Cardyn Brooks's Blog, page 9

More Memoirs & MLK, Jr. Weekend Bad Weather Bookstack Stockpile

Since 2024 is off to a super hectic start for me, probably no more actual reviews this month, just book pics of current reads and binge options.  

My version of emergency preparedness

Happy reading! (& yes, that includes audiobooks, Braille text, comix...) 

Eyewitness to American History Gives Testimony to the World

Don't Let Them Bury My Story, The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words by Viola Ford Fletcher & her grandson, Ike Howard Mocha Media Publishing, August 2023 non-fiction autobiography & history 
This gripping, emotionally grueling, compact autobiography begins and ends with Mother Fletcher's and her brother Mr. Hugh "Uncle Redd" Van Ellis's May 2021 testimony to the U.S. Congress regarding the massacre of Black people in the Greenwood community in Tulsa, Oklahoma in May 1921. Divided into three parts, her story personalizes the history of the United States in multiple layers: ideals, strengths, weaknesses, tragedies, triumphs, and wisdom earned the hard way. The foreword by her brother and the introduction by her grandson provide more essential context. 
Mother Fletcher, her family, and her community were hunted, traumatized,and temporarily erased from the official historical record. Don't Let Them Bury My Story ends with an appendix that lists "known Massacres of Black Americans" from 1863 to 2015 along with a call to action for everyone, regardless of ethnicity or skin color. This book is worthy of being required reading for all high school and college students, everyone over the age of sixteen. For those of us who are serious about eradicating racism, Mother Fletcher's autobiography offers proof of why doing so is necessary. 
More information about her foundation found here: https://www.violafordfletcherfoundation.org/  
Snow-in-the-forecast binge reads selection 

123123! Goodbye 2023! Hello 2024!

 

A Marquis to Protect the Governess by Parker J. Cole historical romance fiction Harlequin Historical, December 26, 2023 
Sometimes scrolling through new releases available on Libby (even though there's a stack of physical books within arm's reach), leads to unexpected reading pleasure. That's what happened with me upon starting this gem of a tale. Like opening my first books by Ms. Bev(erly Jenkins), Gay G. Gunn, Vanessa Riley, Alyssa Cole, and Lisa Rayne, Isadora and Andre's rocky love story hooked me from the first page. Using a seamless integration of historical context, character evolution, and high stakes combined with emotional nuances, this author has crafted an engaging tale that organically includes people and places too often erased from historical romance fiction.  


Hot Flashes and Hockey Slashes by Marika Ray & Sylvie Stewart, authors & publisher contemporary romance fiction October 2023 
Who knew that normalizing open discussion about the aches and pains of growing "older" (early 40s!) in a romance novel would offer so many laughs and so much relatable emotional vulnerability? These talented authors did. Obviously. Olivia and Roman's love story offers readers all of the fun expected from a fake dating, impress-a-smug-ex, meddling matchmakers tropes smashup. Layers of messiness deepen the intimate resonance of regrets and new intentions motivated by hard-won personal insights. 
It seems as if for now only one more book is planned for this series. Fingers crossed that popular demand leads to many more. 
New Year's Eve plans;-)

(Plus that stack of physical books mentioned earlier.) 
Out with the old negative thoughts and insecurities. In with the new granting of more grace to ourselves and others, and to new opportunities to evolve and thrive. Wishing you and those you love good health, peace of mind, safety & joy. 

Christmas Day 2023!

 

Above sugar cookies tasted delicious, but were super time-consuming to make and bake compared to making a pan of crispy rice cereal treats (using the vintage recipe of 4 or 5 - instead of 3 - TBSP of butter + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract) pressed out on a 18 inch x 15 inch cookie sheet or jelly roll pan as shown below.

Multiple reading breaks may have caused me to stay up really late to finish wrapping gifts. 

Wherever you fall on the winter holidays celebration spectrum, hope you survive and thrive this season. 

Black Comic Book History in Full Color

 

Black Comic Book History by Demetrius Sherman, author & publisher nonfiction 
Lion Man. Ace Harlem. The Phantom. 
Using the Dumas Family as its foundation, this compact text starts with the fact that in 1844 The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas was banned by the Catholic Church. From there it moves to the 1947 debut of Lion Man in All Negro Comics. Parallels between that fictitious character's goal of protecting Africa, its people and natural resources and the current real-life in/humanitarian crisis on the African continent related to cobalt mining are hard to ignore (or avoid being complicit in as my laptop, tablet, and cellphone are used to produce this content and live my daily life). Incidents of racist caricatures and the white-washing of Black characters created by Black artists and publishers also seem relevant to conversations about the American Fiction film currently in theaters. 
Black Comic Book History offers readers an intriguing overview in seven parts, encouraging further investigation into the Dumas Family (my personal rec: The Black Count, Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss), All Negro Comics, Crown Comics, artist/illustrator Matt Baker and more truth milestones as it lays out the long and winding path from The Three Musketeers in the 19th century to Black Panther now. This author's enthusiasm for the topic radiates outward and sparks inspiration for deeper study.  
Winter Holidays Reading Extravaganza 

[Don't Let Them Bury My Story by Viola Ford Fletcher & Ike Howard, Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown, The Chosen One by Echo Brown, Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura, Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese, The Island Villa by Sarah Morgan, From a Certain Point of View anthology, Slay by Laurell K. Hamilton]  

Fantasies, Realities, Margins & Postcards

 

Soul Jar, Thirty-one Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors edited by Annie Carl with Foreword by Nicola Griffith fantasy Forest Avenue Press, October 2023 
from the introduction: Western society is beginning to understand, after centuries of ignorance, that the disabled community is like other minorities. We're made up of real people with real lives and real stories. 
The foreword, introduction, thirty-one stories divided into four thematic sections--Earth in Retrograde, Gone Astray, Wild Space, Creature Feature--acknowledgements, about the editor, contributors' biographies, and a reader's guide work in concert to mesmerize and entertain as they prove the essential premise stated in the foreword: Ableism is a crap story... What disables a person in our culture is not impairment but society's attitude to that impairment... We need to hear our own voices. Our strong, beautiful, ordinary, disabled voices... 
The voices in these stories sing some familiar and new tunes in original, provocative, fantastical and relatable compositions. 

Our Hidden Conversations What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Michele Norris non-fiction Simon & Schuster, January 2024 
"Race, Your Thoughts, 6 Words. Please send." 
An invitation. A challenge. A dare more daunting than composing Haiku. 
The responses contain multitudes of clever, insightful, provocative, amusing, furious, compassionate, simple, and complicated personal revelations, inquiries, and declarations.
A prologue, introduction, twelve chapters of interviews, essays, images and more, an epilogue, acknowledgements, gratitude passage, about the author, and image credits for the abundance of compelling photos map the path of this author's "magnificent detour" from an intention to writing "a  book about how Americans talk and think about race" during Pres. Barack Obama's political ascension to The Race Card Project. Our Hidden Conversations is an origin story that starts with the author's intriguing family and moves outward, eventually encompassing thousands of people and more than one-hundred countries. The project and the conversations continue. 

Some Binge-Read Options 

More TWWBF2023 Content Soon...

 

There's video to upload from TWWBF2023 day one panels and the keynote from day 2, but the delay in sharing is 100% due to my lack of anything beyond the most basic tech savvy combined with still recovering from successful event crash, and deciding at the last minute to use NaNoWriMo to complete book 2 in my polyamorous erotica series. (Book 1 was written in 2020, then shelved for various personal and professional reasons.)  
And of course, so many books, never enough hours to read... current binge reading selections

Happy thriving & creating! 

Grief, Inheritances & Legacies

Recent & Current Reads 

And this review of mine from January 2020 seems particularly relevant. 
Legacy of Empire by Gardner Thompson
Britain, Zionism and the Creation of Israel
political history
Saqi, February 2020 (U.S.)


With meticulously researched and annotated details worthy of the most strenuously vetted academic text deconstructed from the Ottoman Empire forward, Legacy of Empire satisfies the intellectual cravings of serious sociopolitical historians and curious everyday citizens. Maps, illustrations, photographs, a timeline, nine chapters, a bibliography, an index, and acknowledgements provide factual structure for a compelling narrative that fills in layers of overlapping and competing personal beliefs, religious ideology, shifting political interests and military objectives.

The introduction examines the differences between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. These distinctions substantially impacted the reasoning and motivations of the men who mandated changes to the map of the world before, during, and after the two world wars. In providing context for the unique traits of The Jewish Question relative to other circumstances of subjugated people, the author states this puzzling opinion on page xii:

For the most part, previous British imperial decision-making along such lines had been shrewd and realistic… And not all colonialism caused trauma among the colonized. 

Although there’s overwhelming documentation in the historical record to refute this odd claim, the remainder of the text stays true to its stated goal of being a multifaceted, impartial study of the many complicated factors that contributed to the current political quagmire and territorial friction between Israeli and Arab people in Palestine.

Legacy of Empire primarily addresses the question of “How did we get here?” regarding the failure of a peaceful two-state solution for the Israelis and the Arabs. It also considers colonialism more broadly as an entrenched sociopolitical ideology and economic strategy for amassing power, wealth, and resources. Political versus cultural and spiritual definitions of identity, mainstream assimilation, political expediency, personal biases, competing concepts of nationhood, ignorance, and more contribute to sorting those who rule from those who are ruled; oppressors from oppressed; privileged and exploited.

If at its core colonialism is governance without representation, then there are parallels between The Jewish Question connected to the attempted exclusion of Arabs from Palestine as indigenous people, The Indian Question, The African Question, and The Irish Problem with Edwin Montagu as a 20th-century Cassandra.

Legacy of Empire examines Britain’s culpability as originators of the Israeli-Arab conflict in Palestine who through ignorance and arrogance created a problem for which they abdicated responsibility when an easy solution became impossible to achieve. By the time the author states on page 275 that “Their legacy was a continuing conflict between two communities they had done so much to bring to mutual antagonism,” the facts presented establish strong support for this conclusion.

https://saqibooks.com/books/saqi/legacy-of-empire/ 
 
Freedom in the Family, A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights by Tananarive Due & Patricia Stephens Due non-fiction One World, 2003 
It's the intimate family volley of thoughts, observations, and insights within the context of regional, national, and international sociopolitical events that distinguishes Freedom in the Family from typical Civil Rights memoirs. Contrasts in points of view between parent versus child and elder versus youngster magnify the nuances of their personal experiences. Icons and celebrities are mentioned, but it's history as recalled through deep private memories that makes this book a distinctive examination of trials, tribulations, and triumphs.  
Make sure to read every word: dedication, 33 chapters of alternating points of view, two sets of acknowledgments, and extensive notes. 

Blue Mind, The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do by Wallace J. Nichols non-fiction Abacus, 2018
from the end of the foreword by Celine Cousteau, grandchild of Jacques Cousteau: It's about reconnecting our sense of self and soul with our waterways and oceans. It's about finding creativity, clarity, and confidence in our deep Blue Minds. 
Together, nine chapters, acknowledgments, notes, and an index offer readers a blend of science, philosophy, and natural resources preservation objectives to make the case for humans as stewards of the earth to generate mutual benefits for people and the environment.  

Gratitude & Growing Pains, TWWBF2023 Edition

 

Thank you! The Write Women Book Fest team thanks the long list of people who made this year's success possible: EC Poetry & Prose, each participating author & vendor (especially those who travelled long distances by train, plane or automobile), the featured panelists, panelists* & moderators, each day 2 workshop presenter, everyone who attended one or both days, our Chief Voluntolder, our day-of operations manager, all of the volunteers, supportive family and friends... 
Extra Special Thanks to Author Leslye Penelope, featured panelist on day 1 & day 2 keynote speaker Marietta House Museum, our partner in bookish endeavors since year oneEC Poetry & Prose TWWBF Poet Laureate Aressa V. Williams Prince George's County Memorial Library System Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Bowie Town CenterCurmudgeon Books at Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland Draft2Digital Michelle Fewer!!! Digital Creator & Mompreneur @lifeandworkbetterErin P.T. Canning Maria Secoy Parents who Write DC Vegan Bowie Comfort Inn Conference Center*Jeaniene Frost, who registered without any fanfare, as if her storied career hasn't earned her lots & lots of fanfare!   

About participating TWWBF2023 authors and bookstores… 

Having 100+ participating authors this year who are mostly self-pubbed, indie or through Amazon combined with the complicated ordering criteria for Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores like Curmudgeon Books when stocking books that aren’t from the big major publishers created a bit of an administrative mess that we’re still working to untangle. 

Sincerest apologies for underestimating how much more time was needed to make this element of TWWBF go smoothly. 

The good news is that B & N and Curmudgeon Books still plan to create displays of books by TWWBF authors and to keep them up later into the winter holiday shopping season. B & N’s is currently a work in progress using books by TWWBF authors that were already in-stock to get started. 

Is my book in the store? 

Here's how to check for B & N: 

Go to barnesandnoble.com, search for your book by title or author, then under "Pick Up In Store" click the "Check Availability at Nearby Stores" and change the distance to 5mi, enter 20716 zip code, which will yield the Bowie Town Center store as the only result. Green check marks next to "in stock in store" and "available for pick up in store" mean it's there; red check marks mean it's not.  

A reminder that the store has complete control over this and their decision is final. Also, please be patient. This year's list of authors was significantly longer than previous years and has shown that we need a much longer lead time on ordering. On the plus side, books that make the bookstore criteria will be on display deeper into the winter holiday gift-buying season than in previous years.  

And you can always encourage your fans to buy books at the Bowie Town Center B & N in-person or online year-round, which still helps you as the author, the store and TWWBF.

Details are less defined right now for Curmudgeon Books, but here are the links for their store website and for bookshop.org: 

https://curmudgeonbooks.com/  

https://bookshop.org/shop/curmudgeonbooks 

Happy creating & reading!

Thank You for 2 Fun Productive Days of TWWBF2023!

 

Thank you! EC Poetry & Prose, authors (& their assistants), poets, featured guests, panelists, moderators, attendees, day-of volunteers, voluntolders (family members drafted into book fest service), the Bowie Comfort Inn team, the Marietta House Museum team, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Bowie B & N, Curmudgeon Books, Mark Leslie Lefebvre with Draft2Digital, all of the Sunday workshop leaders and students... 
Apologies to anyone omitted during this brief first gratitude post. My sleep-deprived brain is operating at maybe 2% coherent thoughts capacity. Next weekend I'll post a more detailed recap of what turned out to be an outstanding event because so many people showed up for us in a variety of substantial ways. 
Happy creating!