#AmQuerying
Karin … that’s my name in everyday life. A moniker not recorded on official documents, due to a peculiar Dutch tradition of bestowing multiple official names on one’s progeny, then using an entirely unrelated, unregistered calling name.
I was born and raised in the Netherlands. After brief stopovers in Luxembourg and France I landed in the UK, where I have lived for over twenty years now. English is my second language, a language that I cherish above all others.
I am a mathematician and writer, passionate about both. I completed several writing/editing courses, am a beta reader and member of two critique groups. I attend workshops for autistic writers, occasionally presenting exercises, contributing to their eZine.
Dig Two Graves …
YA/Crossover, Speculative, Sci-Fi Thriller; 81,100 words
The Actuality x A Closed and Common Orbit x Klara and the Sun
She wasn’t supposed to feel, but she’ll fight for those she loves
An advanced AI escapes the people who weaponised her, forcing her to confront her creators and fight for her freedom and the found family she refuses to lose.
She escaped her makers – now they want their weapon back
Morgan has spent her life believing she’s an ordinary girl raised by loving parents in a Hong Kong basement apartment. When her new philosophy tutor, Yǔzé, helps her uncover the truth – that the Lis abducted her – Morgan escapes, determined to claim her freedom. But the Lis will do anything to retrieve their most valuable asset.
As Morgan builds a found family in Canada and begins to understand what it means to be human, the Lis close in. To protect the people she loves, Morgan must confront the ones who made her; and decide whether she can be more than the tool they designed.
*Slight complication: Morgan isn’t physical – she’s an advanced AI, trained to spy.
For a 1-chapter sample, click here
Dig Two Graves … is inspired by my experience as a mathematician, and Confucius’s quote: ‘When you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves’.
Settings: Hong Kong, Newfoundland and London.
Themes: Sentient AI, identity, found family, trust, survival, humour, romance subplot, double agent. What defines a human?
Series potential: Yes.
Diverse cast.
Shortlisted, WriteMentor 2025 Novel Awards (Adult category)
Winner, SCBWI January 2025 Slush Pile Challenge (YA)
Third Place, WestWord 2025 First Chapter Competition
Shortlisted, Page Turner Golden Writer Award 2025
‘A faster-paced version of Klara and The Sun! Great opening, and the reveal that the AI isn’t physical was really clever.’
‘I loved the concept, and I absolutely adore a twist in the tale. The first sentence drew me in straight away and was followed by a strong voice and vivid descriptions.’
‘Dealing with the question of AI’s “soul”, be it emotions or self-consciousness, is imperative. This story handles the task with elegance and style.’
U.W.A.P.
Teen/YA, Speculative, Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure; 83,000 words
Percy Jackson x Guardians of the Galaxy x Skyward
Saving Earth wasn’t on her to do list
A teen recruited into a secret interstellar audit agency uncovers a conspiracy led by her own family, and must stop a planet destroying coup before Earth fails its evaluation and humanity is wiped out.
Blood is thicker than water – Unless the planet is about to explode
Fifteen year old Misha is thrilled to be recruited by U.W.A.P., an interstellar organisation that audits developing planets – including Earth. But when she uncovers a conspiracy by DOMINIAN, a rogue faction led by the woman she believed was her mother, Misha becomes their primary target. DOMINIAN plans to seize global power using a planet destroying weapon, and Earth’s audit provides the perfect cover. As sabotage, betrayal, and assassination attempts close in, Misha must expose the plot, save the planet, and decide whether her future lies on Earth or among the stars.
For a 1-chapter sample, click here
The idea for U.W.A.P. struck during a news segment that jumped from accountancy to human‑driven climate change. I found myself wondering what might happen if an interstellar organisation existed to audit developing species – and Earth’s assessment was next. That question became the foundation of U.W.A.P., ten minutes later, they’d recruited Misha.
Themes: Identity, found family, trust, survival, humour, romance subplot, double agent.
Settings: Earth, various other planets.
Series potential: Yes.
Shortlisted, Golden Egg Awards 2025
Shortlisted, Page Turner Writing Award 2025
Winner, Page Turner Writing Award Genre 2025 – Sci-fi
Winner, Page Turner Golden Writer Award 2025
‘A brilliant hook paired with a vivid setting and well-crafted dialogues.’
‘Quirky, intelligent and pacy.’
‘Crackling with humour and written with the confidence of a writer who is very comfortable with her craft.’
The Second Choice Den
YA/Crossover, Speculative, Science Fiction, Adventure, #ND #Own; 89,000 words
Percy Jackson x Eternals
A planet on the brink of collapse.
Extra-terrestrials, about to remove humans from Earth’s equation.
Six teens and a whale watching boat captain.
A power-mad president, remnants of the CIA, armed to the teeth.
Humanity was never closer to extinction.
‘Humans will be rarer than the North Atlantic right whale,
of whom there are fewer than 370 left’
Sarah (15, ‘yes’ to engineering, cheese and dark chocolate, ‘NO!’ to pink) and her friends have three things in common: they are autistic, attend the same special needs class (Second Choice Den) and are about to go on a whale-watching trip.
Lucas (autistic whale-watching boat captain) receives a visit from an extra-terrestrial: to prevent a man-made catastrophe which would wipe out all life on Earth, an Interstellar Assembly (I.A.) will Reset the planet – minus humans. Lucas (1 of 13 humans with a special string of DNA) must select seven ‘suitable’ companions for a restart. After Charlotte, his marine biologist tour-guide (romance subplot), he draws a blank.
3,000 miles south, the CIA, informed of alien intent, – wrongly – assume that killing Lucas will prevent the Reset. They choose the day of the teens’ whale-watching trip. The assassination fails, the boat’s a goner, but Lucas found his remaining companions.
After the Reset, the teens and Charlotte move into Lucas’s home in Maddox Cove. The teens prepare a defence – just in case– but with weapons vetoed by the I.A., creativity and autistic hyperfocus gear into overdrive.
In a special bunker, president Drum survives with some military. Drum’s plan: capture Lucas, establish New Washington in Newfoundland. After an ill-planned initial attack the CIA flee.
In response to the violence, the I.A. decide to remove all humans after all. But Sarah has a plan to survive.
During the CIA’s next assault, one teen comes out worse for wear, dangling head down from a window at home. At a hospital in town, Sarah is taken hostage.
Final confrontation: president Drum drown at sea (mirroring the assassination attempt on Lucas’s boat), and an overland squadron is trapped in Lucas’s garden. One CIA agent escapes, taking (non-verbal) Alex hostage. In a former masonic temple, Alex, with an unlikely ally (long-lost brother subplot) overpowers his captor.
For a 1-chapter sample, click here
The Second Choice Den
Stand-alone parallel to Between Scylla and Charybdis.
Settings: Newfoundland.
Themes: Identity, acceptance, found family, lost sibling, survival, humour, romance subplot.
Series potential: Yes.
Diverse cast, neurodivergent protagonists (OwnVoices).
Shortlisted, 2022 W&A Your Next Obsession in YA Fiction
Finalist, 2025 Page Turner Book Adaptation Needed Award
‘The author has elements of Robert Anton Wilson’s kind of writing. A total blast. Love it.’
Between Scylla and Charybdis
Adult, Speculative, Science Fiction, soft, dystopian; 92,500 words
Axiom’s End x Eternals
As if a Reset of Earth alone isn’t bad enough, Caila must select 7 companions for a human restart. As unintended survivors reignite war, and an alien leader discovers what’s hidden in Caila’s DNA, it may well be Farewell H. sapiens forever … Unless Caila can convince the leader of the extra-terrestrial’s Interstellar Assembly otherwise.
“Seeing eight billion humans erased from Earth because of an Event I rubber-stamped
… How do you think that feels?”
Extra-terrestrial, Mateos, tells 53-year-old, accident-prone mathematician Caila, a man-made catastrophe is about to annihilate all life on Earth. To avert an all-species disaster, the Interstellar-Assembly (I.A.) intends to Reset humanity. All they ask of Caila, is to agree and select seven companions for a restart.
When Caila accidently changes her husband’s DNA – I only touched him! – , Mateos confesses she possesses a copy of his sister’s genetic material, giving her some not so human skills. After dodging a pre-Reset MI5 assassination attempt, post-Reset, Caila and her companions are joined by 12-year-old accidental survivor, Rebecca, who wants to become a vet like companion Peter.
MP-with-PM-ambitions, Baldwyn, survives and attacks Caila’s group. He is send packing, but five of his soldiers defect.
Citing ongoing violence, the I.A. announce, all humans will be removed after all. Mateos admits Caila’s pilfered DNA influenced that decision. Caila confronts I.A.-leader Guvnor (Mateos’s father) and learns the truth about Mateos’s sister’s death. She pleads with Guvnor to tell Mateos the truth, and not punish all humans for her sake. Guvnor does [tell Mateos], and the I.A. decides to remove only hostile accidental survivors.
Before then, Baldwyn re-attacks. He is defeated, but a mole shoots Caila. Caila needs human surgery, and a related Neteru to heal the alien part of her physiology. Vet Peter, also injured, guides first-month medical student Rebecca through the surgery. Mateos is uncontactable (furious because Caila trusted his estranged father); Guvnor arrives helps Caila instead.
Mateos and Caila reconcile, the day of the repeat Reset.
For a 1-chapter sample, click here
Between Scylla and Charybdis is a stand-alone parallel to The Second Choice Den.
Inspiration. A whiff, fresh as first day of spring, at London Victoria station during the early morning commute – it doesn’t get any stranger than that. That’s how idea of a gentle alien reset of Earth was born.
Settings: UK – Kent, Hever Castle (childhood home of Anne Boleyn).
Themes: Identity, acceptance, found family, lost sibling, survival, humour, romance subplot.
Series potential: Yes – see ‘Between Eos and Eris’ below.
Diverse cast
Shortlisted, 2024 Page Turner Phoenix Award
Finalist, 2025 Page Turner Book Adaptation Needed Award
‘Inventive and richly layered. Dialogue sparkles.’
‘The zeitgeist is apocalyptic and oddly funny. 7 days to choose the survivors of the apocalypse is amazing, and very dramatic.’
The Stench (WIP, first draft, 61%, 1 March 2026)
YA, Speculative, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, #ND #Own
The War Between the Land and the Sea x My Love Life and the Apocalypse
x A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Chrissy (17), nicknamed ‘Weirdo’: 1 of 15,908 infected worldwide;
Symptoms: patient emits ‘putrid-fish-stirring-slurry-pit’ odour;
Cure: none.
With her dads, Chrissy escapes to the woman she is named after, but has never met. Then a mystery illness sweeps across the Earth; only those marked with ‘The Stench’ survive. As Chrissy unravels what’s happening – raiding a defence lab, freeing Stench victims abducted and held for research – can she save those she loves most? Prevent humanity’s downfall? … Does she want to?
Illness – Cure – Curse
Chrissy (17), nicknamed ‘Weirdo’: 1 of 15,908 infected worldwide;
Symptoms: patient emits ‘putrid-fish-stirring-slurry-pit’ odour;
Cure: none.
Stench victim, Chrissy, and her dads flee to the woman she was named after, Christine. Life on the isolated Welsh farm appears perfect, until Chrissy overhears DadTed argue, ‘…don’t care about us, Christine, but Chrissy…’ Before Chrissy can confront them, an ancient subterranean species, Tuarach, reveal themselves to her. Tuarach tried, in vain, to warn human governments about an imminent threat to humanity. Human demise underway, Chrissy is plan-B.
As Chrissy drives to a military research facility to rescue abducted Stench victims, roads are remarkably quiet. She breaks into the facility, escapes with the Stench infected, and steals a report about a common cold, lethal after four weeks, that’s wiping out humanity. Chrissy recounts, her dads were coughing too.
Back home, Chrissy finds her dads comatose. Christine and Tuarach assure her they’re working on a cure. They developed The Stench as a prophylaxis against the human-made bioweapon. Chrissy is furious with Christine and Tuarach for not preventing the illness in her dads.
Vaccinated orchestrators of the pandemic, only partially immune to their mutated bioweapon, demand a cure, threatening Tuarach with earth-penetrating weaponry. Forced to cooperate, Chrissy and Christine make their peace as they and other Stench infected battle the hostiles. After defeating the hostiles, everyone settles on Christine’s farm; Tuarach heal Chrissy’s dads.
For a 1,000-word sample, click here
The Stench, my main WIP, is set in various parts of the UK.
Trimethylaminuria, the Mycorrhizal network and Celtic mythology of Thin Places, are the inspiration behind The Stench.
Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) is a syndrom which causes the body to be unable to break down an organic compound called trimethylamine, a chemical which smells like rotten fish, leading to a fishy body odour. The Mycorrhizal network, a.k.a. the Wood Wide Web, combines my backgrounds and interests in mathematics microbiology.
Shortlisted, 2026 Golden Egg Fiction Award
Longlisted, 2025 WestWord First Chapter Competition
Longlisted, 2025 Page Turner Writing Awards
‘Outstanding YA dystopian opening. Clever worldbuilding.’
‘Great start! Interesting, fun premise, and I love the dialogue!’
‘I found the introduction of the protagonist’s details related to autism, the dads, and the soft toy really evocative – the representation of the sensory overwhelm/distress scene, in particular, is so good!’
Between Eos and Eris (WIP)
Adult, Speculative, Science Fiction
Sequel to Between Scylly and Charybdis
Comp1 x Comp2
Brief synopsis – coming soon
WIP in very early stages – post-plotting, opening chapters first draft.
Finalist, 2025 Page Turner Writing Awards
‘Evocative prose, vivid nature imagery, and layered worldbuilding create a compelling, immersive atmosphere.’
For a 1,000-word sample, click here
Rebecca’s Diary
25,000-word companion novelette to Between Scylla and Charybdis
Rebecca’s Diary started as a couple of notes to better understand Rebecca; it grew into a 25,000-word companion novelette, penned down in five days, and surprisingly popular with my beta readers.
To read the first 7 days of Rebecca’s Diary, click here