Ruthanna Emrys Books In Order

Publication Order of The Innsmouth Legacy Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Some of the Best from Tor.com Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ruthanna Emrys is an American author with an obsession for H.P Lovecraft who writes science fiction and fantasy. Ruthanna is best known for the Innsmouth Legacy series.

+Biography
Ruthanna Emrys has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She doesn’t remember exactly when she began pursuing the habits. But she knows they have been a part of her life for a very long time.

And while Ruthanna doesn’t necessarily think she is the best writer the world has ever seen, she believes that writing is the one thing she does best above all else. The author’s first attempt at producing a full-length novel came in high school.

Ruthanna was part of a writers club that had an obsession with assassins. She tried to write her own dystopian cyberpunk story featuring assassins. The story never went anywhere. Ruthanna only wrote a few thousand words before finally giving up.

As she matured, the author stepped away from writing for a while. Initially, it seemed like her life was simply too busy, especially when she got to college. But after a while, Ruthanna Emrys realized that she was merely intimidated.

Her work rarely attracted the most positive of opinions and, after a while, she realized that she did not want to pursue fiction anymore. Fortunately, while she did give fiction a wide berth, she found ways to keep writing, experimenting with essays and short stories.

Ruthanna imputes the success she eventually garnered as an author to a friend of hers who not only listened to all the crazy stories in Ruthanna’s head but also kept encouraging her to give fiction and full-length novels another chance. Eventually, Ruthanna relented.

For all the stories she produced over the years, it was Winter Tide, her 2017 novel that truly put her on the map. Interestingly enough, the story was born from Ruthanna Emrys’ love for H.P. Lovecraft.

The author read ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’, a book that explores the plight of a town that is plagued by frog-like monsters. Ruthanna had heard about the story and she thought she knew what to expect.

She knew the frog creatures were the villains and that readers were supposed to root against them. But Ruthanna was shocked when she read ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ and realized that it began by detailing a government raid that saw the frog creatures get sent to concentration camps.

Upon reading those elements of the story, Ruthanna couldn’t quite fathom how people could sympathize with the protagonists of the story when the frog creatures were clearly the victims.

Her reactions to the Lovecraft creation compelled the author to write a story called ‘The Litany of Earth’ which is set in Lovecraft’s Innsmouth world. To Ruthanna’s shock, the short story was well received.

More than that, her readers were hungering for more, so Ruthanna Emrys sat down and produced Winter Tide, a novel that expanded upon the plots and threads of ‘The Litany of Earth’.

The author isn’t sure whether she is a plotter or a pantser; though, if she had to classify her approach, Ruthanna would call herself a hybrid. The author’s ideas always start with a character.

Her interest in Lovecraft began with her passion for role-playing. It was from role-playing that Ruthanna Emrys learned to create characters. She uses the experience she garnered from her role-playing clubs and groups in college to create the bare bones of a character.

With that accomplished, Ruthanna attempts to converse with the character in her head, the idea being to see if she can get a better handle on what makes her imaginary creation tick.

Once Ruthanna believes she understands her character, she can start writing. That is what generally sets her apart from the average author. Once Ruthanna has the beginnings of an idea, she immediately sits down and puts it on paper.

Over time, a basic concept begins to form which she uses to push her manuscript forward. By the time the chapters begin to pile up, Ruthanna has enough information to begin outlining the last half and even the finale of her book.

But her outlines are usually vague and give her plenty of opportunities to change things as she sees fit.
Ruthanna Emrys admits that she can let her imagination run a little too wild at times. She doesn’t always know how to bring her numerous clever ideas together to form a coherent story.

The author has learned to rely heavily on her beta readers, editors, and agents, each of whom plays a part in shaping her story. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that Ruthanna Emrys’ writing process is chaotic.

But she makes things work. Her goal is to create fantastical worlds that bear all the social economic and financial complexities of the real world.

+Winter Tide
Aphra and Caleb Marsh know very little about their past. They were part of the people of Innsmouth whose lives changed when the United States government assaulted Devil’s Reef in the 1920s and ripped them away from everything they knew.

Aphra never thought she would have an opportunity to revisit her home. But then someone raided Miskatonic University and stole magical secrets of a dangerous nature.

Now the FBI needs Aphra. Agent Ron Spector believes that she might be the key to locating the communists responsible for the theft.

Winter Tide is the first novel in the Innsmouth Legacy series; the book takes the foundations constructed by HP Lovecraft and builds upon them. Ruthanna Emrys looks at the plight of the Marsh siblings as they attempt to reclaim their lost culture.

The author paints the Deep Ones, with whom Lovecraft fans might be familiar, with sympathetic shades. Ruthanna’s message is one of peace and kindness and tolerance. Aspects of her story are reminiscent of the experiences of the Japanese Americans who were interned in the Second World War.

+Deep Roots
Aphra should be angry that the United States Government destroyed the people of the Water and left her home in ruins. But she has since found a way to put the past behind her and to make peace with the government.

More importantly, Aphra has set out to rebuild the home she lost even as she fends off developers and gets to the bottom of a dangerous mystery.