Terence Crutcher Another one was killed today. Keith Lamont Scott. He was shot dead sitting in his car by a Charlotte Mecklenburg officer while reading a book. So many black lives have been killed, you’d think you were watching the end of a movie. This list is too long.
![Norman Rockwell - Road Block (Bulldog Blocking Truck, Traffic Conditions) [1949]](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7632/26674038203_d26c3999b5_b.jpg)
Norman Rockwell - Road Block (Bulldog Blocking Truck, Traffic Conditions) [1949] by Gandalf
Via Flickr:
During the 1940s Rockwell made several trips to California, where he painted the present work. The composition is derived from a unique synthesis of photography, preparatory sketches, live models and the artist’s own imagination. “I got the basic idea from my old friend, Clyde Forsythe, a cartoonist and landscape painter who had been a good and helpful friend for many years” Rockwell explained of the painting’s genesis. “He told me of seeing a whole line of traffic stalled by a pup sitting unconcernedly in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. It seemed to me that the idea had picture possibilities and I started thinking about it and made some rough sketches. At first it seemed to me that a great big truck stopped by a small truck would be even funnier. Then one day I happened to walk down a narrow alley in Los Angeles where I was working at the time and the idea of a big truck stuck in a narrow alley came to me. The idea of the truck, the pup, the alley and a lot of excited people just seemed right.”
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on board, 76.2 x 58.4 cm]
Today, Chicago police shot and killed a 19yo engineering student and “accidentally and tragically killed” his 55yo mother of 5.
The author tells Man of the World magazine he’s going to “geek the fuck out” and create his own fantasy series, kicking off with a book called Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which he describes as “an African Game of Thrones.”
As James puts it, "I realized how sick and tired I was of arguing about whether there should be a black hobbit in Lord of the Rings. African folklore is just as rich, and just as perverse as that shit. We have witches, we have demons, we have goblins, and mad kings. We have stories of royal succession that would put Wolf Hall to shame. We beat the Tudors two times over.“
But be warned, James is not using the word geek lightly; this thing is going to be seriously nerdy. “One hundred pages describing a village? Hell yeah,” he promises. “A big appendix on magic techniques? Of course I’m gonna do it. Two hundred pages on a mysterious dwarf race that lives underground? Fuck yes.” Get your d20 ready — this world is going to inspire one hell of a role-playing game someday.
Wow. Cool!
….
…..
…….
Y'all know no one is going to buy this, right?
Not really sure why you’d make that assumption…considering I posted this link less than 15 minutes ago and already 250 people have reblogged or liked it. Pretty sure people interested in articles about books also buy them….just saying. I’m going to buy it.
I will buy it too. So will a lot of other people I know.
But the sad truth is the fantasy genre is pretty much closed to anyone that isn’t white. Yeah, once in a while, we get someone that breaks through, but it’s rare. I would like that this reaches the same level as GoT or LOTR, but it probably won’t. If a book isn’t written by a white author or have a majority of white characters, then it doesn’t sell.
But let’s say this is one of the few times a book written by a Black author reaches the sane level. The very fact that it was written by a Black author makes it a “Black Book”. If the majority of characters are Black, it’s a “Black Book”. White people don’t typically read “Black Books”. The publishing industry caters especially to white people. So if they don’t read it, then it probably won’t be a movie, it probably won’t gain a large following, and it probably won’t even be recognized as “good” fantasy.
Every Black nerd has read Octavia Butler, for example, and we all hail her as the queen of sci-fi. However, I have white friends that read more sci-fi than I do that have never heard of her. Because her books aren’t marketed to them, the majority. Octavia Butler is an amazing sci-fi writer at the same level of Asimov or Bradbury, and yet her name isn’t mentioned as often as the others when one discusses classic sci-fi. Because there aren’t a majority of white characters in her books.
I’m not trying to hate on this book at all. Like I said, this is the type of thing I want to read. This is the type of story I would literally force my friends to read. It’s the type of thing that I WANT to get as large as GoT or LOTR. but I know that it’s unlikely. Sci-fi and fantasy are “white” genres. Even if every Black person in the world buys this book, it’s a “Black Book”.
What you’re talking about is a big part of why I do MPoC in the first place, because of the unbearable whiteness of the SF/F genre, as well as historical fiction. It’s why I do Fiction Week, which is starting again tomorrow. I’m sick and tired of being told that any people of color aren’t “historically accurate” when 90% of the time, we’re talking about FANTASY media, y’know, with dragons and elves and magic.
Check out this Fiction Week Masterpost from 2014, where you can see hundreds of books that have characters of color and/or are by authors of color, including many Black authors. Many of these works have also been financially successful and quite popular. I’m going to talk all about it.
The problem of books by Black authors being relegated to the “African American” section of bookstores and libraries is illuminated well here in N.K. Jemisin’s “Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.“
This is something that is changing. We’re all watching it change right now. And we can help by adding our voices to the increasingly insistent demand for MORE DIVERSE SF/F, by BUYING THESE BOOKS and talking about them on social media, LEAVING REVIEWS on vendor’s websites, and getting excited for new releases like this one!
I’m not trying to downplay the horrendous impact that racism and anti-Blackness has on what kind of fiction we know about, can enjoy with our friends, or that reach the pinnacle of commercial success or general popularity. But I personally am more optimistic than I’ve ever been, because whether we’re talking about awards or commercial success or mainstream popularity, more and more creative people of color are breaking through with fantastic and breathtaking new visions of the world as it was and would have been (if!), the world as it should be, and the world as it CAN be.
Don’t give up! There’s a whole community of people who want to read, share, and talk about these wonderful books!
Also, not reading Octavia Butler doesn’t mean someone hasn’t read sci fi written by POC. I’m a Black women who loves sci fi. I don’t love Octavia Butler’s work. It depresses the shit out of me. I do love NK Jemisin, DJ Older, Nnedi Okorafor & so many others though. We all have our faves in terms of style & frankly with the advent of social media as a direct way for authors to reach fans we are seeing better sales for the folks who take these risks.
I absolutely agree!
Fiction Week is kinda my fave because being an SFF fan is how/why I got interested in history in the first place, and started digging around. It’s also a way to let people know about really groundbreaking new books, stories, novellas, collections and anthologies, and give people a chance to be excited about them.
Honestly, from the description in the article above, I’m actually expecting less “Game of Thrones” than I am something more like, say, David Anthony Durham’s Acacia trilogy-if we’re talking about an author from historical fiction or history-style writing taking a shot at epic fantasy in the style of Very Descriptive War of Succession!
I think a lot of people are in the habit of automatically going GAME OF THRONES for anything that has a sword or a dragon in it, because the show’s so popular.
renatoled
