My writing plans for 2024

Was just replying to a response about not enough stories showing the side effects of overusing ones magic or powers. In my own near-future sci-fi short story series, my MC shape-shifting alien couldn't rest because his human partner was sleeping over. He finally lost control and nearly destroyed his highrise apartment. 

I intend to self-publish this series and other sci-fi and fantasy I have in mind. Even a few genre-blend ideas.

"Catching Feels" drops on Feb 1st 2020! All details to purchase as eBook and Print in post

My SF short story "CATCHING FEELS" drops on February 1, 2020! 
It will appear in Kyanite Press Speculative Fiction Journal Volume 2, Issue 2 - Amazing Journeys and Exotic Destinations

[Official Kyanite Publishing promotional tweet]
COMING FEB 1st! Volume 2, Issue 2 Amazing Journeys and Exotic Destinations Preorder now!
Direct from the publisher:
https://kyanitepublishing.com/product/kyanite-press-vol-2-issue-2-winter-2020/…
On Amazon.com
https://amazon.com/Kyanite-Press-WINTER-B-K-Bass-ebook/dp/B083F6KN52/…
On Barnes and Noble.com
https://barnesandnoble.com/w/kyanite-press-bk-bass/1135918289?ean=9781949645972…
On Kobo
https://kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kyanite-press-8…
[End of promotional tweet]

Scifi short story accepted!

My second science fiction story CATCHING FEELS was accepted by Kyanite Press/Publishing for their Volume 2 Issue 2 for February 2020!

Links to purchase my SF story and others!

Kyanite Press: JUL/AUG 2019 - My SF story "The Human Network" (C.F. Welsh)  

AVAILABLE on 

Kyanite Publishing
https://t.co/OZT8ZGSJhX
https://t.co/blWQTTvzpO

Barnes & Noble.com 

[Paperback & NOOK]
https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/kyanite-press-b-k-bass/1132077009?ean=9781949645781

Amazon.com

[Kindle]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T32QD1V/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_apa_i_Yl9iDbFB82RMS

[Paperback]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949645789/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_apa_i_cUMjDb7GRT6V6

Spec-fic Journal Available for Pre-order!

The Kyanite Press: Volume 1 | Issue 6 is up for pre-order (Available in print & ebook on B&N and Amazon)!
MY SCIFI SHORT STORY DROPS TODAY朗 "The Human Network" by C.F. Welsh

#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.😒 

Book covers As Art Galleries

Since I'm uploading art on this blog and will upload to my DeviantArt account later this week, I wanted to talk about how book cover art has influenced and continues to influence me to this day.

I don't wish to get into a long discussion but I will split these blog posts into a mini-series by focusing simply on ONE particular science fiction series.

'The Rowan' Anne McCaffrey (pb)

During my community college days, I 'discovered' this paperback in the college bookstore.

These were the days before college/university bookstores were still owned by their schools.

Done by the artist known simply as Romas, his full name is Romas Brandt Kukalis, he has done mostly front covers mostly in the speculative fiction field. As a very young art major, book covers became my art galleries and I not only devoured the stories but also 'ingested' the covers!

Here, what I can only assume are the hardcovers:

(Hardcover version)

(Hardcover version 2)

Dynamic, huh? Still a fan of these covers. The heroine's/shero's strength of character, her superiority/insecurity complexes, the distinction of her authority, the outfit and fashion of her time period, and her potent psychic abilities seemed to radiate from the paper.
Now, why do I speak on this?

 Well... Most of my reading material have become 'classics' and therefore, in need of updating. While I can't complain that books need re-editions and updating like everything else, I'm a little troubled by a lot of contemporary cover art. Back then, different genres had different 'looks', different aesthetics. And while things weren't perfect, and plenty of speculative fictional books were given a bad rap in poor-looking artwork, book covers that didn't tell a story, there were still gems and once you looked at enough bookshelves, you began to tell, even if the book was stuck on the wrong shelf, this was a romance, this was horror, this was a thriller, this was comedy, this was memoir, fantasy, suspense, etc. Nowadays, it seems book cover art is suffering from sameness.

(Updated cover for 'The Rowan')

Take a look at the updated cover art for The Rowan now:
Nice cover. Nice art. Sigh. But I don't feel anything, and if I didn't recognize my late favorite author's name, this would be the cover to any other genre. As an emerging author who may have books published one day, I feel kind of sad that my cover won't be distinct and unique from others. Because, as a new name, I will already have obstacles to get my titles out there, and as a lifetime reader and lover of books, a bland front cover will prove to be another obstacle.

I Didn't Forget!

Still owe my viewers my Inktober 2017 submissions! Especially on my DeviantART profile... Well, before I upload my artwork, I'm going to touch on a few recent things:

I am re-working an old idea. A science fiction series from my childhood. The journal designated for this story is halfway done.

I'm also bringing up that I noticed one of my posts about  multicultural elements in one's writing is popular and keeps popping up on the blog's sidelines.

A notable reaction when I showed Inktober for 2017, people appreciated the fact that a lot of the characters were Black, Brown, South-east Asian, and that they had Caribbean/West Indian backgrounds! Sort of sad that this reaction means that we still haven't reached the level of inclusion and diversity within genre fiction, but, we ARE getting there!

Next post will be the first Inktober 2017 submissions!

Yo Ho Ho! It's the Writer's Life for me!

Can't watch "The Shape of Water" (as much as I want to) until I finish that side project about a young grad student falling in love with her research subject, a mer-man. I wrote most of this story long before even "Avatar" -did some artwork on it, also- and still had people comparing my story to that film. This also happened with the dog historical being compared to a cartoon in the 1990s. Oy, the writing life.

Best of 2017 - Part Four

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

Last is The Best American Comics 2013 anthology series. This was another surprise gem that wasn't even recommended by a sophisticated online system! This anthology was a happy surprise and showcases a variety of comic stories (strips, excerpts from graphic novels, series, musings, autobiographies, and spec-fic entries) from a variety of professionals in the industry. 

This a thick hardcover and yet surprisingly light so I credit the material they used. Not only is there something for everyone, I would even recommend this title to non-comic readers! Now because of this, I will be finding and acquiring the rest in the series!

THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2013 is edited by Jeff Smith, creator of the famed and critically acclaimed "Bone" comic series and series' editors Jessical Abel, comic creator of "Trish Trash" and Matt Madden, comics creator, educator, translator and so forth.

Please pick up THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2013 directly from Hamilton Books or where ever books are sold.

P.S. Will be posting at a later date about the wonderful online bookstore (and ISN'T Amazon!) that is Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller!!!

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

8/9/16 - More musing... A rant here and there

Some people don't seem to understand why I write fiction, why I write fantasy, why I work in anthropomorphism, or why do I read SF/F at all.

I don't know what to think. I do know on some level why I do the art that I do. I know there's a lot for me to say and if the characters looked too familiar, readers might shy away. SF/F brings up the ideas and discusses the topics many normally won't talk about. But once dressed in animal or nonhuman, it becomes easier to get away with speaking about taboo subject matters and controversial topics. I can use such devices and literary genres to tell the stories about mundane things.

I often don't want to tell people where I'm published because of their reaction. The statements can be any number of superficial magazines that they think my submissions are better suited for but this advice couldn't be further from the truth. No, I've learned that some of my writings are categorized under sub-genres. I consider them speculative fiction. That means they aren't mainstream and because of this, my works may be found online or purchased directly from the publisher.

Don't look for me in The New Yorker or other such mainstream and coveted titles anytime soon. I also find a number of women's magazines foolish and some men's magazines even worse. Right now, and you can say I'm limiting myself. I've heard it all before, but I'm better off where you may find me: niche, sub-genre, speculative, mixed genres, and mostly nerdy.

Political Atmosphere Brings Out Pop Culture

Remember that I said it first, folks! As the political climate worsens, we all return to pop culture - The modern sacred texts of our times.
Political analysts and the press have used more pop culture references!

How many feel we are living in a Graphic novel? - Joy Reid of "AM Joy"

Here are more examples from her 'round table'!
Darth Vader - Dick Cheney
House of Cards - It's become a biography
Dystopian reality - Current political climate
Batman's Gotham City - Washington, DC
DC Comics' villain - Steve Bannon

ADDENDUMS:
Game of Thrones
Through the Looking Glass

Political Atmosphere Brings Out Pop Culture

The crazier this political climate becomes, the more speculative pop culture is referenced. The titles with the asterisk have been referenced by news anchors, news consultants, and common sense political figures.

*Animal Farm
*Lord of the Rings
*Harry Potter
*Twilight Zone
Watchmen
*1984
Guy Fawkes (V for Vendetta)
X-Men
X-Files

R.I.P. Martin H. Greenberg... Editor Extraordinaire

[Blogger's note: in this article, Here There Be Links! Click, if you dare]

Just learned tonight on Twitter that an editor I hold responsible for increasing and cementing my interest in the short story had died *three years ago*!

Martin H. Greenberg was his name, and if you were like me, in the 1990s on up, into speculative fiction AND a lover of the short story, you probably read any of his countless anthologies. That is, by himself or in a collaboration.

For instance, his "Cat Fantastic" series that he co-edited with one of my favorite authors Andre Norton.

I discovered the Cat Fantastic books in 11th grade when our high school had a book fair. I have been drawn to cats all my life. I often read cat-themed books, such as Andre Norton's "Breed To Come" and Tad Williams' "Tailchaser's Song" and that pretty much set me up.

Fast forward nine years later, and I published my first short story.

What does becoming a short story author have to do with Martin H. Greenberg? Well, school, especially in middle and high, English classes encouraged and commanded that the student read a variety of writing styles, the only way to be well-read in such a short time as a semester meant reading an English textbook anthology.

We have all read them, regardless of when we attended school. It is usually the thickest text we have in our book bag, and it will have samples of Shakespeare to Henry James to Virginia Woolf to James Joyce to Phyllis Wheatley. Yet, these stories could either touch us, enlighten us, or fill us with boredom.

The anthology is usually how many readers are introduced to new writers or get re-acquainted with old writers.

So, by the time I found that fateful book at my high school's book fair, I was already inundated by a public school system that had trained me to do much of my reading through short stories and by a variety of them, according to each anthology's theme.

There is a debt to be paid. One that I can never give to Mr. Martin H. Greenberg. I did not have a chance to speak with him, nor had I ever the inkling to communicate with him. What I did was keep buying the anthologies he edited.

Cat Fantastic II introduced me to many of the authors I now read, and to the further possibilities that exist within speculative fiction. I believe reading this anthology and others in the Cat Fantastic series made me a better reader, helped to mold me into a discriminating reader, and inspired me to become a writer and a better one at that.

So Thank You, Mr. Greenberg. I owe you much.

About being a writer. About being.

Speaking to a fellow writer online got this reply from me (this version you read is longer and elaborate) and also to think on another NEW post.

One of the questions, and this comes up in many media-related questions, is why we don't seem to know people of color and/or women in varying industries? My reply to this, both off and online, is by what I and others have experienced. I am a girl, therefore, I don't read comics, much less, the superhero variety. I was bullied by other girls for this and shunned by the boys, who thought I was a mutant! [Extra points to those that got the analogy and reference here]

There are also not enough diversity in the media, and before I go into one HUGE rant on this and waste my time and yours, the question followed that poets of color are not often acknowledged, or even known by the general populace (both majority and minorities).

I make it a point to write down people featured on documentaries: this is how I learned which books of theirs to get, what films they created, or what modern works they influenced. 

Do you know, or, have heard of Rita Dove and/or Natasha Trethewey? No?

I gave Ms. Trethewey's poetry collection to friends and family in the U.S. and Jamaica as Christmas gifts! My older sister was especially thrilled as she tries to keep up with the poet laureates.

I think that in my experience (did read Nikki Giovanni and Ruby Dee's poetry anthology "Glowchild" as a child, and in my preteens, the Harlem Ren men and women), I do love poetry, and, because of culture, was spoon-fed it. Yet, as years went by, I began to shy away from the genre in its modernity because it grew incensed, enraged, as well as contrary to my own experiences and those close to me.

I'm glad that poetry is becoming diverse in tone again, and not just in one shade, or by one emotional dial.

I am a writer and I happen to be Black (unfortunately, I don't agree with this one-size-fits-all race stuff, and especially not on registrations forms, but it's all we have for now, so I must use it), but I too have been asked why I write what I write (furry, spec fic, fables, myth).

My prose has been called into question. Especially in high school when an English teacher accused me of plagiarism (that was a single incident, other English teachers, to their credit, were aware of my writing skills before I was).
There was another teacher that asked why I knew so much (something I noticed she didn't say to 'lighter' classmates). This same teacher also made many racially-charged statements throughout the term.
So many, in fact, that I and a classmate went to the principal to report her! I won't get you started on the Math teacher. That is for another post.

Sad, sad indeed that we have come such a long way, yet not long enough.