Ruth Frances Long


Ruth Frances Long, also known as R.F. Long and Jessica Thorne, is an Irish author who writes in the fantasy and romance genres. Her novel, The Stone's Heart by Jessica Thorne, was nominated for the Romantic Novelists' Association Fantasy Romantic Novel award. The latest series is The Feral Gods as Ruth Frances Long, which begins with The Book of Gold from Hodderscape. This novel was on the 2024 Locus Recommended reading list. The sequel, The Lore of Silver comes out in November 20, 2025.
WWW rflong.comIG ruthfranceslong

Biography

Ruth Long is a Dublin-born writer of fantasy novels, novellas and short stories, both for adults and young adults. She completed a M.A. in English Literature and also studied History of Religions and Celtic Civilisation. Long has always been interested in fantasy, romance and ancient mysteries. Along with writing, she is a librarian working initially in the County Dublin library system. Long is now head librarian for a private specialized library of rare and unusual books. She currently lives in Wicklow.
Long originally wrote novels and novellas as R.F. Long. The Scroll Thief, Soul Fire, The Wolf's Sister, The Wolf's Mate & The Wolf's Destiny were republished in 2019.
Her first novel as Ruth Frances Long was The Treachery of Beautiful Things in 2012, a 10th anniversary edition was released in 2022. She then released The Dubh Linn trilogy beginning with A Crack in Everything, which was published each year beginning in 2014.
Long signed with digital publisher Bookouture for the publication of fantasy novels, beginning with The Queen's Wing series written under the pen name Jessica Thorne.The Stone's Heart was nominated for the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Fantasy novel of the year.
In October 2025, she was a guest on Off the Shelf as part of the Bournemouth Writers Festival.

Awards and honors

WorkYear & AwardCategoryResultRef.
2015 ESFS Spirit of Dedication AwardBest creator of children’s ScienceFiction or fantasy booksWon
The Stone's Heart2020 Romantic Novelists' Association AwardFantasy Romantic Novel
The Book of Gold2025 BSFA AwardNovel
The Book of Gold2024 Locus Recommended Reading ListNovels - Fantasy

R.F. Long

Short stories

  • Elements appeared in Flashing Swords' Summer Special
  • Carrying Keptara in the Hadley Rille Books Anthology Ruins Metropolis
  • The Wrecker's Daughter in the Fall issue of Ocean Magazine

The Holtlands

  • The Wolf's Sister
  • The Wolf's Mate
  • ''The Wolf's Destiny''

Novels

  • The Scroll Thief
  • Soul Fire
  • Songs of the Wolf: Tales of the Holtlands ''

Ruth Frances Long

  • ''The Treachery of Beautiful Things''

The Dubh Linn series

  • A Crack in Everything
  • A Hollow in the Hills
  • ''A Darkness at the End''

The Feral Gods series

  • The Book of Gold,
  • The Lore of Silver,

Jessica Thorne

;The Queen's Wing
  • The Queen's Wing
  • The Stone's Heart
;The Hollow KingMageborn Nightborn
;The Lost Queen SeriesA Touch of Shadows A Kiss of Flame
  • ''A Crown of Darkness''