The Breathing Sea I: Burning Press Release

For Immediate Release:


The Breathing Sea I: Burning


E.P. Clark

Release date: 7/28/17

Kindle, $2.99

ISBN-13: 978-0-9991689-0-5, ASIN: B07455N7SZ

Amazon link

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We know that there were once societies ruled by women.  But what were they really like?  Probably not the Amazonian, man-hating fantasies that so many authors have engaged in.

That was the premise that pushed E.P. Clark to start writing the The Zemnian Series, of which The Breathing Sea is the second installment.  That, and the need to create a fantasy world set in a Slavic, not Western culture.  A trained scholar with a Ph.D. in Russian literature, she combined the two things, her interest in exploring relationships between women who consider themselves to be the rightful rulers of their society, and her in-depth knowledge of Russian literature and culture, to write about a unique world in which daughters are desired and descent is reckoned through the female line, but people are still very much the same as they always have been.  The result is something that challenges both ancient and modern constructions of gender, sex, and sexuality, as well as our Western-centered, humans-first view of the world.  With lots of magic, too.

The Breathing Sea I: Burning follows the journey of Dasha, also known as Darya Tsarinovna, only daughter to the Empress of all of Zem’.  Eighteen years ago, Dasha’s mother made a bargain with the gods.  She would bear a gods-touched child, one who would stand on the threshold between the worlds, human and divine.  Dasha is that child, now almost ready to become a woman, and one day take her mother’s place as Tsarina.  Except that Dasha is shy, lonely, and one of the least magically inclined girls in the Known World.  Instead she has fits and uncontrollable visions.  When she sets off with her father on her first journey away from her home kremlin, she hopes she will finally find someone who can help her come into her powers.  But those whom she finds only want to use her instead.  What will it take for her to unlock the abilities hidden within her, and take up her proper place in the world?

The sequel to the award-winning novel The Midnight Land, The Breathing Sea returns to the land of Zem’, where animals speak, trees walk, and women rule.  Filled with allusions to Russian history, literature, and fairy tales, this coming-of-age tale straddles the line between high fantasy and literary fiction.

About the author: After receiving an MA in Russian Translation from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Slavic Language and Literature from UNC-Chapel Hill, E.P. Clark launched a dual career as an academic and author.  When she’s not working on a fantasy novel, she teaches and writes about Russian language and literature, and blogs about books of all shapes and sizes at  She is also an inveterate animal lover with a menagerie of rescue animals hairing up her house.


The Breathing Sea I: Burning

By E. P. Clark

Publication date: 7/28/17

Price: $2.99 on Kindle


ASIN: B07455N7SZ