About Ashleigh Renée
I’m Ashleigh Renée Mitchell, a writer living in the Lower Snoqualmie Valley of Western Washington, on the ancestral lands of the sdukʷalbixʷ — the Snoqualmie People.
By Ashleigh Renée
Different lives. Shared humanity. Stories worth telling.
Ashleigh Renée writes queer stories of love, loss, resilience, and belonging—where found families flourish, forgotten voices are heard, and those who have been cast aside reclaim their place in the world.
Different times ~ same human hearts.
My writing
I write about people finding their way through complicated lives: the families we inherit, the families we choose, the secrets we carry, and the connections that endure across generations. My projects range from historical fiction and contemporary stories to mysteries with a supernatural thread.
I’ve been creating stories since childhood. Decades of tabletop roleplaying have also shaped the way I approach character, dialogue and the worlds people inhabit. Whether a story takes place in another century or just around the corner, it is the people who draw me in.
Books and works in progress
Good Bones — An Eld Island Mystery
A mystery woven through family secrets, hidden history and a supernatural inheritance. Good Bones introduces the Eld Island Mysteries, where the past has unfinished business with the living. The novel is nearing completion.
After the Storm
Set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, After the Storm explores loss, endurance and the work of rebuilding a life. A damaged but unbroken apricot tree in a Lower Garden District back garden stands at the heart of the story.
Roots & Echoes: The Dream That Carried Us
A historical fiction project confronting the persecution of Roma and Sinti during the Holocaust, including the liquidation of the Roma family camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 2 August 1944. It centres family, memory and the human lives behind the historical record.
The Light We Carried Home
A family story rooted in Welsh and Romani lives, tracing love, belonging and the consequences of secrets carried between generations. Its characters navigate the demands of family, cultural identity and the choices that shape a shared future.
The Story in the Cards
A nonfiction book in progress drawing on my cartomancy practice, which began in 1969. It explores reading cards as a language of story, relationship and context.
Beyond the books
Writing is one expression of a lifelong interest in language, history, spirituality and the ways people understand one another. My background includes service as a US Navy linguist, work in social services, and decades of spiritual practice and community involvement.
Through Tea & Cartomancy with Ashleigh, I share another form of storytelling: listening to the stories that emerge through cards, symbols and conversation. My approach is reflected in the words, “The cards tell the story; I listen.”
My wider work also includes Bramble & Briar Press, LookingBackwards, DragonQuest Frontiers and Nemed Cuculatii, alongside consent education and community work through Coordinated Chaos. These interests bring together publishing, history, imaginative play, spirituality and thoughtful human connection.
Here on the website
This is where I share news about my books, glimpses of works in progress, reflections on writing and research, and the occasional interesting detour. Welcome to my corner of the story.