Slavery

Look what just arrived in my hot little hands…the first ever edition of SCAFFOLDING MAGAZINE!

How to Scalp a Doll - Rosemary A Johns My short story – HOW TO SCALP A DOLL – was commissioned for this special first edition.

Danny, a lonely long distance driver, is trapped in a world of human trafficking. He saw the slaves as no more than dolls. Until one day, he broke his boss’ rule, opened the back of the truck and looked inside…

The sea was a smudge of blue against the horizon; the salt was sharp on the dead air. Danny stiffened. For a moment, when he stared out across the beach, he saw rows of scalps, no longer miniature but life-size – brunette, blond, and bald. Danny blinked. And then they were gone.

The magazine also includes an interview with me.

Rosemary A Johns - fantasy author

I discuss the short story…

The girls are invisible because they’re viewed as less than human.

…why I write fantasy…

…it allows me to give a voice to the forgotten. Or the deliberately hidden.

…and freedom.

The free have choices. But that’s often hard to face. Ourselves.

The Editor reviews BLOOD DRAGONS:

‘The kind of book you’re likely to pick up a second time, finding new dimensions…an empowering book…about true love. It is a book with formidable literary ambition. Rebel to the core, Rosemary trailblazers through stigma… Highly recommended. 5*

Click here to read more.

Scaffolding Magazine

Fantasy has long tackled tough subjects, whether set in this world or entirely new ones.

blood-shackles-being-read In Blood Shackles Light is enslaved by the human Blood Club: click here for the personal story behind the book.

It’s a dangerous game to love your slave…

The issue of freedom: mental, physical, sexual, in society, families and between partners? That’s what allows slavery in fantasy to hold the mirror up to our own world.

As Light says ‘freedom means so little, until you lose it.’

Here are Three of the Best Slavery Fantasy Books:

Fevre Dream: George R. R. Martin. Set in the pre-Civil War South, there’s very real slavery. The clever thing? It’s mirrored in the vampire relationships. A book about friendship, trust and yeah…steamboats.
The Mechanical: Ian Tregillis. An alternate universe where the Dutch Empire rules with
clockwork men…who would be free. A thrilling and original take on free will.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: N. K. Jemisin. Here all slaves are royal. More? The gods are enslaved to the royals and used as weapons…and they’re narked.

The blinding thing? Each book deals with the same ideas but in totally different – gripping – ways.

In Blood Shackles it’s vampires who have become prey to predatory humans:

5* “When Light is captured, he refuses to lose himself, despite how his captors try to break his spirit and force him into submission. Being sold to Grayse is the ticket he needs out of his cell, even though her father owns the company that enslaves him… Blood Shackles is brutally honest, tragic, triumphant, addictive, and somehow hopeful… Johns succeeded in creating a world, characters, and a story that pulled me in until I had to finish reading it… This is a novel everyone should read, along with Blood Dragons” – Readers’ Favorite

The Rebel Vampires Collection has just released an exclusive new item: Light’s S.L.A.V.E. Ring and Keychain.

lights-ring-2 Naked and defanged, Light wears only one thing throughout Blood Shackles: his S.L.A.V.E. ring. But Light? He won’t be owned. He’ll battle to the end for his family, species and love. The ring? Becomes a symbol of everything he’s both fighting for and against: ‘Unexpectedly your fingers were tracing over my ring – S.L.A.V.E. – as if discovering something dark beneath bright waters…’ (Blood Shackles)