The hidden message in my dark paranormal fantasy

Astray Mage is a disturbing dark paranormal fantasy, and one that comes with a message that any decent human being would embrace.

Sean Hannity was on TV at the gym shortly after Israel and the US launched joint strikes on Iran and I swear, my IQ dropped 20 points every time my eyes met the screen. I’ll spare you the propaganda, but six-plus years ago, the worst thoughts would’ve gone through my brain.

Something like:

“Are you happy now, Christian America? Celebrating bombs dropping and killing people while you go to church and worship your supposedly perfect god?”

Or something like:

“Every conservative out there is the same. They’re all a bunch of good-for-nothing warmongers—whether or not the wear the neocon label.”

These days, I know better. No, not every Christian is celebrating a war that’s expanding. And no, not all conservatives are cheering for another war. It would be crazy to think they’re all the same—even if I’m seeing people who’ve prided themselves on refusing to fall for propaganda end up falling for it at the drop of a hat the minute Donald Trump’s sitting in the Oval Office.

The same holds true for Astray Mage, Book II in my dark paranormal fantasy, Catenarian Chronicles. While most of the Augury Party that Kaija Jokiharju interacts with every day can’t help but worship minority leader Samuli Kinnunen and his inner-circle, outliers exist.

The hidden message in Astray Mage is a powerful one

Throughout the novel, Kaija realizes the Auguries aren’t just as bad as the majority party—the Mercenaries—they might be worse. Hell, given what Kaija uncovers, I’m sure most people who read the book would think that—even if the Mercenaries are perfectly fine with ordering strikes and blowing people up in a Middle Eastern-equivalent nation called Demka.

But not every character’s on board with Samuli. My favorite character, Kaarina Taivalkoski—a girl who’d done a few tours in Demka and had seen some action—hates Samuli’s guts.

If Kaarina had it her way, she’d bust into Samuli’s office, point her Sword of Spirit at the man, then absorb his life force until there was nothing but an empty shell. But that would also, in a best case scenario, land Kaarina in prison for life.

So what does she do? She heads up a resistance right under Samuli’s nose. And since this dark paranormal fantasy also includes 22nd-century technology, there’s some crazy shit going on here that those who’d love to bring about a surveillance state would go buck wild for in our own world.

Then there’s Vesala “Ella” Kinnunen, Samuli’s own daughter. Ella may be obsessed with her looks and popularity, but she also has a conscience. Something you’ll find out in the prequel short novel, Deceived Mage. So it’s safe to say that no, Ella doesn’t justify her father’s ways even if he’s a big reason she was born into the political class.

Finally, there’s Katri Lehtinen—also born to the political class. That said, Katri’s your stereotypical good girl who’d have been put straight into Hufflepuff if she attended Hogwarts. And when I say “good girl,” I don’t mean she’s a conformist and follows the Auguries’ ways.

Individualism’s the hidden message in Astray Mage

Far too often, it’s easy to clump people into specific groups and think they’re all the same way. The myth that all conservative Americans and Trump-backers are “neoconservative chicken hawks.”

Don’t get me wrong—I’ve seen a lot of it lately since the entire Iran fiasco began. But a small sample size shouldn’t represent an entire group of people.

Just as in Astray Mage, where Kaija’s not only around the Auguries—she’s around the most privileged Auguries. Auguries whose parents get mass corporate funding to win elections, who make backdoor deals with weapons manufacturers (just like the Mercenaries) to keep the perpetual foreign interventionism going, and to weasel their way back into the majority.

But Katri, Kaarina, and Ella, along with a few others like Takkala Kiviranta—Kaija’s love interest—and Kaarina’s small but powerful secret group of dissenters, show us otherwise.

That was my exact intention in Astray Mage. Enter The Rebel Lore Vault and check it out and Book I in the series, Cursed Mage, right now. And as a ‘thank you,’ for downloading Astray Mage, you’ll get two free stories—Midnight Raid, and Shadow Mage.

If you’re a fan of dark paranormal fantasy with strong female protagonists, nominal chosen-one tropes, long-lost siblings, dark academia, elemental magic, and real-life inspiration that hits close to home, this series will be right up your alley.

This article originally appeared on The Rogue Scribe.