The Bad Boys of Sword and Soul!
Omari Ket, the rogue and mercenary who squeezes out of scrapes he just can’t seem to avoid getting into, created by Milton Davis.
Qiq, the half-human/half-elemental bounty hunter – skilled and deadly… for the right price, who takes on the jobs no one else can… or will, created by Balogun Ojetade.
We are all drawn to anti-heroes – and in the cases of Omari Ket and Qiq, I use “hero” lightly – with a certain swagger and stride, with boldness and bravado.
They’re not villains – at least not entirely. But they’re definitely not heroes, either. Breaking the mold of traditional heroism and villainy, Omari Ket and Qiq instead embody the unique qualities of the antihero.
But why are we drawn to antiheroes?
It might be because their moral complexity more closely mirrors our own. They’re flawed. They’re still developing, learning, growing. And sometimes in the end, they trend toward heroism. We root for their redemption and wring our hands when they pay for their mistakes. They surprise us. They disappoint us. And they’re anything but predictable.
The antiheroes’ incompatibility with societal rules lays the foundation for compelling drama, it’s their unlikely virtue in the face of relatable circumstances that emotionally connects us to them.
Antiheroes liberate us. They reject societal constraints and expectations imposed upon us. Antiheroes give our grievances a voice. They make us feel like something right is being done, even if it is legally – and, by some standards, morally – wrong. Antiheroes do things we’re afraid to do. They are who they are and they do as they want… without apology.
And as we read the Blacktastic tales of Qiq and Ket – who will soon share adventures together in an upcoming anthology – we live vicariously through them… without apology.
You can find Omari Ket’s stories in Ki Khanga: The Anthology and in Skelos 2: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy.
Qiq makes his debut as the protagonist of the Ki Khanga novel, Scorpion Wine, coming January, 2018.
