Maurice Broaddus's Blog, page 38
March 13, 2012
TLA, Heroic Times, and Chris F. Holm
(aka Tidbits and Updates)
As an update to my convention schedule this year, I'm coming in as a part of the Texas Library Association conference (Houston, TX). April 18 (10:15 – 11:50 AM) I'll be on the panel African American Pioneers of Horror and Science Fiction: Creating good horror and science fiction is a true art. Join a panel of African Americans authors as they discuss the unique and appealing elements of these genres and share selections. Maurice Broaddus and Nalo Hopkinson. (Black Caucus Round Table).
I give a preview for it here (plus do a short reading from my novel, King's War).
I was interviewed over on the Heroic Times blog as one of their "Monarchs of Mayhem". Check it out to hear which stories of mine are completely unpublishable as well as lists of some of my favorite stuff.
Not too long ago I mentioned Chris F. Holm's book, Dead Harvest. He's over on my buddy's site, The Sci-Fi Guys Book Review doing a guest blog discussing what folks mean by noir:
But regardless of whose definition you go with, you'll notice something's lacking: namely, any mention of genre. That's because for as much as noir's assumed to be a subset of crime fiction, it's more vibe than subgenre. And, as many an enterprising modern writer seems intent on proving, that vibe is one that plays just as well with fantasy and science fiction as it does with crime. Witness William Gibson's brilliant NEUROMANCER (which, okay, came out a while back, but then Gibson's always been ahead of the curve), Jeff VanderMeer's unsettling FINCH, or any number of works put out by my (utterly fantastic) publisher, Angry Robot, by folks like Adam Christopher, Tim Waggoner, and Lauren Beukes.
March 12, 2012
The Gift of Story
Today I'm guest blogging over on Kody Boye's site. He blogged for me earlier this year and turnabout is fair play.
(aka Modern Day Griots)
My mother gave me the gift of story.
Born and raised in Jamaica, she constantly regaled us with stories of duppies, obeah, rolling calves, br'er 'nansi, and Big Boy. And as much as we teased her about them while growing up, she instilled a seed in us. It was her legacy that she wanted to pass on. They didn't have television or the internet to entertain them. They had stories, stories passed down from one generation to the next, that shaped and defined them. Storytellers were of the tradition of griots, the keepers or lore and history. That lesson stayed with me.
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March 6, 2012
Putting the Urban in Urban Fantasy
I'm guest blogging over on Wag the Fox during their urban fantasy marathon. Here's a sneak peak of my post:
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Everyone has a different idea about what urban fantasy is. For me, I go with the simple definition of it being a story where the city is as much a character as anyone else running around such that if you were to remove the city, the story doesn't work as well. Keep in mind, when I was told my novel was "urban fantasy", I had an entirely different definition in mind.
March 2, 2012
Things in the Pipeline
As an update, here's a list of short stories of mine that are due out sometime this year. This doesn't include anthology projects like Dark Faith 2 or The Miseducation of the Writer. And this doesn't include a project I'm really excited to talk about, but because no contracts are signed, I can't. What I can do is show you this piece of advance art for artist extraordinaire, Emma Overman (this piece is called "Lyta and Yvonne". For those Indianapolis natives who participate in First Friday, Emma is having her next studio night down at the Harrison Center on March 2, from 5-10 p.m.).
STORIES COMING SOON:
The story "Warrior of the Sunrise" will be in the upcoming Icons anthology
The story "Under a Concrete Hill" will be in the next issue of Bull Spec
The story "The Cracker Trap" will be in an upcoming issue of Shroud Magazine
The story "Communication Breakdown" will be in the upcoming anthology, Cadence in Decay (MHB Press)
The story "Whispers at the End of Creation" will be in the Relics & Remains anthology (MHB Press)
The story "A Soldier's Story" will be in the Vampires Don't Sparkle! anthology
The story "Trails End" will be in the Dead West anthology
The novella "I Can Transform You" (Apex Books)
And I found this footage from the Anthologies panel from Fandomfest 2011
February 29, 2012
My Favorite Writing Spots
Writing is a solitary enough activity (which is why we tend to gather at writer conventions if only to be around other folks who "get it"). Still, because conventions can be pricey and and you can only stare at your same four walls for so long before having memorized every contour and crack in the wall left from when your two sons decided to wrestle with one another, sometimes it's nice to get out and be around people even if you're not specifically engaging with them. You get the vicarious thrill of having a life—hearing people speak and interact—and still get to be productive.
Kelly Barnhill recently wrote a blog about her favorite coffeeshop and it got me to thinking about some of mine. There's something comforting about going someplace where your "tribe" has gathered and as a group you pursue your solitary endeavors. It took me a while to find the right place to nest, as it were. I spent a lot of time hanging out in a variety of coffee shops (it's like church shopping for a place to write). There's also something … cliché about hanging out in a coffeeshop working on your story or Great American Novel, but I can chalk that part of it up to the romantic notions about being a writer.
I'm a big supporter of local shops, thus very little frequenting of a Starbucks. And as it's a creative endeavor, I usually spend my time in one of the Indianapolis arts districts, typically Broad Ripple, Irvington (which has my second favorite coffee shop, Lazy Daze), and Fountain Square, where my favorite shop is, Calvin Fletcher Coffee Company.
Calvin Fletcher's is like "Cheers" for me, where everybody knows your name. Seriously, Doug and Jeff Litsey (the father and son duo who run the shop) make a point of getting to know all of their customers names. The shop is run as a non-profit and they regularly donate their tips to local charities. What tipped the scales in favor of CF over Lazy Daze was that CF was a natural nexus of my worlds. Artists of all stripes, writers, folks from my church, as well as folks in other ministries and non-profits regularly frequent there, so I can network over coffee and during writing blocks.
And the cast of characters that come through on a regular basis practically demand to be put into stories. For us regulars, it's like going to the office and working around the water cooler. All sorts of collaborations and brainstorming gets done, partly because we're all nosey and want to know what each other is doing. But because we all come from different backgrounds, it's like attending an Interstitial Arts meeting during the rest of the month.
I am on record as writing in the oddest places. My clipboard is my portable desk and as the father of two boys, I've learned to tune out a lot. So I can write anywhere … and have to as I can't stop the voices (I just try not to let them intrude on date nights). I still write on my bed (oddly enough it's the best place for me to write dialogue) and the bulk of my writing at home is done on my couch. But when I need to get out, I head down to Calvin Fletchers. It's my magic coffee shop.
February 28, 2012
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax – A Review
A few years ago, two movies with environmental messages came out a few months from each other: Evan Almighty sacrificed comedy for the sake of its message whereas The Simpsons Movie kept its eye on the comedy goal line. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax falls closer to the Evan Almighty camp.
Timed to be released on the 108th birthday of Dr. Seuss himself, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax brings to the big screen an adaptation of his 1971 children's classic. The folks behind Despicable Me and Hop decided they couldn't just tell the original story, but instead fill out the story with an "in case you missed the point" framing story which fully beats you over the head with the message stick.
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is the story of a young boy named Ted (Zac Efron, Hairspray, 17 Again) who is trying to get a tree to impress the girl, Audrey (Taylor Swift, Valentine's Day), whom he likes. Their home town of Thneedville is completely plastic and fake. They have to buy (purchase bottled air) or build (battery-operated trees, some of which include a disco setting) nature. The town is perfectly happy with their way of life (disco settings!), however, Audrey has the dream of being able to see a real tree. Ted, a master of his convictions, makes it his mission to get the girl find a real Truffula Tree.
Ted's Grammy Norma (the awesome in everything Betty White, The Proposal, Hot in Cleveland) directs him to the mythical hermit, The Once-ler (Ed Helms, The Hangover). However, Ted's quest brings him into conflict with bottled air tycoon, Aloysius O'Hare (Rob Riggle, The Hangover). His is the best bottled air available, fresher than breathable stuff ("Please Breathe Responsibly"
The Once-ler's price to help is to force Ted to listen to his tale of ambitions run amuck, told in parts thus making Ted have to escape his town several times. He tells of him coming to the pastoral pre-Thneedville forest, encountering The Lorax (Danny DeVito, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), but not letting nature get in the way of his manufacturing dreams.
It pads takes a while to recall how he turned a garden of Eden into a technological, pre-fab wasteland, but hopefully no one notices since the movie is filled with catchy songs and eye-popping 3-D. The 3-D experience reminds the audience how great it can be when it's intentional and incorporated into the movie-making rather than slapped on after the fact. One is practically sucked into the page of the story.
"A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean." –Lorax
The movie's less than subtle message is that there is a cost to manufacturing, industry, and technology run amuck. Yet the movie teeters on coming across as anti-corporation and anti-capitalist, with the even-less-subtle "How bad can I be?" song being the most egregious offender.
There is an aspect to Christianity that has gone long unattended, a creation spirituality. Thoreau said that "with a keen awareness of the natural world one could find truth". God has created all things and declared them "good" (even "very good").
One of the lessons from the Genesis account of creation is that humanity was created to be stewards of creation. Yet, we've lost our connection with creation, continuing to develop new ways to either insulate ourselves from it or encroach our brand of civilization into it. Our souls are starved for God's creation. All spiritual people should enjoy God's creation, embracing it the way God intended for us.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing will get better." –The Once-ler
Like The Once-ler's hope for redemption, the journey begins with repentance, exchanging an old way of life for a new way. The hope is for a New Creation with us being caught up in the story of the completion of that mission. Joining that mission requires us face the cost of our "progress," to change the way things are, to plant seeds of change, and celebrating the world's rebirth.
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax was punctuated by a couple of other troubling elements: its "til a bunch of hill jacks come and ruin nature" message as well as the non-stop, easy short person jokes. Even leavened by catchy musical numbers, great animation, art direction, and cute animal characters, the movie's pro-environment message becomes a heavy-handed screed. One which smacks as a little hypocritical considering the amount of corporate tie-ins involved in its marketing campaign. Maybe this is a birthday present Dr. Seuss may want to re-gift.
February 24, 2012
Another Mo*Con Cometh
[Unfortunately, Alethea Kontis won't be with us (though we will still be having our traditional "In Celebration of Alethea Kontis Opening Dinner"). However, Brian Keene will be joining us. So imagine him in that outfit.*]
Another year, another Mo*Con approaches: May 4th-6th (Cinco de Mo*Yo). I both love and dread this time of year. There is an excitement as Mo*Con is typically the opening to my convention season. It's like my kickoff party. There is a dread as, well, with all the planning and detail work that goes into it, (and it's strange how such a laid back con requires so much thought) my writing productivity drops to about nothing. But it's totally worth it.
A lot of writers have regular (insert their name) cons, ranging from backyard bbq/parties to full borne conventions. There's no easy way to describe Mo*Con. Some call it the Necon of the Midwest. Or compare it to a con suite convention, a convention room party for a whole weekend, except held in a church. Its aim has always been to be small and intimate, yet be like a family reunion.
Mo*Con has a two part vision. The first, inspired by many a late night at conventions, is to provide a forum for folks, namely my horror and fantasy writing colleagues, to get together and discuss some of the larger issues which affect our writing, our social conscience, and our spiritual lives. We can have discussions and disagree (the whole point is to disagree), yet listen to one another in a spirit of respect. The second is that too often the artist is underappreciated and we wanted an occasion to spoil a few. This year's line up includes:
"Apex Publishing Presents … Mary Robinette Kowal"Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of Shades of Milk and Honey Tor, 2010). In 2008 she received the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2011, her short story "For Want of a Nail" won the Hugo Award for Short Story. Her work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov's, Clarkesworld, and several Year's Best anthologies. She is the Vice President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Mary, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor, recording fiction for authors such as Elizabeth Bear, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi. She lives in Portland, OR with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Visit www.maryrobinettekowal.com. Photo © 2010 Annaliese Moyer
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Mary SangiovanniMary SanGiovanni has a B.A. in English, with a concentration in Writing, from Fairleigh Dickinson U., and an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill U. Mary lives in NJ with her son. Some of her favorite things include video games, movies, books, long baths, art, Asian food, lilacs, dollhouses, woodworking, singing, salsa dancing, and butterflies. She is of Italian and Irish descent. She is left-handed. She believes in God, the Devil, angels, demons, ghosts, fairy folk, aliens, karma, ESP, telepathy, worm holes, other dimensions, Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, love at first sight, Roswell, monsters, and the American Dream, because life's too short and boring without them.
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Nate SouthardNate Southard's books include Scavengers, This Little Light of Mine, Red Sky, Just Like Hell, Broken Skin, and He Stepped Through. His short fiction has appeared in such venues as Cemetery Dance, Black Static, Thuglit, and Supernatural Noir. His short story "Going Home, Ugly Stick in Hand" received an honorable mention in The Year's Best Horror. A graduate of The University of Texas with a degree in Radio, Television, and Film, Nate lives in Austin, Texas. You can learn more atwww.natesouthard.com.
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Publisher Guest of Honor: John Edward LawsonJohn Edward Lawson is the founding editor of Raw Dog Screaming Press. For eight years he has successfully released books classified as "unpublishable" by other publishing houses. Recently RDSP added two new imprints: Guide Dog Books for nonfiction, and Imaginary Books for children's literature. As a freelance editor he has edited eight anthologies, worked on the National Lampoon books, and spent four years as editor-in-chief of The Dream People Literary Journal of the Bizarre. As an author John has published ten books and over 400 works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction around the globe. He lives in Maryland with his wife and son. You can spy on him at www.johnlawson.org.
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Artist Guest of Honor: Mike AltmanMike Altman growing up never wanted to be anything but an artist… well, ok, maybe Batman for a while. Altman uses simple line work and bold colors to illustrate a sometimes complex message. Altman's work can be laced with symbolism, satire, spirituality, and double-meaning. And then sometimes he just paints a picture of a blue cow that is… a blue cow. Altman's work has been exhibited in Jacksonville, FL, Knoxville and Nashville, TN, Bloomsburg, PA, Montclair, NJ, New York City and most recently Indianapolis, IN.
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We'll be debuting a few projects at this year's Mo*Con, not the least of which are The Miseducation of the Writer, an anthology of essays by writers of color edited by myself, Chesya Burke, and John Edward Lawson. And a portion of the money raised at Mo*Con will be given to the Carl Brandon Society. Lastly, a strange thing has happened with Mo*Con. Besides the fact that the bulk of the convention involves us continually rolling out food and drinks to facilitate great conversations, it has its own metric about whether that year was a successful con. It's probably the only convention where people measure it by how well they feel loved. You have to experience it to understand.
*In case you have trouble imagining this, allow me to help with a visual (he posts so many political-career-ending pictures of me, I'm scared to do a Google image search of myself):
February 22, 2012
I never seem to have enough time to write …
(aka, Making Time to Write aka Plant your behind in a chair)
Being unemployed (aka, a freelance writer) you'd think it'd be easy for me to find time to write. I have found that my schedule actually hasn't changed all that much for a variety of reasons. For one, looking for work is a full time job. So in a lot of ways there's a lot of going through the motions of a regular schedule, but to be straight, there's still a lot of flexibility to write (or do like many of the other folks with 9-5 gigs do: play games on Facebook).
Plus, I still have a lot of outside interests, from teaching to volunteer work. So the usual balancing act of work, family, interests, and writing is still pretty much in play. It'd be a lot easier if I were more disciplined. The closest thing to discipline I have is that I am committed to putting words on a page regularly, even if at the time of this writing, it's 12:08 a.m. and I'm doing a blog and not the chapter which currently has me stumped. The long and short of it is that I, you, any would be writer has to make time to write. It won't just happen, no matter how hard I've tried (and I've been a committed scientist in this area).
To begin to carve out this space to write requires sacrifice. There are 24 hours in a day, that hasn't and doesn't look likely to change anytime soon. So something's got to give. It could be something easy, like television (currently I have my random X-Files marathon paused). For others it might require less time on Facebook, Twitter, ranting on message boards (I'm so glad I have that habit kicked), or other internet surfing (which I still have to do … IN THE NAME OF RESEARCH!!!)
But there are other hours in the day to wring more time from. Writing on the job is a tricky proposition, after all, you still need to be responsible and do your work or you won't have said job for very long. However, ideas still happen and you need to jot them down. My personal method of choice was either my trusty notepad or, in a pinch, Post-It notes at the office. Here's the deal though: you had BETTER collect them as to not let your co-workers find them. Especially if you are writing a horror story, allow me to assure you that this scenario ends with a company staff meeting where you discuss any latent feelings of hostility you may have towards your colleagues.
I'd also suggest that you write long hand. That can't be tracked as easily (speaking for a friend who got busted at work for using their computers. Key stroke logging says what?). But I always write longhand so that was easy for me. All this and I haven't even broached the topic of the time you can gain with a well-timed extended trip to the bathroom. You're good for a paragraph or two depending on what you had for dinner. (Too much?)
Even with my erratic schedule, there are a few constants to it. Most of us can write an hour or two at night or an hour or two in the morning. For that matter, you can also write for an hour over lunch. If you figure an average of 500 words and hour (your mileage may vary), that's around 1500 a day. Crunching the numbers, that's a short story a week (if you're feeling your inner Jay Lake) or a novel in a year.
To be honest, that's about my writing output regardless. Even when I'm not working, that's about all I have in me creatively. Sure I can do other writing (blogging, articles, etc.), but that "creation" muscle is worn out for me after a few hours. With kids around, I can do the business of writing (e-mails, researching, social media, etc.) or typing and organizing my notes
Which brings me to my last point: make your family part of the process. Living with a writer is hard enough. I've had to have a series of conversations with my wife and kids about my writing time. Though it was tough trying to get them to understand that they had to leave me alone when the "office door is closed" (and only mildly confusing when the office in question is the bedroom or the couch). On the flip side, with my "method" writing, I tend to take on the moods of my characters to write from that place, sometimes hard to turn off, which means explaining that my moods aren't their fault. And let them in on the rest of the process: celebrate getting published, take them to conventions when you can, and show them that their sacrifice is not all a waste of time.
Contrary to the myth, publication isn't hard.* It all boils down to discipline, drive, and devotion, in short, it's a matter of how badly do you want it. Or, in my case, how looming is that deadline. The secret to making time to write: plant your behind in a chair and get it done.
*Not to put too crass a turn on it (he says as he's about to put a crass turn on things), publication is like getting laid. It's easy to find someone to have sex with. When all else fails, you can pay for someone to have sex with you. But to find that right person and make that special connection requires more work, more diligence, more patience, and a measure of choosiness.
February 21, 2012
My Hectic Schedule Continues…
This past weekend was spent with the Indiana Horror Writers at our annual retreat (pic taken by special surprise guest, Douglas F. Warrick…look how we sparkle). As I'm still recovering here are a few quick links to stuff I'm up to:.
-The first night of the retreat, my interview on the Funky WerePig Podcast aired. On there I was talking all things Knights of Breton Court, Mo*Con, & Dark Faith 2.
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-Dreamapolis and the KI EcoCenter partnered with @innovateindy for the latest summit. We had a great turnout two weekends ago discussing social media uses in branding as well as updating one another about our respective action teams.
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-I did a recent guest blog post about the Fountain Square area of Indianapolis over on city gallery indy.
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-Speaking of blogs, here's @nkjemisin's awesome and powerful essay "Dreaming Awake" from the upcoming anthology The Miseducation of the Writer. It's edited by me, @ChesyaBurke, and @bizarroguy
Who is Welcome at the Throne of Grace?
After thinking about being welcomed at the cool kids table, it wasn't too much of a leap to thinking about churches. I remember when my wife and I were doing some church shopping, one of the quick ways we crossed a church off of our list was in how much they made us feel welcome. That is, if they said boo to us at all (there were too many times when, even when it was obvious that we were visitors, that we weren't even greeted).
The kingdom is available to all. You don't have to be "fixed" or already live a certain way or meet other people's expectations before you can be a part of things. You can belong before you believe. As my friend Rich Vincent would say, that's the paradox and mystery of the kingdom. It's more important to include and welcome and embrace and love others. You may want to take a cue from Jim Altizer…
How well do you make others feel welcome?
