The Chroma Books
A series of dark fantasy novels by Emory Glass
"Emory is an incredible writer and editor with distinct natural attention to detail... the sense of painted-picture clarity she gives the reader is another standout feature from the thousands of others... it's like watching magic take its first breath as anything she touches turns to metaphorical gold."
- Sean Fallon, Owner of Smunchy Games
"Great worldbuilding, excellent characters, and gorgeous prose lend a hand in telling deliciously dark [stories] of ambition, duty, and betrayal across...brilliantly realized geopolitical landscapes. If you're not keeping your eyes on Emory, you’re looking the wrong way."
- Taylor F., Editor in Chief Emeritus of Worldbuilding Magazine
"Emory brings a unique style [to writing]...that is distinctly memorable... Glass weaves stories about hope and humanity that will stick with me long after I have put them down."
- Anonymous
October 2023 | Campfire
First published in Worldbuilding Magazine, return to the world of The Chroma Books with expanded stories and all-new illustrations in one volume.
Seventeen years. That's all it took, seventeen measly years, for the glory of a thousand-year-old nation to fade.A thief weighs betraying an old friend in her time of need. An armorer survives her campaign only to be stabbed in the back by those she loves the most. A priestess blesses the dead in the aftermath of a battle. A warrior mourns fallen comrades: brother in arms, brother in blood, brother in spirit. A dyer wishes for a grinding war, knowing peace will be his ruin.Countless others cling to survival as warring queens make them fodder for oblivion over and over and over again. Can there be inner peace in a world wracked with turmoil? How can one muster ambition when every grueling day is a hair's breadth from being the end? Will they succumb to despondency and dread as their homeland marches solemnly closer to a fate from which there is no salvation?These are the lives of ordinary citizens whose only hope lay in memories. By telling their stories they may be remembered, even when the Void lays final claim to their shattered souls.
Updates & News
Emory's AuthorTube vlog, The Wraith Who Writes, is currently on hiatus. It's usually updated twice a month to share story and illustration updates as well as writing tips, rants, and essays on prose, characters, and worldbuilding.
About the Author
Emory Glass is an avid artist, worldbuilder, and author. She wrote her first novella aged 12; a year later, she discovered fantasy of the gloomier variety and resolved to create a lush world of magic and excitement brimming with vivid characters, byzantine plots, inexhaustible lore, and shocking story twists. This she dubbed “The Chroma Books." She penned the first novel set in its universe at 16 and earned her first publication shortly after turning 18.Her dark fantasy novelette FALL, SACRED APPLE was published in the Visions of Darkness anthology by Kyanite Publishing in October 2020. Her flash fiction collection THIRTY-THREE TALES OF WAR finished its run in the digital niche interest publication Worldbuilding Magazine in December of the same year.Among her greatest historical inspirations are pre-Renaissance Eastern and Central Europe (especially the Kievan Rus' and Uralic cultures), the Byzantines, China (through the Tang Dynasty), and the Gaels. She prioritizes stories with strong female characters in most leading roles, sapphic overtones in romance plotlines, and meticulous attention to detail in lore.Her prose has been compared to that of Robin Hobb and Naomi Novik. In her stories, readers see similarities to The Priory of the Orange Tree (Samantha Shannon), The Light of the Midnight Stars (Rena Rossner), The Witch’s Heart (Genevieve Gornichec), Slewfoot (Gerald Brom), and How High We Go In The Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu).