Chris Brown and A Nation of Raped Boys

Olivia A. Cole

Yesterday I read an article in which Chris Brown discussed the age at which he lost his virginity. He was 8, he says, and the girl was 14 or 15. He mentions that in “the country” he and his cousins watched a lot of porn, so by age 8 he was “hot to trot.” Maybe so. Children can have sexual feelings at 8, but whether they can consent to sex at age 8 is an entirely different subject. Sex at age 8 is rape, especially given the fact that the girl involved was significantly older, a teenager. Chris Brown was raped, but to hear him tell it, that experience was positive, healthy. Something to brag about. “At eight, being able to do it, it kind of preps you for the long run, so you can be a beast at it.”

And the worst part? This isn’t the first time I’ve…

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On Writing: Resistance

Such a necessary piece of motivation for the writers/artists out there. Keep pushing!

To new writers, and especially to young writers: expect resistance. I am forty-three. I’ve written since I was five. I know one thing if I know anything.

They will try to stop you.

Resistance to artistic aspiration is typical. In general, people aren’t going to leap onboard your dream train. It’s cute for a teenager to talk of becoming a novelist, or a poet. The gloss is tarnished once you travel beyond the solar system of middling youth and into young adulthood. If it has not already begun, it will begin. If it has begun, it will now begin in earnest. People will gently, or not so gently, undermine your artistic endeavors. How will you pay off your loans? How will you pay off a mortgage? How will you afford a family? What will become of you?

Grow up. Get real. It’s for your own good. We love you. Stop, just stop.

They will…

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The Imaro Review

Nerd Redefined

I’m ashamed to admit it has taken me this long to finally read Imaro by Charles R. Saunders. Having finally read one of the seminal works in sword and sorcery, I’m glad that I finally did. Imaro is amazing. This book is going on my shopping list.

But first, some background. Charles R. Saunders, in the 1970s, desired to write the stories he wanted to read- stories inspired by his African heritage.  Thus was born the character Imaro and his world of Nyumbani. The Imaro stories where published throughout the later seventies and early eighties before being reissued (and revised) in the 2000s.

Imaro is a short story novel that depicts the life of Imaro, an Ilyassai youth, at various ages from five (when his mother abandons him) to late teens or very early twenties (when he leads his haramia band). The novel, and the component short stories, explore Imaro’s…

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Review of Octavia E. Butler’s “Dawn: Book One of the Xenogenesis Trilogy” & Tea Recipe

A Bibliophile's Reverie

Amazon/Barnes & Nobles/ Books-A-Million/Goodreads

Be sure to check out the special literary tea recipe below, inspired by Octavia Butler’s “Lilith’s Brood” series!

Inadvertently, I was introduced to this gem of a science fiction novel, all due to lead woman Charlotte Wessels, from Dutch metal act Delain, citing this series as the main source of inspiration for the title and concept of Delain’s recent album “The Human Contradiction.” Having just seen the band live and being blown away by their very energetic performance, I bought myself a copy of the album, and have been listening to it incessantly since last Friday, without any serious doubts, whether my interest in the album will suddenly wane. The premise and themes behind some of the lyrics only deepened and crystallized in my mind, as I was reading Dawn by Octavia Butler, carefully and conscientiously, for the last few…

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Bizarro Reading Challenge

If you want a decent intro into the realm of bizarro fiction, then the very smart John Edward Lawson is pointing you in the right direction here.

John Edward Lawson

I’m happy to announce that my recent fiction collection Paramourn: Unfortunate Romances has made the preliminary ballot for the Wonderland Book Award, alongside a ton of great bizarro books by other authors. The Wonderland Book Award was established to recognize achievement in the field of bizarro fiction. Votes can be cast to determine the final ballot at https://bizarrocentral.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/wonderland-book-award-preliminary-voting-begins-now-4/ — just select your top three candidates in each category and email to the address listed. The award is then voted on by members of the bizarro community and presented at BizarroCon, held annually in Portland, Oregon.

Everywhere I go professionally, people ask me: what is bizarro? Who are the authors? What books do you recommend? It’s hard to know where to begin usually. Today, however, it’s easy to say that anyone curious about bizarro fiction ought to familiarize themselves with those titles populating the preliminary ballot. There are 60…

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On Malcolm, Martin and that X-Men Analogy Thing

As a comic geek this is immensely fascinating to me

Phenderson Djèlí Clark

On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the activist, orator and the man once referred to in eulogy by the late Ossie Davis as “Our Shining Black Prince,” El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (most commonly known as Malcolm X), I quite foolishly decide to wade into that whole X-Men analogy thingy. Of course I’ve been warned. Of course I know better. But since when has that stopped me? So then, let’s do this thing.

And that supremely bad ass Malcolm & Magneto mash-up art you’re seeing, is courtesy of the amazing John Jennings and his 2012-2013 exhibit Black Kirby. If yuh dunno, now yuh know.

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