EMILY RATH is a New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of romance and fantasy. Her sex-positive, queer-inclusive books include the Second Sons Regency romance series, the Tuonela fantasy duet, and the Jacksonville Rays hockey romance series. Emily started her career as an indie author, self-publishing books with little more than a hope and prayer. Now, on Amazon alone, she’s had 600 million pages read of her books. Her works have been translated into twelve languages and counting.

Emily can be found online at EmilyRathBooks.com, on Instagram @emilyrathauthor and on TikTok @emilyrathbooks.

Welcome to the Hive, Emily. Let’s start with the basics: tell us about North is the Night – what can readers expect?

Thanks so much for having me! North is the Night is an adult action/adventure fantasy inspired by Finnish mythology. Set in a fantastical version of mediaeval Finland at the start of the first Swedish Crusade, it follows the separate journeys of two best friends, Siiri and Aina. I’m not giving too much away when I reveal the inciting incident: a death goddess appears in their village, hunts them down, and snatches Aina, dragging her to Tuonela, the Finnish underworld. That action launches a fierce story of love, survival, and magic as Siiri and Aina fight their way back to each other. 

Tell us a little something about your writing process – do you have a certain method? Do you find music helps? Give us a glimpse into your world!

Borrowing from Adrienne Young, I call myself a “discovery writer.” My imagination is so vivid, I tend to “see” my books play out like a movie inside my head. So I have to be careful not to outline too heavily or tell too much of the story in my own head. Otherwise, it starts to feel like “I’ve already seen that movie,” and I can lose the creative itch to keep writing. 

Music definitely helps! I make playlists for all my book projects and I post them on Spotify for my readers. When I’m drafting that book, the playlist is the only thing I listen to. It helps me get into the world and the characters. I can’t listen to music while I write, though. I prefer the silence of my office or the ambient noise of a cafe. 

Your book is a Finnish folklore-inspired fantasy, can you tell us what aspects of Finnish mythology you drew from? Was there a particular tale which inspired you the most? 

In many ways, writing North is the Night felt like a way of coming home to myself. I have Finnish ancestry going up both sides of the family tree, most visibly pronounced in my paternal grandmother. She grew up speaking Finn in the home, and she was the one who always encouraged me to learn more about our Finnish heritage. She supported Finnish artists and craftsmen, filling her house with trinkets. She made me Finnish recipes when I visited. She gave me my first copy of the Kalevala and my first Finnish-to-English dictionary.  

She was definitely my first window into this beautiful world. To that end, North is about so much more than mythology. It’s my love letter to Finland–the food, the culture, the nature, the people.  

But you asked specifically about mythology! 

As I prepared to write North, what instantly struck me is how familiar it all felt. In truth, world mythologies are more alike than they are different. Even as elements of the story may change, the messages each story contains stay the same. Finnish mythology is no different. It’s as vast and layered as the Greek, Norse, or Egyptian pantheons. I’d say I was most inspired by the runes in the Kalevala associated with Tuonela, the Finnish underworld. I’ve always been drawn to that aspect of all mythologies. What happens after we die? Where do we go? What waits for us on the other side? Can you ever return? 

I was also greatly inspired by the character of Väinämöinen, who has always read to me like a tragedy. I wanted to peel back some of his layers and step inside his mind a little bit, imagining what might have happened to make him the way that he is in the runes of the Kalevala. 

What can you tell us about your two main protagonists Aina and Siiri? What kind of dynamic do they both share?

Siiri and Aina are two best friends who embody the idea that “opposites attract.” Where Siiri is bold and opinionated, reckless and daring, Aina is reserved and thoughtful, cautious, even timid. Both girls are quite clever, and strong in their own ways. 

At its heart, I think that’s what North is really all about. It’s taking each of the characters and asking this fundamental question: Am I strong enough? Is who I am, just as I am, enough? And then we ask, “Well, enough to what?” And you can really fill in the blank, depending on the character. Enough to survive? Enough to love? Enough to fight for?

Siiri and Aina are each tested again and again. The powers of magic, politics, and even the elements batter them, chipping away their exposed edges, revealing the heart of who they are. Pressure creates diamonds, and it was really exhilarating to tell this story to show how they each shine.   

Who else can we expect to meet along the way? Was there a favourite side character you particularly enjoyed creating?

Sweet heavens, there are sooooooo many characters you will meet along the way! As I said, the Finnish pantheon is as robust as anything thought up by the Norse or Greeks. In the underworld alone, you have an entire realm of gods and monsters, living and dead. We’ll definitely meet Tuoni, the god of death, as well as Tuonetar, the Witch Queen of Tuonela. We’ll meet their five daughters, who embody lovely things like pain, suffering, decay, and disease. 

Back in the realm of the living, Siiri will encounter everything from rogue trappers to forest goddesses, a meddlesome witch, and a curious bear. While the names will be different, the stories they embody will feel quite familiar to anyone remotely familiar with other dominant world pantheons.   

I think my favourite side character to write was Tuonetar, the Witch Queen of Tuonela. She is vile and cruel, destructive, malicious. And yet, she too has her reasons. I very much enjoyed stepping inside her head and attempting to rationalise her actions. 

If you were to be placed in one of your characters’ shoes, who would you choose to be and how do you think you’d fare? 

Oh gosh. I think I’d say Siiri. My practice has been to try to limit how much of myself I put into each of my characters. There are glimpses, to be sure. But I desperately avoid any sense of making a character a “write in” for me as the author. 

That being said, Siiri is as close as it comes to a “write in” character for me. I gave her so much of my own identity and baggage to lift. She’s a drummer, and so am I. She’s an unabashed tomboy, and so am I. She’s bold and callous, she speaks without a filter, she’s singularly focused on getting her way. Yeah….also me. 

On a deeper level, Siiri freed me. She was the first queer character I ever wrote. I gave her so much of my own questioning, confusion, and longing to carry. Through writing Siiri, I finally had to confront my own queerness. Wanting the world to read Siiri, and trust in the authenticity of her story, forced me to come out publicly. 

This is the double-edged sword of writing “own voices” stories. Readers can be vicious to the point of cancelling an author who dares to tell a story that is deemed not theirs to tell. But in the case of queerness, it’s quite possible that it’s not safe for the author to divulge their connectivity to the queer characters they write. Or, perhaps, the author simply isn’t ready. Authors have lost family over being outed by their books. They’ve lost job opportunities. They’ve lost entire communities. 

In my case, I was facing criticism and questions by my early beat reading team, who told me I was writing a story that wasn’t mine to tell. I had to come out to my team to assuage their fears, a team that included members of my family. It was terrifying…but in the end freeing. 

Siiri gave me the strength to admit who I am, and I haven’t looked back. I’ve lost family and friendships, but what I’ve gained is a world of readers who embrace me and my queer characters. I’m excited for them to meet Siiri and Aina and embrace them too.    

We see such varying opinions from authors when it comes to the time of editing their books. How have you found the editing process? Enjoyable, stressful or satisfying?

I like to say that North is the book that taught me to be an author and it taught me to be an Author. Let me clarify the distinction. North made me an author in the sense that it was the third book I ever finished and the second I put in the query trenches. No book I’ve ever written has gone through the level of editing this book has gone through from first draft to final product. This book helped me find the most authentic version of my author’s voice. It helped me do away once and for all with the notion that I was going to write YA fiction. North helped me step into my brand, my identity as an author. 

Which brings me to the capital “A” Author point. North is my first fully traditionally published book (even though it’s my eleventh published title). This is the book that taught me to be an Author. This book went from Twitter pitch contests to the query trench. I did R&Rs with this book. It’s the book that hooked me an agent. It’s the first book I ever put on submission. It’s the first book I’ve ever sold at auction. North and I have been on such an adventure together, discovering the crazy world that is publishing.  

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped the artist would portray?

 I was very involved in the cover design process! My team understood the vision I was going for, and helped me bring it to life. I’m glad we were able to pull in the atmospheric vibe of the book, which is set in the depths of the Finnish winter. I loved the connection to nature with the trees and the animals. On the U.S. deluxe edition, there’s some gorgeous endpaper art too, as well as sprayed edges, and a stamped foil case. 

You’re most well known for your romance novels, what also draws you to wanting to write in the fantasy genre? This is cruel to ask but do you have a favourite between the two? 

Fantasy is actually my first love. Before I wrote a single page of a romance novel, I’d already written five fantasy projects. That’s just the pace of traditional publishing sometimes. In the time it’s taken me to go from querying North to agents to North getting published worldwide, I published ten books on my own, becoming a #1 Amazon, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller.

Romance is so much fun. I always see myself writing stories that weave in elements of romance, but fantasy has always been my first love. Trust me, this isn’t the last fantasy you’ll see from me!

One of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?

Good question! In North, we have the Hiiden Hevonen, which is a giant, fire-breathing horse. Forged by the goblins of the underworld, its legs are made of iron, its back is strongest steel, and its head is made of stone. That sounds like a pretty cool beast to ride into battle!    

Are you planning anything fun to celebrate your new release? Do you have any upcoming virtual events our readers may be interested in?

We have so many fun things planned! I’ll be doing a U.S. release day party here in Jacksonville, FL on December 17th. That’s part of a week of tour events planned before the Christmas holiday. Then, in January, I’ll have a few more stops to make to celebrate!  

Readers interested in joining virtual events should follow me on IG and TikTok. I regularly go live on both apps to give sneak peeks of chapters from works in progress and celebrate new releases. 

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

Be brave. In your relationships, in your work, in your life. Don’t settle for less when you know you deserve more. But be ready to fight for it. The life you want is worth having and worth fighting for. 

Thank you so much for joining us today!

North is the Night is due for release 9th January 2025. You can pre-order your copy on Bookshop.org