Emily B. Martin

Nell O'Dell Hates Quests is available now wherever you buy your books!

Purchase from bookshop.org to support independent booksellers, request it from your local indie, or check it out from your public library!

My Published Books:

A Field Guide to Mermaids (2022, Macmillan Kids, Middle-grade illustrated science-fantasy) "An indispensable, encyclopedic resource for nature quests—mythological or otherwise." - Kirkus Starred Review

The Outlaw Road duology (Harper Collins, Epic fantasy) "This is epic fantasy done right." -Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Sunshield (2020)

Floodpath (2021)

The Creatures of Light trilogy (Harper Collins, Epic fantasy)

Woodwalker (2016)

Ashes to Fire (2017)

Creatures of Light (2018)

Official Portfolio

Redbubble Shop (Lord of the Rings merch)

INPRNT Shop (portfolio prints)

Fanworks:

Boromir Lives AU Illustrated Anthology:

Boromir Lives: Helm's Deep

Boromir Lives: Whump-Time After Pelennor

Boromir Lives: GO TO SLEEP

Boromir Lives: Aragorn's Coronation

Boromir Lives: Braiding Customs

Boromir Lives: Braiding Customs Part II

Boromir Lives: Braiding Customs Part III

Boromir Lives: Braiding Customs Part IV

Boromir Lives: Faramir and Eowyn's Wedding

Boromir Lives: Panic! At the Ballroom

Boromir Lives: It's a BABY

Boromir Lives: High Uncle of the White Tower

Boromir Lives: We Didn't Have a Choice

Boromir Lives: The Haircuts

Other Lord of the Rings comics/illustrations

The Raccoon Saga

Boromir and Faramir Swimming the Anduin

Boromir on Caradhras

Ladies of Gondor and Rohan

Legolas Ten-Year Redraw

The Three Hunters Solve a Mystery

This Stupid One that Always Makes the Rounds

Queen's Thief Illustrations (This is by no means complete; these are just some of the ones I spent the most time on.)

Official Character Lineup

The Symbolism Illustration

At the Window

QT Appreciation Week Watercolor

The Fate of All Thieves

That One Scene

Don't Lower the Point in Third!

Rooftop

Park Ranger Stuff:

This June and July, you can catch me roaming around the southeast, stopping by these awesome indie booksellers and chatting with some amazing authors! Come out and celebrate summer questing and fantasy adventure! (and maybe niche LotR crack??)

6/11/26, 5:30: M.Judson Booksellers, Greenville SC (in conversation with Jessica Khoury!)

6/19/26, 6:00: City Lights Bookstore, Sylva NC

7/9/26, 4:30: The Book & Cover, Chattanooga TN

7/23/26, 6:30: Rec Room Books, Athens GA (in conversation with Carey Blankenship-Kramer!)

Gondor Week day 7: Fourth Age

Just a final scribble of our friends enjoying each others' company.

Gondor Week day 6: Minor characters

When things are all said and done, I like to imagine Aragorn paying a visit to the nameless townsperson who supplied the six dried leaves of athelas that revived Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry.

Gondor Week day 5: Dol Amroth

I think Dol Amroth would have a halcyon glow for Boromir and Faramir, but it would grow more and more distant as they got older and weighed down with responsibilities. By the time their cousin Lothiriel is born, she's the last little speck of joy that isn't also tinged with sadness, and on the increasingly rare occasions they visit, they spoil her rotten.

Gondor Week day 4: Osgiliath, grief and conflict

Sometimes I stray so far into the "I'm surrounded by freaks" nature of Boromir's experience among the cryptid Fellowship that I forget he was confronted by an ACTUAL NAZGUL in the defense of Osgiliath.

Uh, while my inbox overflows, I'm going to continue posting little fictional guys, ok? Ok.

Gondor Week day 3: Rangers of Ithilien, nature.

I think Legolas' restoration of Ithilien would heal parts of Faramir that he hadn't realized had been hurt. During the war he was so deep in protecting Gondor's borders that he had no time to mourn the degradation of the land, and he never realized how deep a wound it was until he started seeing it come back to life.

Also I thiiiink this is the first time I've drawn these two on their own together? They'd be friends. Like Legolas and Boromir are comrades and provoke the shit out of each other for fun, but Faramir connects with Legolas on a more personal level, and given the rebuilding/resettling of Ithilien by both Gondorians and Silvans, they'd develop one of the only friendships in this messy group that isn't founded on shared trauma.

Gondor Week day 2: The line of Stewards, artifacts

Boromir trying to cross the Greyflood (get ready to simply walk to Rivendell babe!)

Gondor Week day 1: the line of kings, Minas Tirith

Aragorn climbing Mount Mindolluin to reach the sapling of the White Tree. Gandalf is somewhere below shouting "you're doing great sweetie!"

WOOOO YAYYYYYY THANK YOUUUU

Yes, Nell O'Dell is OUT! Snag a copy wherever you get your books, including your public library! The audiobook is also on Overdrive and Hoopla (I haven't seen it on Libby yet). If you're buying it, get it through bookshop.org to support independent booksellers!

Here are some character sheets I put up on Instagram:

Thank you! I’ve had a lot of fun with Nell O’Dell. She was inspired by my oldest daughter, who tends to be very measured and practical when it comes to adventuring, and I took that trope of the reluctant protagonist and ran with it in Nell O'Dell Hates Quests. Here’s the jacket copy:

Nell O’Dell yearns for a quiet life tending her garden and caring for her chickens. Unfortunately, her family runs the bustling Crossroads Inn—accommodating all species of patron from fairies to fauns to half-giants, most of them questers on their way to seek glory and fortune. What’s more, her parents are retired questers themselves, and everyone assumes that Nell will follow in their footsteps. Then the day comes when a letter arrives from the government, threatening the Inn and all that Nell holds dear, and someone needs to go on a short journey to the capital to take care of it. Nell is the only one available—but that's fine, because it's just a boring business trip, not a quest! Even if she does find herself up against an excitable travel partner, a thief in the night, a stolen treasure, and a mysterious knife . . . ​Lively black-and-white illustrations by the author embellish this breezy, bighearted adventure that will satisfy both longtime questers and first-time visitors to the genre.

It's gotten some lovely starred reviews in the School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist, and was one of Barnes & Noble's picks for best kids' books of April. It releases on April 7, and you can preorder it (or order it, if you’re from the Future) anywhere you buy your books, but I always prefer to support independent bookstores, which you can do via bookshop.org or by asking your bookseller. If you order through my local indie, you can request a signed copy!