The Witchy War: Big Ideas Without THE MESSAGE
THE STORY
Sarah Calhoun is the daughter of the Elector Iron Andy Calhoun, a great military hero of Appalachee and one of the electors who gets to decide who will next ascend as the Emperor of the New World. Sarah has a natural talent for hexing and one bad eye, and all she wants is to be left alone—especially by outsiders.
Sarah’s world gets turned on its head at the Nashville Tobacco Fair when a Yankee wizard-priest tries to kidnap her. Sarah fights back with the aid of a mysterious monk named Thalanes, who is one of the not-quite-human Firstborn, the Moundbuilders of the Ohio. It is Thalanes who reveals to Sarah a secret heritage she never dreamed could be hers.
Now on a desperate quest with Thalanes to claim this heritage, she is hunted by the Emperor’s bodyguard of elite dragoons, as well as by darker things—shapeshifting Mockers and undead Lazars, and behind them a power more sinister still. If Sarah cannot claim her heritage, it may mean the end of her, her family—and the world.
We’re all accustomed to the mainstream entertainment-industrial complex shoving their political preferences down the rest of our throats. Many of us are so used to swallowing a big greasy dollop of what the Critical Drinker likes to call THE MESSAGE with every book and movie that we just shrug and force it down.
Increasingly, there are alternatives, but sometimes it seems that those alternatives deliberately sell themselves as mindless. “I get it, you don’t like THE MESSAGE, so here’s a story that has no meaning whatsoever.” Thrills only, no ideas, just like the good old days.
But the good old days were never that empty, and there is another way, a better way. You can have stories (in books, movies, and other media) that intelligently grapple with big, important ideas without indoctrinating you, and that also successfully entertain.
D.J. Butler’s epic American fantasy trilogy The Witchy War is both critically acclaimed (book one, Witchy Eye, got a starred review from Publishers Weekly) and award-winning (book two, Witchy Winter, won the AML Award for Novel and the Whitney Award, and book three, Witchy Kingdom, won the Dragon Award). These are gripping stories about compelling characters with engaging dialogue and beautiful language. They are frequently also funny. They will entertain you, and they have depth that makes them re-readable. These are the kind of books that you will go back to, year after year.
The books of The Witchy War also have theme, without being propaganda. They explore what it means to be American (yes, they are epic fantasy novels). They also explore what it means to be human, when branches of humanity repeatedly seek to exterminate each other. They examine what it means to live within the saga of one’s ancestors, and ask what is the way forward when a people has lost contact with its gods.
As of this writing, Butler has a live Kickstarter campaign to put The Witchy War back into print, in beautiful new hardback editions with fun special features. You can read more about The Witchy War and consider backing the campaign here: www.kickstarter.com/
This is also the first project of Butler’s new publishing company, Hapax Press. Butler plans to reveal the next few projects at the end of the Kickstarter campaign, so even if The Witchy War is not exactly your cup of tea, stay tuned to find out what else he will publish.
Explore and support: The Witchy War Kickstarter · D.J. Butler on X · D.J. Butler's website
Disclosure: Rightbacker fully supports The Witchy War campaign, and its editor has personally backed it. Hapax Press was invited to present this Creator's Case. Rightbacker received no payment, commission, or other consideration for publishing this article.