Coffee with Emily Golus

Good morning readers! I pray that today you woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face anything that the day may bring.

This morning I have a different genre of story than what I typically feature for you — a fantasy. More specifically, Crack the Stone by Emily Golus. Emily is new to The Back Porch, so please give her a warm welcome to the table.

Thank you for joining us this morning, Emily, it is an honor to have you with us.

Let’s talk about Crack The Stone.

What research did you conduct, if any, while writing this book? How did it influence the story or characters?

 First of all, I had to make sure I really understood the plot of Les Misérables to do a quality retelling. I’d read the entire (ENTIRE) book several years beforehand, so I knew the plot points I wanted to focus on and the ones I wouldn’t be able to cover. 

I read and reread the relevant portions, went searching the 1,400pages of the book for specific details, did Internet searches for the things I couldn’t find in the physical book, and so forth. (I did not, however, reread the portions about Napoleon and the history of the Parisian sewer system, haha.)

Being so familiar with Les Mis gave me a wealth of plot ideas and characters to work from. While I focused mostly on the redemption arc, I was able to “remix” many of these other elements in fresh, new ways.

Most importantly, my study guided the character development of my main character, the goblin Valshara. Like Jean Valjean, Valshara is absolutely feral when the book opens, and she resists the effects of the mercy she’s shown until she has an emotional breakdown. Both characters grow and change while evading the hunter on their tail, and both obtain aliases at least once. In Les Mis, Jean Valjean’s signature talent is his immense strength. In Crack the Stone, Valshara can squeeze into spaces too small for anyone else, and she uses this ability in parallel situations.

I also did a ton of research on cave formations and exploration methods, as well as studied the culture and daily life in of several African nations (primarily Morocco and Nigeria) to getthe city of B’jeme right.

 Well, firstly, you had me at Les Miserablés. It is my all time favorite play and story (my daughter and I go to see the play on October 8th). The redemption story that is weaved through it is so touching.

What setting(s) did you choose for your book, and why were they important to the story?

 There are three major settings in Crack the Stone:

 First is the extensive cavern system that my goblin hero attempts to escape through. There is an urban goblin settlement that we see briefly, but Valshara spends most of her time in the uncharted parts of the cave—a pitch-black wilderness full of drop-offs, squeezes, and dead ends. On a symbolic level it represents the difficult journey Valshara makes from darkness to light—but practically, it’s a scary and alien landscape that makes for a nail-biting escape.

 Second is the fairy forest of Woodshea, which also appears in one of my other books. It’s a beautiful place but dangerous for mortals, with bad-tempered elves hiding in trees and mischievous pixies that can enchant and kidnap children. Most of the lore is based on Irish mythology, though I took inspiration for some of the landscape from trails I’ve hiked.

 Last is the city of B’jeme—an urban center with West African-style mud walls around the city proper, and a Moroccan-inspired marketplace just outside. There’s growing tension between the privileged citizens of B’jeme and the traveling merchants outside the walls, who hail from multiple nations of Vindor. The city is a crowded and overwhelming introduction to humanity for Valshara, and she must decide whether she will stick with her anti-human prejudices or get invested in the struggles of her new acquaintances.

Wow! It takes a great amount of imagination to come up with fantastic worlds like this. Bravo!

Did any real-life experiences or events influence the narrative of your book?

Crack the Stone was the first book I wrote after becoming a parent, and so I was able to draw heavily from my own motherhood experience when describing Valshara’s relationship with the child she rescues. I tried to show the shock and life adjustments that caring for a child brings (especially for someone fairly set in their ways, as I was), but also the unexpected beauty and overwhelming love that catches you off guard along the way.

This is the primary reason I did a gender–swap of the original: it was far more authentic for me to write about a mother with a son than to try to tackle a father-daughter story.

Also, I was able to model the child character of Makozi off of my own son, especially in his funny and creative turns of phrase. People have said that Makozi feels like a real boy—and that’s because in a way, he is!

Isn’t it beautiful when art imitates life? And what a touching tribute to your own adventure in motherhood.

What message, if any, do you hope your book conveys to readers?

At its heart, Les Misérables is a story of redemption, and that’s what I want to show with my retelling.

 My self-righteous villain believes his scrupulous rule-following makes him superior to others. But his heart is cold and empty, and the thought of actual forgiveness for others is offensive. He’s like the Pharisee in Christ’s Luke 18 parable, who brags to God about his works, unaware that he’s missing Him completely.  

Valshara, on the other hand, is the wretched sinner who is upended by an act of extreme, even scandalous mercy. She humbles herself enough to accept it, and it transforms her from the inside out, replacing her hatred with love and compassion and bringing her dead heart back to life.  

This transformation—the love of God coming in and reinventingus and flowing back out of us—that’s what true redemption looks like, and it’s what Les Misérables (and I hope my book) illustrates so well.

That is perfectly stated – “the Love of God reinventing us” means we can’t do it. Only God makes the change. AMEN!

Can you share any details about your upcoming projects or works-in-progress?

Yes—I am moving from the underground world of the goblins to the undersea world of Vindor’s merfolk. I have a mermaid short story coming out in The Realm Beneath anthology this fall, and this serves as a kind of prequel to a full-length mermaid novel that is currently in the works.

How exciting! I look forward to seeing and reading that story.

Thank you, again, Emily, for sharing Crack The Stone with us here in Back Porch Reads. I pray this tour blesses you abundantly. 
Readers, please be sure to keep reading and enter the giveaway at the bottom of the page. If you really want to bless Emily, maybe go pick up a copy of Crack The Stone.

About the Book

Book: Crack the Stone

Author: Emily Golus

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: September 22, 2023

I am Valshara, the black stone born of fire. Break me, and my edges turn into knives.

Condemned to a slave camp for her crimes, goblin convict Valshara Sh’a makes a death-defying escape to freedom. But navigating Vindor’s treacherous cavern system is only the beginning of her troubles. An encounter with a rogue king turns her world upside down, and a bargain with fairy tricksters leaves her with a human child she doesn’t know how to care for.

As she tries to smuggle the boy through the walls of a barricaded city, Valshara can’t let down her guard. Because somewhere in the darkness behind her, a bounty hunter rises—relentless as nightfall and merciless as death itself.

Emily Golus re-imagines Victor Hugo’s beloved Les Misérables as an epic fantasy adventure about suffering, redemption, and the extraordinary power of love.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Emily Golus is an award-winning fantasy author with nearly 20 years of professional writing experience. Golus aims to engage, inspire, and show how small acts of courage and love create meaningful change. Her books feature diverse cultures, authentic characters, and cinematic fantasy settings.

Her first novel, Escape to Vindor, won the 2018 Selah Award for Young Adult Fiction, and a spin-off novel, Crack the Stone, won the 2024 Kudos Award for Fiction. Golus lives in Greenville, S.C., with her husband, Mike, who is her greatest supporter. They have two active little boys and enjoy hiking, making Thai food, and exploring small towns in the Carolinas.

More from Emily

Crack the Stone is a fantasy re-spinning of Victor Hugo’s redemptive masterpiece, Les Misérables. I’ve taken the major themes and characters of the original novel and recast them within the fantastical world of Vindor. The heart of the story is the same—a stone-hearted convict on the run from the law finds unexpected redemption—but there are new twists and turns along the way.

The Jean Valjean character—now a fierce goblin warrior named Valshara Sh’a—finds herself fleeing through treacherous caverns, an ensnaring forest, and a West African-inspired city under siege. Her pursuer, an expert bounty hunter who has never failed to catch his quarry, is dead-set on returning her to slavery.

Complicating everything is the human boy Valshara rescues from a fairy ring. The precocious and chaotic child not only jeopardizes the goblin’s escape, but starts to melt her obsidian heart.

Crack the Stone focuses primarily on Hugo’s themes of scandalous redemption, legalism, and the transforming love between a mother and child. Other elements of the novel—lovesick Éponine, the red revolution flag, the barricade, the Elephant of the Bastille—have been remixed in unexpected ways to support the redemption arc.

If you’re a fan of the book (or the musical!) you’ll enjoy the fun Les Mis“Easter eggs” throughout. But even if you’re not familiar with the original, you can still get swept up in Crack the Stone’s epic story of suffering, love, and light in the darkest places.

Blog Stops

The Lofty Pages, September 21

Vicky Sluiter, September 22 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 23

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, September 24 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 25

For the Love of Literature, September 26 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, September 26

Tell Tale Book Reviews, September 27 (Author Interview)

Through the Fire Blogs, September 28 (Author Interview)

Blogging With Carol, September 29

Guild Master, September 30 (Author Interview)

A Reader’s Brain, October 1 (Author Interview)

Back Porch Reads, October 2 (Author Interview)

Just Your Average reviews, October 3

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, October 4 (Author Interview)

Denise L. Barela, October 4

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Emily is giving away the grand prize of a paperback copy of Crack the Stone, an obsidian arrowhead pendant, two Vindor stickers, a Vindor mini-map, a Vindor bookmark, and a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.