I ran across Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys as I explored, for my own writing, diverse, modern takes on the problematic Lovecraft mythos. Like many “New Weird” writers, such as Matt Ruff and Victor LaValle, Emrys has turned icky tropes on their heads. Winter Tide places the Lovecraftian Deep Ones at the center of their own story. It shows us their victimization, struggles to survive, and rich culture.
The Conundrum
H.L. Lovecraft created, and welcomed other authors to expand upon, an amazing, dark horror universe. However, he was a 1920s guy exhibiting all the worse 1920s guy attitudes in both his stories and personal statements. One can’t deny that a racist, homophobic, misogynistic person devised a creatively appealing playset. Yet this material not only stands the test of time despite its flaws, it has also grown more popular with each passing year.
The current trend of repurposing Lovecraftian stories with fresh angles in new works addresses the inherent ethical conflicts. Emrys’s three stories about the Deep Ones are great examples: The Litany of Earth , Winter Tide, and Deep Roots.
Evan J. Peterson, another author busily reinventing Lovecraft’s work, quotes a friend, “Go ahead and play in Lovecraft’s sandbox. Just try to scoop out the cat sh*t while you’re there.”
In Winter Tide, a stylish Cold War era spy story meets ritual magic and eldritch horror from outer space and the ocean’s depth.
Winter Tide Background
Readers of Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth will recall it is the story of a young man who visited Innsmouth, Massachusetts in 1927 and barely escaped with his life. While there, he was besieged by tales and evidence of a strange pact between the town’s suspicious-looking citizens and a savage, cruel race of immortal amphibious creatures.
Spoiler alert! The Shadow Over Innsmouth ends with the US Federal government rounding up the shifty townsfolk and carting them off to an undisclosed location as well as bombing the town, harbor, and protective reef.
Winter Tide
Aphra Marsh is here to tell us what happened to her people. She is the eldest-on-land of the Deep Ones, and she and her brother are the only survivors of the harsh desert concentration camps where the Deep Ones were house for decades. They bonded with the WWII era Japanese American internees who eventually shared the camp with them. Still humanoid in appearance, Aphra and her brother are released at the same time as the Japanese American prisoners. Thousands of miles from home, they are challenged to build a new life from nothing on the West Coast. And they do.
Aphra forms a group of like-minded magic seekers who reluctantly assist the US government with a new threat: the possibility of magical “body jumping.” If the Soviet Union can do it, the West better be able to do it, too. However, despite the evidence that a Deep One has body jumped in the past, it is a grave offense to their religious faith, at least in Aphra’s mind. She must navigate placating the federal agents while preventing “the people of the land” from perfecting perverse magic.
The Past Sheds Light on Modern Issues
Set in 1949, on the brink of the Red Scare, Winter Tide explores many issues that seem right off of today’s social media feeds: self-determination rights, the proper role of government, and manipulation of information/propaganda.
Aphra is a compelling character, and the reader shares her joy in forming a community, love for her family—born and chosen, and pain at always being the outsider. The book is full of outsiders and each has a special place in solving the story’s problem.
If you found Winter Tide interesting, you might enjoy reading my review of Lovecraft Country.
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