Author S.T. Rucker Weaves an Open and Vibrant Literary Fantasy Tale That Intersects Race, Class, and Gender Instead of Avoiding or Masking It
Atlanta, Ga. June 16, 2014 —Atlanta native and author, S.T. Rucker, has published Path of the Righteous, a speculative fiction novel that follows bibliophile Dahlia En’te into a world of demons, faeries, and angelic beings of creation, after she discovers herself entrapped in the political schemings of human men. Many readers and writers of fantasy, science fiction, and other genres and combinations under the speculative fiction umbrella expect writers to encourage a suspension of or ignorance of lived experiences with racism, classism, and heterosexism or politicized worldviews like feminism and womanism or fat acceptance—Path of the Righteous promises no such thing and neither does Rucker for her current and future publications.
“Fiction contributes to how we perceive, perpetuate, and create our reality, so how come People of Color seem virtually non-existent in any meaningful and empowering ways there?” said S.T. Rucker, author of The Taker novella and Path of the Righteous. “Since I was a kid and since I started blogging in 2009, I hear Black/of Color readers and viewers begging the white-dominated media to include characters of Color and include them not just in stories about hustling and getting a man, not just as sidekicks and other stereotypes, like that guy who gets killed off three seconds into the movie; these readers and viewers want to see them as MAIN characters who stick around and, you know, might just happen run into a couple of talking unicorns selling giant space hamburgers or something. So, yes, Dahlia En’te is a character of Color, and yes, she is going on this fantastical journey—albeit she’s tossed into it at first.”
Dahlia goes from working class girl living in an impoverished community who just wants some good books to read to sacrificial offering to human-eating demons in the deep woods—and its not the end for her. Through her journey, we experience wonder, beauty, and magical locales, we see young people facing difficult truths, finding empowerment, embracing their humanity and potentiality, and trying to deal with how generational ignorance and systemic oppression causes the suffering of everyone around them.
For a limited time (Monday, June 16 through Saturday, June 21), an electronic book version of Path of the Righteous, normally priced at $3.99, will be available to the public with 50% percent off at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/448767 using the following coupon code: SX67B.
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About S.T. Rucker
Originally from Atlanta, S.T. Rucker moved to Fresno, California shortly after graduating from Seattle University. An almost English/Creative Writing and Sociology double major who thought she’d never be published, she heard about Smashwords from a friend and embraced independent publishing to share her stories and vision with the world. She is the author of The Taker and Acier, available on Smashwords. For more about S.T. Rucker visit her at about.me/s.t.rucker, on Facebook and Twitter, and read her Smashwords profile .
Contact:
S.T. Rucker
struckerwrites at gmail.com
Sepia Heaven 