantic Fantasy, 75k words (DUOLOGY)
    For fans of Laini Taylor and Stephanie Garber

    Adult/Crossover Fantasy, 110k words (Complete)
    For fans of C.S. Pacat and Allison Saft

    Whimsical Adult Fantasy, Drafting (Complete)
    For fans of TJ Klune

    Adult Upmarket Fantasy, 108k words (Standalone)
    Station Eleven x Studio Ghibli

    ...and (too) many more.

    Congratulations! You've found a secret page. Once I've got more than one book to talk about, I'm going to fill this page with information. For now, though, it exists in this simple, skeletal form, awaiting that dreamed-of day. I've also created an outline of what will one day probably become a newsletter. (Thanks for visiting my website!)

    Content Notes (click to view): graphic injury (in the context of healing), imprisonment, death, illness, depiction of a battle/mentions of war, death of a parent (off-page), abusive/coercive behavior (non-sexual) from an authority figure

    Sign up for my newsletter if you'd like irregular writing updates and reveals, unhinged gushing about recent reads, craft tips (to the extent that I'm capable of giving them), and pictures of my cat and succulents.

    Selected Articles and Interviews:

       - (NEW!) Bath Novel Award: Debut Interview - Jules Arbeaux
       - The Spilled Ink-Quisition: An Interview With Jules Arbeaux
       - Proud Geek: 10 Aro/Ace & Demisexual Books To Read In 2024
       - Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV and Film Agency: Hodderscape wins auction for ‘touching, heartfelt’ debut sci-fi
       - Acquisition Announcement: in The Bookseller and Book Brunch (£)
       - LGBTQ Reads' July 2023 Deal Announcements and Locus Magazine's People & Publishing Roundup

    ALL BOOKS

    For content notes, see this page.

    Jules Arbeaux

    Science Fiction and fantasy author

    Debut: LORD OF THE EMPTY ISLES (Hodderscape 2024)