A Vices and Virtues Anthology

They cling to scraps like starved dogs. They would bow to anyone who gives them a crumb.”

Hallowed Bites

Where did this come from?

We were collectively posting memes about the Kornacki Cam in our writing group. (In Kornacki, we trust.) As the polls closed and the outcome became clear, our moods shifted from memes to genuine concern and fear for the future. Many of us, myself included, felt like our futures had been sold out. More importantly, the future of little girls around the world seemed to be traded for grievances, egg prices, and outright lies.

From that shared frustration, we turned to what we do best: writing. After processing for a few weeks, we decided to channel those words collectively with a feminine-rage-themed anthology. The goal was not just to express ourselves but also to have a material impact. Several of us signed up and joined a call to discuss it. We picked our launch date of International Women’s Day, March 8, and worked backward on deadlines from there.

The idea of creating a seven-sins-themed anthology came after the first drafts were due. We saw we weren’t alone, and many other anthologies were being released after the election that used feminine rage as the central theme. So, we decided to make a shift to give our anthology more bite because we have seven stories, and there are seven deadly sins. Our stories already had strong themes that were further honed to represent each of the seven deadly sins.

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The Beginning of Hallowed Bites

We live in a time of corruption, greed, and unchecked power that feels endless—where those at the table feast while the rest are left scrambling for scraps. The world of Hallowed Bites is exaggerated but reflects aspects of truth within society.

For me, this theme of gluttony took root long before we even conceived the anthology. I was casually doom-scrolling after the election when I saw a post on Threads saying, “You want a bite of the pie, but you’re not even at the table.” That stuck with me and became the inspiration for Hallowed Bites.

I saw the image so clearly—rich, older men, covered in food, dripping with excess, feasting as a group of people watched in reverence, starving. They longed to be part of the feast and worked to appease the men at the table. They stood on the bodies of the starved, reaching for a promise that would never come.

This is what our political and social environment feels like to me. A group of people who could work together to help each other—but don’t.

I stand at the edge of the room, watching the starving and wondering why they don’t leave. Outside, I see my friends and loved ones planting gardens and sharing their food so others don’t starve. I see lies and despair inside this hall. And they curse the people outside for having food. When given that food, they complain but never plant their own garden. They only look to the men at the table, hungrily hoping to be them. Maybe someday, they will have a seat at the table, a piece of the pie, but most likely, they won’t.

I’m not writing this to say I’m different, to say I see something others don’t. Plenty of people see this same thing and phrase it differently. There is a collective disappointment in our fathers, former friends, and loved ones who continue to stare in awe at this table of men.

This was the frustration, the rage, that shaped Hallowed Bites. The anthology’s theme is feminine rage, and my story’s focus is gluttony—not just as excess, but as an insatiable, all-consuming force. The Kings of the story feast endlessly, never satisfied, while those outside their halls waste away. But gluttony isn’t just theirs—it seeps into the minds of those who hope to be them, who would rather starve waiting for a seat at the table than turn away from it.

I think about this a lot when I think about Bahani, the main character of Hallowed Bites. She is not the one at the table, nor is she the one starving at its feet. She stands in the in-between—kneading scraps into something warm, something that can sustain, even as she enables the kings’ endless feast. She watches those she loves suffer while the powerful gorge themselves on what they stole. And she knows—deep down—that no matter how much she gives, it will never be enough to change a system built to consume.

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A Personal Reflection

I am exhausted. When I was finally old enough to vote in a presidential election, it was 2016. Almost a third of my life has been spent in a news cycle dominated by a man I do not care about. I don’t know what a future shaped by this political shift looks like, but I know my view of friends, family, and the world around me has been irrevocably changed.

Bahani comes to understand that change, too. Her faith in the Lover erodes, turning from support to the sharp certainty that she must take action against him and the kings. He chooses to take rather than to build. She refuses. And while she is able to make a substantial change—to dismantle something that seemed untouchable—I can only move in small steps. I live in a world that keeps moving, with forces beyond my control shaping its course, and all I can do is try to navigate through it.

But even small steps matter. Bahani does not see the full bloom of spring, but it comes because of her. She cannot destroy the hunger for power, but she can refuse to feed it. She can resist, she can endure, and she can plant the seed of something better, even if she won’t be there to see it grow.

And maybe that’s all I can do, too. I cannot bring down a system built to consume, but I can refuse to let it consume me. I can care, I can create, and I can choose to believe that even if I don’t see the change I long for, it will come for those who come after me.

That is what Hallowed Bites became for me—not just a story about hunger, but about what we choose to do with it. Fear, anger, and rage are easy to condemn, but they don’t have to lead to destruction. They can be the spark that lights something new.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. – Yoda, Star Wars

But fear can also lead to action. Anger can lead to change. Hate can be dismantled, and suffering does not have to be eternal. Hallowed Bites is about that choice—the choice to rage, to resist, and to refuse to let the feast go on forever.

Hallowed Bites and the rest of the anthology will be available on March 8. If you’ve ever felt the weight of this world’s injustices—if you’ve ever felt the hunger for something better—this book is for you.

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