Tessa Barbosa is a Filipina-Canadian technical writer and fantasy novelist. She majored in computer science and minored in the fine arts. Barbosa lives in Vancouver.
Fiction (Young adult)
Isle of Teeth
Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2026.
Forthcoming Sept. 2026.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Matiu Frankel joined the imperial military to escape his childhood: his father’s wretched creations, his witch-mother’s loyalty to Lady Death, and the haunting voice in his own head. With no choice in assignment, however, he returns home to Song—and to a waiting nightmare. A revenant attack waylays his mission and Matiu, being part-Songi, is accused of working with native insurgents. To remove the bounty on his head, Matiu must prove his loyalty to the Lyssian Empire by infiltrating the resistance and capturing the monster they’ve weaponized.
But Calyx is not a monster. A revenant pieced together from animals and dead Songi, yes. Abandoned by her makers to rot on the Isle of Teeth, yes. But not a monster. At least, not yet. Without medicine, Calyx and her siblings risk losing their humanity to Lady Death’s whispers.
Calyx has three weeks to find a cure. Matiu has even less time to clear his name. In their desperation to survive, they turn to each other, becoming entangled in each other’s stories—and in the larger story of empire and resistance. Amidst growing tensions and the echoing calls of the goddess of death, Matiu and Calyx’s relationship transforms into a dark fable about those who have spent their lives with a boot on their neck—and what they would sacrifice to stand tall once more.
Fiction (Young adult)
The Moonlight Blade
Entangled Teen, 2023.
Publisher’s Synopsis
Narra Jal is one of the cursed, cast aside her whole life and considered unlucky. But with her mother’s life on the line, she will return to the city where she was born to face the trials: a grueling, bloodthirsty series of challenges designed to weed out the weak, the greedy, and the foolish. Trials to select the next ruler of Tigang.
Narra has nothing. No weapons. No training. No magic. No real chance of leaving with her life. Just her fierce grit and a refusal to accept the destiny she’s been handed. Even the intense, dark-eyed Guardian she feels a strangely electric connection with cannot help her.
Narra is on her own. But she’ll show everyone what the unlucky can do.
Links
Tessa Barbosa personal website
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publisher Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing