Em Rowene (he/they) is a fantasy webserial author writing at the crossroads between old school fantasy and creeping gothic horror.
When not writing, you will most likely find them practicing their lute, trapped somewhere under one of their six cats, or baking vintage pastries.
Author Links:
Website (and book link): queerenigma.com
IG and Tumblr @ emrowene
Bluesky: @queerenigma.com
Let’s talk about your web serial, Fractured Magic. It’s an ongoing fantasy serial with Victorian Gothic overtones – what led you to merge Victorian Gothic (in particular) with fantasy to create this story/setting?
When I was young, there were two books I had memorized almost front to back: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
Of the books that shaped me, most fell into one of two categories: the sword and sorcery boom of the 80s and 90s, or the melodramatic gothics of the late 19th century. So when I sat down to write Fractured Magic, I wanted it to be a love letter to both.
Fractured Magic is set in a world where magic isn’t supposed to exist, AND YET… Was coming up with the magic rules and sources of magic difficult, and can you tell us about your worldbuilding process? What was your favourite part of worldbuilding?
It was certainly a challenge. In creating a fantasy world where magic is a rarity, a secret that’s uncovered as the story develops, I knew I was limiting the number of impossible things my readers could believe. If I tried to incorporate too many, “no magic” would begin to lose its bite.
If I tried to incorporate too few, the slow integration of magic into the world would have no emotional payoff. That said, the challenge was what I enjoyed best.
In terms of worldbuilding, I very much approached it the way I approach writing mysteries: starting at the end and working backward. If almost no one has magic, who does have it and why? What do they do with it? Well, it seems they kidnap a king.
What are the main themes in Fractured Magic, and how does the world, settings, and genre of the serial help you to convey them? Are you exploring some via mini-arcs, or are most themes overarching?
More than anything else, Fractured Magic is a story about personal and political accountability. What do you do when the government that’s supposed to protect you has failed in its crucial purpose? When complacency has stopped being an option, what can you do but act?
Fractured Magic’s unique genre certainly helps answer these questions, both the epic fantasy and gothic aspects of it playing a role.
The Epic Fantasy: Fractured Magic being an epic fantasy lets me explore these questions in a large-scale but controlled environment. We have a greedy government that’s built off a god’s lies, and it’s preying on a city-state beyond its control.
Each character has their own mini-arc, their own internal challenge to overcome: Leandros gets so lost in anger that he loses sight of his values, Dinara is so afraid to stand up that it harms those around her, Evelyne has been gaslit and indoctrinated for so long that she can no longer discern the truth, and so on.
The Gothic: the gothic aspect of Fractured Magic gives me space to explore the question of accountability on a more personal level, in the heightened emotions this sort of fantasy scenario creates in its heroes. Most of this is centered on Egil – in his descent into madness and monstrosity, in the sense of the sublime in the magic slowly corrupting him, and most of all, in his guilt.
Both Egil and his narrative foil – a god the world called a villain – are haunted both literally and figuratively. Literally, in the form of spectres and zombies, and figuratively, in the wrongs they’ve committed and that have been committed against them. They both independently reach the same decision: to destroy Unity and all it stands for. But are their reasons for doing so right? Can they do it alone, or will they need to forgive and accept help? Will they destroy themselves in the process?
Tell us about the queer rep in the serial – what can readers expect?
Much and more! Even beyond the primary mlm pairing, I would venture to say that at least half of the large cast is queer in some way: there’s a side wlw pairing, a few canonically trans and nonbinary characters, and a hero who definitely falls under the genderqueer umbrella.
How did you develop your characters and their dynamics for the serial, and can you tell us your favourite things about Egil, Leandros, and Roman, without too many spoilers?
I have to tell this one like it is: I really, really love the messy-exes-to-lovers dynamic. Even better when there’s yearning and a faked death involved, and even better yet when the one who did the faking is riddled with guilt about it. While not quite enemies-to-lovers, I wanted Leandros and Egil to stand as opposing forces – and while they’re busy doing that, Roman slips in-between, making messes and obfuscating borders. In terms of character development, as much as Fractured Magic is a love letter to my favorite books, Egil, Leandros, and Roman are love letters to my favorite characters – and that, naturally, is my favorite thing about them. If you squint and turn your head just so, you might be able to see echoes of that cursed Han Solo-Tenth Doctor combo that was Roman 1.0.
What’s next for the serial, and what arcs are you most looking forward to writing?
I’m about half a year into the Fractured Magic serialization, and volume I of III is nearing its end. I’m excited for all of it, but especially the current arc: in just a few chapters, Leandros will finally be reunited with Egil, the lost love of his life, who is very notably not as dead as Leandros was led to believe. It’ll be messy, dramatic, and once Leandros gets over the shock, they’ll get to begin their slow courtship all over again.
(Another thing I’m very excited about: once Volume I is at an end, I’ll be releasing a physical version and revealing the new cover for Volume II!)
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