Zealot Script

Post by Author Roxanne Bland

“This is the weirdest book I’ve ever read.”

That’s what a reviewer said about my paranormal/urban fantasy/science fiction mashup The Underground, Book 1 of The Underground Series. What a fabulous compliment! I wasn’t going for weird when I wrote the story, but that’s the way my mind works, so I’m happy to know my weirdness shone through.

Perhaps owing to its weirdness, several have asked me about The Underground’s world and what went into building it. Well, it’s like this. Long before the story took shape in my head, I asked a simple question: What would it take for a werewolf to survive in the real world?

I thought through various rural and urban scenarios, the problems they present and how a werewolf might successfully overcome them. While thinking through a complication, it struck me that a werewolf trying to lead as normal a life as possible in his world wouldn’t be that much different from anyone trying to lead a life in our world.
Places where people are marginalized, oppressed, and hunted by those in power. After all, people die every day because of skin color, sexual orientation and identity, belief systems, and whatever else the human tribes, being the xenophobic and murderous lot they are, find unacceptable. To stay alive, a werewolf would have to spin a web of lies
and keeping track of them all would be a Herculean task. A werewolf would have to live in a state of constant hyperawareness, knowing every person who crosses his path is a potential enemy. Surviving the human horde would be like walking a tightrope a hundred feet above the ground without a safety net. So, a werewolf’s life wouldn’t be too different from his real-world counterparts—those who can’t escape the closet, who can’t break out of the egg, or who can’t bear living their lives as second-class citizens.

Then I posed a question: If a space alien landed on Earth, and fell in with paranormals—human society’s outcasts—how would she fare? Would they embrace her otherness, recognize her as kindred, and hide her amongst themselves? Or, much like humans, would they reject her, see her as a threat, and betray her presence? I had no
answer, so it was worth exploring.

So, if you think about it, the trials faced by werewolves and other paranormals trying to survive in a world where exposure means certain death aren’t much different from those faced by any other persecuted people in the real world. Which led me to yet another question. What would happen in The Underground’s world—or in this one—if the
downtrodden reached the breaking point and decided they wouldn’t take their lot anymore? History tells us the answer, and it wasn’t pretty.

Yet that’s not all there is. The oppression of outcasts by a murderous majority is The Underground’s backdrop. If humans outnumber paranormals by orders of magnitude, how could paranormals increase their chances of survival? Well, I figured they’d be more successful if they belonged to various groupings—like a werewolf pack—based on their paranormal traits. Your own kind understands you and can provide the companionship and support you need. Someone always has your back.

Yet that’s not all, either. In The Underground, there aren’t just werewolves. There are other shapeshifter races, witches, elves, and vampires. Would the different races of paranormals get along with one another? One would think if they’re all in the same boat, they’d be willing to row together. Not necessarily so. I live in the U.S. and am a Black woman. Painting us with a very broad brush stroke, people of color live at a lower social and economic status established by the racial/economic majority. Often, those of us who attempt to move up face barriers of varying kinds, some insurmountable. One would think people of color would work together for the betterment of all, but we often don’t. We pay lip service to what we have in common, yet we choose to focus on our differences and worse, often judge each other by the same criteria those in power use to judge all people of color. I couldn’t see why paranormals should be any different. After all, they’re subject to and shaped by the same societal forces that shape humans.

But paranormals are not human, and this is where The Underground ventures into dark territory. Paranormals outclass humans physically and their preternatural powers put them over the top. And being endowed with preternatural power presents complications of its own. Why would a werewolf fear a vampire? Witches have strong magick, so why would they fear a wererat? Elves wield glamour, the power to cloud minds rendering illusion and reality indistinguishable. Why would they fear anyone? Consider, too, a universal paranormal trait is quick healing. An injury that would disable or kill a human would have little or no effect on a paranormal. Paranormals aren’t any more prone to violent behavior than humans, but humans are terribly violent, within and without the kin group. Assuredly, the different paranormal races have internal controls that keep them functioning as a unit. Other than that, there’s nothing. What would keep them from constantly fighting one another and risk drawing unwanted attention from
humans?

Enter the strongman, a paranormal with preternatural powers so great he is near-invincible and thus has the might to impose and enforce a truce between the paranormal races. The Underground’s strongman is a vampire who controls his kind through intimidation, such as the constant threat of sudden, indiscriminate torture and death. Sex is one of his tools for domination—and yes, that includes rape. Other powers include the ability to read and control minds. Because paranormals are constantly kept off-balance, never knowing if a perceived infraction will result in punishment, other paranormals fear him. That’s what keeps them in line. It’s brutal, true. But if there isn’t much that will faze a paranormal, it isn’t a stretch to conclude peace can only be kept through extreme measures. And that peace, however viciously enforced, is what allows paranormals to survive in a society that wants to annihilate them. The strongman is
their nemesis—and their savior.

For some, The Underground might be a tough read. There is nothing sugarcoated about the life of a paranormal in constant danger of death by human. To survive, paranormals do what they must, and sometimes morals have to be damned. And sometimes, for some people in our world to survive, so must theirs.

Come visit my website! If you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get a free copy of The Final Victim, the companion novel to The Underground, not to mention the chance to follow my sometimes wacky adventures that’s the lot of a speculative fiction author. See you there!

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Award-winning author Roxanne Bland has been a fugitive from reality for as long as she can remember. Defying the laws of physics at every turn, she is now No. 1 on the Albert Einstein Bureau of Enforcement’s Most Wanted list. The Underground Series is the fictional(?) memoir of her life on the lam.

Website: roxannebland.rocks
Amazon: The Underground