When I was in high school, (decades ago 😦 #BlackDon'tCrack, #I'mPartElf,) I had read Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann". I was like, "Cool. This is a really creepy story with a really creepy ending!" This was before information was so readily available and at one's fingertips within seconds. Perhaps the H & P in Lovecraft stands … Continue reading Thoughtful Tuesday: Confessions
Month: February 2019
53 Writing Contests in March 2019 – No entry fees – by Erica Verrillo…
Seriously flawed standards
Now, on a serious note.
I happened upon a writer on Twitter and Facebook:
Dakota Willink
Her Twitter introduction: “Amazon Int’l Bestselling Romance Author | Survived my 1st publishing with coffee & wine | Music Lover | Star Wars Geek Since Birth.”
She explains how non-writers are scamming the system at Amazon
and
graciously allowed me to reprint (aka copy/paste) her post.
<_><_><_>
I need to tell a story – it’s going to be a long one, so settle in if you’re interested in hearing it.
I began writing my first book in 2013. I self-published it on December 27, 2015. I was new to the business and I literally knew nothing. I made my own cover, which I’m embarrassed of now. But hey – I was brand spanking new and was learning as I went. And yes, there were typos galore in this first book. My January 2016 sales…
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Haiti’s Unfinished Revolution Is Still in Effect
Gina Athena Ulysse, author of Why Haiti Needs New Narratives, writes (for Tikkun) about the traumatic, historical context in which Haiti’s present political woes have unfolded.
The unfolding events in Haiti are a despairing call for social and economic justice in the absence of rule of law. The folks in the streets who kept Haiti on lockdown since February 7th are clear about their demands. As Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles has reported, they want the 58th president, Jovenel Moïse, to vacate his post because they have no confidence in his leadership. Since he took office in 2017, Moise, an outsider to the political machine but with the support of the United States and the CORE Group, has failed to deliver on promises to alleviate the suffering of the nation and his administration is accused of perpetuating the kleptocratic practices of predecessor Michel Martelly, founder of PHTK (Bald Head Party). Both…
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All Hail Octavia Butler: The Mother of Science Fiction and Afrofuturism
“All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
is Change.
God
is Change.”
-Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents
At the tender age of 9, Octavia Butler ascended into her destiny. Endowed with a keen ability to imagine fictional worlds far beyond the limitations of society, Butler left an influential ripple within the science fiction universe for generations to come. The beauty in her literary career lies in the prophetic notion that Butler remembers the exact moment she decided to become a science fiction writer. After critiquing the 1954 film “Devil Girl from Mars,” Octavia’s exact words were “Geez, I can write a better story than that!” Only to second this assertion by stating, “somebody got paid for writing that story!” If they could, she decided, then she could, as well. Thus her love affair with science fiction began.
Born in Pasadena…
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Animals Cannot Be Blue
Animals can produce broad spectrum of color pigments, but not blue. Why is that?
Make Your Readers Cry: Writing Emotional Scenes
by Allison Maruska
I watched The Hunger Games last night. I read the book before the movie came out, and I’ve seen the movie a few times. So I obviously knew what would happen. Still, a certain scene got me.
By that, I mean it made me weepy.
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Haiti’s explosive Rite of Spring: from pagan Russia to vodou ritual
A report by Lindsey Winship for London’s Guardian
When Jeanguy Saintus first saw Stravinsky’s Rite, he was reminded of his religion’s initiation ceremonies. Now, he has created his own spirited version of the ballet
Since its infamous premiere in 1913, there have been many reimaginings of the Nijinsky/Stravinsky ballet The Rite of Spring, but never before as a vodou initiation ceremony. Forget sticking pins in dolls and other horror-film cliches, vodou – not voodoo, note – is “a religion like any other”, says choreographer Jeanguy Saintus, a practising vodouist and the man who powers contemporary dance in Haiti with his company Ayikodans.
Saintus draws on the rituals of vodou in his first UK commission, for Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre. His Rite of Spring will be performed in a double bill with Opera North, accompanied by their orchestra. Saintus was tentative at first, having never worked…
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The Erasure of Black Women from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Why It Occurs and How to Fix It
Today’s guest poster is the lovely Jasmine Shea Townsend, author of Fairy Tales and Space Dreams, who discusses the issue of black women being erased from Fantasy & Sci-fi and how to correct it.
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POC in Pub Writers and Illustrators of Color Mentorship Program!
Last year, I had applied for . . . and I'm pleased to announce that I've been selected to participate in the inaugural POC in Pub Writers and Illustators of Color Mentorship Program! POC Objective is clear and straightforward: "The People of Color in Publishing Writers and Illustrators Mentorship Program is an opportunity for writers … Continue reading POC in Pub Writers and Illustrators of Color Mentorship Program!
Monique L. Desir 