Winter Tide

November 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.

February 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

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