Ages when I "discovered" my favorite authors

Andre Norton 

Age 10-11 "Warlock of the Witchworld"

My oldest big brother brought home a coverless used paperback copy. My introduction to adult Fantasy. Magic as personal, unique, familial legacy, and frightening. The rest is history... 

Lois Duncan

Age 12 "A Gift of Magic"

I lost a lot of Summertime as a kid because I was always stuck in Summer School(which is also a favorite 80s movie of mine. My first film showing a pregnant teen and the storyline NOT punishing her for that). I found this book on the school library spinner rack(found so many favorites over the years on the spinner rack). The cover was a touched-up photograph of an eerie-looking pre-teen white girl. Her eyes aglow while she sat crouched in an easy chair, her fingers digging into its arms while she stared at the viewer. Behind her was another photo of a younger girl seemingly floating in shades of blue. The story was as surreal and real as a story could get about a regular girl inheriting her matriarchal line's ability to telepathy, telekinesis, and prescience.

Anne McCaffrey 

Age 20 "The Rowan"

Now in the realm of far-future SF with a psychic woman protagonist(thanks to A Gift of Magic) I started to relish reading about. This title was the first in a family drama/space opera series. The protagonist is in blue clothing and seat on a seat likened to a throne, appearing as regal as any queen. An orphan, she is considered one of the most powerful psychics in human-inhabited space. She sits straight with her ankles crossed, her arms straight with her fingertips on her seat's arms. She is flanked by a smallish(serval-size?) snow leopard-like domesticated cat. More psychic abilities and alien-implied invasions of the galaxy. The first story where the protagonist and her intended get together, she gets pregnant, and they don't immediately marry(they marry in the second book when she's pregnant with their third child). That blew my mind and I appreciated this subplot point. 

Ursula K. le Guin

Age 23(?) "Catwings Returns"

I know I read this story late in my local library, not even realizing it was a series. It had cats with bird wings born to a regular black cat mama. The cats flying through a city felt very real to me and delighted me that another writer could make a story about a cat character that could fly. Disclaimer: My first character I made up as a kid was a brown and white cat with bat wings I called Cat the Bat.😊😄 I worked as a substitute teacher at the time.

#BW = Hashtag Black Women

I don't know about you, but I'm lovin' all these new stories when otherworldly beings fall in love with wonderfully Black women protagonists! 

Some examples (and please, that means READ THEM. They're GOOOOD): Talia Hibbert's Mating with the Huntress (Novel-BW/Werewolf) 

Plastic Bottru's Oh My Intern (Webtoon-BW/Demon)

As well as my own take (BW/Alien)

We just weren't the romantic interests in most genres and media, much less when the story is speculative-fiction. If our own kind didn't want us, neither did it seem the men/women from out of myth and space, either.😒 

"Tribes of Kai" micro-review

What an incredible graphic novel...

You were too short a story and I love you.

I first read "Tribes of Kai" while it serialized in the short-lived Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated Magazine back in the 1990s. The same periodical that showed a new ElfQuest story from Wendy Pini!

Tribes of Kai takes place on a prehistoric world. The technology is Stone Age. Belief system is in its nascent stages. Knowledge is passed down orally and language are cave dweller drawings. Anthropomorphic wildcats that have 'centaur' like bodies are the dominant species and the main characters. One such individual thinks differently from the tribe and is exiled. Through lush painted comic panels and a hypnotic narration, the reader wonders: is the protagonist a harbinger of doom? Or a savior?

Tribes of Kai is written by the mesmerizing storyteller Lance Haunrogue (Writer) and each-panel-a-gallery-masterwork Daren Bader (Artist).

Please look for Tribes of Kai where ever books are sold, on eBay, or through Flesk Publications website and you can check out the publisher on Facebook!

Andre Norton as undergrad studies - PART 3

I got that last rant out of my system. Now, on to more serious topics.

There are plenty of reasons to enjoy Ms. Norton. I will give the list on why I adore her.

 1. Her protagonists are often outcasts/pariahs/lepers in her/his respective community/society/world/planet.
2. This outcast often does not know what is in store for them. Then, in the middle of their woes, their destiny arrives!
3. Norton appears to have used more disabled characters than other fictional authors. Also, because her character is disabled, doesn't default them to 'bad guy/bad girl'.
4. The disability stays with the character. Whether it's in a Norton science fiction or fantasy, the disability is often a boon.
5. The disability is also not glorified but is unpleasant for the protagonist. Norton's literary descriptions of how a real-life or fictional disability can affect the character in profound ways - by their internal monologues, their physical or 'magical' limitations, she as a writer appeared to have a good grasp on portraying a disability in a realistic way. However, by the middle of the story, he/she finds out how the 'disability' helps on the quest or in the middle of a conflict.
6. Norton likes 'furries', and the protagonist will often be accompanied by either a recognizable creature (cat or dog), or, a creature native to that particular planet/dimension/world.
7. Said 'furry companion' will often be more intelligent than the protagonist and often dispels the reader's ideas about 'pets'.
8. There are clues, riddles, puzzles to solve, ancient languages to decipher. Some of Norton's best stories (Most are) read as crime thrillers or murder mysteries.
9. Her novels, short story collections, series, and shared worlds are equally populated genderwise. That means she has just as much female protagonists as her male protagonists.
10. Norton appears to like shape-shifting, polymorphism, and out-of-body-experiences.
11. The woman got me more obsessed about psychic phenomenon! In many of her stories when the protag and 'furry' companion were 'linked', it was often through telepathy.
12. Norton's villains were not the Van Dyke-mustache-twirling types. Often, they simply were philosophically/politically/socially/genetically opposed to the protagonist. And if there was 'evil', it was a forgotten source of power left on some ancient abandoned world.

In honor of Andre Norton being taught at my campus, I will have another post on the Grand Dame of Science Fiction/Fantasy!
And some pics from my collection! Take care!

[Part 4 coming up]

This blog post originally appeared on 12/26/12 *Sent to a new blog post*

[Post originally on Dec. 26, 2012]
*There is a brand-spanking-new official website for Ms. Norton. http://www.andre-norton-books.com/

When the stifling of summer changes to the cool breezes of fall and becomes the set cold of winter, I get nostalgic.

I mentioned in the last post that since I am in Second-draft mode, I am taking a more inward analysis about myself as a writer. What do I mean?

Because I keep a library in my bedroom as well as the family library in the den (sun room), this puts me in a unique position: I often have immediate or near immediate access to the books and stories that helped to shape my reading and writing persona.

Let me tell you about a lady who named herself Andre Norton.


[PHOTO REMOVED - PLACED ON RE-POSTED POST]

Andre Norton was born Mary Alice Norton but legally changed her name to Andre Norton because she began to publish at a time (mid-1930s) when women writing SF were very likely to have their works snubbed by the 'male establishment'.
(For more of this phenomenal writer's bio - go to her official site - created by fans, no less! ANDRE NORTON ORG:: Main Index)
She was incredibly prolific, and her space adventures involving youth, strong female protagonists, won her many readers and lifelong fans.

Originally a librarian, she seemed to know what middle-schoolers-to-high-schoolers-to-young adults were thinking, what they worried about.
Whether it was coming to grips with new found abilities, or feeling an outcast because of said abilities, Andre Norton's stories seemed to touch upon very real pre-adolescent and adolescent feelings even in fantastical settings!

After a used, tattered, coverless paperback was handed to me at 11, "Warlock of the Witch World", my imagination was lit on fire. Later, I took down every hardcover title we had on the family bookcase, snatching them for my bedroom library.

I knew then, this was the author for me!

It seemed predestined when, in Seventh Grade, an English teacher I didn't like very much, but who had recognized my gift for storytelling, gave me Ms. Norton's address while the author lived in Florida.
I never followed through, and later, health and other reasons caused my role model to migrate to Tennessee.
I can tell you I eventually did connect with Ms. Norton, wrote to her, but by then, she was growing feeble and unable to receive books to autograph, but I still have and cherish the card and letter I received from her.
It is one of my regrets that I didn't interact more with this great author while she lived in Florida at the behest of my teacher.
I would've had a longer relationship with someone I admired for so long and to tell her how much she influenced and inspired me to become the writer I am now.

Thank You, Ms. Norton, THANK YOU 

How Does Your Reader Feel?

On the telephone with a family friend, she brought up something interesting:
She not only asked about characters as if they were real. My friend believed that my rate of progress (drafts that I'd shown her) was greater than how I felt about my output. What I saw as the tip of the iceberg, she viewed as a great deal and fascinating. It not only opened my eyes to what I was attempting to accomplish, but lifted a veil of discontent I had been feeling for weeks.
There is no excuse for it, the feeling of inadequacy a creator feels for the project. Is it because we as creative types strive to outdo our last job? Does this feeling help us to create better and hopefully stronger each time?

Earlier fans of my storytelling was my oldest niece. Or rather, she being younger, became an unwilling audience once my stories became tiresome.

School friends were my next readers, except I was known as the Artist, illustrating my tales first.
One summer in 1989 (I think), stuck in summer school for math and all of us watching "Summer School" vhs tape from the library, I completed a full comic story. I used notebook paper and my favorite writing pens at the time. I used highlighters for color. I used a copier machine, and then, passed the copies around (I think they were two) during class. I'd like to feel this helped me and my classmates get through the monotony. By the time the booklets were passed around, everybody had their opinions: the story was good but the ending was rushed, or they didn't like how the hero's problem was solved so coincidentally. These comments came from friends and foes alike. And though I was annoyed by the reactions at the time (so sue me! I was 12-14 years old), I learned how much I had to delay resolutions. There had to be delayed satisfaction and a solution (if any) solved organically.

Fast forward to a secretarial position with the public education district office, and another short story was published. With many of my tales and ideas, I use my latest obsessions or readymade knowledge. Mine at the time was the history of the Middle east. Always fascinated by the cultures that gave us astronomy, algebra and the number zero, I decided it was time I wrote another story within my 'Tabber the Red' series. These are standalone yet linked stories set on a feline world. Yet, unlike what I was reading and seeing on shelves, my cats were upright, wore clothing, had different cultures, religions, were separated by ethnic groups and/or nations. So much like our world but so different.

My story took place during the ancient world of the lynx people. There was a messianic figure and the prophecy that drew him and his followers. Adventures ensued and this was one such tale. When my editor learned I could draw, he insisted I illustrate my story. I drew a caracal (a lynx cousin that inhabits the deserts) character wearing a head covering. The story was published both online and in a trade paperback edition. When I told one of my coworkers, who had showed interest in my writing, a budget analyst, about how to easily obtain the story, she told me that I must never give a story away. She told me that when it was available in print, she would purchase it.
I belatedly realized my coworker was Muslim and began to wonder if she would take offense to my story.
Later, she exclaimed excitement to me about the story and its characters. She thought that the Middle Eastern flavor of the book was thrilling. Its dark fantastic undertones she brushed off as she was used to reading horror. I was elated and told her I was glad she enjoyed it. That coworker told me she would keep up with my stories from now on.

Again and again, there is validation to this lonely life. It never fails to excite me that such seclusion from living in one's head can still lead to touching others.

More of an Influence...

I read somewhere years ago that J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" was influenced by Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung" or "The Ring Cycle".

I'm trying to complete some graphic novel series and YA fantasy novels that I was suppose to finish long ago, but alas, life happens.

So, Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain Chronicles" (5 volumes) is now on my list of what I what to read now. I'm using online purchasing to find the editions to match what I already have.
I also have a manga series to read. I need 8 volumes to not only complete the series but to finish the books.

I'm a huge YA book reader. I oftentimes prefer the genres within Young Adult rather than the stuff written for more "mature audiences".

What I like about the "Prydain Chronicles" is there is an introduction in each volume when Mr. Alexander speaks about the series on a whole. Because the series was written during the 1960s, the books have become classics as well as the last volume having won the Newbury. He mentioned that the ancient Celtic texts of the Mabinogion (the first parts coming from the Welsh) was a heavy influence to his "Prydain" series.

Author and artist interviews always interest me because I like to get a peek inside another creative type's head. It encourages and strengthens me when I learn about what influences others and how they bring that into being.

Artists writers, Writers artists Part 2

Hannes Bok (Pulp artist and writer of the 1940s) and Flannery O' Conner (who drew politically-driven cartoons in her university newspaper). Need I say more?

Will post some more information about these two since I recently learned about Bok and O' Conner's artistic ability.

[from FB post on Dec. 13, 2013]

Artists writers, writers artists

My last post started an idea about well-known writers who were made famous for their prose but not for their visual arts. In the previous post, I discussed J.R.R. Tolkien.

Now, I will mention J.K. Rowling. Wait, you didn't know that Harry Potter's creator is also an artist?

In an episode of "Charlie Rose", Rowling was inundated with questions by the prominant journalist/CBS correspondent. Rose showed a clip: it was one of the earliest illustrations of the boy-wizard...done by Rowling herself! She explained that she often sketched and jotted notes about the story that would capture the world's imagination!
Before HP illustrator Mary Grandpre''s iconic American 'look', Rowling had penned also the aesthetics... Footage of Rowlings 'doodles', one can see how very close Grandpre' came to the author's vision. Uncanny!

Writers that are artists/Artists that are writers...

When I posted on my Women of MFA Facebook page, it was a few sentences of four well-known writers that are/were also accomplished artists. In my readings, I have learned that many authors weren't just doodlers (as many are!), but actually talented illustrators, often illustrating their own work before it took off!

I may one day compile this list and showcase it in a proper setting, but for now, on this blog it shall be!

Shall we begin?

I have learned that such folks are rare.
When I asked if I could submit a cover for an e-zine, I could tell the editor was a bit skeptical. But afterwards, when my online story was going into the hard copy anthology, the same editor insisted that I also illustrate for my own story. He even bragged about me when he published his review on a well-known online newsletter!

Here's the link to the advertisement: Flayrah : Furry food for thought

Because "The Hobbit" is out in theatres (the next part, right?), I will mention Professor John Ronald Ruel Tolkien. He tops my list.
What? Wait! You didn't know what the J.R.R. stood for?

Tolkien's magnum opus "The Lord of the Rings" started life as bedtime stories for his children.
When it was first published, before the trilogy and the prequel went through their numerous reincarnations, Tolkien had illustrated both "Hobbit" and the covers to the other books. And I don't mean doodles, folks. Tolkien's covers, interiors and cartography (that's map-making) are so luscious, detailed and colorful, you wonder why the publishers (Ballantine and Del Rey at the time) didn't just go along with this.
Alas, many of us know that our author ideas for our books are hardly to never taken into account, so, if you can find these rare editions of Tolkien's artistic visions, KEEP THEM! Or, do a search engine of the images. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

On to my next post...

The Author of the First Novel

I want to  take the time to give a shoutout to Lady Murasaki, a lady of the Imperial Court during the Heian Period, and who penned what many say is the World's First Novel "The Tale of Genji". This point is indeed historically significant. However, what makes the first novel crucial is the fact that Japanese women, during  this era, were barred from learning to write and read the 'high form' Nihongi(Japanese Language) that only men could read and write.
All women, even the noble-born such as Murasaki, had to develop their own script! A female-written 'language'!
Can you imagine us modern writers not only struggling to pen our works, but the necessity to develop the language for said creative works!
And we wordsmiths complain about not finding the right words!

Upcoming Publications... American Athenaeum : Front Porch

Another bit of good news: Remember my essay on 1Bookshelf some months ago?

Well, 1Bookshelf is only one of many titles under the Sword and Saga Imprint.

Next month, my essay "Where did childhood and Childcraft go?" will appear in American Athenaeum's Front Porch issue!

Click the image to go straight to Sword & Saga Press' American Athenaeum page and purchase the print edition!

Photo by Christopher Woods (c)

Upcoming Publications... Allasso Volume 3

Couldn't have this blog and only showcase what is work-in-progress now, could we?

My publishing extends about 13 years ago, but it did not stop.
I am still being published and trying to keep my fiction and art in the public eye (or as much of the public as I can receive!:)))

I will embed the following links so you don't have to go traipsing around the 'Net looking for these journals once they come out.

Pink Fox Publications Allasso Volume 3 will be re-publishing my 2001 short story "The Merchant's Daughter" *Squee!*I am SO excited!*
This is amazing for me because I have actually been around long enough that I have works out-of-print!
 ~~~
(Anecdote incoming...) About 1-3 years ago, I queried an editor if he could reprint another earlier, published story, and he explained that, as long as I gave information about when and where it first appeared, he could reprint it. I keep obsessive track of all I have in print: hardcopies, URLs, titles to journals, and which piece appeared when and where.
(You can also check the Bibliography/Work cited webpage of my website for complete listing)
Once I submitted the information, the editor proceeded to tell me that he appreciates the classic journals and the chance to republish works of that time. He further said the younger readers now don't know the older stuff, so it's good for them to read it! (End Anecdote)
~~~
Can you BELIEVE THIS? That's CRAZY! I used to think you had to be dead to have things out-of-print, to be considered a classic, but I digress...

Also, why I am MORE excited:
The Author's List!
I know some of these writers, or, at least, am familiar with or read their works!
I had to be professional during the interaction with the editor, but later, totally geeked out when I saw the lineup I'm included in! (Is this what rookies feel like when they end up on their idol athlete's team?!)

Early influences..Part 2

I've wanted to read "The Secret of NiMH" since I watched the Don Bluth animated feature back in 1985.

When I lived in Jamaica for a couple of years with relatives, the film had captured most of my schoolmates' imagination as well as their parents' pocketbooks - at the time, a graphic novel based on the animation sold like hot cakes on the island. When I borrowed a classmate's, I was a little disappointed by the illustrations, even noting that characters were often disproportionate to their portrayal on film.

Mind you, 8-year-old me didn't think this, it just seemed off, but then age and experience made me realize what I just told you.

I feel blessed that often, many of the animated features I watched as a child, I later read the book.
For example, "The Last Unicorn", "Watership Down", "The Return of the King", and "The Hobbit".

Right now, in my 30s, I made it a point to read "The Secret of NiMH" which is actually "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NiMH" (the original title!).

And get this: Author Robert C. O' Brien, who wrote the original book, his daughter, Author Jane Leslie Conly, ended up creating two books based on the first!
So I ended up reading her "Racso and the Rats of NiMH" and "R.T., Margaret and the Rats of NiMH" before reading the original story!

This story helped to perceive animal stories as true literature, and not simply as 'kiddie fiction', though there is nothing wrong with that as long as the story is written with the best of intentions.

Science Fiction discovery

"Andre Norton" (c) Rudysbooks.com

NOTE: Originally written in June 25, 2002. Changes are in brackets.

(c) Herbsandheirlooms.com

SF discovered me in sixth grade with [Ms.] Andre Norton's "Warlock of the Witch World".










I later read the entire series of Bruce Coville's "My Teacher is an Alien". Man, I loved those books! It really opened my mind to what I liked about aliens!

"My Teacher is an Alien" series (c) Gizmodo.com

"Bruce Coville" (c) Stephen D. Cannerelli

Earlier, from 4th grade, I wrote a series on my own version of [the] Superman [story], a tale that continued into my first years [in] Community College.

Later, [...] I am now in my mid-[thirties], I decided to discard much of what I thought were my best ideas and reinvented myself, changing ideas into concrete stories.

Walter Mosley - Writer Extraordinaire

Writer Walter Mosley, whose name, as in the words from 'Flower Drum Song', has 'rumbled in my ears like thunder for years', explained, during an interview in The Writer Magazine that, often, writers aren't truthful when asked about their influences.
He was unapologetic to say that movies and comic books have been the media that drove him to writing. In his interview, he explained writers will bring up classic works (they may not have read or feel this will bring more credibility to their writing) to say they were their biggest influences.

"Walter Mosley" (c) CNN.com

For more on this amazing author and the interview in his own words, refer to The Writer Magazine Nov. 2011 issue, Pg. 22 "Late bloomer, EARLY RISER".

A class that changes...

Professor Tixier would prove a force of nature. She was a dynamo. An intellectual to be reckoned with. I was privileged by the English Department to take this dynamic teacher's class because of my high marks (Goodness, too many British dramas)/scores.

The day I walked in, I knew that, to coin and milk a cliche' to the bone, I had found a kindred spirit.

"Joseph Campbell" (c) Elephantjournal.com

Prof. Tixier taught a course - name escapes me now- about the importance of storytelling and its role in modern psychology and society.

I first heard the 'Monomyth' from her. I also learned about Mr. Joseph Campbell, and his famed "Hero with a Thousand Faces".

"Ursula K. le Guin" (c) Guardian.co.uk

She also reintroduced a writer I dearly took for granted, Ursula K. le Guin.
With myth, storytelling, and epic fantasy being taught all in one course, you would think it would be a picnic... It wasn't.

Did most of my classmates, who happened to be freshmen and sophomores to my junior, understand the treasure trove that was this class? NO, they did not.

Yet, I absorbed, and through osmosis, took in what she explained was the importance of storytelling to any culture. In coming to grips with WHY we tell stories, this topic also became the salve to much underpinnings within the Psychology industry, another field for which I am a fan.

I gave her a story I had recently finished, and she commented, not in the passionate way of my earlier English and Creative Writing instructors, but in an academic, didactic manner that forced me to view my tales, not ONLY as a source of entertainment to possible readers, but to how I viewed my world, my personal psychology.

Professor Tixier is dead and gone for over 6 years (at the time of this post), and I doubt she knew the impact she had on me as a person, and more important, as a writer. My junior/community college is now a four-year, and there is a grant named after this wonderful woman, as it should be. But the true testament to her legacy is what we, her students, and others' lives she touched, may do with the knowledge she gave freely and sincerely.

*NOTE: Please view Third Sunday Blog Carnival: Volume 1, No. 3 for more writing/poetry/essayist goodness!
Also, check out & FOLLOW Third Sunday Blog Carnival itself -- a wonderland of various genres & writerly advice! It's a SMORGASBORD of Writing, Writers, and the blogs that go with them!