THE FEAR OF “MAINSTREAMING” STEAMPUNK: Put On Your Fighting Trousers!

THE FEAR OF “MAINSTREAMING” STEAMPUNK

Put On Your Fighting Trousers!

 

Metathesiophobia is the official medical term for the fear of change.

One of the most powerful forces in the Universe is Inertia. Whether we are speaking of the momentum of a falling body or that of an internal thought, things tend to continue doing what they have been doing.

We continue the momentum of thoughts we have had in the past, and thus a feeling of powerlessness governs our lives. “If I change,’ this kind of thinking says, “I may find myself in a reality that is worse than the one I am living. Best to keep doing what I have been doing” While this is true from a certain perspective, if we do not change, we will never evolve beyond what we are right now. And isn’t that what Steampunk is all about: The adventure…the altering of history…taking that ultimate risk we call Change?

Life changes no matter what we do. We continue to change and grow and much of that change occurs as a result of powerful, often painful prodding from our life experiences, driving us away from what we do not want; or, as a result of envisioning what we do want and pursuing it. The latter kind of change is what leads us to the most desirable outcomes, and to the life that we feel most joyous in living.

We fear change, not because we love what we have, but because we dread altering the patterns that seem to keep us afloat. These patterns – or rituals if you will – help us to create a sense of normalcy and make us feel safe. This can be of great comfort in times of real danger; however, comfort for the sake of comfort always comes at a great cost.

When subcultures start to creep into the mainstream – or when the mainstream starts to creep into the subculture – that comfortable inertia is broken and the members of that subculture feel threatened.

After twenty years on the fringe, Steampunk has not crept; it has exploded into the mainstream through four pathways – fashion, music, art, and literature.

 

Fashion

The steampunk look reflects the Victorian and early Edwardian eras (roughly 1801-1910). Corsets, frock coats and top hats are common fare, complemented with goggles, ancillary wings, compasses and do-it-yourself accessories.

One of the most well known Steampunks, Kit Stolen, is credited with starting the fashion phenomenon in Steampunk on  August 20, 2003, when he made images of his Steampunk clothing and hair fall designs available to the public on an internet Steampunk group. He had already been wearing this clothing on a daily basis since 2001. His images, in which he modeled his designs, went viral and demonstrated that Steampunk is as creative, cool, appealing and fun in fashion as it is in literature.

In a 2011 issue of Town and Country magazine, Mariel Hemingway is shown on the cover in an early 19th century styled coat. Also on the cover is Mariel’s daughter sporting a bodice and a bustle skirt. Inside the same issue is an article on equestrian dressage fashion – also popular in Steampunk fashion.

On leading retail site, Etsy.com, Steampunk is currently one of its top 10 most-searched terms, with nearly 7,000 items posted and trendy clothing retailer Forever 21 has incorporated clockwork earrings and military-cut coats into its repertoire for the past few seasons.

 

Music

Justin Bieber’s odd attempt at a steampunk music video for “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, many saw the imminent death of Steampunk and since then, there has been a lot of talk about the mainstream taking over Steampunk and eventually destroying the subgenre.

The problem with Bieber’s video is that the Steampunk images of his mechanical arm and the Clockwork Ladies did not mesh well with the song and seemed somewhat out of place.

More successful have been the rock bands Primus and Rush, who have helped to raise awareness of the genre and how cool it is.

Platinum-selling, Grammy award winning Hip-Hop and R&B artist, T-Pain’s latest tour is entitled Steampunk. In a recent interview, when asked what the theme of his new album, Revolver is, the mega-star answered: “Steampunk. It’s a movement that’s been happening for a long time, and it’s got a following that’s been crazy. A lot of people don’t know about it. It’s like the modern world meets the 1800s.” T-Pain even hired steampunk artist, Thin Gypsy Thief Studios, to make him a Steampunk microphone.

The Harlem James Gang, which tours with John Legend, fuses Steampunk with Hip-Hop, magic and theatrical performance for a Blacknificent show.

From England comes “Chap-Hop”, the fusion of rap with the lifestyle of the Victorian upper classes. Professor Elemental, a self-styled “Steampunk Mad Professor” and leading chap-hop MC, is one of its top exponents. Clad in Victorian-explorer garb, complete with pith helmet, he is eager to talk about taking the U.S. by storm. “I’m going to break America, and ride it like a pony,” Professor Elemental – whose real name is Paul Alborough – explains while sipping English Breakfast Tea. “Global domination, then a nice sit down and a cup of tea.”

Elemental’s rival is an hour’s train ride away in London: Jim Burke – Mr. B, The Gentleman Rhymer – who credits Public Enemy’s Chuck D as a major influence on his brand of Chap-Hop.

Lady Gaga and Nikki Minaj (with David Guetta) have even “gone Steampunk” with their songs Alejandro and Turn Me On, respectively. Well, Lady Gaga fell short, but Minaj and Guetta were, for the most part, successful in presenting the Steampunk tropes.

 

Art

Renowned artist and lighting designer, Art Donovan, is credited with being a major force in bringing mainstream attention to Steampunk. The thirty year veteran of the arts discovered Steampunk during an online search for new design styles, and he was immediately hooked. As Donovan delved into the world of Steampunk and began showing his one-of-a-kind (and mostly functional) pieces to the world online, he became one of the genre’s most admired designers and one of its greatest ambassadors.

In 2008, Donovan curated a Steampunk exhibition at Hamptons Antique Galleries in Bridgehampton, England and that eventually led him to curate the world’s first Steampunk museum exhibition at Oxford University’s Museum of the History of Science in October 2009. “It ended up being the most popular exhibit they ever had,” Donovan said of the show, which ran through February 2010. “There were lines around the block.”

Literature

Although K.W. Jeter coined the term in the late 1980s, the concept is much older: Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and other 19th-century authors are primary influences. Taking these influences and adding their own creative spin, a new generation of authors founded the Steampunk movement as a literary subgenre – a brilliant blend of science fiction, historical fiction, alternate history and fantasy.

Today, people of all classes, genders, races and nationalities enjoy reading and writing these incredible stories of adventure and derring-do.

More and more authors and screenwriters are producing works in the subgenre. Particularly in film, Steampunk has taken a huge step toward the  mainstream – Wild, Wild West (heaven help us all); League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; The Prestige; both Sherlock Holmes films; The Golden Compass; the recent Three Musketeers movie; and most recently, Hugo, which one five Academy Awards (“Oscars”).

Who Strikes the Loudest?

We Steampunks have been cast out of our comfort zones and feel threatened and very vulnerable right now. Many of us are claiming that, with the mainstreaming of the culture, Steampunk is dead.

A wise Steampunk said – “If Steampunk can survive Will Smith’s Wild, Wild West, it can survive Justin Bieber.”

I concur.

Come on y’all…less whining; more grinding! Being more visible will be more of a help than a hindrance as long as we maintain the integrity of Steampunk, nurture it and work hard to see it stay on its proper path.

Put on your fighting trousers and let’s show the mainstream who strikes the loudest!

Tags: balogun, black speculative fiction, fantasy, fiction, history, masks, sci fi, science fiction, speculative, steampunk, writers

What We Can Learn From The Chinese

What We Can Learn From The Chinese

Author Neil Gaiman shared a fascinating fact. While appearing as a Guest of Honor at China’s largest state approved Science Fiction convention, Neil decided to enquire why Science Fiction, once frowned upon by the Chinese government, was now not only approved of, but encouraged, with China now the world’s largest market for Science Fiction, with the highest circulation of Science Fiction magazines and the largest Science Fiction conventions.

The answer Neil was given is very interesting.

China is the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. But it doesn’t invent or design most of the things it manufactures. China wants to capture the creativity and imagination of the culture that has produced companies like Google and Apple. So Chinese researchers talked to people involved with those and other companies to see what factors they had in common. The answer?

They all read Science Fiction.

The Chinese acted upon this research and today, throughout China, Science Fiction is a thriving and respected genre, read widely; which is very different from the early eighties, when Science Fiction was declared to be “spiritual pollution” and banned by the government. Back then, Science Fiction in China all but disappeared. But it has come back stronger than ever, appealing to a new generation of Chinese who see themselves as part of a world-wide cultural phenomenon, which includes Hip Hop, Fashion, Movies and Science Fiction.

In the past decade, Science Fiction has overtaken fantasy as the popular literary form, even though fantastic fiction is an integral part of the history of Chinese literature.

Science Fiction studies continue at Beijing Normal University, the largest research and editing center of science-fiction theory and criticism in the world. Western authors and scholars visit there often and in the future, this center is expected to be the center of international Science Fiction research.

Science Fiction is an essential influence in the development of top level creative thinkers, especially those dealing with technology. We live in an age of unparalleled technological development, which is creating change throughout society of an unprecedented magnitude. Science Fiction, in all its forms, is a valuable tool for helping train people to creatively work with that change.

Science Fiction does not just show us possible futures, it trains us to anticipate new technology, model how it will impact our lives and exploit that insight.

 

Black Speculative Fiction

Aside from Nnedi Okorafor’s Zahrah the Windseeker and the Shadow Speaker; Wendy Raven McNair’s novels, Asleep and Awake; Alicia McCalla’s Breaking Free and Jason McCammon’s Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest: Search for the Ifa Scepter, it is difficult to find Speculative fiction (Science Fiction and Fantasy) with Black protagonists or secondary characters written for young adults by Black authors. Middle Grade novels are even harder to find, with L.M. Davis’ Interlopers at the fore.

In their 2003 study of middle school genre fiction, Agosto, Hughes-Hassell, and Gilmore-Clough found that of 976 reviews of youth fantasy novels, only 6 percent featured protagonists or secondary characters of color, and that of the 387 reviews of youth science fiction, only 5 percent featured protagonists or secondary characters of color. Yet, as more Black authors of adult science fiction/fantasy – like L.A. Banks, Stephen Barnes, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, Charles Saunders, Walter Mosley, Ronald Jones, Valjeanne Jeffers, Milton Davis and Balogun (smile) – grow in popularity and fill a much needed void, more Black writers are getting the opportunity to fill that void in youth literature as well.

As the Chinese have come to realize, filling that void is important for several reasons and is a must for people of color, particularly those of African descent.

Studies have shown that, in the general population, Science Fiction and Fantasy has an impact on the teaching of values and critical literacy to young adults. Science Fiction challenges readers to first imagine and then to realize the future of not only the novel they are reading but, also the future of the world in which they live.

Looking at the most visible popular examples of epic fantasy – J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and bestselling authors J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan – a casual observer might assume that big, continent-spanning sagas with magic in them are always set in some imaginary variation on Medieval – and, sometimes, even modern – Britain. The stories include the common tropes – swords, talismans of power, wizards and the occasional dragon, all in a world where Black people rarely exist; and those who do appear are decidedly peripheral and usually work for the bad guys.

That same casual observer might therefore conclude that epic fantasy – one of today’s most popular genres of fiction – would hold little interest for Black readers and even less for Black writers. But that casual observer would be wrong.

Young adults of African descent can – and do – relate to the experiences in science fiction and fantasy. Indeed, they crave these experiences and read speculative fiction just as voraciously as young adults of other races. But the lack of self-images in this literature can have a negative effect on the psyche of young readers and can, indeed, contribute to negative behavior. We derive our perceptions of self by what we hear, see, and read and our perception directly affects our actions.

The Process of Action works as follows:

1. Perception (precedes Thought)
2. Thought (precedes Impulse)
3. Impulse (precedes Action)
4. Action

If the Perception of ourselves is a person who lacks courage, integrity and goodness – because we do not see ourselves possessing heroic qualities in most books – the Thought creeps into our minds that we lack those heroic qualities, so we are – by default – villains. The Thought grows into a strong Impulse to be the villain; and finally, the Action of villainy takes place.

However, if – through fantasy and science fiction written with Black characters as the heroes – our youth begin to perceive themselves as heroic…as hard working…as good…they will begin to act in accord with how they perceive themselves.

The aforementioned authors have published books of Science Fiction and Fantasy featuring Black youth as protagonists. An analysis of these books reveals plots that are fun and adventurous; black protagonists who are gifted, insightful youth surrounded by functional, supportive family units; and themes common to the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, like courage, integrity, and good versus evil. While race and ethnicity are not ignored in these books, the race or ethnicity of a character does not drive the plot.

Our youth need stories that do not deny race or the historical implications of race, while remaining unhindered by the racism that may be present.

The State of Black Science Fiction 2012 Youth Symposium

On May 5, 2012, in Atlanta, a group of Black authors of speculative fiction – in conjunction with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History – are coming together to host The State of Black Science Fiction 2012 Youth Symposium, a day-long symposium spotlighting science fiction and fantasy as a signature intersection of science, history, technology, and humanistic studies. This symposium will serve as the blueprint for a national conference.

The symposium will feature scholarly panel discussions involving authors and artists of African descent who will showcase their involvement in their respective genres and subgenres of fantasy and science fiction across various media, as it relates to issues of cultural, scientific and technical development. The symposium will also feature a writers’ workshop, a presentation by young writers from African-Centered schools throughout Atlanta Metro and readings by authors L.M. Davis, Milton Davis, Alan Jones, Alicia McCalla, Wendy Raven McNair, Balogun Ojetade and moderator Ed Hall.

The schedule will be as follows:

11:00 am‐1:00 pm: Youth Speculative Fiction Writers’ Workshop

1:00 pm‐2:30 pm: Youth Presentation

2:30 pm‐ 4:30 pm: State of Black Science Fiction 2012 Presentation

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Artist and Author Meet-and-Greet and Book Signing

This symposium is Step One in raising the awareness of Black speculative fiction among our youth and in inspiring them to grow into the bright future of Black Science Fiction and Fantasy they are destined to become.

This event is free and open to the community. For further information, please join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/172270232890661/.

What NOT to learn from the Chinese:

Just kidding!

SWORD & SOUL: Much needed new genre? Or “simply something old, with a new coat of paint”?

SWORD & SOUL:

Much needed new genre? Or “simply something old, with a new coat of paint”?

I grew up in a poor, tough neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago during the heyday of violent, organized crime. No, not the Prohibition Era mafia wars of the 1920s and 1930s. I am referring to the 1970s through the late 1990s, when gang crime was at an all time high. However, my experience was atypical and definitely broke all stereotypes of what “urban” life for an “at-risk” youth should be.

My family life was stable and possessing and displaying good character was stressed. Even the hardcore gang members would make sure you were going to school, staying away from drugs and reading comic books instead of hanging out with them if they deemed you to have the potential to do something better with your life. Hell, the leader of the gang in my neighborhood was an avid fan of rock music and paid me to teach him how to play Dungeons and Dragons. Like I said, atypical.

Or perhaps, not.

Perhaps the gang leader wanted to play D&D for the same reason I played; and why I read 20,000 Leagues under the Sea…and the Hobbit…and all the Choose Your Own Adventure books by Edward Packard and R.A. Montgomery…to escape. As atypical as my “at-risk” life was, it was still an “at-risk” life and I sought to escape it – and indeed, this world in which I, and my people, have suffered so much – and, for a while at least, explore brighter horizons.

Often, however, I felt trapped, even in books and in Dungeons and Dragons, because the world I escaped to was just like the world I lived in – one in which people of African descent are perceived as – and treated like – second class citizens at best; as demons, Orcs (now, zombies) and other evils of the world at worst.

I could find no heroes that looked like me. And the heroic fantasy I loved so much was constantly hurting my young feelings by telling me how vile I was.

I and my friends could tell you all about the Conan, Frodo, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and the Cthulhu Mythos. We knew nothing about Imaro. Had we known – Charles R. Saunders would be a billionaire by now. Anyhow, being highly competitive and wanting to one-up my friends, I went to every college library that let me in (which was nearly all of them; I was the “adopted son” of many a librarian) and researched the authors of these stories (Young Readers: a library is something we visited before the introduction of the internet).

I soon came upon an interesting poem by H.P. Lovecraft that inspired me to write fantasy fiction and to write all of my stories, from that point on, with a Black man or woman as the hero:

On The Creation of Niggers

When, long ago, the gods created Earth
In Jove’s fair image Man was shaped at birth.
The beasts for lesser parts were next designed;
Yet were they too remote from humankind.
To fill the gap, and join the rest to Man,
Th’Olympian host conceiv’d a clever plan.
A beast they wrought, in semi-human figure,
Filled it with vice, and called the thing a Nigger.

And then, it all made sense.

Robert E. Howard – the creator of Conan, the Barbarian and father of Sword and Sorcery – was a close friend and correspondent of H.P. Lovecraft. No wonder his works – like Lovecraft’s – were racist. Well-written, yes, but racist all the same.

Now, whenever there is a discussion about Robert E. Howard being racist, three main arguments are presented. The first argument is that Howard could not be a racist because he never participated in any racial violence. The second is that Howard was a product of his times and racism was as natural as breathing back then. And the third is that Howard’s fiction is no more racist than other fiction of that period. To these cliché arguments, I roll my eyes and answer:

Howard’s attitude toward violence inflicted on non-whites is visible in some of his letters. In a letter to psychopathically racist cohort, H. P. Lovecraft, Howard talks about a rancher who was investigated for the murder of a Mexican. “…just why so much trouble was taken about a Mexican I cannot understand” and in reference to a trial in Honolulu where native Hawaiians were accused of rape, Howard wrote, “I know what would have happened to them in Texas. I don’t know whether an Oriental smells any different than a nigger when he’s roasting, but I’m willing to bet the aroma of scorching hide would have the same chastening effect on his surviving tribesman.” Robert E. Howard writes approvingly of racial violence in more than one instance and in the letter to Lovecraft he has implied that he knows the smell of a “nigger when he’s roasting.”

As far as Howard being a product of his times and racism was as natural as breathing back “in those days”, this is what is referred to as “systematic” or “institutionalized” racism. It was indeed natural for the racist, for he benefitted from his actions and suffered very few, if any, consequences for those actions. The victims of systematic racism would beg to differ as to its naturalness though. Furthermore, I am a product of my times, I guess it is natural for us baby-boomers and Generation-Xers to sell crack, get infected with HIV and drop anthrax on Disney World.

Finally, to say that Howard’s fiction is no more racist than other fiction of that period is just ignorant…period. If I rob two banks, get caught and my attorney uses as my defense “Balogun hasn’t robbed any more banks than any other bank robber of this period”, they might as well add murder to my charges.

So, it was a burning desire to see myself in heroic fantasy – and the realization that none of the writing on the market that I had access to was going to satisfy that desire – that I started writing Sword and Sorcery stories with a Black man or woman as the hero. Much of the plot I took from the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns I created, so the settings of the stories were still pretty much medieval European, with an occasional adventure in Asia, as my friends were all caught up in the Ninja craze of the 80s. This continued until I went to college and started a serious study of African history to complement my lifelong study of African martial arts.

And thus began my writing of what I called “African Epic Folklore” at the time – my version of Sword and Soul.

What is Sword and Soul?

According to the genre’s founder, Charles R. Saunders, Sword and Soul is “African-inspired heroic fantasy.  Its roots are in sword-and-sorcery, but its scope is likely to expand as time passes.” Some of you might ask “Well, what is ‘Sword-And-Sorcery’, then?” The following are the defining tropes of the genre:

1. Active, violent, larger-than-life heroes that are often outsiders or rebels. These heroes are usually amoral, yet possessed of their own code of honor.
2. A dystopian fantasy milieu where supernatural beings are real and magic works.
3. Magic is very rare and often grisly in its methods and effects; its practitioners tend to possess inhuman urges, or suffer from madness; and rarely is magic ever on the hero’s side.
4. The power of the human will to prevail against sorcery, monstrous foes, and the challenges of a primeval environment are included in the writing to show the toughness and determination of the hero.

Although Sword and Soul has roots in Sword-And-Sorcery, it has grown into something inclusive of the genre’s tropes, but quite different. As Sword and Soul author, Stafford Battle, puts it – “This is more than brown or black skinned Conans stomping through the dense jungle killing monsters. You will find no white Tarzan characters dominating the local natives. Sword & Soul – at least in one aspect – is the retelling of our African heritage as Kings and Queens, conquerors, explorers, warriors, and dreamers who influence the evolution of world civilization.”

Looking back at the tropes of Sword-And-Sorcery, I can now understand why I was so attracted to the stories, even more than the “High Fantasy” of Tolkien. I lived in a dystopian world (and I continue to), wherein slavery, exploitation, repression, and the gritty, grisly horrors of war were realities. Conan faced these issues – and overcame them – with his wits, his iron will…and a Big-Ass Sword. Something I would have loved to do, had I been able to…or had I believed I was able to, but I only read about Caucasians saving the day.

Had my friends and I discovered Imaro back in the ‘70s or ‘80s, who knows, perhaps we would have taken up our Big-Ass Swords and saved the world by now.

Tags: africa, african, afrika, afrikan, balogun, black speculative fiction, charles saunders, fantasy, ki-khanga, milton davis, racism, role-playing, roleplaying, science fiction, slavery, steampunk, sword and soul, writers

Why Black Children Need to Read & Write Science Fiction

A few months ago, I had the pleasure – hmm, no, pleasure is not a fitting description – A few months ago, I had the experience (yes, that’s it) of having my son, Oluade (“Ade”, for short – pronounced “aah-DAY”), who is nine years old, as one of my writing students. No matter what assignment I gave the class – an essay; a newspaper article; a short story; a poem – Oluade would find a way to write himself into it – in an epic battle with a horde of zombies or cyborgs with “zombified” (his word) flesh…oh, yeah, and a skateboard with cool insignia painted on it.

I realized that no matter how much I complained about it, Ade was always going to turn his writing into Science Fiction.

Luckily for him, he has a father who is an author – and fan – of Science Fiction (although turning a newspaper article about a young man suing his parents for emancipation into a zombie yarn was, of course unacceptable).

I realized that Oluade is like most Black children – he is driven by a search for the interesting; a desire to twist the mundane and flip it on its head in order to see the ordinary from a different perspective; to explore the boundaries of creativity; and, indeed, to discover or create new boundaries. What these children seek is found within the realms of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Oluade’s teachers in the public school he once attended did not agree. They felt he was being rebellious and a bit…strange.

That is a shame.

And, for many misunderstood – and thus, mislabeled – children, this is a crisis that has devastating, lifelong consequences.

When children use Science Fiction and Fantasy writing techniques and tropes they are often using their writing to explore themselves and their world, without any need for guidance and literal knowledge.

On the surface they are writing about zombies, spaceships and vampires, but do not be fooled –they are using these devices in the same way as Octavia Butler, Charles Saunders, Tananarive Due and Walter Mosley – to cloak methods of exploring and explaining – and finding explanations for – their worlds – both internal and external – in a way that straightforward ‘literal’ fiction cannot.

Realism has become a trap for black children and they realize it. According to my young students, who range in age from nine to fifteen, they tire of reading and writing stories that are about “problems” and crave fantastic tales of derring-do with cool, young, Black heroes and heroines.

Science fiction and fantasy offers black children an alternative way of dealing with legacy, tradition, and memory.

Parents and Teachers, our children have a big problem…us

In conversing with other English teachers, I often ask if they teach creative writing in their classes. Most do not. One teacher told me that she tried “that creative writing stuff” with her students, but quickly gave up on it and returned to a more “practical syllabus”. Upon further investigation, I discovered that she believed creative writing – particularly Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy – to be something outside – and, indeed, beneath – the instruction of English.

Most educators of English / Language Arts focus on the mechanics of the subject – how to read and write, rules of grammar, use of verbs, adverbs, adjectives, pronouns and nouns and sentence comprehension – without the context of why and how those mechanics are used by students to express themselves.

Yes, we need to teach the mechanics – how to hold a pen; how to read; how words work – but we should not confuse use of a thing with understanding of it. Training in the mechanics of writing produces writing technicians However, it does not make you a writer. So, you know how to spell; you can answer questions on grammar; you can repeat someone else’s literary criticism of a text – you are a technician. You can fix my text as a garage mechanic can fix my car. The garage mechanic can’t design a car. They can’t improve a car. They can’t build one from scratch. They can only ever work on someone else’s car.

This is why we – and our children – need to read and to write Science Fiction and Fantasy – so that our children do not only work on other people’s texts, they create and build their own. So they are not limited to just reading a story written by someone else and providing a report on it – they are out there in the field, experimenting with new stories and questioning old ones…if only for the reason that they can.

We need to teach our children to go out into the world to add to the pantheon of human creation and endeavor, not to dissect the words of long dead men.

In a 1999 New York Times essay about Science Fiction, author Walter Mosley wrote, “The genre speaks most clearly to those who are dissatisfied with the way things are: adolescents, post-adolescents, escapists, dreamers, and those who have been made to feel powerless. And this may explain the appeal that science fiction holds for a great many African-Americans….Science Fiction promises a future full of possibility, alternative lives, and even regret.”

Horror author Tananarive Due revealed that when she started writing, all of her characters were white. “I had to force myself to see myself,” Due said. “It’s not that I don’t write about white characters, because I do, but my protagonists are extensions of my own humanity. I was raised by civil rights activists and I have a keen awareness of racial history—lessons I think Americans of all colors should know—so I would consider it artistic dishonesty to write primarily from an experience that was not black. Does that limit my readership? I’m sure it does. But hopefully, it does less and less all the time.”

 

7 Science Fiction Writing Projects for Children

To get your children, students and even yourself writing, try tapping into their enjoyment of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Children gravitate towards writing based on magic, space ships, aliens, and peril-filled quests. Ask them to incorporate these themes into their own writing and you will find a fun way to help them sharpen their writing skills at home.

To encourage kids that this isn’t homework, but is, instead, a fun at-home creative activity like painting or doing other crafts, do not spend a lot of time correcting your child’s grammar or spelling; just let the creative juices flow. Writing more is a key to writing better, and knowing they can write without being scrutinized is a key to getting your children to enjoy writing, thus, write more.

A common thing children like to do is to use colorful markers, pens or paper for their writing projects. Let them. This helps signify that what they’re doing is something special, creative and fun. For science fiction-theme writing projects, you might try glow in the dark ink, or stationary from movies like Harry Potter or Star Trek, or whatever your child likes.

Below are seven Science Fiction and Fantasy writing projects that will help you get your child started on his or her Science Fiction or Fantasy writing adventure. I chose seven projects in honor of Oluade, the Zombifying Language Arts Rebel, who is my seventh child (of eight) and my only son.

Writing Project 1: The Time Traveling Machine

Ask your child to pretend he or she has gone into a time-travel machine and ended up in the distant past or far future. What do they see? Who do they meet? This is a good project for encouraging children to compare and contrast in a creative way. Older children can be encouraged further to create a story based in the future or the past.

 

Writing Project 2: Build-An-Alien!

Ask your child to consider what an alien might look like. Is it tall or short? Friend or foe? Ask your child to consider the sounds and smells associated with the alien, too. They may also want to consider how it walks, communicates and eats; where it comes from; and what it wants.

Writing Project 3: Your New Super Power

Some of the greatest Science Fiction and fantasy stories of all time involve superheroes gaining and using some super power. Ask your child to pick a super-power, be it speed, invisibility, super-human strength, or whatever. If they like, they can choose more than one power, or give other powers to sidekicks like their little brother or a friend. They may also write about the type of costume they wear – if any – and if they fight crime, or just use their powers in everyday situations?

Writing Project 4: A Whole New World

Ask your child to pretend he or she has landed a spacecraft on a new planet or has found a door to an alternate earth. Let us learn about this world from their description of what is seen, heard, smelled, and tasted there. Who, and / or what, resides there? Does it seem like a nice place for you or others to live? Let your child be a space – or dimension – explorer and create a whole new world.

Writing Project 5: The Secret Formula

Ask your child to pretend he or she has been given a drink (or sandwich or cookie, etc.) from a mad or silly scientist or shaman. What’s in that drink? What does it look like, taste and smell like? And if you eat or drink the scientist’s crazy concoction, what will happen to you? Older children can be encouraged to create a story based on what happens after they consume the secret formula.

Writing Project 6: The Griots Academy

What would happen if your child went to school to become the next “Harry Potter”? Ask your child to describe the teachers at the school and to describe what they teach and their personalities. Which teacher is your child’s favorite at the school and why? What is the curriculum? Where is the school located? Children can come up with a large faculty and rich history for their own school of magic.

Writing Project 7: The Shaman’s Assistant

Ask your child to write about working for a renowned wizard or shaman. What is the wizard / shaman’s appearance and personality? What does he or she ask your child to do to assist him or her? Older children may be encouraged to create a whole adventure for the “assistant” and his / her boss.

Science fiction and fantasy theme projects can really help your child’s imagination take flight. Use these fun and creativity-inspiring ideas to help your children enjoy the writing process and realize writing isn’t just for school or homework; it can take them anywhere in the universe – and beyond – that they desire to explore.

Please, join us for the State of Black Science Fiction 2012 Youth Symposium in which authors will teach young students how to write Science Fiction and Fantasy; students will perform original works of Science Fiction and Fantasy; and authors and editors of African descent who write Science Fiction and Fantasy will engage participants in a lively and highly informative panel discussion on the State of Black Science Fiction and Fantasy. After the panel discussion, the authors will meet and greet participants and have their Blacknificent novels, films and artwork on hand.

Until next time…happy writing!

Tags: africa, african, afrika, afrikan, balogun, black speculative fiction, children, fantasy, horror, science fiction, steampunk, sword and soul, writers, youth

WHAT IS STEAMFUNK? Exposing the Big Steampunk Lie!

WHAT IS STEAMFUNK?

Exposing the Big Steampunk Lie!

Steamfunk is narrowly defined as “a person, style of dress or subgenre of fiction that seeks to bring together elements of blaxploitation films and merge it with that of Steampunk fiction”. A broader definition is A philosophy or style of writing that combines the African and / or African American culture and approach to life with that of the steampunk philosophy and / or  steampunk fiction.

For those who do not yet know what Steampunk is, you can read my blog – Why I Love Steampunk – here: http://chroniclesofharriet.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/state-of-black-sci-fi-2012-why-i-love-steampunk/.

Steampunk has the power to rip open the 19th Century’s belly and examine its clockwork guts – and to rearrange those guts in new ways – but most Steampunk authors – and indeed most Steampunks – choose to avoid the issues of racism, sexism, classism, colonialism and imperialism.

Steamfunk authors – thankfully – choose to address these very same issues, for we know that to avoid them – especially since there is such a wealth of Steampunk tales to be told from a Black perspective – is to perpetuate the Big Steampunk Lie.

Yes…lie; a lie by omission; also known as the ‘suppression of evidence’.

This type of lie is more subtle. It has the advantage that you can’t get caught in a lie, because everything that you say is true. You just fail to mention all of those bothersome little facts that do not support your point of view. Should someone point out one of those annoying – and unmentioned – facts, you can feign innocent ignorance, or claim that the fact is really just an unimportant, trivial detail, not worth mentioning.

Thus the Victorian Era / Wild West are represented in most Steampunk as merely an age of exploration and invention. A renaissance, if you will. A very interesting – and deceptive – way of describing an era in which the “explorers” who at best unintentionally – and at worst, and far more often, very intentionally – brought with them the forces of colonialism and imperialism throughout the world.

The “Wild West” of North America systematically robbed the indigenous people of their lands and murdered them wholesale while also oppressing and vilifying Asians. In the South and East of North America, people of African descent suffered horrors under the yoke of chattel slavery and things did not get much better after the Civil War. To romanticize such an era; to paint such a dystopian reality as a rose-colored (well, various shades of brown in Steampunk) utopia is the ‘Big Steampunk Lie’ of which I speak.

Now, I am not saying all Steampunk stories should be dark and foreboding. However, we should tackle issues of race, sex and class in our stories to some degree. So many incredible and thought-provoking stories are waiting to be told…if we care to tell them.

With the upcoming Steamfunk Anthology and with such already released novels as Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman, by Yours Truly and The Switch, by Valjeanne Jeffers – along with a number of awesome short stories from Milton Davis, Maurice Broaddus, NK Jemisin, Malon Edwards and Balogun (me) – these stories, which must be told, will be shouted from our Funkadelic Airships.

Full steam ahead!

Tags: balogun, black speculative fiction, fantasy, fiction, harriet tubman, history, milton davis, science fiction, speculative, steampunk, underground railroad, valjeanne jeffers, writers

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Novel and Story Titles That Sell!

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Novel and Story Titles That Sell!

You wrote THE novel of the decade. You know, the one that will change the way people see your chosen genre forever. Yep, that one.

You decided that you didn’t want anyone to take away from the power…the glory…the inimitable creative power within your writing, so you wisely self-published your masterpiece. You marketed on every social network, interviewed on internet and college radio stations and even purchased an ad in your local newspapers. There was nothing left to do but sit back and wait for your adoring fans to run to Amazon.com, BN.com and even your website to purchase it.

A year later, you had sold eleven books…to your mom; dad; three siblings; your cousin Lee-Lee; four of your friends and your co-worker, Bob.

What happened?

I would be willing to bet the answer lies in your title.

Choosing the right fiction title

1. Less is More. Try to keep down the number of words in your title to a precise and evocative few.
2. More can also be More. If it is impossible to be brief, try a deliberately long title, like Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Steampunk but Were Afraid to Ask.
3. Don’t rely on the subtitle to explain what the book is really about. It is the title itself that people see first when they scan a catalog, do a Google search, or peruse the bookstore shelves. On the flip-side, if your title is highly evocative or provocative – yet related to the subject of your book, use it and elaborate in the subtitle.
4. Research the title on Amazon or Google. You can’t copyright a title, therefore you’ll often notice there is more than one book with the same one. Avoid taking a title that’s been used too many times or already belongs to a famous book.
5. Try out your title on a variety of people, including people with different tastes; people related to you and unrelated; people who are knowledgeable about your subject and people who are ignorant about it – be curious and open to the market.
6. Welcome controversy. Imaro, the Conan Slayer is sure to drum up a lot of interest (of course, if your target audience are the millions of fans of Robert E. Howard’s Conan, this might not be the wisest choice of title).

Choosing the right  nonfiction book title

Choosing the right title for your book involves answering four simple questions. Your answers will take you a long way towards choosing a title that helps your book sell. You can also use these same questions in choosing titles for films, articles, blog posts, presentations and speeches.

Question 1: What is the change your market desires?

Change is at the root of nonfiction book success. Unlike fiction books, which are purchased for the readers’ pleasure, readers purchase nonfiction books because they want to experience change.
This change may be either solving a problem or achieving a goal. In either case, there is a purpose, or a change, that readers want to experience.

Question 2: How and when will change take place?

One of the best ways to sell a book is to choose a title that emphasizes how quickly your readers will be able to experience the desired change.

Lose 90 Pounds in 90 Days is a stronger title than Lose a Lot of Weight Fast because the former title is specific about the results (losing ninety pounds) and the time period (ninety days).

As an alternative to result or time period, you can stress the number of steps needed to solve a problem or achieve a goal. For example, Write a Winning Plot in 5 Easy Steps is a good alternative to Writing Winning Plots in 4 Hours or Less.

Question 3: How does this book differ from other books?

Your book’s uniqueness must be immediately obvious. The typical Barnes & Noble superstore contains well over 100,000 different titles. Amazon.com lists hundreds of thousands more.

There’s hardly any topic that hasn’t already been exhaustively written about in one form or another, so how will your book be different? What will make your novel stand out from the other books already on the market? Find your niche within the niche you are writing in and your book will stand out.

There are many martial arts books on the market. A few years ago, I decided to write a martial arts book. Fortunately for me, I happen to be proficient in indigenous African martial arts and there are only a handful of books on the subject on the market. Unlike the other authors, who are primarily academics, I am a lifelong practitioner of the African martial arts and immersed in traditional African culture, so I wrote from the standpoint of an insider, not as a casual (or not so casual) observer. This paid off, as my book, Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within is quite popular.

Question 4: How can I make my book’s title easy to remember?

Engage the reader’s curiosity or help them relate the title to an idea they relate to. If a prospective reader at your mall book signing forgets your book’s title between the time they first encounter it, and they take their restless child to the restroom, you will lose that important sale.

One of the best ways to make your book’s title memorable is to arouse the reader’s curiosity. This is the technique used by Richard Bolles’ mega bestseller, What Color Is Your Parachute?. At first glance, a parachute has little, or nothing, to do with finding work.

However, in this economy, wherein we can easily fall into abject poverty and homelessness, a parachute is precisely what we need! Every year, hundreds of thousands of readers purchase this book. How many copies do you think the same book would have sold if its title was, “How to Find A Job?”
Now, your masterpiece has that catchy title you need…or so it seems. Before you go publishing that little slice of heaven, there are a few steps you should take to ensure that you have the best title for your book.

1.      Brainstorm 100 appropriate titles

When you brainstorm titles, it is okay to make minor variations of the same title. For example, your novel is about a seafaring African prince and his motley crew of fellow adventurers. You come up with the name Changa for the character and you want his name in the title, as he will become an iconic figure in literature and you know it. You brainstorm some possible titles – Changa’s Big Score; Changa on the High Seas; Changa Sails the Sendibada; Changa’s Safari; and so on. Each one of these titles will likely have different search results under Google and other search engines on the internet. Save them all for the next step.

Try to avoid inappropriate titles. If your book is an erotic steampunk tale of young goats in love and you title it “Steam-Cooking for Kids,” you will have a lot of pissed off parents.

2.      Check Google’s keyword tool to see which titles have the most searches per month

On Google’s search engine, type “Google Keyword Tool.” The website you want will be the first one listed in the search results; or, you can go directly there via this link: https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS.

On the website, cut and paste your list of titles into the top text box (marked “Find Keywords”). Confirm that you are a human and not a spambot and then click the submit button. The results will appear. Scroll down and examine the Global Monthly Searches column. A good title should read anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 searches. Anything less than 10,000 searches may be too few.

Anything more than 100,000 searches will probably have too much competition.

What you want are phrases that have between 10,000 to 100,000 global searches. Make a note of those. You’ll use them for the next step: checking Google’s and Amazon’s search engines.

3.      Check Google’s and Amazon’s search engines to see which of the top titles have the least competition

Go to Google and type the first title from your list of titles in the search bar. Be sure to type the title in quotes. When the list of search results come up, count how many websites use that full title. If there are fewer than ten websites with your full title, that’s a good title. Now do the same with the rest of your potential titles.

Once you’re done with that, go to Amazon and in quotes type in your titles. Count how many books have the same title. Again, if there are fewer than ten, that’s a good title.

Now, out of all your potential titles, the one with the most global monthly searches, with a low amount of competition is your winner. Simple.

Try these all, some, or none of these methods and, please, share the knowledge with others if it helps you. Each one, teach one.

Until next time…Happy writing!

Tags: balogun, black, black speculative fiction, science fiction, speculative, writers

ARE BLACK MEN ROMANTIC? AKA Balogun gets naked!

ARE BLACK MEN ROMANTIC? AKA Balogun gets naked!

We too often define “romantic” in traditional European women’s terms – sending flowers and cards, saving mementos and putting them in a box or scrapbook, gushing over chick romance movies, or listening to romantic songs all day.

Men of African descent, more often than not, do not do these things.

However, most brothers are very loving.

Love and romance are not the same, however, with the nearly three-hundred year popularity of romance novels, we have come to confuse the two as the same.

In a recent survey of 3000 men and women worldwide, when asked “How long did it take for you to get over your lost love?” Several men crossed out all the choices – with the longest choice being ten years – and wrote, “I never got over her!” While, surely, some women never got over their lost loves, only men wrote this comment on the survey.

Men are “not supposed” to cry over lost loves. But many male participants reported that, after their high school sweethearts broke up with them, they cried in private, every night, for months.

On occasions where romance is expected – such as Valentine’s Day, birthdays or anniversaries – we should separate emotions from behaviors.

We may not make scrapbooks of mementos of our love experiences, but we are every bit as loving, loyal, and yep – romantic – as our sisters – and sometimes more so!

Why, then, do Black men get such a bad rep when it comes to romance?

Well, in most “romance” films and novels that target the Black community, Black men are often:

1. Thugs
2. Have “baby mama” drama
3. Unemployed
4. Call women “bitches”, “hoes” and other derogatory terms
5. From single parent homes
6. Violent

It is rare that we get to see Black men in our true, loving light.

I would like to see more realistic portrayals of Black men in romance novels (maybe then I would read some for other than researching this blog) and romantic films.

In truth – for better, or worse – we brothers:

Have delicate egos. A direct result, say experts, of the racism, oppression and systematic discrimination Black men face daily. “In everything from employment to education, Black men are constantly being told they can’t measure up,” says Dr. Julia Hare, executive director of the Black Think Tank and co-author with her husband, Dr. Nathan Hare, of Crisis In Black Sexual Politics. “A tender ego is the psychological price we all pay for this constant assault on their self-esteem.” Washington, D.C., psychiatrist Dr. Harry Edwards who, with his wife, Dr. Alice Edwards, is a contributing author of Black Families in Crisis, agrees. “Black men are very sensitive to rejection because so many of them start off with a sense of inferiority. The world makes them feel they can’t quite measure up. So when it comes to their romantic involvement they can be hypersensitive.” Given this reality, Dr. Hare warns: “Black women need too be aware of the power of their words. Black men remember the negative comments a woman makes about them as if they’d been branded on their brain.”

Are, in general, possessive about our women. I’m not talking about the irrational – “talk to my woman again and I’ll cut you” – type of brother. I am talking about the typical, sane black man who wants to be the only man in a woman’s life. The reasons for this attitude – says Dr. Angela Walker Franklin, a licensed psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine – are complex and multilayered. “So many things have been taken away from Black men, they feel this [romantic partner] is the one thing they can hold on to and should be able to hold on to,” she explains. Right or wrong, when a Black man is in love with a woman, he is very territorial about her. He wants – and expects – her to be his exclusively.

See love and sex as separate entities. They can be related (or not), yes, but still separate. Unlike most women, most men can make love without any emotional attachment. Unlike most women, most men will have sex purely for the sake of physical release. When little black boys learn about sex, it is usually not tied in with love or emotion. When the boys get together they just talk about the physical side of the sexual act. Little black girls, on the other hand, learn about sex in the context of closeness and love. When – at six years old – I asked my mother about how babies were made, she answered: “Your father and I held hands, kissed and told each other how much we loved the other; then, we got together and made you.” When I asked my father, I got quite a different, more graphic, answer. While most men surveyed said love improves sex for them, they were equally adamant that emotional involvement was not a prerequisite for sex.

Believe subtle flirtation is more attractive than blatant proposition. For most black men, women who come on strong are generally a turn-off.  Most men want to make the first move and a blatant come-on takes that opportunity from the man For us, a glance and a smile are worth a thousand “come-and-get-its”.

Are primarily attracted to a woman’s physical beauty. I know that sounds shallow, but it is true. Experts agree that men are fascinated by physical attactiveness. Men may want honesty and intelligence in a woman, but they also want a pretty face and a nice body. Now this is not in defense of men who measure a woman’s worth by her pretty face, “good” hair, or her “3-D endowments”. It is to say that if a man doesn’t find a woman physically appealing first, he isn’t going to be interested enough to spend time discovering her inner qualities. “Black men constantly tell me they want it all – beauty and brains and they’re not going to sacrifice one for the other,” says Dr. Julia Hare. In his article, Beauty and the Beast: The Role of Physical Attraction in the Black Community, Dr. Robert Staples summed up the beauty factor this way: “While Black women need a combination of beauty and brains to attract a high-status husband, it is still their looks that are the decisive factor.”

Now let’s look at some revealing statistics about men, women and romance:

Men who consider themselves romantic: 58%

Women who consider themselves romantic: 72%                

Men who believe in love at first sight: 48%

Women who believe in love at first sight: 49%

Number of married men who aren’t sure they’re in love: 1 in 25

Men’s most romantic weather: A snowstorm

Men’s most romantic season: Spring

Number of men who think it’s okay to start a romance with a Valentine’s Day card: 2 in 5

Men who have sent a valentine to a woman who didn’t know he had a crush on her: 37%; of those men, the number who say it led to romance: 1 in 3

Number of men who don’t bother exchanging valentines with their wives or longtime girlfriends: 1 in 10

The average male attitude toward Valentine’s Day: “I can take it or leave it.”

Runner-up: “It’s for her, not me.”

And yet, the percentage of men who wish their wives or girlfriends would do something for them on V Day: 32%

Number of guys in long-term relationships who tell their woman “I love you” nearly every time they part ways: 3 in 4

Women who think the average man would prefer a night out with friends to a romantic evening at home with her: 53%

Men who would prefer the romantic evening at home to a night out with friends: 73%

Men who have had an office romance: 45%

Men who think a sense of humor is important in a romantic partner: 90%

Men who have made a mix CD or tape as a romantic gesture: 55% The top two reasons for that musical offering are 1) To send their love interest a romantic message via lyrics; and 2) To put together songs that mean something to their love interest or their relationship

The time the average man thinks is the best time to propose: A random date and time

The best place to pop the question: A place that holds sentimental value

Women who would prefer a romantic proposal to a gaudy ring: 84%

Number of married men who got down on one knee to propose: 2 out of 3

Number of women the average man will kiss before he gets married: 24

 

BALOGUN GETS NAKED

Now, I would like to bare my soul and share three love poems I wrote. I write my poetry to be performed, so some might have songs in them, so please, do not write me a comment saying a poem is good, but could work just as well without the song. I know. I like the song and…what? You didn’t think I would actually get naked did you?

Until next time, happy writing!

 

I Ain’t Never Written No Love Poem

I AIN’T NEVER WRITTEN NO LOVE POEM

I AIN’T NEVER BEEN ABLE TO EXPRESS HOW YOUR EVERY UTTERANCE

IS LIKE A BABY’S FIRST SMILE TO MY EAR’S EYE.

I AIN’T NEVER BEEN ABLE TO TELL YOU

THAT YOU ARE SWEET WATERMELON SUMMERS TO ME.

YOU ARE DEW-DROPPED FIG TREES

PLUCKED BARE BY TINY, BROWN HANDS

ON A MISSISSIPI DELTA MORNING.

I WISH I COULD EXPRESS THESE THINGS…

BUT, I AIN’T NEVER WRITTEN NO LOVE POEM.

 

I AIN’T NEVER WRITTEN NO LOVE POEM

I AIN’T NEVER BEEN ABLE TO EXCITE YOU

WITH BITTER-SWEET ART-TALK

NEVER BEEN ABLE TO QUOTE NERUDA, OR ETHERIDGE KNIGHT.

NEVER BEEN ABLE TO HOLD YOU CLOSE,

PRESS MY LIPS TO YOUR NECK AND CROON SOFTLY:

 

“Let’s take a shower

A shower together

I’ll wash your body

And you’ll wash mine, yeah

Rub me down with some hot oils, baby

And I’ll do the same thing for you

Just…turn off the lights.”

 

OH, HOW I WISH I COULD EXPRESS THESE THINGS…

BUT I AIN’T NEVER WRITTEN NO LOVE POEM

 

I AIN’T NEVER WRITTEN NO LOVE POEM

I AIN’T NEVER BE-BOPPED ACROSS THE SUN,

OR STOOD IN THE COLD, ENCRUSTED CORNER

OF THE MOON’S EYE.

I AIN’T NEVER TRODDED ALONG NO ROADS LESS TRAVELLED,

OR STRETCHED IN THE SOIL OF NOBODY’S HAIR.

BUT I HAVE TASTED THE JET-BLACK RIPENESS OF YOUR LIPS,

DRIFTED INTO THE COOL BLANKET OF FOREVER-NIGHT

WITH MY HEAD IN THE CRADLE OF YOUR FULL BREASTS

AND BEEN PRIVILEDGED TO MASSAGE YOUR WEARY FEET.

I AIN’T NEVER WRITTEN IT,

BUT YOU ARE POETRY

AND TO MERELY AWAKEN BESIDE YOU

AT THE BREAK OF EVERY DAWN

IS, ITSELF,

A LOVE POEM.

 

SHE DON’T KNOW

SHE DON’T KNOW SHE’S BEAUTIFUL
SHE DON’T THINK SHE’S A DIME
BUT A DIME A DOZEN
YET I WOULD GLADLY CRACK OPEN MY PIGGY BANK
AND SPLURGE THE CHANGE THEREIN
AWW, SHE’S BAD…
BUT SHE DON’T KNOW IT

SHE DON’T KNOW SHE’S BEAUTIFUL
SHE THINKS HER HAIR IS TOO NAPPY
SOMETIMES AIN’T NAPPY ENOUGH
YET I YEARN TO LEAN CLOSE,
BREATHE IN THE SENSEXUAL SCENT
OF HER NAPPY-NOT NAPPY BLACKNIFICENCE
AND FEEL ITS CARESS UPON THE WEBS OF MY FINGERS
AWW, SHE’S BAD
BUT SHE DON’T KNOW IT

SHE DON’T KNOW SHE’S BEAUTIFUL
SHE THINKS SHE SQUINTS TOO MUCH
AND HER LIPS ARE MUCH TOO THICK
YET HER EYES WERE MADE TO GAZE INTO
HER LIPS…
TO KISS AWAY SORROW
AWW, SHE’S BAD
BUT SHE DON’T KNOW IT

SHE DON’T KNOW SHE’S BEAUTIFUL
SHE THINKS HER SOPHISTI-SMART ART-TALK
AIN’T SNAP YA’ FINGERS COOL-SLICK
HER
HIP-SWAYIN’, DROP-IT-LIKE-IT’S HOT
AIN’T SWATSLANTA CRUNK
HER
AFRI-DRUM, COWRIE
BLACK POWER PICK-IN-FRO SOUL
AIN’T ALAAFIA, IBAARI GAANI, HOTEP…
YET HER BLACK IS BLACKER THAN THE BLACKEST BLACKNESS
AS COOL-SLICK DRIPS FROM HER ART-TALK TONGUE
INTO MY THIRD EAR
LAWD I -
HATE TO SEE HER GO
BUT I –
LOVE TO WATCH HER LEAVE
“Shake that Laffy-Taffy…that Laffy-Taffy, girl”…
AWW, SHE’S BAD…
BUT SHE DON’T KNOW IT

SHE IS BAD…
SHE IS
CRACKED PIGGY BANK
NAPPY-NUFF-NOT
SQUINT-GAZED-SORROW
KISSED-LIPPED, SOPHISTI-SWAT
SOULANTA-SLICK BAD!
SHE IS BAD…
BAD…
BAD!!
DAMN…

IF ONLY SHE KNEW.

 

AWAITING THE C.C.T.

I WAS STANDING IN THE ARTS CENTER BUS TERMINAL

ONCE AGAIN AWAITING THAT SLOW ASS C.C.T

WHEN, OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY LEFT EYE

I SPIED THIS CINNAMON-BAKED,

CHOCOLATE BON-BON BEAUTY

WHO HAD SOME DEVASTATING ENDOWMENTS

I MEAN, SISTAH WAS STRAIGHT UP 3-D

AND I DECIDED TO MAKE HER SEE ME

SO, PRETENDING NOT TO NOTICE HER

I PULLED MY POETRY JOURNAL – THIS VERY ONE I HOLD IN MY HANDS –

OUT OF MY BACKPACK

AND BEGAN TO WRITE, IN EXAGGERATED STROKES,

ABOUT THE BEST LOVE

BLACK LOVE

AND OBVIOUSLY, MY PLAN WORKED

BECAUSE CLOSER AND CLOSER AND CLOSER

SHE INCHED TOWARDS ME – FEIGNING NONCHALANCE –

UNTIL SHE COULD PEEK AT WHAT I WAS PUTTING DOWN ON THE PAGE,

WHICH READ:

Your love is like a handful of hot grits…

Hurts like hell

But I can’t let go.

You are the incarnation of pain

Passion

Sorrow

You are my tomorrow,

Which is forecast for showers

Our love

Our love

Our love ain’t pretty flowers,

A big, white house,

Picket fence,

Or two kids: “Buffy” and “The Beaver”

But our shit ain’t ghetto either

No pissy projects,

Skunk reefer,

Or child named Taquisha

Our love is Black…

Veggie patties,

Djembe drums

And the Orisa

Jumping the broom and a Babalawo,

Not a cheap ring and a preacher

No playa and ho shit

I’m the student,

You’re the master-teacher

Our love

Our love

Our love ain’t pretty flowers…

It’s African Black…

I’m the head

But, you?

You’re the power.

I SLIPPED MY PEN INTO MY POCKET,

LEANED AGAINST A CONCRETE POST

AND HIT THE UNIVERSAL “I’M TOO COOL” POSE

AS THE CINNAMON-BAKED,

CHOCOLATE BON-BON BEAUTY SMILED

AND I KNEW I HAD HER

AND Y’ALL…

WOO…THIS SISTAH WAS BAD, HER

HAIR IN KINKY TWISTS

LIKE A MILLION BLACK-POWER FISTS

RAISED IN VICTORY ON HER HEAD

A CHARCOAL-GREY SPORTS BRA

ACCENTUATED THE FIRMEST OF BREASTS

NAVY-BLUE RUNNING TIGHTS HUGGED A PERFECTLY ROUND

MMH-MMH-MMH…

AND CHARCOAL-GREY RUNNING SHOES ON SIZE SEVEN FEET

AN AU NATURAL ATHLETE

A BEAUTY COMPLETE

WITH SKIN, BLACKER THAN A MILLION MIDNIGHTS

AND SMOOTH AS POLISHED ONYX-STONE

DELICATE, YET STRONG FINGERS

AND SOFT, FULL LIPS…

DAMN,

SHE WAS MAKIN’ ME TRIP

‘CAUSE, PHYSICALLY, SHE WAS THE LOVER IN MY DREAMS

THE AFRICAN QUEEN WHO, NIGHTLY, VISITS MY REM-STATE SCENES

“WORD IS BOND, I’LL SCREAM” I SAID TO MYSELF,

“IF I FIND OUT SHE’S A POET”

THE SISTAH REACHED INTO HER COURIER BAG

AND RETRIEVED A WORN, BLACK SKETCHBOOK

THEN TURNED TO ME AND SAID:  “TAKE A LOOK”,

AS SHE OFFERED ME HER BOOK OF POEMS

WITH THOSE BEAUTIFUL, MAHOGANY HANDS

“OKAY, I’LL TAKE A GLANCE”, I RESPONDED,

TRYING TO SOUND SUAVE-AY

AND I SAID TO MYSELF: “TODAY AIN’T A GOOD, BUT A GOD DAY”

‘CAUSE ONLY OLODUMARE COULD HAVE SENT SUCH AN ANGEL

WITH NO MASK,

NO SCHEME,

NO ANGLE…

JUST ANOTHER POET

SEEKING REALIZATION THROUGH “THE WORD”

BE IT SPOKEN, OR WRITTEN

MY HEART WAS SMITTEN

AND RIGHT THERE, ON THAT BUS STOP,

WE WERE GETTING’ IT ON

AND AS SLOW AS THE DAMNED C.C.T. IS,

I FIGURED WE’D BE THERE ‘TIL DAWN

BUT THAT WAS AIGHT, ‘CUZ

SHE HAD ME FEELIN’ A BUZZ

COULD IT BE LOVE?

THE SISTAH GAVE ME A SOFT KISS ON THE CHEEK

AND A WARM HUG

AND I PLAYED IT REAL SMOOTH,

ALTHOUGH I WANTED TO BUG

I SAID:

“WHY DON’T YOU COME BY MY CRIB TONIGHT

AND WATCH JAY-Z ON MTV UNPLUGGED,

AS WE CHILL BY THE FIREPLACE ON MY FAKE BEAR-FUR RUG”

SISTAH CINNAMON-BAKED, CHOCOLATE BON-BON SHYLY SHRUGGED,

LOOKED UP AT ME WITH THOSE SEA-DEEP, SUN-BRIGHT BROWN EYES

AND WHISPERED:  “IT’S A DATE”

AND I SAID TO MYSELF:

“THANK GOD FOR THAT SLOW ASS C.C.T.”

Tags: african, afrikan, balogun, black, black speculative fiction, speculative, writers

TRAYVON 2.0: The Valley of Dry Bones

TRAYVON 2.0: The Valley of Dry Bones

…thus, saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live…and they lived – and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

The trio sat, cross-legged, at the feet of their master as he stood before them, supported by his ever-present, crystal walking stick, which reflected a rainbow of colors with each measured, yet graceful, movement of the man’s wiry frame. ‘Skittles’, the stick was called – and it was rumored to be a rod of immense power.

“Long have we awaited this day,” the old master said. “The wise diviners foretold of three young warriors rising up to one day defeat the Zimmer-Men – and here you sit.”

“We live only to serve!” The three youth replied in unison.

“And serve, you shall,” The master replied. “But to serve well, you must know yourself, your enemy, the time and what must be done. Do you know these things?”

The young warriors had memorized the answer to that question long ago, for it had been recited to them every night, at bedtime, for the past thirteen years.

The trio leapt to their feet and – as one – recited ‘The History’: “On the first day of The Resurrection, the Final Sacrifice was slain by the Zimmer-Man.”

“Continue,” the master commanded.

“On the thirtieth day of The Resurrection, anger over the slaying of the Final Sacrifice and anger over the portrayal of Black people in major roles in the film, ‘The Games of Hunger’, begat the Great Riot.

“And?” The master asked, raising a thick, gray eyebrow.

“And on the thirty-third day of The Resurrection, a group of racist scientists in Atlanta poisoned the water supply with a new disease, comprised of rabies, leprosy and the rhinovirus, or common cold.”

“And did this disease work as the scientists planned?” The master asked.

“No, master,” the trio replied. “While thousands of Black people died, as the scientists planned, non-Blacks suffered also.”

“How so?” The master inquired.

“The disease mutated, transforming them into creatures possessed by a terrifying rage and an inability to feel pain – the monsters we call ‘The Zimmer-Men’.”

“And what did the Zimmer-Men do?” The master asked.

“They set out to infect the world…to remake it in their image and their likeness.”

“So, you are telling me these monsters are intelligent?” The master said, feigning surprise.

“Incredibly so,” the trio answered. “And wickedly wise.”

“And did the Zimmer-Men succeed in their twisted mission?” The master asked.

“They have infected nearly half the population of the United States, thus far and would have succeeded in infecting the entire nation, had not all the Black, Native and Hispanic organizations within America set aside their petty differences, joined together and fought…but many Hispanics have turned to Zimmer-Men, so our numbers are dwindling fast.”

Then, all is lost?” The master asked.

“No, master,” the trio answered. “For it was prophesied that three youth would don hoods made from the blood-soaked cloth of The Final Sacrifice and these hoods would give them power to destroy the Zimmer-Men once and for all.”

“Very good,” the master said, smiling. “Now, place the hoods upon your heads and tell me who you are.”

The three young warriors slipped the black hoods over their shaved heads and then shouted, in unison – “I am Trayvon Martin!”

 

Tags: alicia mccalla, atlanta, balogun, black, black speculative fiction, fiction, history, horror, racism, science fiction, speculative, trayvon, trayvon martin

(PERFECT) PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Becoming an excellent writer!

(Perfect) Practice Makes Perfect: Becoming an Excellent Writer

 

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

This old saw applies to writers as much as to musicians.

The reason why most people who shop their manuscripts don’t get published is because their writing isn’t very good. Agents and editors are looking, above all, for excellent writers. But how do aspiring writers set about achieving excellence?

Research scientists have, for decades, been interested in the question of what makes certain people really good at what they do. To find the answer, they have studied high achievers in many different fields: music and firefighting, chess and golf—even writing. Most of us are sure we already know why some people are great in their field: Talent – that mysterious quality given at birth to the fortunate few.  Wrong.

In study after study, researchers find that innate talent is not a prerequisite for success and that hard work alone does not make people great.

While successful people—those who achieve excellence in a domain—do work very hard, it is how they work that distinguishes them from others.

Just putting in hours at your chosen work is not enough; the only way to get better is to make sure you’re devoting those hours to what we call deliberate practice.

Most of us think that we know what practice is. We learned to play basketball and we remember practicing our jump-shot. We learn to play the piano and we practice scales.

It is unlikely, however, that what we have done and are, at present, doing is really “deliberate practice” and it is almost a certainty that we have never applied the concept of deliberate practice to improving our ability to write.

When most people practice, they repeat things they already know how to do.

Those who become experts in their field spend most of their time doing things they don’t already know how to do.

They are constantly challenging themselves to improve, to do things better, to gain additional skills.

Deliberate practice demands reaching for objectives that are always just out of reach and the practitioner knows that the only way to achieve those objectives is through immense amounts of repetition.

Athletes and musicians all devote themselves to practice; they know that’s the only way they can become good enough to compete at a professional level. Practice is how they learn their skills; practice is how they keep those skills sharp. But when do most writers ever practice?

For most people, the answer is: Never.

Why?  Because we learn how to write in school, where writing is always done under “performance” conditions: the writing will be read, assessed and graded.

Even in most creative writing workshops and writers’ groups, the focus is on performance writing. The writer is taught to write something good enough to get published.

The problem with this approach is that it’s impossible to learn your skills and to improve them if you never give yourself a chance to practice. Most aspiring writers are doing themselves a great disservice by focusing on trying to write publishable pieces. These writers simply don’t have the skills they need to produce professional-quality work. Instead of trying to get published, they need to devote themselves, at least for a while, to practice.

What, though, does a writer practice?

Writers need to possess two main sets of skills: “Content Skills” and “Craft Skills”.

Content Skills

The skills we use to come up with ideas and material for pieces of writing.  They include:

• creativity
• imagination
• curiosity

Craft Skills

These are the skills we use to establish a natural relationship with readers, so we can transfer our content into their minds. They include:

• an understanding of how a type of writing works (a short story does not work the same way as a novel or a newspaper article)
• an understanding of how our chosen genre works (science fiction, romance and horror possess different rules and styles)
• the ability to choose words and put them together in clear, eloquent, and “musical” sentences

One of the keys to deliberate practice is to break a complex skill down into component parts and practice each part separately.

To begin, write down all the writing skills you presently have.

Are you good at coming up with ideas? Do you have a well-trained ability to do research? Does your imagination give you vivid, detailed pictures? Are you good at finding wonderful words?

Next, write down all the skills you need to learn or to work on.

If you are just getting started with writing, you may find this difficult. If people have made comments on your writing, you can use those comments to make your list.

If, for instance, you have been told that your characters are not believable or your descriptions are fuzzy, then the skills of creating characters and writing descriptions go on your list.

Read a piece of writing by your favorite author. Now, write down all the things that writer does that make the piece so good.

How many of those things can you do now? How many of them do you need to learn how to do?

Your answers to these questions will tell you what you need to practice.

To get the most benefit from practice, keep these two principles in mind: repetition and reflection.

Repetition – lots of it – is required to make skills automatic, so that when you sit down to write your novel those skills are ready to work for you.

Reflection – What did I learn today? What do I need to learn next? – is what keeps you on track in your pursuit of excellence.

Developing Creativity

I once asked my students to define “creativity”. None of them could.

I asked them to draw what creativity means to them. A few could; most could not.

I believe the reason is because – in the U.S. and the U.K. (and I suspect all of the Western World) – creativity is looked at as purely the stuff of “dreamers” who want to pursue artistic endeavors and not “real work”. This is farther from the truth than the world being flat, but many take this view and discourage others from accessing what they believe to be an excuse for slacking off or avoiding reality.

In actuality, creativity is the process of producing something that is both original and worthwhile. Creativity is about finding new ways to solve problems and approach situations. Creativity is not a skill restricted to artists, musicians or writers; it is a useful skill for people from all walks of life.

If you want to further develop your creativity, you can:

1.      Commit Yourself

The first step is to fully devote yourself to developing your creative abilities. Do not put off your efforts. Set goals, enlist the help of others and put time aside each day to develop your skills.

 2.      Become an Expert

One of the best ways to develop creativity is to become an expert in that area. By having a   rich understanding of the topic, you will be better able to think of novel (pun intended) ideas and innovative solutions to problems.

 3.      Reward Your Curiosity

One common roadblock to developing creativity is the sense that curiosity is an indulgence. Rather than reprimanding yourself, reward yourself when you are curious about something. Give yourself the opportunity to explore new topics.

 4.      Build Your Confidence

Insecurity in your abilities can suppress creativity, which is why it is important to build your confidence. Recognize your progress, commend your efforts and always be on the lookout for ways to reward your creativity.

 5.      Make Time for Creativity

You won’t be able to develop your creative talents if you don’t make time for them. Schedule some time each week to concentrate on some type of creative project.

 6.      Overcome Negative Attitudes that Block Creativity

According to a 2006 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, positive moods can increase your ability to think creatively. According to Dr. Adam Anderson, senior author of the study, “If you are doing something that requires you be creative or be in a think tank, you want to be in a place with good mood.” Eliminate negative thoughts or self-criticisms that may impair your ability to develop strong creative skills.

 7.      Brainstorm to Inspire New Ideas

Brainstorming is a common technique in both academic and professional settings, but it can also be a powerful tool for developing your creativity. Suspend your judgment and self-criticism, then write down related ideas and possible solutions. The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible in a relatively short span of time. Next, focus on clarifying and refining your ideas in order to arrive at the best possible choice.

 8.      Realize That Most Problems Have Multiple Solutions

When you approach a problem, look for a variety of solutions. Instead of simply going with the first idea you have, take the time to think of other possible ways to approach the situation. This simple activity is a great way to build both your problem-solving and creative thinking skills.

 9.      Keep a Journal

Start keeping a journal to follow your creative process and track the ideas you produce. A journal is a great way to reflect back on what you have accomplished and look for other possible solutions. This journal can be used to save ideas that can later serve as future inspiration.

 10.  Try the “Six Hats” Technique

The “six hats” technique involves looking at a problem from six differing perspectives. By doing this, you can produce more ideas than you might have had you only looked at the situation from one or two points of view.

• Red Hat: Look at the situation emotionally. What do your feelings tell you?
• White Hat: Look at the situation objectively. What are the facts?
• Yellow Hat: Use a positive perspective. Which elements of the solution will work?
• Black Hat: Use a negative perspective. Which elements of the solution won’t work?
• Green Hat: Think creatively. What are some alternative ideas?
• Blue Hat: Think broadly. What is the best overall solution? 

11.  Look for Sources of Inspiration

Never expect creativity to just happen. Look for sources of inspiration that will give you fresh ideas and motivate you to generate unique answers to questions. Read a book, visit a museum, listen to your favorite music or engage in a lively debate with a friend. Utilize whatever strategy or technique works best for you.

 12.  Create a Flow Chart

When you develop a new project, create a flow chart to track the presentation of your project from start to finish. Look for various paths or sequences of events that might occur. A flow chart can help you visualize the final product, eliminate potential problems and create unique solutions.

If all this sounds like a lot of work—well, it is.

Becoming a skilled athlete or musician is a lot of work.  Did you think becoming a skilled writer would be any different?

However, if you love to write – if you love it as much as Stevie Wonder loves to create music or as much as Michael Jordan loved to play basketball – then practice becomes a kind of dedicated play; a source of pleasure and fulfillment.

If you are willing to shift your focus from getting published to becoming an excellent writer, then there’s a very good chance that, eventually, your skills will take you to the “big leagues” of the writing world.

Just remember – practice does not make perfect…perfect – or deliberate – practice makes perfect; so, work diligently, but also work deliberately – to bring about the results you seek.

Until next time – happy writing!

Tags: african, afrikan, balogun, black, black speculative fiction, speculative, writers

HISTORY IN SPECULATIVE FICTION

HISTORY IN SPECULATIVE FICTION

I use history as a source and creative tool in most of my writing. Real world history has heavily influenced my writing since elementary school, since –after English – History was my favorite subject. History has been used as a source of terror in my horror fiction, and speculative history is a major part of my science fiction settings.

Among all spheres of knowledge, History – as a device for storytelling – best rewards our research.

History is not the absolute that it is often treated as, however. From the perspective of the present, the past can not be known with great certainty. Thus, history tells stories of past events, and – like all stories – is told by someone for a purpose.

History can be used to enlighten, educate, entertain, inspire, and influence.

Two history types are very useful for writing fiction: Imaginative History is history that is wholly created. This is the history of most fantasy worlds.

The other type is Speculative History. This includes the “what if” of alternate history, as well as the projection of possible events into the future, which is the history of most science fiction settings.

Both types use historical analysis to generate a plausible set of events. This allows us, as writers, to tap into these created histories to add depth and life to our stories.

By far, the simplest technique is to take a bit of real world history and use it for inspiration. Alter a few things, combine fragments together, and you can create something with depth and character.

Rewriting History

Begin with a change point – a historical event that you want to alter. From there, you can move on, creating changes until you end at the point your story begins. There are two theories with regards to change points. On one hand you can choose a major event, such as Germany winning WWII, the African Slave Trade never happening, or Frederick Douglass becoming President. The other theory is to change one small event and write what happens as a result, such as President Obama choosing Hillary Clinton as his Vice President, or Martin Luther King avoiding assassination.

Whatever you decide to write, the next step is to show how and why the change in history occurred. For smaller changes, this is easier. The larger changes often require a summation of smaller changes, which result in the larger change. The earlier the change point, the greater the ‘snowball’ effect of changes. To be believable, you must do your research. Otherwise, you may make a mistake in some detail in setting or dialogue and readers who have done their research – a common phenomenon in science fiction and fantasy – are going to call you out on it. The readers’ suspension of disbelief will fade; they will close your book; and they will tell the world – via all the social media sites – how much your book sucks.

Although you do not need to be an expert, it helps to be well versed in history. I cannot stress enough that, if you are going to write speculative history, you must research…research…research!

Alternate Reality

You sit down to write a new story or novel. You want your story to be alternate history, with strong elements of fantasy and science fiction mixed. In fact, you want your story to be about Harriet Tubman. You want the world she operates in to be of the steampunk subgenre of science-fantasy and you want her – and others in her world – to possess “superpowers” (by the way, this has already been done – see the novel Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman: Book 1 (Kings), available on Kindle and Nook). What you are now writing is Alternate Reality – you are going to have to change not just history, but reality itself.

This means adding magic, anachronistic science based on clockwork mechanics and steam technology, psionics, super powers and the like. As with the altering of history, this will cause cascading effects on the timeline that need to be addressed.

If magic is possible, what does that mean to history? How would aether-based physics effect the development of social and political structures? If people can read minds, what does that do to concepts of privacy? If you have people flying around and throwing horses over houses, what purpose does society put these powers to? These are questions intrinsic to certain genres, but they also apply to the alternate history that introducing changes in reality can bring.

One of the pitfalls of altering reality is that suspension of disbelief becomes an issue. The degree to which you convince the reader these things are possible depends – once again – on the degree of your research.

Some of you may say “Research isn’t necessary. After all, I am just writing fiction. A simple ‘it happens’ should suffice.” To that, I say that the reader is more sophisticated than you give them credit for. I also would say that fiction is not the art of just ‘making things up’. In fact, I envision fiction as a turkey drumstick: It is the bone of reality covered by the meat of creativity. Meaning, at the core of good fiction is reality and then you add layer after layer of creativity around that core.

In coming blogs, I will explore techniques to help you with your research and the use of sources beyond the internet, for – indeed – Wikipedia has become the ‘Cliff’s Notes’ (remember those annoying yellow and black books?) of the modern era: the information is often incorrect; it is the literary equivalent of secretly using a calculator on a math test; and everyone knows you used it.

More, later, on that, though.

Until next time – happy writing!

Tags: alternate, alternate history, balogun, black speculative fiction, fantasy, historical, history, reality, science fiction, speculative, writers