If Not Liberty
Publisher Description
A BLACK TRANS COOK USES THE POWERS OF THE ELDERS GODS TO OVERTHROW THE CHINESE OCCUPATION OF A BANKRUPT AMERICA! ...IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, A TRUMPIAN DEMAGOGUE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES AND IS DEVOURED BY FLESHY, FANGED FROGS!
In 2057, America has gone bankrupt, and is now managed by its main creditor, China. The Chinese Occupation has instituted a series of policies designed to keep Americans poor, destitute and disenfranchised. Many rebels groups attempted to fight back, but were eliminated or made politically impotent. Desperate and pushed beyond their limits, a group of rebels called the Libertarians of the Void have started using the terrifying nihilistic powers of the Elder Gods. But at what cost?
The story follows Pat Dunes (ze/zir), a Black trans former chef working in Boulder, Colorado. With nothing to lose, Pat wishes to join the Libertarians of the Void and use the Elder Gods to overthrow the Occupation. Ze gets a chance to do so after a monstrous attack at a checkpoint, allowing ze to join a group claiming to be the Libertarians of the Void. Pat later discovers the leader of this group is planning to kill them to summon the Elder Gods.
Ze manages to flee into the cannabis plantations in the mountain town of Nederland and run by a strangely charismatic orange-skinned populist. There, ze finds some peace and even rekindles a past love. This is broken when ze discovers that the Elder Gods have followed zir and ze will have to make a terrible choice.
The story also follows Lieutenant Hui JiangWei, a member of the Chinese Occupation forces. As an American-born Chinese, she is continually discriminated against in spite of her relentless hard work and dedication. After being injured at the same checkpoint attack, she is surgically modified to include pieces of the Elder Gods within her. While these help her track the Libertarians of the Void, they also induce terrible visions that torture her and test her sanity. She will struggle with having them inside her, while she tries to discover the truth about the Elder Gods.
