Rashid Darden's Blog - Posts Tagged "black-vampire-project"
Writing Birth of a Dark Nation
The genesis of my novel Birth of a Dark Nation, as it is with all of my novels, is with a question. This question was "What if everything we knew about horror came from Africa instead of Europe?"
When we re-imagine horror, fantasy, science fiction, and all speculative fiction with an eye toward Africa, we soon leave behind the various stereotypes we are accustomed to: the pale-faced Romanian vampire; the mad German scientist; the white, blue collar werewolves; the inexplicably Anglo-Saxon mummy from Egypt.
It was relatively easy to forget everything I knew about vampires in order to place them in a new geographical and historical context. But the challenging part was deciding what happened as they left Africa. How did they get to America? What is their role in the diaspora?
The single most challenging part of writing Birth of a Dark Nation was writing about the slave trade itself, particularly the kidnappings and the terrible voyage to the so-called New World. It's a complex and terrifying journey just for average humans, but I then had to write about the powerlessness that super humans like vampires might have felt experiencing the same journey.
This was tough. Writing about the Middle Passage was an angry, sad, hopeless experience for me. The only saving grace was that I knew I had the power to write a different ending for my vampires.
This journey, this artistic, historical, and spiritual journey is what you are investing in when you contribute to the Black Vampire Project. The writing of this book changed my life. I sincerely hope the reading of this book changes your lives, too.
Please, please contribute today. If you've already given, please tell your circles!
http://igg.me/at/BlackVampireProject
When we re-imagine horror, fantasy, science fiction, and all speculative fiction with an eye toward Africa, we soon leave behind the various stereotypes we are accustomed to: the pale-faced Romanian vampire; the mad German scientist; the white, blue collar werewolves; the inexplicably Anglo-Saxon mummy from Egypt.
It was relatively easy to forget everything I knew about vampires in order to place them in a new geographical and historical context. But the challenging part was deciding what happened as they left Africa. How did they get to America? What is their role in the diaspora?
The single most challenging part of writing Birth of a Dark Nation was writing about the slave trade itself, particularly the kidnappings and the terrible voyage to the so-called New World. It's a complex and terrifying journey just for average humans, but I then had to write about the powerlessness that super humans like vampires might have felt experiencing the same journey.
This was tough. Writing about the Middle Passage was an angry, sad, hopeless experience for me. The only saving grace was that I knew I had the power to write a different ending for my vampires.
This journey, this artistic, historical, and spiritual journey is what you are investing in when you contribute to the Black Vampire Project. The writing of this book changed my life. I sincerely hope the reading of this book changes your lives, too.
Please, please contribute today. If you've already given, please tell your circles!
http://igg.me/at/BlackVampireProject
Updates! 34%!
I have some pretty good news: #BlackVampireProjectis 34% funded! In seven days, WE have raised $1,332 dollars! Editors? PAID. Cover designer? PAID. Review copies? PAID.
What's left? Shipping costs for those review copies. Printing of promotional materials. And most importantly, the creative writing tour. Let me tell you a little more about that.
When I was at Georgetown, we were lucky enough to be visited by lots of novelists, poets, and other writers. Freshman year alone, I can recall Amiri Baraka coming to visit as well as Isabelle Allende. Later, we were visited by Saul Williams. But one of the most meaningful visits we had was a small book talk at the Black House with Hoya author Tracy Grant. It really wasn't until I met him that I realized being a novelist is something I truly could embark upon as a career.
I want to recreate those profound moments at colleges that don't have the budget of Georgetown. I want to go to Dillard and SUNO and Xavier and let them know that the stories inside of them matter. I want to go to Livingstone and Barber Scotia and Shaw and St. Aug's and reach out to young women and young women who, like me, were unsure at 18 or 19 what to do with the writing talents they have.
I knew the money would be raised to help me out with the administrative parts of this book. But now it's time to dig in and contribute so we can serve and inspire. Let's go on tour. Let's change the world!
Thank you so so much to everyone who has given so far! If you intended to donate but haven't yet, the link ishttp://igg.me/at/BlackVampireProject
What's left? Shipping costs for those review copies. Printing of promotional materials. And most importantly, the creative writing tour. Let me tell you a little more about that.
When I was at Georgetown, we were lucky enough to be visited by lots of novelists, poets, and other writers. Freshman year alone, I can recall Amiri Baraka coming to visit as well as Isabelle Allende. Later, we were visited by Saul Williams. But one of the most meaningful visits we had was a small book talk at the Black House with Hoya author Tracy Grant. It really wasn't until I met him that I realized being a novelist is something I truly could embark upon as a career.
I want to recreate those profound moments at colleges that don't have the budget of Georgetown. I want to go to Dillard and SUNO and Xavier and let them know that the stories inside of them matter. I want to go to Livingstone and Barber Scotia and Shaw and St. Aug's and reach out to young women and young women who, like me, were unsure at 18 or 19 what to do with the writing talents they have.
I knew the money would be raised to help me out with the administrative parts of this book. But now it's time to dig in and contribute so we can serve and inspire. Let's go on tour. Let's change the world!
Thank you so so much to everyone who has given so far! If you intended to donate but haven't yet, the link ishttp://igg.me/at/BlackVampireProject
