The Nightmare Queen
World: The Adventures of Kyra Skye and the Sisters of Sacrafice
Nightmare Queen is a dark, mythic reimagining of Boudicca's final moments, weaving history, dream, and vengeance into a surreal confrontation with power, memory, and erasure. Told in visceral, lyrical prose, the story explores what happens when a woman denied justice in life is offered something older, stranger, and more dangerous than revenge: legacy.
This is not a tale of redemption, nor a celebration of clean victory. It’s a reckoning—ferocious, unapologetic, and unflinching. Think myth meets memory, with echoes of The Sandman, Macbeth, and Circe. It’s full of rage, spirit, and sacred defiance.
Short Story: 4000 words
Not yet published, submitted to Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Story created by Vivian Smotherman in March of 2023
Quotes and Themes
“There’s no path. There’s only the choice: submit or become the thing they never forget.”
— Empire and Submission
“You’re not Roman,” she says, voice low and raw. “But you stink of empire.”
“I was empire,” she replies. “Once.””
— Womanhood and Sovereignty
“You’ve done enough here to leave your mark.”
— Sacrifice and Legacy
“Dispassionate Romans watch her scream. Her people watch her bleed.”
— Empire and Submission / Spectacle and Dehumanization
“I know what it is to be rewritten. To have men carve lies into your bones and call it history.”
— Memory vs. Erasure
“I don’t want pity,” Boudicca growls. “I want vengeance.”
“Good,” Cleopatra says. “That’s what I came to see.””
— Vengeance vs. Justice
The Czar and the Dragon
World: The Adventures of Kyra Skye and the Sisters of Sacrafice
The Dragon and the Czar is a mythic fantasy set in the 9th century, blending history and folklore into a richly atmospheric tale. It follows Rurik, a legendary Varangian warlord and founder of what would become the Kievan Rus’, as he seeks not only to unite fractured tribes but to transcend mortality through legend.
Driven by a desire for glory and eternal remembrance, Rurik embarks on a perilous journey into an untamed, mystical land in pursuit of a dragon said to be terrorizing the countryside. Along the way, he encounters a mysterious guide with unsettling knowledge and charisma. As they travel through haunted forests, cursed valleys, and shadow-laced mountains, Rurik and his men face trials that test not only their strength but their beliefs about truth, justice, and what it means to be remembered.
Smotherman’s story is rich with lush prose, clever subversion of classic hero tropes, and a simmering tension between man and myth. It explores leadership, legacy, and the complex nature of monsters—both real and imagined.
Short Story: 4500 words
Not yet published, To be submitted to Strange Horizons
Story created by Vivian Smotherman in March of 2023
Crew Change
World: The Adventures of Kyra Skye and the Sisters of Sacrafice
Crew Change is a lyrical, high-stakes tale of legacy, power, and transformation set against the backdrop of open seas and violent storms. Told through a frame of generational storytelling, it captures the moment when one legendary woman of the sea encounters another in a fateful crossing. What begins as a clash becomes something far more profound—a meeting that challenges the meaning of command, courage, and continuity. Blending myth, history, and visceral detail, Crew Change is both a swashbuckling adventure and a quiet meditation on what we pass down through blood, battle, and story.
Short Story: 1300 words
Not yet published, Submitted to Uncanny
Story created by Vivian Smotherman in March of 2023
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Election Reflection (working title)
Memoirs etcetera
Vivian Smotherman is a Navy veteran, farmer, and longtime community advocate from Durango, Colorado. In 2024, she ran for the Colorado State Senate in the newly redrawn District 6, where redistricting and prior results suggested a 3 to 5 point advantage for her campaign. Backed by a strong grassroots movement, she focused on rural healthcare, housing, and education—issues deeply rooted in her lived experience. Despite running a campaign favored to win, she was narrowly defeated in a race marked by party politics, resource imbalances, and targeted personal attacks. These experiences became the foundation for Election Reflections, a powerful allegory about hope, sacrifice, and the quiet violence of political exclusion.
Election Reflections is a searing allegory that merges the trauma of military memory with the emotional toll of political campaigning. Through a dreamlike narrative filled with haunting imagery and stark symbolism, it examines what it means to fight for justice from within systems that reward ambition over compassion, and optics over outcomes. The story is both deeply personal and broadly resonant, capturing the quiet heartbreak of those who refuse to abandon their principles—even when it costs them everything. At its heart, it’s a meditation on integrity, loss, and the price of refusing to climb over others to be saved.
Short Story: 1300 words
Not yet completed, planned submission to The New Yorker
Story created by Vivian Smotherman with an expected completion in April 2025