About

Janelle M. Jimenez is an Asian-American debut fantasy author whose work bridges East and West through deeply researched worldbuilding. A former fanfiction writer and Product Lead at Riot Games, she spent years crafting some of League of Legends' most beloved universes—including Immortal Journey, Coven, and K/DA—before leaving the corporate world to pursue storytelling full-time.

Janelle holds degrees in International Relations and Japanese Language and Culture from the University of Southern California. She spent six years living and working in Japan—including three years in rural Shimane Prefecture with local city government, a semester at Tokyo International University, and time with the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. These experiences deeply inform the cultural and political layers of The Godmaker Chronicles.

After gaming, she founded Stellari, a fashion company that successfully crowdfunded premium pieces and taught her how to build creative communities. (Stellari now serves as her publishing imprint—full circle!)

When not writing, she indulges in travel and linguistic nerdery, splitting her time between Porto, Portugal and Los Angeles, California.

The Godmaker Chronicles is her debut work.

Visit her at www.janellemjimenez.com

Six Years in Real Japan

I didn't just visit Japan—I lived there for six years across three very different prefectures: rural Shimane, suburban Saitama, and metropolitan Tokyo. I worked in the Political Section of the Japanese Mission to the United Nations, giving me insights into Japanese diplomacy, culture, and the complex systems that shape society.

As an Asian-American woman who grew up in the Midwest in the 1980s, living in Japan was both a homecoming and a culture shock. These experiences of cultural transmission, adaptation, and transformation inform how I approach cultural influence in my fantasy worldbuilding.

My International Relations degree focused on Japanese culture, but living there taught me how cultures actually influence each other: not through surface aesthetics, but through deep structural changes in language, politics, social systems, and thought patterns.

Adult Fantasy for the Shojo Generation

I wanted to write the adult versions of Fushigi Yuugi and other 90s shojo anime that shaped my imagination—but with real political intrigue, mature themes, and thoughtful worldbuilding. What if magical worlds were shaped by cultural influence the way Romance languages spread across Europe, or how Chinese characters became part of Japanese writing?

Godmaker Chronicles explores a fantasy world where Japanese cultural influence has fundamentally shaped society, politics, and magic systems—not as decoration, but as deep structural elements that create entirely new possibilities. It's about cultural transmission, transformation, and what happens when different worlds truly influence each other.