A longtime fan of the paranormal genre, Britney S. Lewis grew up noticing the erasure of Black protagonists within the category and eventually became an author who writes Black characters at the crux of a paranormal tale. In her latest YA novel, Blood Moon, Lewis homes in on the love triangle between a Black teen, a werewolf, and a vampire. Here, she reflects on how the paranormal genre has mistreated its Black heroines and how she aims to rewrite the narrative in her new book.

When I was in the third grade, I received my first diary from a Scholastic book fair. Almost every day, I’d get off the school bus, rush inside my house, and document all that had transpired in elementary school—anything from gross lunches, recess drama, and the latest with my crush, the boy next door. In the back of this diary, I created my very own “love spell.” Why? Because Practical Magic was my favorite movie at the time, and I was under the impression that magic existed in our world—you simply had to believe hard enough, and it was there. This was the beginning of my years-long obsession with fantasy (and writing, but that’s a different story, for a different day).

As I grew into an avid reader, I couldn’t help but notice the erasure of Black girls in fantasy spaces. You wouldn’t find us portrayed as the noble daughter, cast to live in a mansion with a faerie prince as a debt to keep our family alive. You certainly wouldn’t see us in a dystopian world, fighting like a badass to overturn a corrupt government. We were nowhere to be seen in elegant ballgowns, choosing between two princes while hiding a superpower. And in no circumstance could we ever be in the middle of a love triangle between a glitzy vampire and a burning hot werewolf.

In my younger years, I was unsure why that was. I was convinced that we weren’t allowed to exist in fantasies, and while they were my favorite stories, I came to accept that I’d never see anyone that looked like me as a main character that fell in love and ventured on a journey of self-discovery.

Slowly, however, there was a shift in the late 2000s and early 2010s.While the book world gave the bare minimum when it came to diversifying stories, Black girls began to appear in fantasy television. There was Bonnie Bennett in The Vampire Diaries, Tara Thornton in True Blood, and Maddie Bishop in Siren. We could be found in the background of shows like Teen Wolf, Supernatural, and Charmed. At the very least, I was thrilled to discover that our existence was being acknowledged, even if we weren’t front and center.

For some time, I was okay with that, but soon, I felt a bubbling rage of anger. Sure, we were appearing in popular paranormal TV shows, but make no mistake, every Black character had two things in common: tragedy and death. Both of which were another form of erasure, a much darker one.

The writers and directors of these shows were indirectly telling us that if we were going to be seen, we would not be heard. This meant that many of the Black characters mentioned above would go on to die brutally, usually as a sacrifice to keep their white counterparts alive. And

should they survive (which was rare), they’d be stereotyped as angry and loud. Many of them were orphaned, and if they had parents, those parents would be abusive. They were not allowed to be in healthy romances, and it was taboo for them to be considered as the “chosen one.” It was a good day if they were written out of the show completely.

That’s when it happened. All at once, with my more mature eyes, I realized magic didn’t exist—at least not for Black girls. And though my eight-year-old self was under the impression that magic just occurred when you believed hard enough, I knew that if I wanted it to exist, it was up to me to create it. So that’s exactly what I did.

My anger inspired my first-ever paranormal fantasy romance book, Blood Moon. The story practically poured out of me. I was no longer writing for my childhood self. I was writing for vengeance.

My story would center a Black girl, living in a town with immortals. It would be packed with rich lore, a fresh take on werewolves and vampires, and a star-crossed romance. It would include all my favorite tropes, and the protagonist would be in a world surrounded by magic. And she would be the chosen one, and you can absolutely bet that she finds herself caught in a love triangle between a werewolf and a vampire.

While it’s true there are more stories now that center Black girls as main characters in fantasy, such as Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, my book almost didn’t sell to anyone, I suspect due to the stigma that no one reads fantasy books with Black characters. Our historical erasure in this genre has created a false narrative within the publishing industry that is still an ongoing battle for many Black authors. To simply exist in stories, we are a risk.

I am thankful that Page Street took a chance on me and Blood Moon. It truly is up to us—writers, editors, publishers, booksellers—to normalize the fact that Black people can exist in fantasy settings, and when they do exist, they’re allowed to be whoever they want to be.

Blood Moon is a coming-of-age story about a stubborn girl who is determined to be the hero of her own story... she just so happens to be Black. And regardless of who you are, I hope you’re able to find pieces of yourself in this story in the same ways that I have.

Blood Moon by Britney S. Lewis. Page Street YA, $18.99 Sept. 9 ISBN 979-8-8900-3229-4