Ruthanna Emrys’ tales of The Innsmouth Legacy began with “The Litany of Earth,” a novelette originally published at Tor.com in May 2014, which picks up the threads of H.P. Lovecraft’s classic “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” Aphra Marsh, who with the other residents of Innsmouth was forced into internment camps, discovers humans trying to replicate her people’s secret rituals, with sinister consequences. If it weren’t for the noxious Hugo-grab by the Rabid Puppies, it would almost certainly have ended up on the 2015 Hugo Award Ballot.

The story eventually grew into Winter Tide, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2017, which Liz Bourke called “an exceptionally accomplished debut.” Like a Great Old One emerging out of the Pacific, the tale has continued to grow and spread. The sequel Deep Roots, the second volume in what’s now a planned trilogy, arrived in hardcover from Tor.com Publications this week. Here’s the description.

[Click the images for Cthulhu-sized versions.]

Ruthanna Emrys’ Innsmouth Legacy, which began with Winter Tide and continues with Deep Roots, confronts H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos head-on, boldly upturning his fear of the unknown with a heart-warming story of found family, acceptance, and perseverance in the face of human cruelty and the cosmic apathy of the universe. Emrys brings together a family of outsiders, bridging the gaps between the many people marginalized by the homogenizing pressure of 1940s America.

Aphra Marsh, descendant of the People of the Water, has survived Deep One internment camps and made a grudging peace with the government that destroyed her home and exterminated her people on land. Deep Roots continues Aphra’s journey to rebuild her life and family on land, as she tracks down long-lost relatives. She must repopulate Innsmouth or risk seeing it torn down by greedy developers, but as she searches she discovers that people have been going missing. She will have to unravel the mystery, or risk seeing her way of life slip away.

Booklist says “Deep Roots is a marvel of a fantasy novel, with monsters fighting for their very existence and a place to call their own.” It was published by Tor.com Publications on July 10, 2018. It is 352 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $13.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by John Jude Palencar. Read more at The Verge.

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