Timmy!
Category: Life

I've just completed a South Park marathon of seasons 4 – 10.  In my continuing efforts to annoy the Internet, I'm declaring today a South Park Day.  All correspondence will be responded to with "Timmy!"

In fact, I encourage all of you Internet readers to do the same with all of your interactions.

(This probably isn't the best day to pour your heart out to me in an e-mail, offer me a book deal, or ask me any deep questions.  In fact, this is exactly why I don't get the pulpit on Sundays.)

In fact, I may just back away from the Interwebz while I'm in this mood.

Timmy!


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6:41 AM - 3 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black - A Poem
Category: Writing and Poetry

By Dr Margaret Burroughs
What shall I tell my children who are black
Of what it means to be a captive in this dark skin?
What shall I tell my dear one, fruit of my womb,
of how beautiful they are when everywhere they turn
they are faced with abhorrence of everything that is black.
The night is black and so is the boogyman.
Villains are black with black hearts.
A black cow gives no milk. A black hen lays no eggs.
Storm clouds, black, black is evil
and evil is black and devil's food is black...
What shall I tell my dear ones raised in a white world
A place where white has been made to represent
all that is good and pure and fine and decent,
where clouds are white and dolls, and heaven
surely is a white, white place with angels
robed in white, and cotton candy and ice cream
and milk and ruffled Sunday dresses
and dream houses and long sleek cadilacs
and Angel's food is white... all, all... white.
What can I say therefore, when my child
Comes home in tears because a playmate
Has called him black, big lipped, flatnosed and nappy headed?
What will he think when I dry his tears and whisper,
"Yes, that's true. But no less beautiful and dear."
How shall I lift up his head, get him to square
his shoulders, look his adversaries in the eye,
confident in the knowledge of his worth.
Serene under his sable skin and proud of his own beauty?
What can I do to give him strength
That he may come through life's adversities
As a whole human being unwarped and human in a world
Of biased laws and inhuman practices, that he might
Survive. And survive he must! For who knows?
Perhaps this black child here bears the genius
To discover the cure for... cancer
Or to chart the course for exploration of the universe.
So, he must survive for the the good of all humanity.
He must and will survive.
I have drunk deeply of late from the fountain
of my black culture, sat at the knee of and learned
from mother Africa, discovered the truth of my heritage.
The truth, so often obscured and omitted.
And I find I have much to say to my black children.
I will lift up their heads in proud blackness
with the story of their fathers and their father's fathers.
And I shall take them into a way back time
of kings and queens who ruled the Nile,
and measured the stars and discovered the laws of mathematics.
I will tell them of a black people upon whose backs have been built
the wealth of three continents.
I will tell him this and more.
And knowledge of his heritage shall be his weapon and his armor;
It will make him strong enough to win any battle he may face.
And since this story is so often obscured,
I must sacrifice to find it for my children,
even as I sacrifice to feed, clothe and shelter them.
So this I will do for them if I love them.
None will do it for me.
I must find the truth of heritage for myself and pass it on to them.
In years to come, I believe because I have armed them with the truth,
my children and their children's children will venerate me.
For it is the truth that will make us free!

Dr. Margaret Burroughs founded of the DuSable Museum of African American History and Art in Chicago, IL, the first Black museum in the United States


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1:17 PM - 4 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Juneteenth and July 4th
Category: Life

Frederick Douglass, in his speech "What To The American Slave Is Your 4th Of July?",  said

"Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony."

Sometimes I feel sorry for America.  Told from birth about how it is the embodiment of a Dream with a Destiny to fulfill.  To be an example to others, that burning light of freedom – a story so mythic that it's message must be spread from nation to nation.

It's early childhood proved brutal as it tried to divine its messianic mission.  Despite its Puritanical upbringing, it stumbled through the tragedy of the Native Americans followed by the national shame of slavery.  Adding to its dysfunctional development were two world wars separated by a Depression, all of which shaped its consciousness and worldview.

The 1960s were like its teenage/college years, filled with rebellion, freedom, experimentation and a searching for itself.  These were quickly followed by a cynical wave of disillusionment.  By the 1980s, it was taking the first steps toward adulthood and now, despite a brief return to its mother's basement, attempts to step forward to navigate a new millennium.

Once again, June 19th—Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day as it commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas—went under-celebrated. But I also value the Fourth of July and the dream of the nation and continue to work toward seeing that dream realized.  So much has changed since Frederick Douglass' day, so many things haven't, but I wouldn't live anywhere else.


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9:26 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Don Pendleton’s The Executioner – A Review
Category: Writing and Poetry

"A Gun Toting Angel"

Written by:  Doug Wojtowicz
Drawn by:  SL Gallant
Published by IDW Publishing

"I have given up any chance at sedentary life, the privilege of being protected and cared for.  When Animal Man destroyed my family, I sought out my own way to defend society, to protect those who cannot fight.  And the surest lesson I learned as a protector is to place myself between the violence I seek to end, and those who would be harmed." –Mack Bolan, the Executioner

I'm not a fan of the Punisher.  One note and one dimensional, I doubted that I would have any more luck with the character who inspired his creation.  Don Pendleton's The Executioner—especially under the pen of Doug Wojtowicz, popular writer of The Executioner series (which numbers in the hundreds)—has an 80s/90s Punisher feel to it, with a couple of his inherent flaws.

The Executioner remains every bit the cipher he began the story as.  We know his name.  Mack Bolan.  It even sounds like an action movie character's name (a strong, one syllable name; I guess "Steel" or "Hawk" were taken).We don't get inside his head at all and it's hard to relate to someone you don't know.  We're told a lot about him—though we're never sure how much is true—and he becomes essentially a ghost in his own book, little more than a boogeyman for the criminal underworld.

In addition to that, you don't get the sense that he's ever in any sort of jeopardy.  Bolan is so prepared and good at what he does, his campaigns come off as akin to Batman vs. a gang of muggers:  a page or two of that is pretty much all you need.

"If anyone's that god's priest, it's Bolan."

We live in a world where terrible injustices are perpetrated against innocents and evil-doers go mostly unpunished.  We pray for God's justice, even longing to be His hands of justice.  During those times, we want there to be a God, both just and wrathful, who would smite the evildoers with pain, suffering, humiliation (and, if so led, toss in death and eternal punishment).  Figures like the Punisher or the Executioner appoint themselves God's Angel of Death, doling out His punishment.  The problem is that they often lose sight of His compassion and mercy.  They lose sight of the power of forgiveness and redemption.  It's a delicate road to walk.  While there is room for laments and imprecations in our prayers, I don't think I'd trust in people to dole out justice.

"The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.  On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.  For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face." –Psalms 11:5-7

The Executioner has a pulp novel feel, a beach read romance for the testosterone set.  In fact, it might be the cause of my main criticism of the book.  In the transition from pulp novel to comics, the book suffers from information overload and could probably lose half of the exposition/running commentary.  The unclear storyline—involving the Border Steel Cartel, arms deals, and a covert government agency—becomes an excuse for constant shooting.  But stripped of words, the "romance" is strictly reduced to action porn.  But you know what?  With this book, it works.  It delivers what fans of The Executioner want.


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9:55 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

InConJunction Junction What’s Your Function*
Category: Parties and Nightlife

I forgot to mention that I'm a guest at this year's InConJunction.  You can find me at a couple of panels:

Friday, July 4th, 2:00 p.m. Suite 3
Bionic Woman vs Sarah Connor Chronicles - What worked and what didn't?

Friday, July 4th, 5:00 p.m. Suite 6
Religion and Science: Can there ever be peace between the two? - The differences and similarities and where they meet

I'll be floating in and out of the convention all weekend.  In fan con logic, this is on a holiday weekend (says the man who scheduled this year's Mo*Con on Father's Day weekend) and I have family obligations (read:  my youngest expects me at his birthday party).  I'll have copies of Orgy of Souls available at a dealer's table and I'll be around so seek me out.

*Yeah, now get that Schoolhouse Rock song out of your head!


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5:23 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Transformers Animated: Transform and Roll Out – A Review
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

"Cybernetic Angels"

Riding the crest of popularity from last summer's movie comes Transformers Animated:  Transform and Roll out.  There are now several groups of fans who won't be pleased:  fans of the Michael Bay movie, fans of the comic, and fans of the original series.  There have been character redesigns and changes to the mythology folks have come to know in order to reboot the property as a cartoon series.  Nothing fatal, much like when we first saw the manga-style versions of the Teen Titans and were caught up with apprehension.

"You ever get the feeling you were programmed for something more?" –Optimus Prime

The movie felt like three episodes of the series masquerading as a movie (handy since that's the way it will probably be cut when aired on television).  It opens with a clip for the original show (Generation 1) and has a younger Optimus Prime lamenting his place in the greater scheme of thing.  He's a recent graduate of the "Autobot Academy", not the experienced leader we've come to know.  Like the Cylons vs. the Humans in Battlestar Galactica, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons has been over for a long time and no one knows where the Decepticons are.  Through a series of events, including the discovery of the AllSpark and the arrival of Megatron, the Autobots end up in Detroit, the robot manufacturing capital as fifty years from now robots become the new slave labor.  We're introduced to Sari in the Shia role as well as Optimus Prime's team of fellow heroes:  Ratchet, the medic and old war veteran; Prowl, a loner, dark ninjabot; Bulkhead, the team big bot on campus; and Bumblebee, the youngest and "innocent" member.  The band of heroes battle an Earth created threat (the second "episode") to be regaled as heroes and then they square off against Starscream, who has been delightfully highlighted in this movie.

"But remember, we're all cogs in the great Autobot machine.  A machine that's stronger as a whole, than any one component part.  Together we can move mountains." –Optimus Prime

The spiritual heart of the series remains the same as the movie.  The Autobots vs. Decepticons plays out like the battle between angels and demons largely unseen by humanity, except that in the future, the reality of both is brought to the forefront.  Megatron, as well as the backstabbing Starscream, comes off as the prideful first among equals who leads a faction of his host in a rebellion which costs them their home. He would be a created being, the most powerful of the spiritual "principalities and powers," the highest of what some cultures would call a god. Yet, like his Autobot brethren, the Transformers are free moral agents who also make choices and have actions which have manifold consequences in our world, as what we see as evil is the collateral damage of humanity and creation being caught in a cosmological battle of cosmological forces.

"Heroes are the ones who make the hard choice." –Ratchet

The Autobots then set themselves up, and are welcomed as guardian angels for humanity, living by their code of respect the source of life and protecting it at all costs.  They go about their mission, as a reporter describes, of "repairing damaged structures and damaged lives with their reassuring presence."

There is plenty of action in this re-imagining, enough to cover a multitude of sins.  It's not great, but it's certainly entertaining.  In fact, this review would have been posted sooner, but I didn't even get to touch the DVD for a week.  My eldest son saw me take it from the package, snatched it from my hands, and sequestered himself in his room (posting his little brother as lookout).  "When do we get more?" was his only question.  Squarely aimed at the under-teen set, Transformers Animated:  Transform and Roll Out seems to hit its target demo.


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7:42 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

What if I had a Twitter ...
Category: Blogging

"I ranted about this on my LJ a while back–I find it aggravating and pointless reading about the inconsequential minutiae of people's lives, even people I like. What's the point?" –Jack Haringa

Mmmm.  Snuggle blanket.
I spend way too much time talking to the fish at my job.
The key to eating Total is warm milk and letting it sit for a while.
Losing at Killer Instinct to the six year old.
On my way to church.  Again.
I'm blogging.
God save me … I might have to go to a Tweet Up now.
I just had to yell "Quit being so obnoxious with your love" to my son.
Do not make direct eye contact with me until you reach puberty.
I'm clipping my fingernails.  And every other toe nail.
I've really got to call my mother.
Why am I on Shocklines?
I'm craving BW-3 teriyaki wings.
I'm blogging.
Timmy!
It's naked daddy time.  It's naked daddy time! Where ya at?
I'm ashy.
Point, shoot, dribble, tuck to the left.
My laptop's battery is overheating my crotch.
I'm twittering my life rather than living one.
Why, Lord, am I in the Taco Bell drive thru?  Hast Thou forsaken me?
Crap!  I have 57 hours and 9 minutes available on my DVR.
I'm blogging.
I obviously need more bran in my diet.
And now … a Hypnotiq break.
Something vague which causes all of my Twitter buddies to text me with concern.
Knowing my every movement is relational masturbation.
My, that's a lot of lint in my belly button.
This has been an hour that I can't get back.

"Twitter's minutiae is the logical extension of blogging, social networking and texting. Soon everyone will know what everyone else is doing right this minute, whether it's tying one's shoe or eating an orange or being a little sleepy after class. Everyone will know, and no one will care." –Nick Kaufmann


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11:54 AM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Weekend Link Salad Round Up
Category: Blogging

And here are some blogs which caught my attention over the last week:

Undercover Black Man exposes more political chicanery as an anti-Obama site pretends to be a black power site.  Note to all would be political saboteurs:  you probably don't want to register sites in your own/real name.

An ocean separates the issue of diversity on television.  Over here we wonder why is TV so white?  Whereas over on the BBB, we have execs lamenting that there are too many black and Asian faces on TV.

On the writing front, have you ever read a blog post that not only makes you want to be a better writer, but think more creatively in terms of what it means to even write?  And then there's a blog on posts that draw in more than the usual number of readers to a blog.

On the spiritual front, the question for the day: Is "Christian humanism" a good expression for central themes in the emerging movement?  And then there are a few thoughts on James Dobson's comments on Barack Obama.

In the "feud" between Ice-T and Soulja Boy, game set match to the creators of this video.  Speaking of which, here are 25 Things That Killed (and are Still Killing) Urban Music.

And in my continual struggles with BET, we have a new video produced by BET executive Reginald Hudlin whose theme is that "coon-ass rappers" who traffic in negative images are "sellout niggas" who ought to be lynched.  Then again, we had the BET Image Awards where Li'l Wayne felt the need to thank God.  (Of course, I'm obviously would be in the camp of needing to thank God for His patience with me considering what I write).


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Legends of the Mountain State 2 and Apex Books
Category: Writing and Poetry

Legends of the Mountain State 2 will be out in September 2008. It will be a trade paperback from Woodland Press. The official lineup for this one has been released.

Mark Justice
Jonathan Maberry
Bob Freeman
Lucy A. Snyder
Nate Kenyon
Steven L. Shrewsbury
Michael Laimo
Maurice Broaddus - "A House is Not a Home"
Gary A. Braunbeck
Brian J. Hatcher
Mary SanGiovanni
Rob Darnell
Nate Southard

Apex Books is discounting everything in the store 20% to celebrate four excellent events:

1) The release of Orgy of Souls by Wrath James White & Maurice Broaddus

2) The release of Beauty & Dynamite by Alethea Kontis

3) The release of Mama's Boy and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel

4) THE COMPLETION OF OUR WEBHOST MIGRATION!

Just enter the code NEWHOST on checkout to receive your discount.  Go to:

8:47 AM - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

There are worse fates than being unpublished
Category: Writing and Poetry

It frustrates me to see people I know, people who can write, publish so poorly.  This isn't another rant directed at those folks still butthurt over my last rant about self-publishing.  There are legitimate times one might consider self-publishing (one of which I'll mention later).

I've checked out several writer's websites, some friends, some "big talking" folks on message boards or MySpace (you know the ones:  "the greatest horror writer of all time", taking the genre to new heights-types).  Your hundreds of stories and poems given away aren't impressing anyone and aren't generating the kind of audience momentum you think it might.  The promise of exposure is a lie.  If a site can't afford to pay you, the content provider that drives the site, they probably don't have the money to seriously drum up eyes to the site.  (And I question how much the "for the love" sites/markets actually "love" the artists, considering they can usually find the money to pay their host fees, or printers, but not the writers).

The process of being rejected and persevering provides its own lessons.  Don't let your hundreds of credits delude you into believing you're something that you aren't.  In the rush to be "a writer", with the accompanying desire for your work to see the light of day as soon as possible, you may have placed it in poor hands.  Essentially, you have gone through the pains of childbirth only to give your child to abusive parents.  But because you have works available, your ego become puffed up.

In fact, such credits can be detrimental.  If you're building a resume, you pretty much want to put your relevant credits on it.  When editors see only a string of crap markets, they can't help but think you must only write at a crap level.  They probably aren't going to assume that you didn't know any better than to submit to the worse markets because you bought into the idea of working your way up.  Or that you simply lacked faith in your own ability, thus ended up only submitting to bottom rung markets.  No, they're going to guess your relative ability by the types of markets you've been in.

Poor publishing includes having your friends publish you or a micropress publish you.  It doesn't matter if a friend publishes you, your wife, or an unproven editor/publisher … it's all pretty much the same.  You get lost in the noise of small press publishing.  At this point, if you are determined to go this route, you might as well self-publish.  It's like the thinking begins on the right track:  I don't want to publish myself.  I want an editor to validate my writing by accepting it.  And then things get derailed and you go with "whoever" accepts you.  At least then you get to keep all the proceeds minus your costs.

(My other beef with SOME self-published folks came out recently.  On a panel discussion, it was quite evident that the self-published writer involved short circuited his own learning about the business/industry of writing and thus was doling out bad advice.)

Maybe what you've written isn't ready.

And once you work is ready, if you want to build an audience, write well and get published where people will read it.

I have no delusions about where I am in the greater schemes of the writing professional ranks.  I'm a complete nobody.  Why listen to me?  The only thing I've tried to do is study how people who I do consider successful have handled their careers and model myself after them (and learn from their mistakes as best I can).

Look, people have the right to sell or give away their stories as they please.  No one is infringing on that right.  Keep banging your head into a wall, it's no concern to me.  But if you come to me asking what's the best way for you to climb the ladder of publishing success, I'd say publish well, don't just publish.  Be seen in the right company.  Your resume is a reflection of you.  I don't write that many stories and can't afford to just give them away any old place.  You don't have to be in such a rush to be published that you settle for anywhere.  There are worse things in the world than being unpublished.  And, frankly, I'd rather be unpublished than published poorly.

I'm an active member of the Horror Writer Association.  Still a nobody, it only means that I've made at least three professional sales.  Bob Weinberg gives this bit of advice to HWA members:

1)  If you ask for advice in writing, look carefully at who is giving you advice -- i.e.  if you are an affiliate member, don't take advice from affiliate members.   

    If the sink in your kitchen breaks, you hire a plumber to fix it.  You don't ask your neighbor how to fix it.  If you do, you'll most likely have water all over your floor.  Sure, maybe once in years it will turn out that the neighbor knows something about plumbing, but not often.  The same is true for writing.  If you are not selling stuff, don't ask for advice how to sell stories from someone who has not sold anything either.  Sure, they might be able to write pages and pages of advice how to improve your writing, but if they can't sell their own work, don't count on them selling yours.  Too often, the people giving the most advice are those who are least qualified to do so.

2.  If you want to write a story for an anthology that pays $25 per story, or only pays in royalties, that's okay.  But realize that you are wasting your time because such books will not make your reputation, will not add to your reputation, and will definitely not help your career in any way.  If you are an affiliate, you definitely should not be spending any of your time writing for such markets.  

     simply put, your time is valuable.  As a writer, you need to concentrate on writing fiction for the markets that pay well.  If you spend most of your time writing for the markets that pay next to nothing (or nothing) you are wasting valuable time you should be writing (or rewriting) stories for the better paying markets.   

3.  your reputation as a writer depends entirely on what you write.  It does not depend on who else is in an anthology.  

4.  if you are writing and writing and not selling anything, the market is not wrong, the editors are not all wrong.  You need to change what you are writing.  Good writing sells.  Bad writing does not.  Simple but true.

There are worse fates that being unpublished.  I'd rather have no stories out there than bad ones or good ones buried where no one will see them.  Simple but true.


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9:20 AM - 14 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment