What would I say if asked the simple question, “What is Nia Black: WEAPON about?”

It’s an action-adventure story with a bit of stylized science, the kind of stuff you’d find in a comic book, but with very strong, believable and relatable characters. The protagonist is Nia, a young woman who makes her living committing crimes such as theft and sabotage to benefit whoever is willing to pay her fee. She is a master of martial arts, rides a slick sport bike and brandishes a pair of pistols, for self-defense—she makes every effort to avoid killing. She doesn’t take sides, she’s fun loving and a strong fighter, and cares about money more than anything. Despite her lifestyle, she’s very likable.

What makes Nia more antihero than pure villain is the fact that she does what she does to undermine the corrupt military manufacturing firm, Corp Hudson, and its chairman Maxwell Hudson (the story’s primary antagonist). Hudson is the archetypical business tycoon villain, with a private army and dreams of a world controlled not by government, but by his own iron-fisted doctrines. He employs various means on both sides of the law not just to eliminate Nia and those like her, but to erase what Nia represents. Of course, there is more to the connection between Nia Black and Corp Hudson than immediately apparent.

Despite the fact that Nia is a lawbreaker, she does not consider herself a true “bad girl” because she believes her actions are for a greater cause. Though, it should be mentioned that Nia’s disposition in that regard is because she feels the need to justify her activities, not because she actively tries to do the right thing.

Nia is self-centered, yet charming; skillful, yet naïve; greedy, yet noble; a villain in some ways, but a role model in others. And by the end of the story, the reader will have witnessed Nia’s growth; her skills will be tested, her limits will be breached, her heart will be broken and mended, and she triumphs, suffers and triumphs some more. And in the end she will have grown from self-absorbed bandit to a heroine with a bright future.

As her creator, I endeavored to keep Nia’s persona from falling into the pitfalls and clichés of black characters I’ve read about or seen in various movies. Nia does not speak with heavy street slang, and I have edited virtually every expletive out of the dialogue. Though there is a level of strong sexual content in various parts of the story, the romantic relationships between various characters takes a back seat to the action and character development. Furthermore, the reason I created Nia Black in the first place was because there is a serious lack of leading black characters in mainstream media, particularly in the action genre, and almost none of them are female. I’ve yet to see a production where a character like Neo from The Matrix or Lara Croft from Tomb Raider is designed as black. And as I love black women, action movies and action-based video games more than anything, I simply combined my loves into a story enjoyable by anyone who loves intense action, steamy passion and great characters…an epic, street-level adventure full of surprises.

That is Nia Black. I hope you enjoy my work.

Jonathan Price