E.K. Johnston Books In Order

Publication Order of The Story of Owen Books

Publication Order of A Thousand Nights Books

Publication Order of Star Wars: The Padmé Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Fiction - Young Adult Books

Publication Order of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

E.K. Johnston full name Emily Kate Johnstone is a bestselling science fiction and young adult author. Before becoming a fiction author, she was working on a different vocation though she had also previously held a ton of jobs. Over the years, she has learned that there are times when things can go wrong and it is impossible to do anything about it. Her novels range from small-town Ontario narratives, quiet epic fantasy, hopeful science fiction fairy tale reimaginings, and contemporary fantasies. A classic attribute of her work is that she never holds back in the development of her stories and characters. While she can write in all manner of genres, her favorite has always been epic fantasy fiction. As an eight-year-old, she was reading “Belgariad” by Leigh and David Eddings and she has asserted that this is what set her on the path to becoming an author. She was a huge fan of “Elenium,” which she read several times even though she regrets that it has not aged well. As such, she wanted a quest story that reflected her reality and not that of some white person from the 1980s, which is why she decided to become an author. Johnston loves young adult novels that focus on the gender binary, have multi-faceted girls, and come with a beautiful plot, and this what she loves to write.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, E.K. was not a person that always knew she wanted to be an author. However much of her childhood was spent reading fantasies such as “Star Wars” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” in the woodlot in her backyard. As a child, she would tell herself stories but she did not write them down. When she went to college, she got into fanfiction but it was not until she was a postgraduate student that she started thinking seriously about becoming an author. With her final papers not due for about a month, she thought that she should take the NaNoWriMo challenge which she did for her first manuscript in 2009. She also took the challenge in 2010 and has two manuscripts from that year that she has asserted she never intends to publish. In 2011, she took the challenge again writing “The Story of Owen” that was the debut novel of the “Dragon Slayer of Trondheim” series of novels. Since then she has gone on to write more than thirteen novels in the “Star Wars,” “Dragon Slayer of Trondheim,” and “Thousand Nights” among several single standing novels. “Her Thousand Nights” series which drew a lot of inspiration from “The Arabian Nights” was her attempt at folktale retelling. She had been working on a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” and while she was building the world of her narrative, she realized that she could write a better even if older story on the origin of magic. It was not a story of the Arabian Nights but one that could become one. She had a flash of inspiration when she thought of a protagonist that came to a village looking for a wife and then went on to kill more than three hundred girls.

“A Thousand Nights” by E.K. Johnston is the retelling of a young adult fantasy fiction. At its heart, it is a framing story of the Scheherazade for Middle Eastern, Arabic, and Persian folk tales. The lead protagonist Lo-Melkhiin rules over a large area in the Oriental world. Those who know the guy believe that he has changed. Once upon a time, he was a caring person and a very competent ruler. He is still a very capable ruler compared to anyone that could replace him were he to go away. What his subjects do not know is that their ruler is not who they think he is. His body had been taken over by a ruthless creature when he had ridden out to the desert a few months past. He is now a demon that sucks the life and power of any girl that he marries, and over the years this gives him immense power. The majority of the girls do not last even till morning and this means that Lo-Melkhiin has had to go through more than three hundred girls. But the original owner of the body is still inside there watching helplessly in a corner as the body that he used to call his own is used to mar the hearts of craftsmen and visit death on innocent girls.

“The Garden of Three Hundred Flowers” by E.K. Johnston is set in the weeks, months, and years following the events of the debut novel in the series. The King had teamed up with his wife the narrator to death the demon that had taken over his body and used it for nefarious purposes for so long. However, banishing the memories of three hindered killings will not be so easy for the king and his new wife and queen. He seems irretrievably broken and seems haunted by all the horrible things his hands that had been controlled by a demon had wrought on his subjects. To help her husband, the queen decides that penance is to help the kingdom and the king recover from the horrors. He embarks on a penance over several years as his wife takes over the power and burden of running his kingdom. It is an introspective story with mutual trust and respect between the queen and king, rather than romantic love as the king is too scarred to love.

E.K. Johnston’s “A Spindle” tells the story of Yashaa a man whose life changed overnight due to a curse that was laid on her little hamlet. The curse had been placed on the queen but it was Yashaa and the wider community including his mother that had to bear the brunt of consequences. They had to leave their castle home and go into exile to survive. Several years later, Yashaa is an adult dealing with the imminent death of his mother. He cannot say no when she recommends that he leaves their camp and go find a better life for himself and his friends. She believes that he would not be foolhardy enough to try to track down the cursed princess. But that is what he does in an action that results in their lives becoming entangled with that of the princess. The part love story and part adventure quest is an interesting story set several years after the events of the debut.