2021 UPDATE: This book is no longer in publication.

This past summer, my mother-in-law and I walked through the Oxfordshire countryside discussing my matriarchy in The Crowning Ceremony, my first publication of 2019. The Crowning Ceremony appears in Beyond the Shadows (Mystic Inkwell, 2019).

England experienced a scorcher of a summer. The parched farmland was rife with fissures so deep I could bury my hand in them. In a way, the ground represented the world I’d been building for this story: fertile but divided, with deeply buried secrets.

Darna, an indentured servant, bent the rules to be on stage during the auspicious birth of the royal matriarch’s twins. What would she do to conceal the truth that only she discovers during the Crowning Ceremony?

If the naked man being shackled to the floor in front of the elevated throne was lucky, Vyctra Scosan would deliver her twins before his sentencing. No vyctra before her had beheaded so many men in such a short period of time since the purging of unclean magic in the Time Before. Darna rather hoped the man wouldn’t be.

This Genre Isn’t New, Not Really

My mother-in-law asked me why I write grimdark fiction. “Why not something light-hearted?” she had asked.

Stories with ambiguous heroes and shady protagonists aren’t new. Classic fairy tales are rife with people who make questionable decisions. Tom Thumb’s parents decided they had too many children, so they turfed him into the forest – as did Hansel and Gretel’s mother in the original Brother’s Grimm version.

If leaving your children in the forest to starve so you don’t isn’t grimdark, then I don’t know what is.

What is Grimdark Fiction?

I won’t go into the debate about whether or not grimdark is a true sub-genre of fiction, or upon it’s marketing viability right now. Grimdark falls under the speculative fiction genre. Such stories tend have bleak or apocalyptic settings and moods with protagonists who don’t fit the ideal hero mold. Protagonists are either gritty, very flawed, or are anti-heroes making their way through violent worlds.

Bleakness and morally ambiguous characters are key components of grimdark stories.

The Purpose of Grimdark

Grimdark isn’t for everyone. Reading is an escape and we often want everything to work out. Sometimes there is a too-true feeling in grimdark stories. Bad guys don’t always get their comeuppance. How real does that feel?

Light-hearted stories serve their purpose, don’t get me wrong. I love a good uplifting adventure as much as the next person. The Princess Bride is one of my fave heart-warming stories. However, our world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Nor is our art.

Through grimdark stories, we explore the less desirable side of human nature without causing harm to anyone else. When react to the fictional violence with the same instincts as if we’d seen it in person. We bravely rile up against the injustice we read, even if the protagonist is the one who flirts with it.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Grimdark

Through grimdark, we learn about ourselves. We hold ourselves up to morally corrupt characters and say, “As bad as I might be, I’m not as bad as that.” Throw my kid into a forest? I can’t even send my kid to bed without his dinner when he’s being a pain!

Writing The Crowning Ceremony, Darna and I had to make a choice. I sat at my keyboard discussing the decision with her, and how both she and I would be viewed – her for her action, me for writing it.

And we couldn’t do it. We couldn’t do that thing to an innocent.

I surprised myself; I have limits, even upon my fictional characters.

If you can dip your toe into that pool of human darkness without being scarred, then do it. After all, you can always close the cover.

I can’t promise that you’ll be able to sleep after.