The Official NOC #CrossLines Reading List

This has been up since May and I had no idea my book was on such a great list. Seriously, the company I’m keeping is far above my station. It also happens to be a kick-ass list for fiction by and about people of colour.

My only quibble is the link to my book leads to someone else’s book instead of mine. You can find mine here, or you can just click the link right here on my blog. You know, if you still care and all, seeing as this was posted in May and we’re in November. But some of you have Christmas presents to get right? Well, here’s a list full of good options. Go have fun with it!

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This past weekend in Washington DC, the Smithsonian’s historic Arts & Industries building was home to the most important gathering of artists you have ever seen. The CrossLines pop-up culture lab on intersectionality brought together over 40 artists and scholars to explore race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, etc.

I was fortunate enough to be invited and helped organize a Reading Lounge and live podcasts — while artist Matt Huynh painted a mural in real time the entire weekend. One of the questions I got asked the most was about the books we included, so after the jump you can find a complete list of books we had in the Lounge!

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NaNoWriMo And Piracity, Arrgh!

It’s been a while. Hope you guys behaved yourselves while I was gone.

Just a bit of news for those wondering what’s been happening since I last dropped by. I signed up for NaNoWriMo for only the second time in my life because I love deadlines and I really want to get this second book done. I’m hoping that being all public will make me push through to the end. Since this is the sequel to LEX TALIONIS, the sooner I have it in the can, the better. I totally got sidetracked by another book, but now that’s finished, time to refocus and try for the long haul.

I’ll be posting a synopsis, and excerpts as I go, to make sure I keep the writing juices flowing. I’d be delighted if anyone here reached out to me on the site and we hooked up as writing buddies for November. I’m MarenaCrewMember on the site, and if you read the excerpts, you’ll figure out what that means pretty quickly lol.

Another thing I’m involved in is an anthology called Piracity that’s been launched on Kickstarter. It’s being produced by Hugo Award winner Cheryl Morgan, in conjunction with Jo Hall and Roz Clarke. If it gets enough backers, you’ll have pirate stories of all genres from writers based in the UK and the Caribbean, and even further afield once funding is successful. Writers already attached include Karen Lord, Gareth L. Powell, Jonathan L. Howard, Stephanie Saulter, and yours truly. You can find out more about the project, including plans for more writers, by visiting the Kickstarter site.

Better yet, there’s currently a contest for the project where you dress like a pirate–or post a picture of a time you dressed like a pirate–and hashtag it #Piracity, and Cheryl and I get to award prizes to the best dressed. The contest ends soon, so enter as soon as you can.

I’ve already finished one story for the anthology, so be sure to back us if you can, or it will go to waste. And who wants to waste a good dragon pirate story, huh? Who?

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I also have another story in case the first doesn’t pass muster, but that one’s set in space and features the Madinah warriors mentioned in LEX TALIONIS and–oh yeah–Shalon herself. It’s set between LEX TALIONIS and the sequel, IACTA ALEA EST, and yes, there’s space piracy.

So good luck at the start of a new NaNoWriMo and I hope I see you over on the site real soon. And be sure to drop by the Piracity Kickstarter and share the love. Because I really, really want to see what the other writers come up with and trust me, so do you.

Until then, stay thirsty, my friends.

Success!!

Just so you guys know, it worked.

You know that book I was posting bits of pieces of on here? The Nightward? Well, as planned, I finished writing it during my break.

I’ve moved on to beta readers and continuous edits, which will end either when the book is bought and polished, or when I trunk it.

Join me in hoping for the first option lol.

Also, am now working on finishing the sequel to LEX TALIONIS. Wish me luck getting that done by end of next month.

And how you doing today?

New Caribbean Beat Magazine Interview!

Hope you’ve all been behaving yourself while I’m away, putting the final scenes in my latest book.

Remember I mentioned some good things were coming up for me soon? Well, one of them just dropped.

Caribbean Beat magazine, the free in-flight magazine for Caribbean Airlines–one of the largest carriers in the Caribbean–interviewed me a while back. The interview is in the new March/April issue. This one is important to me because it’s a special article about the rise of speculative fiction in the Caribbean and several authors were interviewed. I got to keep company (again!) with Nalo Hopkinson, Tobias Buckell and Karen Lord.

How lucky does one girl get, right?

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You can read the interview here.

Hope you enjoy the article. Feel free to let me know what you think by leaving a comment, or contacting me via the ‘Say Hello’ form on this website.

Stay thirsty, my friends, and see you soon!

The Bookshine Bandit – New LEX TALIONIS Review

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Yes, I know I’m very late. But I’m only one week late in China!

I should have come by at least a couple of times last month, but in my defense, I was writing pretty steadily. I’m still at it and I’ve also been very busy at work, but I have some cool things happening on the writing front, so I thought I’d pop by, say hello and check in with everyone.

Hope you all are having a great year so far, and that only more good things are in your future.

While we’re here, you can check out my latest review for LEX TALIONIS. It’s later than the reviewer intended, but I’ll wait for a 5 star for a pretty long time lol.

You heard that, right? 5 STARS!

You can check it out at The Bookshine Bandit.

I have to say, I think the title of that review will end up being my elevator pitch lol.

See you again soon. Until then, stay thirsty, my friends!

Public Service Announcement!

You may have noticed I’ve been gone a while. That was due to several factors including illness, a very busy period at work, trying to write more, a vacation and general laziness (not in that order).

However, I’ve since got over my bronchitis, killed my work assignment and had a blast on vacation in St. Vincent (My first 5 star resort! Pictures to come!). When life gets that good, it follows that something not so great might happen and that was this week, when I tried to put on my computer and return to my writing schedule.

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Suffice it to say, I paid $1,000 to fix this thing in May, and it’s not working. Again. I was heartbroken. Especially since my vacation has left me with cashflow problems the like of Bear Stearns before it died a swift, painful death.

Worse, I have no computer to write on.

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But there are angels in the world, and one of them is my sister. So I am getting an early Christmas/Birthday present in the form of my very first laptop ever. I’m a bit nervous about using a smaller device and I will also need stuff like a new desk, but I’m incredibly happy to be getting a new machine.

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Unfortunately, this means writing and blogging will also take just a bit longer before I start up again, but hopefully this time I’ll be able to keep at it for a while. My priority these days is writing though, so I’ll not be as frequent a poster as I used to be, as you probably already noticed.

In the meantime, I’ll post cool stuff I find on the internet when I can. So here’s a link to a helpful blog on 51 things that break reader immersion for my writing friends out there. 

Till we meet again…stay thirsty, my friends!

A Wonderful New Review for LEX TALIONIS in Caribbean Beat Magazine

I’m really over the moon about this one!

Caribbean Beat magazine is produced by Caribbean Airlines and given away free on every flight they have, both in and out of the Caribbean, for two months. I’m extremely lucky and grateful to be included in their bookshelf. In the past, I’ve heard about great books like ‘A Brief History Of Seven Killings’–which won the Man Booker prize, among others–from reading the magazine while traveling around the islands on business.

You can read the review here, just scroll down a bit. 

My favourite part? The closing lines:

‘Lex Talionis sings a bloody song of both forgetting and redemption, and of the price we pay for a little tenderness, when least we expect to be taxed for our freedoms.’

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*Squees with joy*

*Dances around*

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programme!

3 Day Quote Challenge…And There They Go, Over The Finish Line!

Today’s day three of the 3 Day Quote Challenge. We made it all the way to the last day, guys! Thanks again to Erin Burns for nominating me. Go read her blog. You won’t regret it.

You can find out about the rules in my first post here.

And are today’s quotes. That’s right…in honour of this being the third and last day of the challenge, I’ve decided to post three quotes about one of my very favourite things. Books and reading. None of them, I trust, will need any explanation:

NEVER be ashamed..of your books :):

There’s only one of you, my friends. Only one unique, glorious, fascinating you. So don’t waste your time trying to be anyone else, or meeting anyone else’s idea of who or what you should be. Read what you love, watch what you love, be what you love.

Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have. -Lloyd Alexander:

Is there any place more fun, exciting and endlessly entertaining than the depths of our own minds?

So true.:

Reading is the gift that keeps on giving. Let’s make sure more kids know that joy.

And the final three blogs you might like to visit:

  • kelzbelzphotography blogs on photography, her hobbies and her life. If you like arts, craft and an honest, captivating voice, this is the blog for you.
  • My friend Alex West muses on writing, movies and whatever strikes her fancy on Compulsive Writer. She’s one hell of a fantasy writer, and you can learn some really great tips here.
  • Tonya Moore has excellent writing advice and insights on her blog, especially for beginners. A great place for guest posts and free stories.

Thanks for staying with me through this challenge, my friends. And if you like my quotes, you can take a look at my Pinterest page, where I got most of them from.

Have a great weekend, and stay thirsty, my friends!

3 Day Quote Challenge…Here They Come, Down the Stretch!

Today’s day two of the 3 Day Quote Challenge. Thanks again to Erin Burns for nominating me! Go read her blog, especially if you’re looking for recommendations for fun genre books.

You can find out about the rules in my first post here.

On to today’s quote!

This quote is in my debut novel, LEX TALIONIS. In it, my young heroine Lex has lost her memory after a brutal attack that ended her life. Brought back on a hospital table by a mute alien, she embarks on a mission to find out who she was and who killed her. Revenge is her goal, but what she doesn’t know is that someone has learned that she survived the attack. And they are intent on finishing the job.

Obviously, Lex’s past is the key to who she is and what happened to her. The quote comes halfway through the book, when she’s remembered who she is and we step backward in time to see how she came to be dead in a hospital. Once we see where Lex came from, however, we know immediately that her future has been irrevocably changed by what happened to her. Literally, as we study her past, we will know her future.

I love this quote because it speaks to history, one of my favorite hobbies. It’s a lot like: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’ (George Santayana). In essence, society must do its best to learn from its past, in order to avoid a future filled with old mistakes. If you want to know where society is going, you have know where we’ve come from. You can’t chart a course with a blank map.

It’s personal too. If you want a better life and a better you, you must make a study of who, and where, you are in order to figure out who, and where, you want to be. A starting point can be anywhere, but you must know what got you to that point if you want to keep moving forward instead of going in circles.

And now I nominate:

  • Mike Douton, a great friend and a writer who muses on writing and life over at Stuff and/or Junk.
  • Marlene Dotterer, a writer of romantic fantasy and science fiction who happens to be a great friend and who blogs on writing, vacationing, gardening, food and even pregnancy issues over at her blog. You’ll won’t be bored if you stop by!
  • Darke Conteur, a writer (yes, I have a lot of writer friends, why do you ask?) who does interviews and lots of posts on the craft of writing, food, paranormal fiction and wiccan and pagan life. There’s a lot to learn and explore here, and book recommendations too.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow, I’ll have a special Saturday post as I wrap up this fun quote week.

Stay thirsty, my friends, and see you then.

3 Day Quote Challenge! And They’re Off!!

I’ve been nominated for the Three Day Quote Challenge by Erin Burns! She has a wonderful blog in which she reviews books, among other things. She’s extra special to me because not only did she read and like my novel LEX TALIONIS, she left reviews for it all over the place. If she wasn’t already awesome, that would have finished the job. So if you’re looking for something to read, particularly genre fiction like scifi and romance, you might want to hit up her blog for recommendations.

So here are the rules for this torture exercise:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you.
  • Publish a quotes on 3 consecutive days on your blog.  The quote can be one of your own, from a book, movie, or from anyone who inspires you.
  • Nominate 3 more bloggers each day to carry on this endeavor.

My quote for today is:

There Wouldn't Be A Sky Full Of Stars If We Were All Meant To Wish On The Same One by NamedByArt on Etsy:

I love this because it reminds me of a local saying in my country. ‘What is for you, is for you.’ Both quotes address the fact that everyone is different and everyone has different destinies. Clark’s quote reminds us that we aren’t all after the same thing in life, so don’t be afraid to choose your own path and follow it.

The Trini saying means it’s okay to go after what you want, even if you fail. Because if you’re meant to have it, no one else will get it. What’s not said–but is just as important–is the idea that anything you don’t have, wasn’t meant for you in the first place. So celebrate the achievements of others. Dare to be different. Don’t be afraid to take your own path. Your destiny is your own and failure doesn’t mean you missed out on anything, or that anyone robbed you of success. It just means there’s something else wonderful in front of you that you haven’t got to yet.

My nominees of excellent blogs for your attention:

  • M.A. is a new friend over at Romance Language where he posts infrequently, but speaks eloquently, movingly and thoughtfully about writing, reading and life when he does. It’s worth passing by just to read his archives, which is small but powerful.
  • Anna Kashina is a successful writer I’m proud to call friend. Author of several beautifully written fantasy adventure series, her latest works have won her two Prism awards from the Romance Writers of America. She doesn’t blog often, but has good insights into writing and publishing.
  • Kelpiemoon blogs on a million different topics over at Scribbles at Midnight. Writing, book reviews, society, music, you name it, it’s there. But they’re all addressed with great depth, good humour and openness. Check out the archives for funny observations and laments.

Looking forward to everyone jumping in and having a good time.

Have fun, and stay thirsty, my friends!