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Here's the video of our presentation at Dragon Con. It was a packed house and an interesting discussion.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

Troy If that’s the case about book stores and their time and energy spent, I might as well throw my own events which I am doing now The authors are BRINGING IN clientele because if the buyer doesn’t purchase a book at least they might buy something else I felt like I was pimped since I’m advertising for the book store by busting my ass to sell my own book You’ll be amazed to come across people who haven’t heard about the existence of a book store in the community UNTIL I approached them to buy my book As a reader, I LOVE book stores…as an author, they can kiss my ass from here to Mississippi As far as your last post… I don't think that analogy is flawed because I love reading liner notes of albums...LOL And yes, people actually tape album covers on their walls as a makeshift wall of fame I'm one of the FEW who still purchase CDs and REFUSE to buy an e-reader

Wow. This thread is interesting to me as a newbie to the industry & to this message board (well, not so much anymore, I suppose). Looking back at the snippet of the thread from 8 years ago gave me an idea of the diverse ppl/opinions that must have shown up here. And Kola describing herself as "unruly" made me laugh bc I've read one of her books and so I can only imagine what some of her posts used to entail. Man I hate I missed it. (I mean that in a good way. I really enjoyed the book I read of hers.) Hopefully some of the members that went away will come back or either be replaced by new members willing to share ideas. Then again, maybe people in general are getting tired of communicating on message boards. Maybe Facebook has wiped out people's desires to interact in this way. Maybe people have discovered that you can't just SAY anything on the Internet and expect to be seen as GREAT. Maybe feelings have gotten hurt and people realize that anonymity doesn't protect one from that. Perhaps it is a movement back to the "real" world. Although, to me, this is just as much the real world as sending letters. So I don't know. Cynique I think you are right when you say that most people prefer that there is no fussing and that we all "just get along." It's always harder to get points across online than in person bc of the lack of visual cues. I guess a person could put a smiley after every single sentence to say "I mean no harm" but that would just be ridiculous.

Very interesting posts. Kola was in rare form. I have a love/hate relationship with her and this can, indeed, be atributed to her writing skills and intelligence and personableness. But it is her vulnerabliity that endears her to me, because she so often dissolves into a hurt child persona. Where we clashed was the preposturous lengths she would go to in her self-promotion zeal, never hesitating to employ deceptiveness and distortions during her flamboyant ego trips. I wonder if Kola even realizes how conceited she comes across. I guess this goes with the territory of being a diva, and - nobody's perfect. I also don't think Thumper and I ever really hit it off. We kind of cautiously circled each other, occasionally sparring, sometimes agreeing. Chris Hayden and I frequently clashed because of "his-take-no-prisoners" bluster that reeked with exaggeration and ridicule. Still, I liked the ol boy because he was well-read and a worthy opponent. ABM and I were not exactly members of a mutual admiration society, either, because I found him a tad pompous, and lord only knows what word he would us to decribe me. But there were a lot of regulars, mostly females with the exception of Yukio and Xeon, that I did co-exist with. Why? Because they were intutitive enough to just take me with a grain of salt, - just shrug their shoulders and keep on truckin instead skulking off, licking their wounds or tryring to employ psycho-babbo to anaylyse me. I love people with aplomb. I have a feeling, Troy, that whoever made the following observation that you quoted had me in mind; to wit: "I think too that the presence of some overpowering commentators on the board may have driven more people off than you may know." What I never understood was when I would have these heated exchanges with people, why no one rarely took sides. Sometimes lurkers would snipe at me, but nobody would ever really step up and defend the people I was "overpowering". I even wondered why you, Troy, never told me to "cool it". My thing was that folks would come here, steeped in ther opinions that were reinforced by their having surrounded themselves with like-minded people who agreed with them. When they encountered someone who challenged them or took them out of their game, they would become unhinged and resentful. This situation was what would drive me to adopt the attitude that "if you can't stand the heat, get out the kitchen". To my curiosity, I have also come to the conclusion that most people. for want of a better word, are "wimpy". They can't stand to deal with dissention and just want everybody stop fussing because it makes them uneasy. Something else, I have been discerning from my experiences in the social media community, is that my words are worse than my intent. I come across as much more hostile than I am in person. I'm also devilish; I like to tease and taunt. Why? because I can get away with it and this amuses me. I guess you could also say I'm crazy. If I had never discovered the internet, I would just be a bored old lady, sitting around reading and watching TV and doting on my 8 grandchildren as long as their visitis weren't too long, and wishing my 5 kids would stop bugging me about my salt intake.

Humm. For readers, a book store, like a library, provides an opportunity to travel through a world of words that is just waiting to be discovered. immersing oneself in its atmosphere amounts to an experience. Just like sometimes you'd rather curl up with a hard copy of a book rather than fiddle with a kindle device, sometimes you just want to explore the shelves instead of logging on to your computer. Going on line to order a specific book is a convenience. Browsing a book store for what catches your eye is an adventure. "Ya pays yer money, ya takes yer choice." I give a slight edge to the relevancy of book stores and cast a "yes" vote. Old school is still to be reckoned with.

I think anything that requires black kids to expand their imaginations and inspire their creativity is good. Reading and writing science fiction actually serves a dual purpose because it can be a fun way to encourage an interest in science along with providing a way to improve writing skills. It is also an activity that can wean these youngsters off the mind-numbing video games that only serve to make them an extension of someone else's imagination ]