Queen Vanuva thought she had been defeated. After she escaped, they called her a slut and a pig, worthless. But when King Vael’Kellen demonized his woman before the entire country, he only provoked her to rise again, as a vengeful demoness.
Vanuva armed herself and an unstoppable legion of Hog Riders to fight against King Vael’Kellen. She reveled in her new name, the Cull Sow Queen— King Vael’s brand for his traitor wife. When husband and wife are fighting over an increasingly divided kingdom, who will the loyal Knights of the Red Nexus support?
“Queen Vanuva got back up. Queen Vanuva, the Cull Sow Queen, she armed herself.” Now, Glory almost screamed it, “Queen Vanuva traded in her horse for a war hog! She traded in her husband, for a destiny. And if you think she doesn’t still do her righteous duty by him, you are wrong. For she still rides his sorry ass today!”
I started this story long before the 2016 presidential campaign, but when I resumed work on it that fall, it was clear to me how a punk fantasy tale about a heroic woman, once called a “pig” and worse, is more than relevant today. The Hichrisom empire I first imagined features people of color. And now, it has expanded to include characters of different gender identities, sexual orientations and beliefs, all fighting for a world free of oppression. So, here I am, a Black fantasy fiction writer, creating a very American story that resonates with all of us.
Please read on and see how Queen Vanuva survives to ‘make a way out of no way’ for others like her, pushed to the brink in an intolerant world.
