APRIL 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Gabra Zackman engages with this weird, grim novel, a combination of fantasy and mystery. In 1928, the displaced survivors of a seaside community are sent by the U.S. government to live in the desert. Later, the story involves the siblings’ visits to relatives who live under the sea, flashbacks to life in the desert camp, accidental magic, and even early Cold War spying. Zackman finds outstanding voices for the characters, especially Aphra Marsh and her brother, Caleb. Further, her superb pacing and intense emotions add to the story’s strange and intriguing atmosphere. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/28/2016
Marbled with references to the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, this inventive dark fantasy crossbreeds the cosmic horrors of the Cthulhu mythos with the espionage escapades of a Cold War thriller. It’s 1948, and Aphra and Caleb Marsh, descendents of the amphibious Innsmouth folk imprisoned in the aftermath of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” are tapped by FBI agent Ron Spector to study Innsmouth artifacts now stored at the Miskatonic University library in Arkham, Mass. Spector hopes to determine whether prying Russian agents may have learned the secret of magically forcing their minds into the bodies of American politicians and scientists. Emrys elevates her story above traditional tales of Cold War paranoia by making Aphra’s reacquaintance with Innsmouth culture her introduction to a personal heritage that she had been blocked from accessing. Emrys’s characters are more openly comfortable with the supernatural than Lovecraft’s horror-struck mortals, and her sensitive comparisons of Aphra’s experience to those of other confined and displaced peoples make the novel historically relevant and resonant. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR WINTER TIDE:
"Winter Tide is a weird, lyrical mystery — truly strange and compellingly grim. It's an innovative gem that turns Lovecraft on his head with cleverness and heart" —Cherie Priest, author of Maplecroft and Boneshaker
"A mythos yarn that totally reverses the polarity on Lovecraft's xenophobia, so that in the end the only real monsters are human beings." —Charles Stross, Hugo Award-winning author of the Laundry Files and the Merchant Princes series
"Winter Tide is a treasure chest. This is an excellent novel and I can't wait for more." —Victor LaValle, author of The Ballad of Black Tom and The Devil in Silver
"This is Wicked for the Cthulhu Mythos: never quite contradicting, but dancing through the shadows and dredging beautiful things out of the deep, pulling them, at last, into the light." —Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart a Doorway
"I just want to hang out more with Aphra and her found family, not to mention her family under the sea. [Winter Tide] is a great story and a seamless subversion of Lovecraft’s most repellent views while simultaneously being a tribute to his greatest accomplishments." —Smart Bitches Trashy Books
"Emrys plots out an impressive book that updates Lovecraft’s creations with added nuance and empathy." —Andrew Liptak, The Verge
“Deeply felt, humane...exceptionally compelling.” —RT BookReviews Top Pick, 4 ½ Stars
"Winter Tide is a delicious, rich concoction that centers its story on its characters." —Kirkus Reviews
"A generous novel, a kind one, and an exceptionally accomplished debut." —Liz Bourke for Locus Magazine
"Relevant and resonant." —Publishers Weekly
"Emrys uses the beautiful structures of Lovecraft to make a bold statement about difference and culture." —Booklist
"[I] will certainly be looking forward to anything else written by Ruthanna Emrys. [An] intriguing and welcoming book." —Forbidden Planet
“Winter Tide is a haunting, beautifully-crafted ballad exploring love, loss, and monsters.” —Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowshaper and Midnight Taxi Tango
“An engrossing story about othering and family that turns Lovecraft fascinatingly inside out.” —Jo Walton, Hugo Award-winning author of Among Others and The Just City
"Winter Tide shines an unexpected light on the shadow over Innsmouth, and shows how all creatures have to find common ground (or ocean) against evil." —Alex Bledsoe, author of Long Black Curl
"Emrys has done what Lovecraft never could — create complex characters in an intricate plot that engages the heart at the same time as it curdles the blood." —Sam J. Miller, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award
PRAISE FOR “THE LITANY OF EARTH”:
"'The Litany of Earth' by Ruthanna Emrys is something special... a fascinating spin on the Cthulhu Universe." —Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky
"What if Lovecraft’s undersea creatures were not creepy monsters, but a persecuted people? [...] Emrys does justice to the idea in this lovely story of alienation and finding a new life in the shadow of the old." —Aliette de Bodard, author ofThe House of Shattered Wings
Library Journal
02/15/2017
The raid that destroyed the community of Innsmouth in the late 1920s leaves Aphra Marsh and her brother Caleb the last of their people on dry land; the rest had died after being forced into desert internment camps during World War II. The Marshes are descendents of the Deep Ones, a branch of humanity who left land to dwell in the oceans. They had also worshipped the Elders, such as Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath, and Aphra is trying to keep up her magical and spiritual studies despite having no ancestors to help her. In 1949, she leaves the home she has made in San Francisco to go to Miskatonic University at the request of an FBI agent who believes the Russians have learned some of the secrets of her people and will use them in the looming Cold War. VERDICT While this debut is sure to be of interest to fans of H.P. Lovecraft, even those unfamiliar with the mythos should enjoy the combination of Cold War paranoia and horror. The pacing is slow, but the characters are winning, especially Aphra as she battles alienation from her own culture.—MM
APRIL 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Gabra Zackman engages with this weird, grim novel, a combination of fantasy and mystery. In 1928, the displaced survivors of a seaside community are sent by the U.S. government to live in the desert. Later, the story involves the siblings’ visits to relatives who live under the sea, flashbacks to life in the desert camp, accidental magic, and even early Cold War spying. Zackman finds outstanding voices for the characters, especially Aphra Marsh and her brother, Caleb. Further, her superb pacing and intense emotions add to the story’s strange and intriguing atmosphere. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
