Tor.com Acquires Two Aphra Marsh Novels from Ruthanna Emrys

Today’s announcement is something of a dream come true for me. Before Tor.com Publishing expanded to novellas and novels, I had the pleasure of acquiring short fiction for the website. The first story I bought was “The Litany of Earth” by Ruthanna Emrys, the gripping and groundbreaking subversion of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Today, two years later, I’m proud to announce that Tor.com will be publishing two novels by Ruthanna Emrys in partnership with Tor Books. These novels will expand on the story of Aphra Marsh, survivor of the Deep One internment camps, as she attempts to pick up the shattered pieces of her people’s history and legacy.

After attacking Devil’s Reef in 1928, the U.S. Government rounded up the people of Innsmouth and took them to the desert, far from their ocean, their Deep One ancestors, and their alien God Cthulhu. Only Aphra and Caleb Marsh survived the camps, and they emerged without a past or a future. Aphra settled in San Francisco and tried to build a new life, but the government that stole her life now needs her help. Agent Ron Spector believes that Communist spies have been stealing dangerous magical secrets from Miskatonic University, secrets that could turn the Cold War hot in an instant, and hasten the end of the races of earth. Aphra must head back to the ruins of her former home, to see if she can stop a war and reclaim some of what she’s lost.

Ruthanna Emrys had this to say:

“When I first started writing “Litany of Earth,” I already thought of Aphra’s story as an ongoing one.  In fact, after I sent out the manuscript, I started work on the “next Aphra novelette,” about 3000 words of what would eventually become Winter Tide.  But when I looked over the “Litany” proof, I thought, “This says everything I needed to say with this character and setting,” and I put the new story aside. All the people who asked for more when the novelette came out—Carl very much included—can take some responsibility for keeping that argument going until I figured out what I did have to say next.”

You can read Ruthanna Emrys’ short fiction for free on Tor.com or catch up with her and Anne M. Pillsworth’s Lovecraft Reread. Winter Tide is scheduled for early 2017, and will be available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook wherever books are sold.

Carl Engle-Laird is an editorial assistant at Tor.com, where he acquires and edits original fiction. You can follow him on Twitter here.