My paranormal series got a nod from the SFR Galaxy Awards! Yay!

Take a look at whose sci-fi/paranormal series got a nod from The SFR Galaxy Awards! I wonder who? La-la-la-la.

http://sfrgalaxyawards.blogspot.com/2015/01/3rd-annual-sfr-galaxy-awards-round-six.html

The Jan/Feb 2015 issue of Book Trailer Showcase eMagazine

Finally, the current issue of BTS eMagazine is here! Locate it at the top, upper left-hand side of this blog. Nearly a month late but the widget came through. Enjoy.

70s political activist and scholar, Angela Davis turns 71!

A legend who needs no introduction, without further ado...Ms. Angela Davis. Right On!



http://blackamericaweb.com/2015/01/27/little-known-black-history-fact-angela-davis/

PS I tried when I was a teen to get my 'fro to look as perfect as hers but my hair had a mind of its own. No amount of Afro Sheen or picks with a clenched fist as a handle ever got mine this friggin' together. Still, she was my touchstone for the ideal afro. Magnifique!

Gwynne Forster, pioneer in Black romance fiction, has passed.

I had read about this last week but had forgotten to post about it. With a heavy heart I discovered that a pioneer in BLACK/MULTICULTURAL romance writing died on January16th, 2015. Gwynne Forster, along with a handful of other BLACK women created the subgenre of romance that showcases non-White characters. Yes, after the colorblinded (not a misspelling) romance publishing industry finally realized that non-White women wanted to see themselves in romance books, and would pay for it, the short-sighted industry caved and started accepting manuscripts from non-White authors. And yes it matters if the writer is non-White. A non-White writer's perspective/depiction of a non-White character has nuances that a White writer might miss (though some give it the good, old college try even though the realness is cursory at best where non-White characters are leads). She sold to Harlequin and this was back in the 90s. She and they started it all. Not the Joanie-come-lately default writers whose watered-down works are hyped by publishers to the mass audience. Not the default writers that the publishers push to give them a "genuine non-White heroine" just ethnic enough to entertain, but not jar because the Big 5 can't resist passing up a buck or missing the KA CHING! of a cash register. And lastly, not the ones who say that they are allies but conveniently hog every opportunity to take credit for a genre that they know full well they didn't build. Rest in peace dear lady! And even though I never met her, tell Monica Jackson I said hello.

http://www.mainstreetwire.com/archive/24-web-extras/436-gwen-acsadi-a-k-a-gwynne-forster-has-died

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the hijacking of his legacy

If you've ever read my post on the way this country celebrates the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. hard-fought-for holiday, you know I'm not keen on how it has devolved into a day for commerce and a day for the well-meaning, rote regurgitation of his "I Have a Dream " speech. The adoption of that one speech as his hallmark has essentially "neutralized" the man and his legacy. The speech is extremely popular with bigots who love to quote it, manipulate it, and twist it to fit a rhetoric where they gleefully employ it to hammer minorities over the head with how they should conduct themselves when racial unrest jumps off. That 1963 speech was given by a younger King who had not been lied to and jerked around by the U. S. gov't yet pertaining to issues of equality/civil rights. So, yes, he had a dream. Five years later in 1968, the year of his assassination, he gave a darker, wiser speech. A speech delivered by a man who'd seen, and had endured some ratchetness of the finest degree at the hands of his country. Listen at the link below to the speech that should be his shining legacy. It's stirring, poignant and it holds up all these years later. "I've Been to the Mountaintop" is his finest hour and his last as he was killed only hours later on April 4th, 1968

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm

The lovely Madeleine Manning-Mims: Former track and Field athlete in 3 Olympics now a motivational speaker

A little something for a wintry day...


http://blackamericaweb.com/2015/01/12/little-known-black-history-fact-madeline-manning-mims/2/

photo courtesy of blackamericaweb.com

I'm in USATODAY today! SF/F authors make some resolutions for their main characters.

Again, due to fellow author Veronica Scott's generosity, I am part of a SF/F author round up where we pick one of our books characters to voice a much need resolution for him/her. I picked the most bodacious character,  Miss Mattie, the mother of my heroine Tina Cain.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2015/01/01/scifi-fantasy-characters-new-years-resolutions-thea-harrison/21061217/