A Black Viking Warrior Makes Her Mark

When I laid eyes on the book, one of the names on the cover leapt forth. Oh, surely not... . But it was.

So Willow Smith, daughter of actor Will Smith, co-authored a book about an African woman in medieval times who, about to be sold as a slave, ends up running with Vikings up in the cold north. Intrigued by Viking culture, Smith delved further into the history of Vikings, and wondered whether they had contact with or even enlisted Africans in their ranks. This book, written with Jess Hendel, was the result.


Check out the review of Black Shield Maiden.

Writing Shades Of Grey

Amy Leow on her debut novel's savage antiheroine and penning villain protagonists


Amy Leow's The Scarlet Throne, the first novel in the planned False Goddess trilogy, has made waves since it dropped in September 2024. The protagonist, Binsa, is a living goddess facing "retirement" who schemes to hold on to her position by any means. We asked Leow about Binsa and about crafting not-so-heroic characters like her.


Briefly, what made you want to write about a morally grey character like Binsa? Did you have any aims in mind in telling her story?

When I wrote Binsa's story, I set out to portray an irredeemable, remorseless female villain character. Female villains in current media are often presented as people swayed to the dark side, and are not necessarily villains out of their own volition, while their male counterparts are allowed to be evil for the sake of being evil. We also tend to glorify morally grey male characters, but a woman who does the same is immediately labelled as a badly written character. I wanted to break that mould and show that women should be allowed to be bad, sometimes.


Go here for the rest of the Q&A.