Kids Comics Pitchfest 2023 Showcase

GOTHS of YORK

Rome rules England.
11yo Thorn, Goth and proud, runs in the streets of York with her small band of boys, pranking the local legion. Energized by her grandfather's war stories, she decides to up her game and target a Roman officer, Marcus. But the Empire is faltering, powerful forces are scrambling, and Thorn's plan sends her stumbling into another at the highest levels, into danger, and a crisis that cracks open her world.
This is the first of a proposed END OF EMPIRE trilogy.
A brief addendum will expand on York, England (once a gem of the Roman Empire) and on Roman soldiers of African descent like Marcus.
A link to Chapter One is available to editors/agents on request.

My Why:

One night I couldn't sleep and turned to a podcast about early British history, sure that would do the trick. Instead it kept me up half the night, fascinated. I hope to fascinate readers, too, with the rich, colorful period just before the Dark Ages, not only with its differences but its similarities to our own time.
A gender nonconforming girl is in the center of the story. Like Thorn, I was once the leader of a small band of boys. Like her, I drifted in and out of fantasy easily and often. Thorn's tribe is Goth, mine is Queer. Like me, Thorn realizes prejudices against us don't exempt us from having prejudices of our own to unlearn.

I want to encourage readers to be brave and, like Thorn, question, dare, and grow even in scary times.