Roy L. Pickering Jr.'s Blog, page 2

Books for Juneteenth

 

On Juneteenth we reflect on the gap between legal freedom afforded by the Emancipation Proclamation and actual emancipation. In the period spanning from the surrender of the Confederacy on April 9, 1865, to June 19, 1865, while Union troops spread the news of freedom, many slave owners, despite knowing the Confederacy had surrendered, kept this crucial information from those they enslaved.

 
Worth noting is that the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to Confederate states. Lincoln did not free slaves in Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, Kentucky, and West Virginia - Union states where he actually had the authority to do so. While Maryland, West Virginia, and Missouri ended slavery in early 1865, Delaware and Kentucky did not abolish slavery until well after Juneteenth. 

Juneteenth 

Books About Racial Identity / Race Relations

The following novels examine racial identity and race relations in a variety of ways, styles, and genres. Book lovers (like me) in search offiction that not only entertains, but also examines the human condition, willfind what they’re looking for. Particularly those who are interested in howblack and white people often struggle to understand, accept, and get along witheach other. Getting in the way are superficial prejudices along with issues centralto who we are, why we differ, and how we nonetheless are tied together by ourcommonalities. The gap dividing the realities of our lives as fellow Americans and the more perfect union we're still headed toward remains in place.

 

*****

Black Buck by MateoAskaripour – Darren graduated valedictorianfrom his high school, yet rather than moving on to higher education, he worksat a Starbucks. He and his mother live in a spacious home, he is the manager athis job, regularly hangs out with his best friend, and he has a beautiful,supportive, girlfriend. So, he is content.

On a whim he talks a customer intotrying a different drink than usual. From this interaction the man offersDarren a career opportunity. Darren and two other recruits go through whatseems more like a fraternity hazing period than job training, and Darren (whois the only African American) is given the hardest time. He receives thenickname of Buck due to his previous place of employment, but its racialovertones are obvious. For every advantage that results, such as making goodmoney from his sales abilities, there is a downside, such as alienating peoplehe used to be close with. The plot veers from plausible to over-the-top as heeventually ends up running a worldwide top-secret organization that cranks out blacksalesperson success stories. Whether earnest or satirical in intent - BlackBuck is a unique, easy read.

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Caucasia by DanzySenna - For biracial people a layer ofcomplexity is added to the racial identity equation. If one’s skin color islight enough to pass as white, such as is the case with Birdie (but not hersister Cole who fits in with other kids at the Afrocentric school they attend),passing can create an easier life. Is a half-truth equal to a lie?

Readers who love action-filledplots will find this book set in the 1970’s to their liking, as will thoselooking for introspection on social issues. When Birdie and Cole’s parentssplit up, their black father takes Cole away from Boston to see if racialequality can be found elsewhere. Birdie is left behind with their white mother,but they end up on the run, living under false identities. Birdie longs for areunion with her sister and is wary of betraying her mother. Understanding yourselffrom a cultural viewpoint can get complicated when you belong to two sides butsociety insists on choosing one.

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The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow – Agirl is haunted by events that are only vaguelyremembered but form the fabric of each passing day. A father who has vanishedwithout a trace. A mother who left this world in the splashiest of ways, takingher own life along with those of her other children by leaping from the roof ofa building. There is a witness and a survivor. This book is the latter'sstory. 

She is her father's black daughterand her mother's white daughter. Her racial identity is thus both and neither,dependent on how one sees her, or how she chooses to see herself.  Alongwith her blackness and her whiteness and her status as one who has been takenin upon being abandoned, she is a proven survivor. The narrative moves back andforth in time, told from multiple perspectives, revealing the back story in asrandom a manner as the markings of heredity. Beneath longing, loneliness andconfusion is muted hope that a fall from great height can turn into flight.

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Go Set a Watchman byHarper Lee –This book features charactersfrom To Kill a Mockingbird years later. Jean Louise (aka Scout) is now a grownwoman contemplating marriage to Henry who remained in their hometown ofMaycomb, Alabama and followed the footsteps of her father Atticus into the lawprofession. If Scout wishes to return home and marry a father figure, she's allset. She now lives in New York City, a far cry from the small southern town shewas raised in.

Much has changed from the periodin which the events of Mockingbird take place to the 1950's setting of Go Set aWatchman. Closet bigots who once had enough good manners not to let it show inpolite society now feel free to express hostility openly. Count Henry andeven Atticus among those more willing to hear out the KKK than the emerging NAACP.Changing times to them means putting up a more aggressive fight againstprogress. Amazingly Scout has been clueless about her father's truesocial/political views until he is about 70 years old. Once in the know, shefeels betrayed and must figure out how to come to terms with it. Perhaps theAtticus Finch we know and love from the classic is simply too good to be true.Maybe the Watchman version is the more realistic depiction of a flesh and bloodman, rather than an idealized one, because his hypocrisy is made plain.

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Kindred by Octavia E. Butler – A wonderful blend of science fiction with literary fiction.The main character (Dana, a black woman recently wed to a white man in 1976)must keep an ancestor (who is white) from dying on several separate occasionsto sustain the family lineage. She doesn't need to keep Rufus (who she firstmeets as a boy) alive to old age, just long enough for him impregnate the womanwho will give birth to the most distant relative Dana is aware of.

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To protect Rufus she is repeatedlytransported to the era of slavery. He summons her subconsciously and perhapsconsciously as he grows older whenever he is in grave danger. Dana can returnto 1976 only when her own life is in immediate peril. The vehicle of haphazardtime travel is used to show that what happened in the past impacts our presentand shapes our future.

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Little Bee by ChrisCleave - Dual narration alternatesbetween two women. Sarah is a white magazine editor from England. Little Bee isa black undocumented refugee who gets out of a detention center after escapingfrom a violent landscape and must now stay under the radar.

The two women are as differentfrom each other as the places they are from. Sarah is older, a mother, a wifewhen she first meets Little Bee along with being another man's mistress. LittleBee is a teenager from a small Nigerian village which is rich in oil, but the wealthgenerated by black gold does not make it to someone in her position. What reachesher is violence, the barbaric cruelty of men. Learning to speak like thosefrom a safer place is not sufficient to stop them from ejecting Little Bee. Beingborn into privilege like Sarah does not mean tragedy cannot come calling. Despitesuperficial differences, common humanity allows them to connect with oneanother.

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The Man by IrvingWallace - This is a fictional account ofthe first black president. Senator Douglas Dilman isn’t elected to theposition, but rather, the president, vice president and others ahead of him inline are killed. The time is 1964 and Dilman is overwhelmed by an avalanche ofresponsibilities and pressure, plus being burdened by a lack of confidence inhim from those in his cabinet.

On the job training is especiallychallenging when it's the most difficult job in the world, particularly whenmany are resentful of your ascendancy, condescending about your ability to beup to the task, or both. There is no shortage of crisis for Dilman to deal withon the national and international stage. Once navigated, there's the matter of decidingwhether to run for re-election. Barack Obama later became our first non-fictionPOTUS. His election makes it seem that we have come a very long way from 1964but looks can be deceiving. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, sometimesfiction is far beyond the logistics of reality, and then there are occasionswhen fiction accurately predicts a reality we haven’t gotten to yet.

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Pym by Mat Johnson - An African American Literature professor’s primary focus ison examining Edgar Allan Poe’s only full-length novel. Poe’s race makes hiswriting inappropriate for the syllabus, which costs the professor his job. Thename of the book is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Chrisbelieves it holds the key to understanding White-Black race relations. Afterbeing fired, he and various members of his inner circle head off on a quest.Their destination is Antarctica. On this frozen terrain they discover a lostrace of creatures representing Whiteness that Poe wrote about in his novel.

When the world as we know itseemingly comes to an end, the motley crew members are perhaps now the lone civilizedsurvivors of Armageddon. And they have become slaves of the primitive creaturesin Antarctica. If they can escape, the opposite of the place they are beingheld captive, a tropical island representing Blackness that Poe also wroteabout, possibly awaits.

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The Sellout by Paul Beatty –Nearlyevery sentence of this book is a rambling, rapid fire joke with multiple punchlines delivered. Authored by a spoken word poet, it seems written to belistened to rather than read silently to yourself. The plot involves a blackman who was home schooled by his social scientist father, with every lessonbeing about racial identity. After his father is murdered by cops, the soninherits the family farm along with acquiring settlement money. He lives in a Californiatown that has literally been erased from the map. In addition to providingneighbors with incredible fruit, stellar weed, and crisis counseling in timesof mental emergencies, he is on a mission to reclaim recognition that the town exists.

He is friends with the last livingcast member of the Little Rascals, a man named Hominy who voluntarily insistson being the narrator's slave. I don't have an explanation for motive beyond notingthat this book is wildly satirical with every line meant to be taken with alarge grain of salt added to the social commentary. Besides being a slaveowner, he attempts to bring racial segregation back to their town one locationat a time, starting with a city bus driven by his crush. Readers are hit with everycultural reference under the sun along the topsy turvy way.

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When No One isWatching by Alyssa Cole – This story ofgentrification is made even more sinister than it is off the page. The settingis a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY rapidly undergoing changes. The Gifford Placecommunity has been predominantly African American for generations, but lately alot of the black folks have been moving away, and in their place has been thearrival of affluent white people. A black woman named Sydney Green encounters awhite man named Theo and his soon to be ex-girlfriend on a walking tour of theneighborhood. Sydney disapproves of what the tour is highlighting and what itis leaving out, the latter being contributions by the majority blackpopulation. She decides to create a tour of her own to counter it, andunemployed Theo volunteers to be her assistant.

Sydneydoes not hold back from expressing displeasure with gentrifying white people. Theoshrugs this off though and is not without charm. Since Sydney is convenientlysingle just as Theo is in the process of becoming, a potential love connectionis in the making. The book is written in alternating first person point of viewperspective - each chapter from Sydney's viewpoint followed by one from Theo's.Peculiar circumstances pile up and suspicions rise from mild to full blownconspiracy territory. Why are so many of their neighbors here one day - gonethe next? When did the neighborhood bodega change hands and become a far moreupscale store? Why isn't Syndey's best friend answering her texts? What doesthe company that's building a hospital in the neighborhood have to do with thevarious ominous things that are taking place? We find out in the closing pagesas the book races towards a thriller genre conclusion.

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24 Children's Books by Black AuthorsPlus 1 more with my highest recommendation

Caribbean Heritage Month

 

Here's a free ticket to the beautiful islands of the Caribbean, courtesy of some book reviews written and recorded by a native son of St. Thomas, USVI. 

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@mudhousebooks #booktok #blackhistorymonth ♬ Stir It Up (Live - Boarding House, San Francisco 7/7/75) - Bob Marley And The Wailers

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Pride Month Book Recommendations

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Why is #Pride in June? https://t.co/CeY9vM29pK

— TIME (@TIME) June 3, 2024

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Following are some Pride Month reading recommendations from Roy's Book Reviews

  


                                  Honorable mention?


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Unless there is a VERY GOOD reason, and there are very few of those, the gender of who people are attracted to and love and build lives with certainly not being one of them...

The War on Peace in Prose

War – What is it good for? Absolutely nothing in the realworld, but on page it can make for compelling reading. The fighting may be inthe foreground of the plot or may serve primarily as backdrop to the story. Centralcharacters may be soldiers, or veterans, or civilians going about the processof living while others kill and are killed around them. Perhaps a truce hasalready been called that ends the fighting, but not the impact on shatteredlives.

The following books are examples of such compelling reading material

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – Set inEurope during World War II, the narrative featuresa German orphan boy who is handy at mechanical fidgeting, including theself-taught ability to fix radios and finding which transmissions can reachhim. One is picked up from France, sent by the great uncle of a blind girl thatit is his destiny to one day meet. 

Much takes place between Wernerhearing the broadcasts of Marie-Laure's great uncle and finally crossing pathswith her. Due to his talent, rather than being sent to work in the mines Wernerlands in an academy that trains German boys to become soldiers. Marie-Laure endsup alone when her father is taken prisoner. Left behind by him is an invaluablegift - a rare gem removed from the museum to be kept safe from treasure seekingNazis. Along with its monetary worth are rumored magical properties that canheal disease. Marie-Laure is unaware that it is in her possession untilfiguring out clues sent by her father. While we read on to see when and how fatewill lead Werner to Marie-Laure, the war that Hitler thrust the world intorages on.

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The Amazing Adventuresof Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon –A novelabout the immigrant experience, particularly that of Jewish people who came toAmerican shores from Europe to escape Nazi persecution. Being set in wartimemeans that violence and survival instinct are on display during the frozenbattlefield portion of the narrative. It also is about magic and illusion andescapism and the earliest days of the comic book industry.

Last but not least, we arepresented with a love story. Two actually - one straight and one gay. Given thetime period, the latter is clandestine, forbidden, and ultimatelyheartbreaking. If you are drawn to sprawling stories that take place over manyyears in which spectacular events take place, pick this book up.

 

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Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr. - History buffs interested in a post-Civil War setting will beenthralled. Those who take interest in this nation's troublesome history ofrace relations will be drawn in and will shake their head at the realizationthat centuries old truths stubbornly remain valid to this day. Those searchingfor bittersweet love stories will find them here, and most importantly, readerswill empathize with the well-developed characters.

Sam, a runaway slave who once worked for the Union Army, is determinedto find his wife even though this means leaving the safety of Philadelphiabehind to return to the war-torn south. Tilda is being forced at gunpoint towalk until finding a place that the man who enslaves her believes his rights asa slave owner will still be honored, despite the result of the war. The thirdprimary character is Prudence, a white woman who goes from Boston toMississippi to start a school. While the events of this story take place after bloodshedon the battlefield has officially ended, long lasting effects dominate thelives of those in search of a new meaning for freedom.

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Home by Toni Morrison – Frank Money is a veteran of the Korean War, haunted by blood-soaked memoriesof his time there. Now back in America, returned to its unique brand of racismagainst black people, he finds himself with a peacetime rescue mission. Hissister is in bad shape, and so he must return to the hometown in Georgia thathe loathes, taking a journey from one trauma inducing location to another. Itis the last thing he wants to do, and the only challenge capable of shaking himfrom a crippling sense of apathy and PTSD.

Much has changed over the courseof the years since Frank last set foot in the town where they were raised.Plenty remains basically the same. Home is there to provide familiar comforts,even though our return to it is inevitably in the form of a different versionof ourselves. Even when it is a place that was run away from, home is what onehopes remains when the war and the running is done.

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The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian – This bookjumps back and forth between the years 1943 and1955. The earlier setting takes place in an Italian countryside during WorldWar II. Mussolini's Italy became an ally to Hitler's Germany during the war,but initially German soldiers treated Italy like an occupied nation rather thanviewing its citizens as brothers in arms. During this period of uneasyalliance, the wealthy Rosati’s host parties for the Germans, the two adult sonsserve in the military, and their sister falls in love with a German soldierwhom she believes to be more humane than most of his comrades. Their cozyrelationship with Germans is a recipe for resentment from their less prosperousneighbors who are distrustful of the Nazis and anyone who chooses to associatewith them.

In the 1950's, the second plotrevolves around a serial killer who for unknown reasons is targeting members ofthe Rosati family. Two detectives try to hunt down the killer. This fast-pacednovel races along on a dual track. We learn the identity and motivation of thekiller in its final pages. If you enjoy whodunnits, or war novels, orhistorical fiction with a dash of romance, or art history – you will be rewardedwith each of these elements.

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The Nightingale byKristin Hannah –This novel is aboutGerman occupation of France during the WW II that centers on the heroism ofFrench women- two in particular, sisters Isabelle and Vianne. Isabelle is themore rebellious of the two, not content to sit at home and wait to be savedwhen she can go out and do some saving of her own. She joins a group ofrebels that help the cause of defeating Germany any way they can, such asescorting to safety various pilots who survive their planes being brought downby the German military. Vianne has a young daughter in her care, so she is notable to be as reckless as her sister.

Vianne’s husband joins the fightingand is captured. A German soldier is billeted in their home. After he is killedto protect the hiding Isabelle, a far less decent Nazi takes his place. Thenarrative alternates between Isabelle's exploits and Vianne's struggle tosurvive Nazi occupation of her town and home. A third thread takes us to 1995.An elderly woman who recently moved into an assisted living complex has beeninvited to an event in France. We understand that this woman must be one of thesisters but must wait for her identity to be revealed.

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Persepolis: The Storyof a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi –Thenarrator of this graphic novel is a young girl growing up during the Islamicrevolution and the Iran-Iraq war who reveals impactful events to us inmatter-of-fact fashion, such as her one day being a student in a co-ed,non-religious bilingual school - the next day a student in an all-girls schoolwith the wearing of veils now obligatory. The contrast between thestylistically simple black and white illustrations and the brutal inhumanity ofwhat is taking place is startling - like a pre-school children's book and aRated R horror flick merged into one.

Loved ones are introduced on onepage, killed a page or two afterwards. Tragedy just keeps coming. Yet we alsocan't help smiling in certain places as this stubborn, resilient girl putstogether a punk rock look, or goes shopping for music by acts some readers willremember from the 1980's, scoring posters of Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde that herparents sneak into the country, or when she takes a forbidden puff of acigarette in the basement and declares herself to have reached adulthood.Regime changes are detailed at a dizzying pace. No matter who is in chargeduring any given period, repression in one form or another is present, as isdanger. Permanence is a foreign concept to this Middle Eastern world. Herimmediate family is the only constant, but how long can it last when the onlyreliable guarantees are sudden change and arbitrary violence?

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The Plot AgainstAmerica by Philip Roth – This book asksthe hypothetical question - what if FDR had been defeated in his run for athird term by the charismatic Charles Lindbergh whose main campaign promise wasto keep the US out of World War II while having a darker motive for acquiringpower? It is told in a macro way, as well as going micro and showing the impactof Lindbergh's fictional presidency through the eyes of a boy in a Jewishfamily in Newark, NJ. Instead of being about fighting against tyranny overseas,it’s about hope of avoiding war being used as lure to spread antisemitism inAmerica.

Parallels between the 1940's ofRoth's imagination and our current political climate are striking. Simplyswitch the idea of a man who ascends to the presidency aided by a foreigngovernment (Germany) with the idea of a man ascending to the presidency aidedby a foreign government (Russia). Switch a celebrity with no previous politicalexperience having an improbable, meteoric rise to the White House with acelebrity who – actually, no theme switch is necessary here. Switch peoplebeing thrown into concentration camps because they're Jewish with people beingthrown into detention centers because they crossed a border in hope for abetter way of life. The American way is something that can be taken for granteduntil it is under assault.

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The Sympathizer byViet Thanh Nguyen – The narrator is theproduct of an absent French father and Vietnamese mother. He leaves Vietnam forAmerica and establishes a new life with other refugees in Los Angeles, secretlyreporting back to communist superiors in his homeland.  As a spy he toes the line between identity asa capitalist and as a communist who will never spiritually leave his native land.

This novel explores the nature ofbeing two sided.  The narrator is bothunfeeling and remorseful, a sensitive soul and a cold-blooded killer, a loyalfriend and a lone wolf, the conqueror and the conquered, Western and Eastern,Caucasian and Asian. These ideas are explored with beautiful command oflanguage. The closing section features the most vivid torture scene I canrecall since reading William Goldman's Marathon Man years ago. I suppose Ishould provide a trigger warning for those who steer clear of graphic violenceon page. If you can look past that, you will find an astute book of compelling ideas.

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The Things TheyCarried by Tim O’Brien – This book iswritten from the perspective of down-in-the dirt participants of the VietnamWar. It’s about bonding with your fellow man and then watching him die beforeyour eyes. It's about surviving to tell a jungle tale, not so much the truedetails of what did and didn't happen, but how it felt to know that the nextminute might be your last...or the last for the guy sitting next to you. It'sabout being steeped in mud and surrounded by death, some of it brought about byyour own hands, most of it something that you're helpless to stop and so areforced to grow familiar with. It is about the things soldiers carry, physicallyas well as emotionally, to remind themselves that a world at peace awaits thoselucky enough to make it through hell and return to wherever they came from. Notthat home will be what it once was, because war permanently alters everythingthat it does not destroy.

Billed as fiction but it feelslike a memoir so split the difference. O’Brien writes beautifully aboutawful circumstances and tragic events rendered mundane by repetition. It is atime capsule filled to the brim with things held on to, and things lost.

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My humble contribution to the genre - THE RIDE HOME

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Some fascinating historical photos from around the world (A (thread) 🧵)

A woman tests a stroller intended to be resistant to gas attacks in Hextable, England in 1938, not long before the outbreak of World War II. pic.twitter.com/6r7ca2vHav

— Fascinating (@fasc1nate) May 26, 2024

 

AND STILL THEY RISE

Amelia Earhart said that courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.   We are living in trying times for women in America and beyond our shores. As these novels written by and largely about the inner lives of women attest, that has pretty much always been the case.

American Spy by Lauren Wilkerson - Someone breaks into Marie Mitchell’s home to kill her. Shethwarts the attack and goes on the run. The rest of the story details what ledto this situation. Most of the text is what Marie writes to her twin sons whileabsent because she has one more dangerous mission to complete. In case shedoesn't survive, she wants to explain her actions and choices.

Although a work of fiction, thereare characters from real life featured. Most notably, Thomas Sankara who isknown as "Africa's Che Guevara”. He is the father of Marie's sons, and sheis tasked with setting him up on behalf of the US government. Nearly everyonein this book is practicing the art of deceit. Marie is constantly beingmanipulated while directed to manipulate others. It's what she signed up for,although prior to receiving this assignment she was underutilized andunderappreciated by the FBI. But she is the right race and gender and level ofattractiveness to be put on the case of bringing Sankara down. He is one of thefew people in this story who isn't lying with every other word he says. Hisintentions in many respects are noble, so readers along with Marie wonder ifher allegiance is to the right side.

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The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher - Historical fiction centered on the life of Sylvia Beach who in1919 founded Shakespeare and Company bookstore. She is surrounded by creativeswho felt stifled by the conservative attitudes of America and so came to Paris tolive their best lives and produce their best art. While Prohibition was takingplace in America, artists freely expressed themselves in France. Sylvia is alsofree to love the woman she loves.

Her decision to publish JamesJoyce's Ulysses in 1922 drives the story. Considered obscene by those whocouldn't look past the strong language to appreciate the novelty and beauty ofits prose, Ulysses needed someone brave and resourceful enough to bring it tothe light of day. By publishing the only title under the bookstore's imprint,the course of literary history was altered. Readers have a window seat view ofthis artistically influential period.

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Tumbling by Diane McKinney-Whetstone – Herbie and Noon’s marriage is not consummated due to a darksecret, a brutal attack in Noon's past. She escapes her demons through church. Herbiedoes likewise in nightclubs and in the arms of another woman, when she's aroundand will have him.  Ethel fulfillsHerbie’s physical needs if not necessarily his emotional ones.

The couple comes to raise twodaughters just months apart in age who are left on their doorstep - Fannie asan infant and Liz later at the age of 5. Mysteries are unraveled throughout thenarrative taking place in Philadelphia during the 1940's and 50's. Struggles areendured, mostly because of secrets and lies and maintained silences. Readerspull for them to remain together when fate seems determined to tear their worldapart.

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Salvage the Bones byJesmyn Ward - A motherless girl inLouisiana with a mostly absent father lets the local boys take what they pleasefrom her until she meets one that she wants something back from. Esch is a loneyoung woman in a world of males, and it is through her eyes that we pass idletime waiting, watching, remembering, wishing for what is plain will not be,settling for whatever she is able to grab hold of. Pregnant at the age offourteen, she does not get placed on a pedestal like her brother's prized dog.But like China she can nurture when called upon, is ready to fight tooth andnail for survival when necessary.

Esch aches with desire, isburdened by a stifling sense of loss, yearns to be loved. Prior to the arrivalof Hurricane Katrina, the book’s pace covering twelve days is slow and steady.We wait with her for the inevitable devastation.

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The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey– Trinidadians’ struggle for independence from theauthority of Europeans is backdrop to the story of a rocky marriage. In this book’sfirst section, the title character incessantly complains about her situation.Even though her husband is no saint, initially he is the more tolerable of thetwo. He's an alcoholic and a serial adulterer, one who in his older years doesnot bother to have mistresses but settles for prostitutes. But we also seedecency in his dealings with people and root for his efforts to atone and winback his wife's affections.

We are brought back in time forthe second section to when they first arrive in Trinidad. They are morevibrant, seem to be deep in love with each other, open to giving things achance. But while the husband is happy to be where he knows he can enjoy asuccessful career, his wife sees island life as a temporary necessity toexperience, and then to endure until their return to England. She is led tobelieve that there is an exit strategy. He is hoping that she will come aroundin time, until he ceases to care. Rum and women and professional achievementand growing wealth help him to deal with a wife who hates where she is yet willnot or cannot leave. Time passes and revolution is in the air. If theTrinidadians achieve the freedom they long for, perhaps she will get what shepassively desires. The book draws to a close as the day of her personalemancipation seemingly draws near. We know it is a mirage because we havealready learned that Trinidad will not loosen its grip on them.

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New World Monkeys byNancy Mauro –A marriedManhattanite couple has reached a rocky patch, but they’re not saying much aboutit. When Lily inherits a house in upstate New York, it’s as an excuse to movethere for the summer while working on her obscure dissertation, never mind thatthe small town's library is insufficient. Duncan balances his stressfuladvertising job with trips upstate to spend weekends Lily. They're separated,but not officially; married but no longer truly intimate; perhaps still in lovebut neither one certain of how to express it.

The change of scenery bringsvarious quirky characters into their unsettled lives and immediately puts bloodon their hands, that of a not so wild boar which turns out to be the townmascot. Duncan has a jeans campaign that he's in charge of as distraction. Thelocal Peeping Tom shows Lily the ropes as diversion. Together the couple findsa mystery to literally unearth in the form of a scattered skeleton buried intheir garden while figuring out if they've reached the end of their road, ormerely a slippery turning point.

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Blonde by Joyce CarolOates – A thoroughly researched work offiction about things that really happened (mixed with conjecture) in the lifeof a very well-known person. Her meteoric rise to Hollywood stardom as well asher tragic early death makes for irresistible subject matter. Her romantic lifeincludes high profile marriages to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller plus adalliance towards the end of her days with President Kennedy.

The book begins when Norma Jean isa baby and closes with dramatization of her final breaths. Mostly written fromfirst person point of view, Marilyn's thoughts, hopes, and dreams are revealed.What we see is a woman who led a glamorous existence, had many lovers but notnearly enough love, was on a lifelong search for the father she never knew, andon a quest to earn her mother's love. While the world viewed her as a blondebombshell to adore, she saw herself as an artist trying to master her craftwhile exploited by Hollywood power brokers. Her unfulfilled desire to have andraise children meant that a fairy tale ending kept eluding her. Being the mostdesired woman in the world would be consolation prize. She had it all,including an abundance of insecurity and loneliness. When the spotlight was on,she dazzled. When it was off, the character of Marilyn Monroe was put away andthe reality of being Norman Jean was her burden to bear.

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Breath, Eyes, Memoryby Edwidge Danticat – A tale aboutmothers and daughters and the pain they bring one another. The setting isdivided between Haiti and America as well as between childhood and adulthoodfor the main character - Sophie. It starts off in Haiti where she is beingraised by her aunt, left behind while her mother establishes a new life in NewYork. In her teen years the time arrives for Sophie to be reunited with hermother.

It isn't until she gets to NewYork that significant male characters are introduced. One is her mother'sboyfriend. The other is a musician who lives next door when he isn't on theroad. Joseph is closer in age to Sophie's mother. Staunch refusal to allow anyman to ruin her daughter's purity drives a wedge between them. Sophie and hermother are no longer far apart physically, but distant emotionally. Patriarchyextending beyond Haiti results in cruelty imposed by women upon girls in theircare to keep them worthy for male suitors. Sophie chooses to marry someone whoseems to be a good man, breaking a family pattern. She is willing to attendtherapy sessions in the hope that her husband's wait for physical intimacy neednot be indefinite.

 ~~~

The Lowland by JhumpaLahiri – A story of family, a construct supposedlybonded by blood, but more so by love and willingly made sacrifice. Gaurimarries the love of her life, loses the charismatic and impulsive Udayan topolitical violence, and then marries his younger brother while carrying thechild of the man she lost. Even though she is willing to make a new life withSubhash, he remains to her the lesser of the two brothers. Since the daughterthey raise without revealing true paternal roots is a potent reminder of Udayan,Gauri never comes to love her daughter as you would expect a mother to do.

Leaving a country behind doeslittle to erase memories and allow a new chance for happiness. Whether it's inthe lowland of Calcutta or a college town in Rhode Island, when a ghost is morereal to you than the people in your home, the only possible existence is ahaunted one.

 ~~~

The Magician’sAssistant by Ann Patchett –A womanstruggles to learn who she truly is, which starts out by embarking on a journeyto discover who her deceased husband was. Sabine's husband has just died. Hislover Phan died of AIDS not long before, which informs us that Sabine wasmarried to a gay man - the magician whom she assisted. She then learns that herhusband was not an orphan bereft of any family other than her and Phan as shehad thought. His mother and two sisters plus a couple nephews are alive andwell. To them his name was Guy. Parsifal's greatest magic trick was reinventionof himself.

The first version is a boy growingup in Nebraska, dreaming of being anyplace else. The second version is a man(with a wife as well as a male partner) who has found that place in LosAngeles, performing magic shows for the joy of it and selling antique rugs ashis main source of income. The only answer we receive regarding why Sabine waswilling to marry him is that she loved him and failed to find anyone else whomade her feel the same way. When she learns that Parsifal had been lying toher, she throws herself into solving the mystery of his life. By getting toknow the people who share his blood, Sabine hopes to move on from torturousmourning towards a potential new form of happiness.

XXXXX

Happy Mothers Day to all of the moms out there!

Forgot I wrote this

In looking through my emails for something completely unrelated, I found this bit of flash fiction that I wrote for the heck of it. I re-read it and like the darned thing. So here you go.

HIS NAME WAS BUD

By Roy L. PickeringJr.

 

 

Hisname was Bud. He hated when random strangers addressed him as"buddy", so close to accidentally guessing his actual name. Ofcourse, they did not know that his name was Bud, much less that it wasn't shortfor Buddy. It was an abbreviation of “Rosebud” and his mother picked the namefrom some old Black & White movie that he had never bothered to watch. Hedidn't know if his mother had expected a girl or decided on Rosebud as herchild’s name regardless of gender. What mattered is that he could not very wellgo around allowing himself to be called Rosebud, so for better or worse, Bud itwas.

It had mostly been for theworse. Life had been hard and mean to him so far. His father had not botheredto stick around long enough to find out that his mother would die giving birthto him. This meant being raised by an aunt on his mother's side until he turned5 and she turned and took him to an orphanage, done with being responsible forthe mistakes of others, family or not.

At 18 he was officiallya man, out on his own, no direction or plan or clue as what to do next. Robbinga convenience store seemed like as good of an idea as anything else. Next time,if there was a next time, Bud would do a little more research to find out inadvance if the guy behind the counter was likely to have a gun back there, and ifhe would be inclined to use it.

Getting shot in the guthurt like hell because of course it did. Bud's big plan collapsed on itself andnow he had nothing better to do than to sit on the floor, press against therapidly leaking hole in his stomach, and wait to see if the cops or an ambulancewould arrive soon enough to do him any good.

Bud looked towards thewindow for whoever might be coming to his rescue, but most of the view wasblocked by stuff for sale, and the bit of glass he could see was too filthy tobe transparent. His eyes were growing heavy, but he refused to let them closefor good reason and fixed his sight on a rack of DVD's. Maybe one of the movieswas the one his mom had picked his name from.

 

Wouldn't that besomething? 

Mama's Boy - a short story

 

For a good many years this story along with one named Dialogue were housed at a literary web site with the clever name of TimBookTu. That site is no more, so now for the first time ever here at A Line A Day I present my short story - Mama's Boy.

                                           MAMA'S BOY

                                               BYROY L. PICKERING JR.

 

 

      What would his mama say?

     What would she think if she could see himnow, about to do what he was about to do? She'd kick his butt good.  Toss itinto the streets with no more hesitation than if he were the garbage.  His mother would be ashamed that he was herson.

     But she wasn't seeing this.  And he didn't have a choice in thematter.  He had wanted to be down withthe Crypt more than anything.  Now hewas.  That brought responsibilities alongwith it.  The lesson most stressed by hismother was that you live up to your responsibilities, no matter what.  That was how she had managed to raise half adozen kids in this neighborhood with no man around and done just fine.

     Ricky was the last of those children togrow up, and the most difficult to get there. His older siblings had made Mama proud, graduating high school, gettingjobs with the city, marrying before kids were on the way.  They made things easy for their motherbecause they bent to her overpowering will.

     She had not been able to go six for six,however.  Ricky fought with his motherfrom day one, when he had to be forcibly removed from her womb.  A clear omen of things to come.

     When his mother commanded that he eat hisvegetables, Ricky screamed for candy. She told him to get to bed early, he wanted to watch late night talkshows.  When she demanded he hit thebooks, he read comics.  She insisted heclean up his act and stop getting detention, so he got himself expelledinstead.  His mother had dreamt theimpossible for all her children, that they go to college.  Ricky was her last hope.  He had not placed college very high on hislist of priorities.  But at age thirteen,he joined a gang.

     That was six weeks ago.  Since then, he had done a lot of things hismother wouldn't approve of.  He hadconsumed alcohol and ingested drugs.  Hehad engaged in sex.  Ricky had robbed,and fought, and hurt people foolish enough to resist.  He had hurt people who didn't resist at all.

     If there was anything in his motherstronger than her will, it was the love she held for her children.  Ricky knew that despite the things he haddone in the past, she would forgive him. But after what he was about to do?  He didn't think so.  This crossed the line not even a mother'slove would venture beyond.

     Nevertheless, Ricky had chosen his path sonow had to walk it. He wasn't willing to travel the long, arduous road hismother had tried to direct him towards. He was in too much of a hurry. Out on these streets is where he would stake his claim, where he wouldimmediately be paid in full. 

     That's why Ricky was leaning against afence, waiting to fulfill his latest duty as a member of the Crypt.  Any moment now the guy would be coming home,basketball in hand, cap turned backwards on his head, one pants leg rolled upto his knee.  And Ricky would make hisfirst kill.

     He patted the gun which was held securelyin the waist of his jeans, hidden from view by his overlapping shirt.  Ricky wondered what it would be like to killa person.  What else was there to thinkabout at such a time?

     Would he feel like more of a man, orless?  Would he feel regret andremorse?  Or only relief that he hadaccomplished his mission?  Would he likeit?  Would he like himself?  Would he be able to do it?  If so, would any of the other questionsmatter?

     There he was.  Ricky could set his watch by him.  He was alone as usual.  The sun was down, the nearest streetlightout, no witnesses to be found. 

     Ricky moved closer. It was necessary to beas quiet as possible, because if seen, his intentions would be instantly known.But he couldn't be too far away.  Missingwas not a luxury he could afford.

     When his foot hit the discarded soda can, adozen car alarms and a marching band could not have made a more resoundingclamor. Surprise was no longer his ally. Neither was time.

     Ricky raised his arm and fired.  The bullet harmlessly flew over the leftshoulder of its target, eventually imbedding itself in a wall of the tenementbuilding behind him.  The second bulletreleased sunk deeply and with finality into soft flesh.  Its victim crumbled to the ground, his hands anineffective dam to hold back the flow of blood.

     "Did you see that?", a voiceasked.  "He just smoked thatnigga."

     Apparently, there had been peoplearound.  Ricky hadn't noticed them.  Who could blame him?  He was new to this.  Killing was a skill like any other.  You had to practice to get good at it.  Doing it right, doing it perfect, wasn't easyto achieve the first time out.  Novicestended to be sloppy.  They made amateurishmistakes like not observing witnesses; making unnecessary sounds that gave themaway; missing their first shot, which could turn out to be their only one.  Cause if your mark was wearing a piecehimself then he would get a chance, and you could end up lying on the groundbleeding your life away.  Just like Rickywas.

     He would never know what it was like tokill a person, but he would learn how it felt to be killed.  Voices around him slowly growing softer, thestars in the sky becoming fainter by the second.  The pain, overwhelming at first, then fadingas well.  No chance to even be afraid,for Ricky had allotted his precious remaining moments to asking himself aquestion. 

     The police would come, the news wouldspread, the sordid tale would be told. Ricky Tate, thirteen-year-old gang banger, tried to pop someone and gotpopped himself.

     What would his mama say?

DIALOGUE - a short story

The short story that you will find below was written when I wore a much younger man's clothes. It explores in light-hearted fashion that purposely exhibits stereotypes, the vast divide between people of different demographics. And how this societal gap can perhaps be bridged if we would merely be willing to engage in open, non-confrontational dialogue.

                          DIALOGUE

                    BY ROY L. PICKERING JR.

 

 

     The subway train rumbled steadily onward,an encapsulated mobile community beneath the city streets.  At four o'clock in the morning, fewpassengers were on board.  The mostinhabited car was the one pulling up the rear which contained five people.  Sleeping against each other in a corner was ahomeless, but nonetheless happily inebriated couple.  Immersed in conversation was a casually cladblack youth of about 16, and a conservatively attired white man in histhirties.  The final member of therolling soiree was a blonde woman in her late twenties, decked out in partygear of the ‘Bring Your Own’ variety, distractedly reading the latest romancenovel to top the NY Times Best Seller list.

     "Yo, check it out, Larry.  Shorty is peeping you out.  Don't let me hold you back now.  I know you want a piece of that.  Her body is boomin’."

     "I don’t think so," said theurban professional to his eager travel companion.  “Attractive certainly, but I doubt we’d havevery much in common.”

     "You don't think so?  Don't tell me you're a mo."

     "A what?"

     "A faggot, a queer boy."

     "I'm quite heterosexual, thankyou."

     "Then what's the problem?” asked theyoung man, genuinely perplexed at Larry’s apathy.  “You gots to think that honey is fine."

     "She really isn't my type."

     "Not your type.  Check out those titties.  Those are fucking siliconed works ofart.  And did you get a good look whenshe walked in?  That's one seriousbootie.  Somewhere out there is a sistawondering who the hell stole her ass."

     Larry cast a glance at the leopard printtights that painted the woman's legs. "She's a little too showy for me."

     "I know what homegirl can showme.  Man would I wax that ass good.  Now stop playing me.  I refuse to believe you don't want to get up onthat."

     "I guess I find her appealing in aStaten Island sort of way," Larry conceded.

     "Damn straight you do.  Now go over there and bust a Wall Street rapon that fly honey."

     "I'm not interested.”  It seemed unnecessary to explain that hedidn’t actually work on Wall Street.  Thekid’s characterization was clear enough. “Why don't you talk to her?"

     "First of all, she's a bit too old forme.  More importantly, she doesn't strikeme as being into dark and lovely.  Youknow what I'm saying?"

     "I think so,” Larry said.  “But you see, I have a barrier just as greatas you do."

     "Unless you're the lightest mulattobrother I've ever seen, I don't know what you're talking about."

     "You may have noticed that thenecklace she's wearing has a cross on it. I happen to be Jewish."

     "So, who gives a fuck?"

     "She very well might," Larryanswered, a feint trace of resignation in his voice caused by a long ago loveaffair that ended for this very reason.

     "I'm not saying you should step to thegirl and ask to meet her parents.  Justbullshit a little and get her digits. Next week you take her out, spend a few bucks, and then butter thatbiscuit. I thought you guys were smart."

     "I resent that."

     "Resent what?"

     "The anti-Semitic tone of your lastcomment."

     "The what of my what?" 

     "Your statement was prejudicialagainst Jewish people."

     "By calling you smart?  You’d rather be called an ignorantnigger?  Look Lar, I ain't got nothingagainst Jews.  Man you guys aresensitive.  You own half the money in thegoddamn world.  What you got to complainabout?"

     "I got ...  I mean, Ihave just as much reason for complaint as you.  Jewish people have been persecuted as much asyour race.  More so even."

     "You're talking out your ass now.  You guys own all the movie studios, thebanks, the law firms.  That don't soundtoo much like suffering to me."

     "You ever hear of the holocaust?”Larry asked, his voice rising from the whisper they had been trying to maintainas the conversation took on an unexpectedly political tone.  “You ever read in the newspaper about what'sgoing on in Israel?  The people there areliving in a war zone."

     "You want to see a war zone?  Come by my hood.  Take a stroll through good old Harlem,USA.  And how about slavery?"

     "I'd take cotton picking over aconcentration camp any day."

     "At least the holocaust ended.  Cotton just got exchanged for welfare checksand food stamps.  Alright, enough of thisbullshit. Let's get back to the topic at hand. Homegirl has been scoping you out since she sat down.  You got the fly gear.  Shorties be into that Brooks Brothers looknowadays.  It shows you got an importantjob.  It shows you have no shortage ofBenjamins."  He noticed theperplexed look that pass over Larry’s face and clarified.  “Plenty of money.”

     "I happen to be involved in a seriousrelationship.  My girlfriend and I havebeen together for three years."

     "So? You ain't down with OPP?"

     "Am I down with Opie?"

     The kid shook his head and suppressed alaugh at Larry's ignorance.  “Is yourgirl as dope as this one here?" he re-phrased.

     "Is dope a good thing?"

     "Yeah."

     "Not in such an obvious way,"Larry confessed.

     "More importantly, is your girl hereright now?"

     "No."

     "So then there ain't nothing to it butto do it."

     "Okay, enough of this badgering,"said Larry testily.  "Why don't yougo about the business you were conducting and leave me be."

     "Sure, Larry, no problem.  I was getting off at this stop anyway.  You like to work solo.  I can understand that.  Just take some good advice.  Whatever you do, make sure to wear a jimmyhat. That's a condom.  These aredangerous times we're living in."

     The knife being pressed against Larry'sback was removed. 

     "I'll take that phat watch you got ontoo."

     Larry was somewhat puzzled over thedescription of his rather thin timepiece but did as he was instructed.  He grimaced as his hard-earned money wentinto someone else's pocket but was pleasantly surprised when the wallet he hadhanded over earlier was returned with his numerous credit cards stillcontained. 

     "Ordinarily I don't do this.  But I like you, Larry.  You're all right."

     The kid got up and stood by the doors asthe train pulled into the next station. "Shalom, my brother," he said when the doors opened.

     "Keep the faith, homey," Larryresponded.

     Theyoung bandit bounded off the train.  Larrywatched after him for a moment, wondering how much his Rolex would go foruptown. When he turned back, he noticed that he was being observed.  The couple in the corner had awakened, orrather, they no longer pretended to be asleep now that the crime they chose notto witness was over with.  Larry shruggedhis shoulders as if to say that he might very well have done the same thing hadthe situation been reversed.  Then hestraightened his tie, brushed back his hair, switched to a seat on the oppositeside of the car, and proceeded to introduce himself to the young woman withouta hint of the caution or trepidation he would typically experience.  He would soon be exiting the train with nomoney in his pockets, but perhaps he could even the score by obtaining a phonenumber to fill the empty space.

RITE OF PASSAGE - audio edition of short story

If you wish to read my short story RITE OF PASSAGE - head to this link where you'll find the text version in another post at A Line A Day. 
Prefer to listen to it instead? Simply press the play button below and hear it read aloud / performed by Erin Rogers Pickering and yours truly. I plan to record readings of other short stories of mine in future posts. Perhaps I'll convince guest readers to help me out with some of them. 

 
And here are some visuals to go along with the recording via TikTok.

@mudhousebooks

TikTok made for Rite of Passage - a short story by Roy L. Pickering Jr.

♬ Finesse - Bruno Mars

HAPPY LISTENING - HAPPY WATCHING - HAPPY READING - HAPPY LIFE

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Roy Pickering (@roylpickering_author)

Wrapping Up 2023

The year 2023 is drawing to a close and I'm doing what I can to wrap things up with literary flair. First up, I was contacted by Shepherd.com for the second time (here is my response on the first occasion) and asked to share my 3 favorite reads of the year. I gave it some thought (as did many other authors and readers who also contributed) and shared my Top 3 to date. Since there are nearly two full months left to go in the year, I can't guarantee that another book won't bump a title from the 3 seated throne. The one I'm currently reading is certainly off to a promising start. But as of this blog post...
Each November over the past several years, I have heard buzz in book'ish social media circles about National Novel Writing Month - aka NaNoWriMo. One of the first novels that I reviewed for my booktube channel Roy's Book Reviews was Water for Elephants, a book that began its first draft as a NaNoMoWri project. Sara Gruen ended up getting a publishing deal out of it, and later came a movie adaptation. THE DREAM - right? Usually I don't partake in online (or offline) group writing projects. Writing by its nature is a solitary pursuit, and while I am a sociable enough fellow, when it comes to crafting tales I typically operate as a lone wolf. But since I happen to be currently working on the first draft of my third novel, I figured I would join the fellowship of writers participating in NaNoWriMo 2023 as a way to keep myself motivated and my pen (yes, I still write first drafts longhand) continuously moving.



Another literary happening that I decided to participate in is the upcoming ALL BLACK BOOK AFFAIR sponsored by the Black AF Bookclub. A variety of writers from the full range of book genres/categories have chosen to make the Kindle editions of their books free or available at a discount on Amazon. The authors will all be Black and so will the primary characters of the works of fiction. It's an #AllBlackBookAffair spotlighting Black Indie Authors and I am thrilled to have one of my books be part of the event. 



Have you read many books by Black authors? If so, how many of them were indie authors? How many were male authors? Have you spread the love around across multiple genres? Here's a great opportunity to check off some of those boxes at little to no cost. Simply have your Kindle at the ready. Challenge yourselves to broaden horizons.





The Kindle ed. of Matters of Convenience will be FREE December 18th to December 22nd. Grab yourself a literary Christmas gift. Grab a whole bunch of them while you're at it. Say it loud - I read Black and I'm proud.



Any writer who has queried magazines or publishers or literary agents knows that the canned, informal responses that often come (I know, I know - they're VERY busy people who are inundated with submissions and simply don't have time for the personalized touch) can seem as if they were auto-generated by AI programs rather than human beings who actually took a few minutes to pay you any attention. But writers by necessity are resilient, and our thick skins sometimes yield hilarious results. For example...







I certainly was not going to be left out of the festivities. When life gives you lemons...it's lemonade time!


                                                                     *****
Last but not least, I managed to land a fantastic interview with an extremely dashing author that you can find featured at Roy's Book Reviews as well as below. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers, old sport (did you figure out that my Halloween costume this year was Jay Gatsby?).