Xan logotype

van Rooyen

Xan logotype
Person with short hair and multiple colorful tattoos on their forearms wearing a dark checkered shirt.

Climber, tattoo collector, and peanut-butter connoisseur,

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About

Xan van Rooyen is an award-winning autistic, non-binary storyteller from South Africa, currently living in Finland where the heavy metal is soothing and the cold, dark forests inspiring.

Xan has a Master’s degree in music, and–when not teaching–enjoys conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. Despite the name on the URL and the name on older publications, please call me Xan.

‍Pronouns: they/them

Short Fiction

You can find Xan’s stories in the likes of Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Daily Science Fiction, and Galaxy’s Edge among others.

Novels

They have also written several novels including adult aetherpunk novel Silver Helix (Android Press) and forthcoming YA Gothic cyberpunk novel Second Soul (Tiny Ghost Press).

Collective Work

Xan is also part of the Sauútiverse, an African writer’s collective, with stories in the multi award-nominated anthology Mothersound (Android Press) as well as the forthcoming Sauúti Terrors (Flame Tree Press).

Non- Fiction

Xan has also had a number of non-fiction articles published which you can find in the Locus Award winning Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction (Bloomsbury, Australia) and You’re Not Alone in the Dark (Cemetery Dance) among others.

Stories that blur the line between science and wonder. Universes where the impossible becomes inevitable.
Worlds where reality bends and futures collide
  1. Read science fiction and fantasy that feels inevitable
  2. Stories built on hard concepts and human truth
  3. Each novel earned its place
  4. Discover what thousands of readers already know
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Connect

Stay connected through Linktree and social medias for updates and links. Published stories and books are also on Goodreads.

Linktree
Book cover titled 'I Heart Robot' with Chinese text, featuring watercolor illustrations of a boy playing violin in the sky, a girl sitting on clouds under a rainbow, a person in a blue hoodie shining a flashlight on a robot head, and a group of people in a landscape with large mechanical parts.
Book cover of 'Scardust' by Suzanne van Rooyen featuring a teal overlay of a large bird in flight with a shirtless man and a dog inside its silhouette against a light background.
Black brick wall background with red circuit board heart shape behind the words 'I HEART ROBOT' and the name 'XAN VAN ROOYEN' below.
Book cover with illustration of two young people back to back surrounded by red and black veins, set against a dark blue forest background, titled 'By the Blood of Rowans' by Xan Van Rooyen.
Book cover with fragmented portrait of a person with orange hair and musical notes in the background, titled 'The Other Me' by Xan Van Rooyen.
Book cover for 'Waypoint Seven' by Xan Van Rooyen, featuring an illustrated person with shoulder-length hair, wearing a patterned robe and jewelry, set against a vibrant, abstract background with a mountain and a full moon.
Silhouette of a person with a fiery red nebula overlay in front of a large glowing white circle against a starry cosmic background, with the text 'OBSCURA BURNING' in large distressed font above and 'XAN VAN ROOYEN' below.
Book cover for 'Beyond & Within Sauûti Terrors' featuring short stories from contemporary African writers, with a screaming face illustration and concentric yellow circles on a purple background.

Latest release

Published
Three novels that changed what readers expect from science fiction and fantasy.
  1. Explore the complete series in order
  2. Read free sample chapters online
  3. Available in print and digital formats
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The Other me

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Book cover illustration of a woman's face with orange hair divided into horizontal slices overlaid with musical notes and text 'the other me'.
"I loved Xan Van Rooyen’s writing style. It made reading her words so easy. Her characters came across as incredibly real. Add all of that into the uniqueness of the stories subject and The Other Me turned out to be a book that I absolutely loved."
“…kudos to Van Rooyen for keeping it real. If this degree of grittiness bothers you, then you obviously prefer your YA fiction safe and sanitized. The Other Me is neither, which I find incredibly refreshing.”

Obscura Burning

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Book cover for 'Obscura Burning' showing a silhouette of a person with a fiery, red nebula overlay and a bright white circular light behind them.
"Obscura Burning is both moving and intellectually stimulating. A fantastic, thought-provoking and mind-boggling story, executed with skill and honesty!"
“This book does the perfect job of balancing love, friendship, self-identity, and, GAH! EVERYTHING! Just magnificent!”

Waypoint Seven

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Book cover for 'Waypoint Seven' by Xan Van Rooyen featuring a person with long hair and wearing layered clothing, surrounded by abstract colorful shapes and patterns.
Waypoint Seven cuts with immersion from the first page, bleeding with tenacity and pulling the reader into a vividly painted world of sacrifice and survival. Van Rooyen’s writing resonates with culture, from the connections and delineations of Finnish mythology, with the complexities and futurisms of African storytelling, to the essential nature of chosen family in our queer communities. A fast-moving mystery exploring safety, place, the forces of communication and trust—and the true heroism of looking out for each other, Waypoint Seven is as rich as it is nimble.”
Xan van Rooyen’s Waypoint Seven is an immersive genre-bender thrumming with passion, religion and fragility in a world of politics, migration and displacement. It’s tendrilled with rites, music and dance, multi-dimensional in its casting. The sensual richness of van Rooyen’s language emboldens the obsessions in this first-person escapade across a Wayfinder’s handbook.”

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Contact

Get in touch

I love hearing from readers anad writers of all ages!
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For any information regarding Scardust, contact Jordy Albert
For all other bookish inquiries, please contact Clara at The Rights Factory

Blurb requestsI am open to blurbing SF/F/H books in adult, new adult, and YA categories. I will give special consideration to books with LGBT+ and neurodivergent rep. Please get in touch by email and put ‘blurb request’ in the subject line or reach out to my agent.
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‍PLEASE NOTE – I am NOT taking review requests at this time. If you would like to suggest a book, TV show or film you think I’d love, please let me know on social media. I am no longer able to respond to review requests by email.

xanvanrooyen@gmail.com
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