Emily Renk Hawthorne - Multigenerational Mystery, Adventure and Political Intrigue

Emily Renk Hawthorne was born and raised in Southern California. Her mother and father are from Taiwan and Illinois, respectively. Emily’s always had a special love for fantasy and sci-fi books.

In elementary school, Emily wrote a story about a lonely fish that joined a school of fish for companionship and safety in numbers. The story was selected by a traveling performance group and performed at an assembly in front of her school. From then on, Emily was hooked! (Pun intended!)

She continued to submit to writing contests in the children’s magazine Cricket, placing a couple times, but took a break from writing once she started college.

Emily worked as a general dentist on a Native American reservation in Northern California and in community health clinics in San Francisco and the Central Coast. After 11 years in full-time dentistry (with too many 6-day weeks), she was able to go part-time to focus more on her writing and to spend time with her child.

Of Mountains and Seas is her debut novel.  As our Author of the Day, she tells us all about it.

Please give us a short introduction to what Of Mountains and Seas is about.

Of Mountains and Seas is an urban fantasy and a multi-generational mystery told through multiple POVs and converging timelines. There are shapeshifters inspired by Chinese mythology and political intrigue between those with magic and those without. The main conflict involves magical stones that can steal powers.

Of Mountains and Seas is your debut novel. What inspired you to write this story, and how did your background influence its creation?

I was taking a creative writing course in 2019, and I got the idea of wanting to write about a girl that’s different from her peers (I know, I know, so unoriginal) but she doesn’t know why yet and the answers come slowly over time. I knew I wanted to incorporate my Chinese side in some way, and I thought it’d be great to base the story in California (my home state) and explore how culture and identity can be passed through generations.

The book is a blend of fantasy, mythology, and multi-generational storytelling. How did you approach balancing these different elements?

For me, the best way of organizing my story was by focusing on the individual characters. I talk about this a little bit later as well, but making sure my characters were well-rounded helped me balance all the other aspects of the book.

Chinese mythology plays a significant role in shaping the world of Of Mountains and Seas. What specific myths or folklore inspired aspects of your story?

I grew up with certain Chinese mythological stories, but it wasn’t until I started researching Chinese mythology myself that I realized how little I knew of what was out there. I knew I wouldn’t be able to become an expert any time soon, so I instead played with creating characters inspired by some of the legends. I have smaller references to other myths throughout the book, but these are the main legends I took inspiration from: Bai Suzhen, a giant, white shapeshifting snake who falls in love with a mortal man; the Azure Dragon, one of the four celestial guardians and a symbol of the east and spring; the Vermillion Bird, also one of the four celestial guardians and a symbol of the south and summer.

The story is told through multiple perspectives and across different timelines. What challenges did you face in structuring the narrative, and how did you ensure clarity for the reader?

I love when multiple storylines come together in surprising ways, but I definitely worried if my book would be easy to follow. I played around with the idea of a more linear story, but I realized I’d lose most of the mystery component. I had a few alpha readers give feedback, and they all suggested names and dates at the beginning of each chapter. (I didn’t even have those to start with!) I know this kind of structure isn’t for everyone, so I’ve tried to be as upfront as possible about it in the book’s description.

The novel explores deep themes like identity, power, and acceptance. What message do you hope readers take away from Davis’s and Iris’s journeys?

I hope readers will think about how we all have a complex history that makes us who we are and that goes back farther than just our individual lives.

The magical cave and the concept of magic-transferring stones are central to the plot. How did you develop this magic system, and what themes does it reinforce?

I love a good treasure-hunting adventure, so the chapters about the transfer stones caves were the easiest for me to write. Once the stones were in existence, I had to think what would be one of the most disruptive things magic could do? Stealing magic brought up so many interesting questions to explore about identity, power, and how much was enough?

The relationship between Shifters and Statics is fraught with tension. Did you draw inspiration from real-world societal conflicts when crafting these dynamics?

I think so! I feel a consistent theme in real-world societal conflicts is the “othering” of each other, and despite all their similarities, Shifters and Statics are no different in this behavior.

Many readers praised the novel’s emotional depth and exploration of loss, love, and self-discovery. Which themes were most important to you when writing?

Loss is always something I’m interested in exploring, probably as a way to understand the loss I’ve experienced in my own life. But I was also really interested in exploring how someone can end up doing “good” or “bad” things, and does that make that person “good” or “bad?”

Some fantasy novels focus on epic battles, while others delve into political intrigue. Your book blends both. How did you approach writing the power struggles within the Shifter society?

I didn’t plan to get into politics when I began Of Mountains and Seas, but it’s so true how you hear about characters becoming their own people, and I just followed them where they took the story. With the ability to steal magic from others, it just made sense that certain characters would want to use those powers to advance themselves, but I also thought it’d be interesting to see how perceptions of success and power can be influenced by family and earlier generations.

The book has been described as a puzzle, slowly revealing its secrets. What was your process for weaving together the different layers of the story?

I really have to thank fantasy-writer Brandon Sanderson for helping me solve this puzzle (excuse my pun). In 2020, he made one of his writing classes free on YouTube, and his lecture on character arcs helped me figure out how to separate my story into parts and put it back together again. By focusing on each character’s story, I was able to make sure the character development kept pace with the critical events in the book.

As a debut author, what was the most surprising part of the publishing journey for you?

Oh gosh, so many things! It’s way more work than I anticipated. But honestly probably how stressed I initially was when the reviews started coming in. Before the release date, I was able to compartmentalize and think of that day and time as an abstract thing in the future. But once it was here, I had to face my insecurities, learn what I could, and get back to writing and focusing on the next project.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on the sequel to Of Mountains and Seas. I’m getting close to finishing the first draft, so I hope to have the second book out no later than January 2026!