The Wraith Who Writes
Welcome welcome! Thanks for stopping by. This page offers the cliff notes on my monthly author newsletter and serial fiction. The newsletter is permafree and mostly contains updates, things I’ve learnt along the way, sneak peeks at artwork, snippets, and original music, and the occasional history dive, whereas the serial fiction section is a paid subscription (although the first three chapters of every story remains free to read).
This page aims to answer five main questions:
Who are you?
What are The Chroma Books?
When Can I Expect Posts From Either Section?
Why Substack?
How Would You Describe Your Writing?
Let’s dive in!
Who Are You?
Hi there! My name is Emory. I describe myself as an avid artist, worldbuilder, and dark fantasy author (and, more recently, composer). I prioritise writing stories with female characters in most leading roles, standalones that fit into the greater backdrop of the same setting, and meticulous lore.
Outside of writing, I most often can be found sipping a cup of matcha and hanging out with my husband, two liege lords cats, and beloved Belgian malinois.
As far as writing goes and for as long as I can remember, I have loved the fantasy genre. I was the kid obsessed with The Last Unicorn, The Dark Crystal (the original one from the early ‘80s), The Black Cauldron, and all sorts of similar media. I made my first earnest attempt to write a book when I was around twelve years old, and the rest is history. When I was sixteen, I decided I wanted to make something—a story, a setting, a ‘verse—wholly unique to me and unearthed the seed of an idea I now call The Chroma Books.
What Are The Chroma Books?
The Chroma Books is the collective term for all my stories. I cannot recall the last time I wrote a story not set in the Chromaverse, and for (in my eyes) a good reason: there are too many stories yet to tell!
The bare essentials for understanding The Chroma Books is knowing they’re a series of interconnected dark fantasy standalones playing out in the same setting: the Chromaverse. Each book takes place within the Orb (the stand-in for Earth) and usually on a continent called Nochya, but during different time periods and featuring different characters (though I do include occasional cameos or crossovers).
Now, I did say The Chroma Books are dark fantasy, so let’s touch on that. In addition to the above, I call The Chroma Books “neutraldark high fantasy featuring an original species of humanoid beings, ‘ren,’ whose hallmark trait is posessing one of five different blood colours, ‘hemotones.’”
If you don’t know what “neutraldark” means, read on! You may have heard the term “grimdark” before. I wrote an article for Campfire a while back that goes into great detail on grimdark, neutraldark, and nobledark as tone descriptors, but for now I’ll say neutraldark fantasy means the characters’ circumstances are neither easy nor difficult to change amidst an often hellish way of life within a world wracked by dire and/or oppressive circumstances.
Some stories are lighter fare than others, though I tend to leave it up to my readers which particular stories those are, as everyone has different standards. To that end, I also include exhaustive content warnings for all of my stories to minimize nasty surprises.
AI Statement
Since we’re on the subject, I wanted to make a note here stating that I do not use AI in any creative capacity. I wrote, drew, painted, designed, formatted, laid out, composed, voiced-over, edited, and conceived of everything you see here without AI assistance, and that is not going to change.
When Can I Expect Posts From Either Section?
The Wraith Who Writes | This is my monthly author newsletter. It’s permafree and mostly contains updates, things I’ve learnt along the way, sneak peeks at artwork, snippets, and original music, and the occasional history dive. Each newsletter releases on or near the 15th of each month.
The Chroma Books | This section contains serialised versions of stories I’ve written. The posting date differs depending on the serial. Lightning round!
Q: Why serialise?
A: Many readers I’ve interacted with reported liking the bite-sized format and convenience of having instalments delivered straight to their inbox on a regular basis. I tend to write very tight chapters to begin with, averaging around 1500-2500 words, which is perfect for serials. Of course, you can also read my books the traditional way via paperback or eBook.
Q: Is this a paid section?
A: Yes, but! I keep the first three chapters of each serialised story permafree so you can get a feel for it before committing to a paid subscription. Free chapters include audio voiceovers. Speaking of…
Q: What benefit is there to a paid subscription for serials over waiting until the full book becomes available?
A: Currently, the only way to listen to my books is via the voiceovers on serial chapters. If you don’t care for audio, the other main benefit to a serial subscription is getting to read the book well ahead of the crowd. You also may find your suggestions or commentary incoroprated into the story, if you’re so inclined. Paid subscriptions likewise enable me to continue producing quality fiction at a steady pace, since it affords me enough extra income to cover writing-related expenses I otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Q: How do I know the next chapter will come on time?
A: I keep a fairly extensive backlog of chapters on hand that far outpaces where I’m at in the story. For example, MARROW is only three or four chapters away from finished as of January 2025, but has not yet been scheduled for serialisation. The best way to stay up-to-date on which stories are currently being serialised and their publication schedules is by subscribing to The Wraith Who Writes and keeping an eye on my Notes tab.
Why Substack?
Honestly, I just like the community here and enjoy the way the site works on the author end! Being able to centralise everything nicely and neatly, especially things which either wouldn’t work or be as digestible on my author website, is a huge added bonus.
As far as my paid section goes, Substack has much nicer sorting and formatting formatting capabilities than sites like Patreon, which can be a bit of a beast to sort through for longer stories.
How Would You Describe Your Writing?
I’ll let the kindly readers who have taken the time to review The Chroma Books take the reigns for this one:
"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
"One of the most delightful aspects of Glass' work is how deeply it runs. The story exists in a much wider world than what we see, [and] you can feel that in every page...you don't need to understand all of these little details to enjoy the story, but they help to make it feel like nothing else I've ever read.
- Adam Bassett, Editor in Chief Emeritus of Worldbuilding Magazine
Review: Fall, Sacred Apple by Emory Glass (Jonathan Putnam, SFF Insiders)
Review: Fall, Sacred Apple (Adam Bassett, FanFiAddict)
