Diversity and inclusion in my dark paranormal fantasy

Diversity and inclusion are two buzzwords of the Left. And they mean something completely different from how I utilized them in my dark paranormal fantasy.

Read Catenarian Chronicles, and you’re going to find something out really quickly. Its cast is almost exclusively white. That wasn’t by design; it just was. Maybe because I gave them predominantly Finnish names.

Either way, it was a great experiment that showed me something I already knew. Whites have a ton of diversity, and they’re not told that. Look at any DEI handbook, and it won’t tell you anything remotely close. But when I look at the main cast of Cursed and Astray Mage, I see a diverse group of women.

Let’s start with Kaija, whose blue eyes and long, dark brown hair are a pinnacle to her features. Shift gears to Lilja, and she too rocks the brown hair and blue eyes, but with a lighter complexion of brown. Her skin tone also has a slight olive tint, indicating there’s descent from a Southern European equivalent.

Look at Katri, and she has the most unique look of the bunch — dark red hair and green eyes. She also has an ultra-light skin tone. As for Ella? It’s blonde hair and blue eyes. Finally for Kaarina, she has black hair and blue eyes. Factor in Satu (Kaija’s roommate in Cursed Mage), and she has blonde hair and green eyes.

I can keep going, but you get the gist. There’s diversity galore regarding those with light skin tones. Yet, we’re often told that “diversity” is akin to multiculturalism, to put it lightly.

Catch a different kind of diversity in Cursed Mage

Diversity and inclusion in Catenarian Chronicles would piss off institutions

Institutions would hate this like none other. They would despise the fact that Kaija, a girl who lived a poverty-stricken childhood, gets on well with Satu in Cursed Mage. Satu’s a girl the far-Left would deem “born into privilege.” And maybe she was. But Satu also worked her ass off in school and kicked things up another notch at Fenn U.

Want more fun? Kaija later becomes good friends with Ella — a girl born into more than just privilege. But if you read my short novel Deceived Mage, you’ll know privilege isn’t something Ella embraces. Hell, you can argue Ella was born into more privilege than any character I’ve ever written about. And the way she bucks it shows that “privilege” doesn’t and shouldn’t define someone.

Then there’s “good girl” Katri. A girl who, like Ella, saw “privilege” up close. Maybe too up close, if what she indicates in Astray Mage holds water. Still, Katri’s quick to become friends with Lilja, who is developmentally behind the other girls at no fault of her own.

All of my fiction takes institutional “dogmas” and turns them upside down

If you want so-called DEI in fiction, then I’m giving you the following:

Bisexual and lesbian right-libertarians (Liza Fury)
Part Arabic-equivalent characters who embrace Western values (Wind Wielder)
Characters who put “privilege” on the line (Cursed Mage & Spirit and Fire)
East Asian-equivalent female protagonists who love white men (Chronicles of Rondure)
A girl bullied in her middle school days who’s obsessed with elitism (Arcane)

My work isn’t meant to check boxes. Nor do I give a damn about satisfying the institutions. Instead, I’m focused on one thing and one thing only: Giving readers who feel alienated by the BS something they can read, enjoy, and relate to.

That’s one major reason I redefine diversity and inclusion in Catenarian Chronicles. And now that my membership tier to the Vault VIP Club is up and running, I’m just getting freaking started.

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