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Legendary pianist died.

Now,that's more like it. Hello and welcome to Marion Hill,Florenza Lee and Lori Elayne.

In general I have little to no arguments or discussions. However I am glad you posted this.

Troy Well, it looks like I popped back in at the right time....lol. Like you, unless they're promoting something.....I too question why so many people waste their time registering just to make a post or two and then disappear. Especially when there's so much going on in our community to talk about and get off your chest. I believe many of these posters are trolls and agents who are "spying" on the site and realizing that you much be registered to get access to certain features and information...they'll register just to get deeper in the game. But if your looking for solid answers to why such little traffic in the discussion forum...... I've said it time and time again but I don't think many people believe (or want to believe) it, but this site is too "intellectual" for a lot of our people. Too many tend to love high emotion and drama. They love sites where there is a lot of gossip, insults, and threats flying back and forth. They like sites where people can "clique-up" and form online gangs where they attack eachother over silliness. They also like sites where the moderators are more hands-on and when I say "hands on" I'm not talking about simply participating in the discussions are you do but hands-on in the form of heavy handed moderating where people who are not liked or offering unpopular opinions are banned or posts are deleted. It makes them feel more comfortable and they also like the power of being able to call on an authority figure to get someone else in trouble. People should really be taking advantage of your online bookstore since so many bookstores across the nations are shutting down due to this man-made "pandemic".

Hello Everyone, My apologies for not being as visible as I could be. Life has thrown me in more ways than I ever could have imagined. That being said, I am super excited for all that is taking place and for the path being an indie author has created. I thank those who have paved the way and continue to do so. What's new for me? Well, I have three books in illustration with another 12 fully edited and ready to go. For those who have followed me, know that initially, my MC were various animals. Just recently, I added on actual people and more recently, children of African American and Latino decent. I have also published my first two chapter books (one is a book of faith) that are doing extremely well. I am also actively promoting my second annual book festival! This is super exciting news. For those who have written chapter books, have you ever considered turning the book into a script for a movie? If so, what was your experience. I am chatting with two producers now and would like any insight you may be able to share. This comment is for Troy. Troy, is than an app for the site that I may add to my phone to have instant access? This would greatly help me to be more active by being just a click away Florenza

Hello! I am brand spanking new to this forum. Like Mel-Robert, I simply stumbled across this forum while searching for sites that have a focus on books written by African- Americans, in my case, children's books," after a colleague of mine asked me why I was not on a list of African-American authors. I decided to investigate. I also released a self published book in late 2019 and wanted to bring attention to it and I know nothing about marketing. I have yet not had the opportunity to explore the other aspects of this forum, but I look forward to checking it out. Lori Elayne

@Maurice I just now reached out to forum member who have previously participated. Any results will be evident here.

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I was asked a question If you're willing to do so, would you mind expanding upon this concept? I'm a white writer carefully reading this thread, but I'm a little confused by the phrases "still alive obstinate" and "change their minds against them." Trying to better understand! No pressure obviously https://twitter.com/Brianna_daSilva/status/1239685850926960640 My Reply is Well, in the beginning there was darkness:)... I do not mind communicating to any writer, even if you are a writer of white supremacist fiction. All artists must remember, our purpose is to provide messages, not to choose the messages people want. That is what separate the artists from the proselytizer...Anyway, the best method is to use examples. I will use a tweet sequence, I tried to make it as few as possible. But I placed a link at the end to read it whole. ... I will use three character. The little black brother in V<the television sci fi series>, a native american female character in a short story in a sci fi magazine i read years ago, Eric Kilmonger in the black panther film. Yes, the native american woman is not black african but native americans come in all phenotypes, and are definitely people of color, people of color defined as those non white europeans or of non white european descent. The black panther film had black writers but the base characters were written by a white man, the great stan lee. All three characters start off obstinate to the system. System defined as the culture of white european characters in the particular story. The little black brother in V, admits he is gaining opportunity with the green lizard aliens, he never did in the white human order. But, once his big brother is murdered by the lizards, he replaces his big brother to get the world back to the way it was, absent a mention of how his past activities may play out for him or anything else. He is alive but no longer obstinate. The native american woman is serving the aliens. In the short story which is a blend of "They live" meet "To serve Man" the aliens have got the whole planet forgive me, but they don't need to hide. The white protagonist is trying to do like in V, get earth back. He see an old acquaintance, the native american woman. They fornicate. She hands him to the alien lawmen. She says, this is revenge for the plight of the native american brought upon by the white order. She is alive obstinate. Finally, eric kilmonger chooses to die rather than live in prison. He dies obstinate. And, yes, wakanda is the most advanced community on earth while also Black, but their policies of non involvement relinquished the world control to less technologically advanced whites, which is kilmonger's base problem. To quote agent smith, we are free but not free. A long multilog to the writers choices concerning that is for another time. But, of the three obstinate characters, the native american woman, still alive obstinate is rarest by white writers. Obstinate characters themselves are less common than colored friends by white writers. The older black brother in V the common colored friend. But, that is why I said, I will like more Black characters from white writers like the native american woman in that short story I read years ago, still alive obstinate. Now if I am honest, I comprehend why it is rare, and I don't disagree to it. White writers nor Black ones nor any , have to cater to anybody, or any idea. All writers are free to write the worlds they want. Why would white writers commonly produce worlds where non whites are dominant? Fiction is just that, not reality, and caters to ourselves. what makes us comfortable. That is why I also replied what I want from Black writers. Black writers don't need to reflect peaceful integration desires in the real world.

I just finished Genesis Starts Again. It is a novel written for preteens but I would absolutely recommend it to older readers and even adults. I currently rereading The Mis-Education of the Negro because if it actively speaks to our current predicament, I'm going to actively sell it in the real world. I'm also read The Famished Road as it generally regarded to be a great work of literature and I need to read some great literature now. I was pleased to discover my copy was signed to me by Ben Okri years ago (I'd forgotten 🙂)

Speaking of "authority" check out this book coming out next month:

Hey @Marion Hill here is a link to all the event on the "Circuit" that I'm aware of: https://aalbc.com/events/list.php/ The list also includes the festivals of many types around the world, but you have no problem identifying the event on the "Circuit." 😉 @Mel Hopkins I'm unsure too, but perhaps you are right.