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richardmurray

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  1. richardmurray

    RIchard Murray Creative Table

    By richardmurray,


    creatve list
    Dear Readers, 
    I tend to enjoy reading various articles on writing , the industry, the concepts, et cetera. parallel to craft articles. These topics can be fun or engaging. As some of you know, I have a controlled electronic footprint, meaning, I don't keep old posts. This blog never had fifteen posts and never will cause I don't like ejunk. But, I realize, aside my posts to what I created and create, I need a post to just chit chat if you will. So this post will serve that function, through its comments I will posts various topics concerning writing. 
     
    Work Cloud  
    EBook List- see below , Onmyoji Contest Entry ,  Pacific Rim contest Entry , Bettering American Poetry Anthology Entry , White House Carol , Maple Me entry , We Happy Few Wellington Wells entry,   Fiyah Magazine-  , Killens Review-, Audiobook list , Concrete Fables
    Creative Cloud
    Questions to think about ,  How We Define Art a response ,  Lessons from Last Action Hero  ,   Black Soldiers fighting for the British against the USA during USA secession why no memorial  ,  Levar Burton Reads ,   Ethiopian apocalyptic film ,  Is Biography the biggest genre today circa 2018 ,  if they remade Cleopatra jones? ,  which cliche you dislike most? ,  Grammar Check , those who write love are making money, have you done a collaboration .. on a train , be your character on social media , who are afro latinos ? ,  a short history to the internet , What describe best the Native American experience in fiction ,  Get Out early - what do you think compared to the final film? ,  Prince and religious friction in film ,  Let us compose something together using these rules, what other language will you say if you can? ,  AALBC community book- in progress till made ,  not any time soon but... ,  A Glengarry Lead ,  silhouette in film ,  Get Out defined , inspiration listings,  the return of poetry and some fun , written and sun by Aretha Franklin ,  Unconventional art  , Der Tchrumpfs ,  Selections from poetry through the native female pen , a question to multiculturalism , Nonqonqo in A Warm December , Peola Edit- Immitation To Life 1934 , concealed carry models , Ann Gorman Edit- Follow Me Quietly 1949 , censoring online , MLKjr2019 , Black Party to governance , Star spangled why, Audio EXcerpts , False Civility , US , Glass submission story , code geass, Juju webseries official poster , acting , lee daniels workshop , black anti immigration , silent sundays , a positive child bride story? , a fictional character to be president of the usa? , Ta-Nehisi Coates , George Lucas , open marriage in fiction, kobo audiobook , Fiyah nanowrimo writing groups , Black Solidarity day 2019 , The Comeback Of Sexual Chocolate , no time to die poster content , Overdrive  , lt uhura dollypartonchallenge , emoney, a day and most night at the uffizi , raprushmore , Malcolm 2020 , daylight savings time 382020 , the black fratrem , a saint patrick day past, heavymetal sixart challenge, startwithlove , to arbery from maurice jackson, from owner's choice to merit , FIYAHCON 1 , Flashfiction 7142020 , Radical Racer , 20th anniversary Deviantart , the ethics of lust , Sanctimony Literature  , ? 
    Calligraphy Mirror
    Kiss of a dagger , Angelique Noire , ?
    Anthology Sentences
    Breonna Taylor , ?
    Engineering  Cloud
    Fixing Plastic ,  Blacksmithing Basics ,  multi electromagnetic wave observation ,  AMP in Email , Makers jobs or cosplay , ? 
    Email Gazette Fragments
    fifth issue , tenth issue, eleventh issue , twelfth, thirteenth , fifteenth ,sixteenth, seventeenth ,eighteenth , 19/20/21/23 ,24/25/27/29/30/31/32 , 33/34/35/36/37 ,38/39/40/41/42/43 , 44/45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53/54 , 55/56/57/58/59/60/61 , 62/63/64/65/66 , 67/68/69/70, 71/72/73/74/75/76 , 77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90 , 91<->130 , ?
    Question Cloud
    The Internet without the USA, are marvel movies theme parks or cinema, joker of our times , the greatest native american warrior in film , is dr serikawa the special effect , isn't it time for a pro nazi german film, Ligt and Daenerys  , liking online , what does joker 2 after the joker film with joaquim phoenix mean , when is a culture allowable  , history book Kamala Harris side Corey Booker , who will be your fictional fertilizer , MLK jr. day 1202020 , what tropes are you tired of , still alive obstinate , What is the July 5th speech fo FRederick DOuglass ,Has the Black community in the usa repeated the mistake of the black soldiers of the 13 colonies throughout its existence in the usa, 9112020 , ?
     
    EBook LIST
    Richard Murray Short Story Collections Kobo Link OverDrive Link
    JIHI series Kobo Link Overdrive Link
    Poetry or More Audiobook link Kobo Link
    Visasiki Audiobook link Kobo Link
    Gospel of Joseph Kobo Link Overdrive Link
    Richard Murray Collages Kobo Link
    SanaTambo Versions Overdrive Link Kobo English Kobo Francais Kobo Portugues Kobo 日本語 Kobo 中文
    Der Tchrumpfs Kobo
     
    Below is a collage i made to Ty Wilson Art

    Be Safe
  2. richardmurray
    December Solstice art or text craft parade 
     The December Solstice is December 21st 11:19 pm EST or UTC-5 , it is the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere, summer in the southern hemisphere 
     share photos of art OR text of fiction 
     The photos can be to->sculpture/knitting or sewing/graffiti/tattoo or any craft depicting Black people in summer in the southern hemisphere, any country <south america/caribbean/africa/south asia/australia> OR  Black people in winter in the northern hemisphere, any country <north america/europe/northern asia> 
     The text can only be fiction based on the following: Black person or peoples at the first day or summer or winter  
       STORY 1 : https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-december-solstice-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=963
    Story 2: https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-december-solstice-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=964
     
    November 28th  
    Native American Harvest Art 
     Thanksgiving is November 28th , share photos of art OR text of fiction 
     The photos can be to->sculpture/knitting or sewing/graffiti/tattoo concerning Native Americans enjoying food only -can include Black seminoles- no colonists from europe 
     The text can only be fiction based on the following: Native Americans communities around harvest - black seminoles allowed- no colonist from europe  
       https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-native-american-harvest-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=961
     
    November 11  
    Veterans day is November 11th, share photos of art OR test of fiction, guest comments are allowed 
     The photos can be to->sculpture/knitting or sewing/graffiti/tattoo concerning Black Veterans, any country any time, any army 
     The text can only be fiction based on the following: Black Soldiers who fought against the USA for the british/ Black soldiers during the Haitian Freeing/ Black Seminoles during the time of osceola/jonas caballo/Black soldiers who fought for Menelik II in the first Abyssinian-italo war 
    story 1
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-veterans-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=959
    story 2
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-veterans-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=960
     
    October 31st Halloween, Oct 31st to Nov 1st is Samhain, mid september equinox to december solstice
    The time of final main harvest before the winter. look at this dog, the ghost:) https://0512-97.tumblr.com/post/631277935457878016
     Story 1
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-halloween-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=957
    Story 2
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-halloween-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=958
     
     
    October 12th indigenous peoples day - present a story of text or images that reflect Black Indigenous people of the USA or the greater american continent
     
    September Equinox- it is september 22nd 13:31 UTC equate to 8:31 utc-5, it is the beginning of fall  in the northern hemisphere, spring in the southern hemisphere < http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/soleq2001.html  >  
     share photos of art OR text of fiction 
     The photos can be to->sculpture/knitting or sewing/graffiti/tattoo or any craft depicting Black people in spring in the southern hemisphere, any country <south america/caribbean/africa/south asia/australia> OR  Black people in fall in the northern hemisphere, any country <north america/europe/northern asia> 
     The text can only be fiction based on the following: Black person or peoples at the first day of spring or fall 
     Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-september-equinox-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=948
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-september-equinox-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=949
     
    September 21st international day of peace- a story of peace 
     https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-september-equinox-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=947
     
    September 7th – Mrs. moses, born 1860 was a painter from new york state, began painting at 78,a story of an older person painting 
     
    Statian LAbor Day- First monday of September-a story of john henry in the usa 
     
    Ray Bradbury birthday August 22nd- I quote him: "Libraries raised me... I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for ten years" Submit a story using three random things, solid/liquid/gas/eectromagnetic in the room where you sleep, utilizing a book in some fashion in the story. 
     
    Cat Nights begin on August 17th - display any text or art concerning cats. <Cat Nights begin on August 17. This term harks back to the days when people believed in witches. A rather obscure old Irish legend said that a witch could turn herself into a cat eight times, but on the ninth time (August 17), she couldn’t regain her human form. This bit of folklore also gives us the saying, “A cat has nine lives.” Because August is a yowly time for cats, this may have prompted the speculation about witches on the prowl in the first place. Also, nights continue to get longer. Cats, crepuscular creatures, are nocturnal hunters. Their superior night vision means that the nights belong to them. citing>  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-black-cowboy-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=943  
       
    Mid June Solstice to september equinox, Midsummer eve < equal distant days between the June Solstice and the September Equinox, august 6th or 7th in 2020, ? 2021 >  Usually celebrated August 1st , also called Lammas
    This is a free subject time, think of your dreams or compose any art or prose to any subject.  
       
    Black Cowboy day- In the USA , National Cowboy day is july 25th so I say, give this day to art, text full of imagination for the black cowboy  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-saint-mary-magdalene-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=938  
       
    Saint Mary MAgdalene- the catholic saint day is the 22nd of july, i say she warrant better, what is your craft to her?  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-aphelion-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=936  
       
    Aphelion is July 4th 11:04pm in 2020, the Aphelion for earth is when the earth is farthest from the sun, in its eliptical orbit. If you consider the Perihelion the beginning of a year, then the Aphelion is the trust midyear point. Every planet around the sun has an aphelion. Earth's moon like all other moons has a similar action, called an apogee to a planet, where a moon is farthest from the planet it rotates around, by having an elliptical orbit.  
    Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-aphelion-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=923  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-aphelion-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=924  
         
     Midsummer day June 24th - summer in europe or other places was culturally started in May and ended at the end of august. Thus late july was called midsummer. Usually between June19th and june 25th. What dream did you have?  
       
    Father's day is june 21st  
    Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-june-solstice-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=911  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-fathers-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=912  
       
    The June Solstice , in 2020, is on the 20th, it will be in the moment 5:43 PM on Saturday 
     In the northern hemisphere summer begin, in the  southern hemisphere winter begin. 
     The sun will appear to be at its highest point in the sky in the northern hemisphere, the lowest point in the sky in the southern hemisphere. 
     In parallel, during the December solstice, in the northern hemisphere it begins winter, in the southern hemipshere summer 
     The sun will appear to be at its lowest point in the sky in the northern hemisphere , while the highest in the southern hemisphere  
    EQuinox, the path of the sun crosses the equator of earth extended out into space or the celestial equator.  
    Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-june-solstice-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=909  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-june-solstice-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=910  
       
    Juneteenth is July 19th , a day celebrated as the day when all black people in the usa knew that the slave system had been destroyed, not legally abolished, which is the 13th amendment.  State text or graphics depicting Juneteenth to you.  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-juneteenth-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=908  
       
    Flag Day <june 14th , June 14, 1777 the usa flag was adopted : "That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.">- commemorating the Flag of the usa. IT is not a federal holiday. But, what does the USA flag mean to you? I ask for various text or graphics depicting that feeling. Here is some trivia. When is a star supposed to be added when a state is added to the union?  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-flag-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=905  
       
    Memorial Day <last monday of may originally may 30th, originally called decoration day> - create writing or art that involve the the death of Black soldiers who died serving on the battlefield for the us military or others. I ask a query? https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-aphelion-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=914  
       
    Joan or Arc canonized <may 16th>+ Jumping Frog Jubilee <every third weekend in may, honoring MArk Twain's first published work>  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-mothers-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=901  
       
    Mother's Day is May 10th , Photos or text involving art /live model/stories involving black mothers  
    Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-mothers-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=897  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-mothers-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=899  
       
    May 1st, Floralia or festival of Flora/ hellenistic Chloris or Communists/socialists international workers day for incident involving a workers march on may day, make a story concerning flowers and labor across flag borders, excluding the usa , also called May Eve ,  or MidSpring or Mid march equinox to june solstice
     
    Earth Day, is april 22nd, show art or text or fiction involving the earth  
    Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-earth-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=894  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-earth-day-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=895  
       
    Eostre  
    Easter is April 12th in the year 2020, the name is derived from Ēostre the real or unreal germanic goddess but the date and most modern traditions refer to Pascha which roughly translates to passover, the Jewish holiday. But, I want to focus on  Ēostre. For easter, include the real or unreal traditions attributed to Eostre, like rabbits, or make your own.You can show photos of art OR text of fiction 
     The photos can be to->sculpture/knitting or sewing/graffiti/tattoo or any craft depicting Eostra real or unreal traditions 
     The text can only be fiction based on the following: Real or unreal traditons of Eostre. Orthodox catholic easter comes a week after roman catholic easter.  
    Story 1 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=892  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=893  
       
    April Fool's day April 1st  
    http://houyhnhnm.github.io/aprilfool/index.html  
       
    March Equinox art or text craft parade 
     The March Equinox is March 19th 11:49 pm EST UTC -5 , it is the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, fall in the southern hemisphere 
     share photos of art OR text of fiction 
     The photos can be to->sculpture/knitting or sewing/graffiti/tattoo or any craft depicting Black people in fall in the southern hemisphere, any country <south america/caribbean/africa/south asia/australia> OR  Black people in spring in the northern hemisphere, any country <north america/europe/northern asia> 
     The text can only be fiction based on the following: Black person or peoples at the first day of spring or fall  
    AALBC STORY  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-march-equinox-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=878  
    Story 2 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=890   
    Story 3 https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=891  
       
    Saint PAtrick day  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=889  
       
    Mardi Gras is February 25th in the year 2020. I ask you to make a journal of your day in New Orleans during mardi using photos from wherever you like to paruse  
    Story 1 :  https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=885  
    Story 2 : https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=886  
         
    Black Hearts Day or Valentine's Day good news - 
     Any Love , story or image stating Black love, any language, any geography, any religion. Love is meant to be shared everyday,but giving it a day in the year to itself is not an evil or bad thing. Enjoy Black people together. 
     In the usa it is feb 14th  
    Richard Murray Valentines day album 2020 LINK  
    Mid dec solstice to march equinox,  Midwinter day in the northern hemisphere- called imbolc , ussally celebrated on february 2nd , which is also groundhog day in the usa
    ?
    Martin Luther King junior Day -  
    His actual birthday is the fifteenth of january but the federal holiday is in a monday for three day weekends, like others. It is celebrated on the third monday in the month of january in every year since its inception in the Statian Empire. I ask you to share , historical fictions/prose/graphical artwork in any style concerning MArtin Luther King jr....I do wonder why Blacks in the U.S.A. can not come together and demand a true day off for this federal notice. And also share, officials days in a country outside the usa for a black person in history?  
    In Amendment  
    Why the holiday is on his the third monday and not his true birthday?  
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Monday_Holiday_Act  
    MLK jr's views on Financial Accountability  
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnKP__N7MNI 
     MY 2020 speech  
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/194-richard-murray-creative-table/page/7/?tab=comments#comment-820  
       Marcus Garvey Birthday Jan 17th
    January Perihelion  
    The perihelion is the moment in the path the Earth make about the Sun ,elliptical orbit, where the Earth's position is closest to the sun. It will occur : January 5, 2020 2:47 am EST or UTC-5. The June Aphelion is when the earth is farthest away. Please provide any art or text concerning  a sun coming closer, and don't try the twilight zone episode.  
       
    YEAR MARK  
       
    EXTRA  
    A Day, and Most Night, At The Uffizi  
    Daylight savings time 2020  
    Arcane Idol 2020  
     
  3. richardmurray
    My second story collection, Looking West and West, is a collection of 18 stories followed by 18 poems; in the work, 18 story is to the most lifefull in their heart fore 18 poem to those mature in body or will; it is the second in my story collection series, the first being Sunset Children Stories. In Sunset Children Stories two part exist: fables and tales.
    A preview is available for the ebook on the official kobo page. Check it out and at some time, leave your review on the official kobo page. Any question or thought, you can respond in this blog.
    If you want to hear an excerpt from Sunset Children Stories, use the following audio stream

    Below is an excerpt from another book, The Janidogo

     
    If you want to check out my writing style, or just enjoy a free book, please utilize the following
    Sunset Children Stories: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sunset-children-stories  
    Looking West and West: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/looking-west-and-west  
    Janidogo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-janidogo  
    The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
    The Nyotenda FREE : https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-nyotenda   Includes a comic. The following link is an excerpt LINK

  4. richardmurray
    The Text Based Zenith Power Collage can be accessed using the following link. Tell me what you think and if you will like to see the Legend Collage below in audio form? https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/179-richard-murray-collages/?tab=comments#comment-513
     

    CLICK anywhere in the image above and it will take you to a story, click on the tale to go back
    Richard Murray Collages Book 2
    The following Collage ebook ,similar content to the slide above,is based on the 1985 film legend. The Collage was interesting as the themes of Evil/Love/Fairies/Demons encircled each other.  Legend source story is more romantic and the Evil is not as straightforward as some will like to think, to be fair it is darkness not evil. Like the prior week , Please use the kobo mobile app to view. Please tell me your thoughts in private message if you are part of my email list or in guest comment here... Lastly, I am pondering what the next collage book should reference, the private collage series will involve black stories like john henry or three the hard way getting the treatment, so any ideas to another non black story you will like me to collage?
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/richard-murray-collages-book-2
    Links exist below to view the film or read the scripts.
    the film for those that do not know 
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M7N_TSZdic
    Legend first script- one of the finest scripts I have ever read in terms of flat out imagination and beauty. the opening scene with the princess needed to be made 
    http://www.figmentfly.com/legend/script3a.html
    Legend second script with the truest darkness- the black unicorn, lovely 
    http://www.figmentfly.com/legend/script3b.html
    Legend third script made into the film 
    http://www.figmentfly.com/legend/script3c.html
     
    COLLAGES LIST
    THE FIRST POWER
    LEGEND - look above
    ? Who is next, give me a suggestion
     
  5. richardmurray

    Poetry or More...

    By richardmurray,

    I successfully published a poetry book, i entitled, Poetry or More. Now, the original plan I used is to place three year in one book, text side audio. Unfortunately, a 100MB or 100,000KB limit exist on ebooks that can be loaded <that is fair cause that equate to a huge amount from raw text>. Thus, I made four version, one is only text that include all the years. The other three are partials: 2015-2016, 2017 January to June, or 2017 July to December. 
    The text only includes all the poem stories, poem of the months or seasons. I placed the links to each Poetry or More variant below, and if you want an excerpt I kept the December solstice 2017/December 2017/December Poem Story 2017/July Aphelion 2017 poem blog entries. All is linked below. Enjoy. 
     
    Poetry or More 2015-2017 text only
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/poetry-or-more-1
    Poetry or More 2015-2016 audio or text 
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/poetry-or-more-2
    Poetry or more 2017 January to June audio or text
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/poetry-or-more-3
    Poetry or more 2017 July to December audio or text
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/poetry-or-more
    Overdrive links 
    https://www.overdrive.com/series/richard-murray-short-story-collection
    December Poem Story 2017
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/137-december-2017-poem-story/
    December 2017 
    https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/134-july-aphelion-2017-poem/https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/120-december-2017-poem/
     
     
    July Aphelion 2017 
    Listen to "January Perihelion 2017" on Spreaker.
    Farthest from the light 
    Is the ancient under water wheel 
    Seahorse, crab, anchovy, or like, dance in it 
    The last to it's kind 
    It's descendent's, kill or betray the old life 
    ...Long before man, or when dinosaur's began 
    Earth made the ancient plant's 
    To play side all other children 
    But... came a change 
    Earth became cloudy, the sunlight distant in essence 
    And, nearest penultimate ancient plant's died 
    But the heart from Earth, did not want all to die 
    And embrac'd the ancient under water wheel 
    To usher in the dinosaur 
    And, it surviv'd, to today, deep in the water 
    Far from the sun , alway's
    Audio ( https://www.spreaker.com/user/6716082/july-aphelion-2017 ) 
    Check out my ebooks- the free one is noted, please read/enjoy/give me your response:
    Sunset Children Stories: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sunset-children-stories  
    Looking West and West: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/looking-west-and-west  
    Janidogo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-janidogo  
    The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
    The Nyotenda FREE : https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-nyotenda   Includes a comic. The following link is an excerpt LINK
     
     
    December 2017 Poem 

     
    December
     I hear some speak to maturity 
    why am I not convince? 
    do I have access to a wise diary 
    am I living behind a fence 
    nothing literal or from prison is about me 
    sole support from my sense 
    kin to all common water's  
    born from being many schnee 
    each winter, the former liquid chime, Never  Again! 
    On the craterous surface, will we be sow 
    Under only the sky, above all other life, is our remaining time 
    ... then the sun rise, and maturity prove elusive again 
    ... I hear few speak to possibility 
    why do most shun if sense 
    do they have no craft they fee 
    are they surround from total absence? 
    nothing craftal or annihil they don't see 
    all support from their mince 
    kin to all warstarter's 
    born from inherent malflee 
    each winter, the sanguine rhyme, Always Again! 
    In the cavernous channels, will we be sow 
    Under only the hide, between all other life, is our remaining time 
    ... then the lids rise, and possibility prove all coming again 
    ...Can a possible be immature 
    Is immaturity a craft from some possible 
    to reject all other possible 
    Do the questions prove sense? 
      
    Audio ( https://www.spreaker.com/user/6716082/october-2017-poem )
    Check out my ebooks 
    LINK Short Story Collections 
    LINK JIHI series
    LINK The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
     
     
    December Solstice 2017 
    Happy December Solstice. Mama Earth in less than a moment tilt her axis farthest from parallel to the Sun, more than any other time save one between the Perihelions. May those in the northern hemisphere, have a collective , communal warmth, may those in the southern hemisphere, have a energetic smooth cool. 

     
    A once virgin prince, now white hair king
    Ponder to her tomb, the Last Rose, from Hadinchi
    On his regal seat, in a cold empty hall
    He remember, the fairies dance, on all the jewel pall's
    No longer their sprinkle's, in this long fall
    He leave his seat, stride slow on broke floor
    He see her portrait, made when good time's were more
    A goblin weave'd her skin, from hairs on the amber boar
    No longer it make step, in this long fall
    Open the hall door, and on to the mausoleum
    The path shimmer or shine, throughway, to where his woe's sum
    From glass depicting her life, molded from dragon fire's, or jitu hum's
    No longer they breath or song, in this long fall
    Finally, to her body rest, in grandeur timeless
    A statue made, from the king mind or hand, to her likeness
    Eight ninth from centuries, on the craft, and still a jumble mess
    No longer can he remake, in this long fall
    And fall... the white hair king, crying My Love! my love...
    Time smooth over, and none recall, or only hear whisper, in winter
    To the once virgin prince or Tamawari, his lover
    ...But, the rarest whisper, say a black dove cry in a spring, will end their leter
     
    Audio link( https://www.spreaker.com/user/6716082/december-solstice-2017-poem )
    Check out my ebooks- the free one is noted, please read/enjoy/give me your response:
    LINK Short Story Collections 
    LINK JIHI series
    LINK The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
    Be Safe
     
    December 2017 Poem Story 
     

     
    Somewhere, or sometime, in existence 
    In a temporal expanse 
    Tween cluster's from star's or nebula's  
    On a planet from like set 
    Aside a beach, part to an isle in the caribbean, is waterfall's 
    Where she sit 
    I don't know her name 
    Have not ask'd about 
    Been here a few day, and still not approach 
    I have no game, or malice play 
    A simple joy, watching the sun, shadow, wind, or mist mix, about her, or her dress 
    But... time is near done 
    The time this somewhere 
    Me no romeo, her no juliet 
    Nor us two ship, to make a living idol or gret or regret 
    Only a woman enjoying the sun, shadow, wind, or mist, mix about her, or her dress 
    Or a man enjoying where she sit, honorable distance, no persistence 
    Two pleasant, quiet, honest... 
     
    model: amber rayne 
    photographer: Travis Houze 
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/37051354@N04/27333584943/
     
    Check out my ebooks-  please read/enjoy/give me your response:
    LINK Short Story Collections 
    LINK JIHI series
    LINK The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
     
  6. richardmurray
    Title:Harlem - June to November 2015
    I am a child to Earth
    living side my peer, in a concentration
    in a night, I see...
    not from the Sun, many moon, shining
    ... many voice yell in the sky
    no horn or four horseman ride
    remind, a faint glimpse to a god
    kicking a free moon by
    know why, not I
    Out from the quiet Harlem
    Where the trees recall yesterday
    South from the modern
    Where the lights shine away... from the old song in the street
    Is a raccoon family
    Waiting for sapiens to segregate
    Tis a wait insane
    Waiting for: fish fry, jass, or roof... parties
    Them can not survive: mixing, security, or real estate
    But a darkling notice the scene
    He provide a path in the shade
    Just to a few from Harlem past... to find the Black Bath
    Walking outside, I ponder, where is wisdom,
    when the Sun can not wake me to see it,
    and...
    what can be seen from apartment 2B?
    concrete sequoia, surround every pane,
    even the baby thrush, needing parental sustenance,
    can't be known, and...
    we all ask, where with all is hope?...
    can I know in 9C?
    can enlightenment be, where no butterfly roam,
    even if I live or write every poem?...
    may I live near 2B... only down the hall,
    where you live in 4U, and maybe you can see or know,
    if you own, a pane or more from hope...
    will it sing, to my craft, as I walk...
    apartmentless, in the public dark
    The Trees or the Churches, are all that will stand
    Where is the tree that remember the land
    Does a church know where, the skulls from the first, was planted
    The collages from modern mancraft is disorganized, most ignorant
    I heard from one collagent
    ... The Pigeon who climbed a whole hill
    do not forget a sky
    never needing, to walk to one again
    ... do not forget an earth
    while sleeping to fly
    truly fly... to a rose beyond any sky
    do not forget a time
    when two sunflower , grow at first glance
    for one grow a short... distance
    yet, the shades them can not see prove:sky, earth, or time in chiaroscurhyme
    and!...this dummy still stand!
    pondering a turncoat dove ponderance
    I am comforted in knowing their finiteness
    though, I know a clear sadness
    for the collages everborn
    pretelling I will never know
    where stand the skulls, or the land
    What if a green speak to you one day
    do you think, it will speak to Giants colored grey
    or multicolor dirt from an annual day
    I say they are not signs... from the urban green
    not like those southern trees who know the bloodiest luxiery
    A salvadoran Rose, through my mind, once spoke to me
    We look at each other through a lens that is the moon
    after in the afternoon, a bluejay hope to find
    hopping up the fire escape to the top floor, why?!
    a rainforest on the third, or higher than Everest on the roof
    or maybe a query from the terrace fleur
    How do you find a place beyond time, is it galaxy wide, or smaller than an eye?
    Does a green, the Moon, or an avian know where it hide
    In a deep autumn night
    I think, what deep thought
    from those once cargo
    or more than likely, threw off
    did they saw life as hope, or a wrought
    did they trusted in nature, used her time
    as I have
    born in summer, a plethora from light...
    this fall beginning
    I was unwised, lived on the obvious prismal abuse
    suddenly pondering, why I suddenly dream to you
    you are not in a thought yesterday
    think yesterday has nothing from you?
    now nearest to the future
    what will winter be, these questions
    do you feel the sunlight when i do
    do you feel the rain
    are you surround between the night stars
    do you block their speak
    ... or the mirror to chaotic reality...
    silent fantasy
    from Richard Murray 2015
    Check out my ebooks- the free one is noted, please read/enjoy/give me your response:
    Sunset Children Stories: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sunset-children-stories  
    Looking West and West: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/looking-west-and-west  
    Janidogo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-janidogo  
    The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
    The Nyotenda FREE : https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-nyotenda   Includes a comic. The following link is an excerpt LINK
  7. richardmurray

    Stevie Wonder selling Atari 2600

    By richardmurray,


    Game Art
    I Quote with bracketed inlets by me:)
    stevie isn't superstitious... <oh no> by rule...but when it comes to fun, he knows what what <who wrote this?> and when it comes to a game console system, only the atari 2600 will do. "my friends tell me the graphics are the best. I don't know what that means, but I know with th atari 2600 they must be upright and out of sight" <ok, now can you give me a dy-n0-mite! wow! who wrote this>
     
    Concluding thoughts
    Atari would had did better to make a game a blind person can play on the system... what a waste of time

  8. richardmurray
    Got a question for the cast of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves? They may have answers!
    Submit your questions here < https://entertainment.tumblr.com/ask  > , and tune in for their Answer Time on March 30th at 11am PT / 2pm ET, before the film opens wide on March 31st.
    U.R.L.
    https://entertainment.tumblr.com/post/711937110429532160/got-a-question-for-the-cast-of-dungeons-dragons
     
    In Amendment
    many black people love video games, love board games, love card games, and yet, I have never seen a board game like dungeons and dragons implemented by black people. Yes, Dungeons and dragons has an open world structure meant for any human to play in it, but rivals for games are made all the time. Just wondering. Also, will you ask a question  ?I placed mine below
     
    Do any of you play the Dungeons and Dragons board game and will you play a character like the one you play in the movie or another?  What do you think about a version of the Dungeons and dragons board game based on the movie, upon success and sequels, will it be an uncommon synergy between film and games? Honor among thieves seems a introduction to a world but not an origin story, am i wrong or right, and will that make sequels/derivative works more fun or creative? 
  9. richardmurray
    In modernity many Black people speak to finding roots or gaining reparations or many other thing offline that require a collective power that does not exist or an individual power that does not exist. I am not suggesting said power will not become to a black group or black individual offline. But, I am certain it is easier for a black collective or individual task online to be successful. To that end, I cognize a nice way to show who black people are today, that can have value tomorrow , collectively or individually, is through individual sigils. The data storage for the sigils will be linked at the postend to this article. The comments to this post will be links to each sigil made, which is composed of the graphic, name, and url to main place online.
     
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/HXbBwMv3DtSogJnh7
  10. richardmurray

    MSinChe - the 365 game a day project

    By richardmurray,


    MSinChe-365 game a day
    Hello to the late readers,
    Yes mind reading... In the year 2020, I said to myself, I will make a video game. It is not a hard task in all earnest. It is also not an easy task. The greatest challenge is... fun. Yes, the greatest challenge in making a video game is fun. When I was in college I made games few , excluding me, could master or have fun playing. I took the Will Wright masterclass on Video Game design. The best idea I garnered from it was the 365 game a day challenge. I thought to myself cool. But, I hit the snag I had in college.
    What is that snag you say?!
    I started on intricate, complicated games, absent an idea of fun. Who will have fun with the games I had begun developing. Then, 24 hours before this post was created, I realized I was making the same error, as in the past. So, I rebooted my structure.
    What if I went for simplicity. 365 simple games to test the waters, what people like. This will allow the BlackGamesElite group to engage better. At least I hope so:)
    ... Without further rambling, I introduce the MSinChe project. 365 games in 365 days. The goal of the project is to
    Engage the BlackGamesElite members on creating games ourselves Find out what games we actually like to design as a group or individually Create a code base for the future for the group to use Have fun!  
    I will add a forum entry for the MSinChe project , but this post will hold the simple list of games per day. I hope all the members have fun and those not members, I hope are inspired to create.
     
    1.  KumRan playable link  Comment link
    2. NyoKuun Playable link   Comment link
    3. HazMin Playable Link
    4. MoyoSaa Playable Link
    5. VuaKal Playable Link
    6. ?
  11. richardmurray
    This is not about games straightly, but refers to a problem all in the arts have.  The following is two parts, my comments to others concerning this topic, and then the post by Chrissabug in completion below
     
    MY THOUGHTS

    As I said somewhere else on deviantart, all artists: musicians/writers/ those who draw, are in an environment where technology allows ownership of the arts to be a challenge, while the potential for revenue or exposure are larger than ever before. We artist have to calmly go through all this. as a writer, I know what the drawing community on deviantart is feeling. I end with what I always, keep creating folks. 

    https://www.deviantart.com/chrissabug/status-update/I-wanted-to-gather-my-937031201
     
    I am no lawyer, nor do I have any extensive comprehension of copyright/trademartk/intellectual property but based on what the lawyers I know or the artist offline I know who do, I concur to your position. 
    I think the larger issue is simpler. The global communication phase in the electronic age has been a challenge for artists. In the prior phases, technology allowed for greater revenue or control while difficult exposure but in this phase, technology has expanded exposure to no limits,expanded revenue channels to all, but also diminished the control. Writers/Musicians/ all artist have felt the challenges in the now. And when an artist is tired of people telling them to get a real job or tired of the real job they have    the commonly called Artificial intelligence tools or processes become like the christian seven horns. But, I have been fortunate to speak to artists who welcome the AI For their own pursuits, as tools that will help them. So, I end my speech on another person's soapbox  with calm. I know the artist I am. I know the environment I am in puts me at some disadvantages, but that is ok. as long as I can create I will.   

    https://www.deviantart.com/theonewithbear/status-update/Many-people-are-rushing-with-937091579
     
     
    CHRISSA BUG POST
     
    I wanted to gather my thoughts about the AI situation here and help clear up some misunderstandings as well as share my concerns! (Video at the bottom) Let's first start with clearing up 2 main misunderstandings because there is a lot of misinformation spreading around:
    🔶 The opt-out feature has NOTHING to do with DreamUp. It is literally just a flag that says to outside bots that are scraping the internet for images "pretty please do not put this image in your AI dataset".
    If the opt-out flag is not checked, that does not mean 'opt-in', it just means the code is set to have no extra flag, which is what we already had (and have on every other website) before this update.
    Whether or not the bots will pay attention to this flag is up in the air, but I do believe it is dA attempting to start a new precedent of giving a way for artists to consent or not.
    It should have been auto-checked on from the beginning, BUT this flag doesn't actually do much of anything right now and I repeat, it has NOTHING to do with dreamup. dA doesn't get anything from this flag being on or off.
    🔶 DeviantArt themselves did NOT feed ANY deviations or other art into their AI to create Dreamup. DeviantArt did not take your images and put them in this AI. This is why that flag has nothing to do with dreamup. dA didn't train dreamup themselves. This doesn't mean I don't have concerns about dreamup but I want people to get the facts right
    So what's the problem?
    My main concern is that Dreamup is built off of a pre-existing AI (Stable Diffusion) and dataset (LAION). DeviantArt did not train this AI themselves, but the learning was already done and existed by scraping the entire internet for images. Deviantart didn't steal anything themselves, but building dreamup on top of Stable Diffusion and LAION means that they have built it ontop of a tool that is created with stolen materials, even if it is someone else who did the stealing.
     
    I don't think AI is going away and so we desperately need a truly ethical tool to direct people who are going to use AI anyway. I had hoped that dA would come out with this tool, but something built off of LAION isn't that. I like that dA is trying to get people to categorize AI art better and that they have a form to opt out of your name being used in a prompt, but again my main issue with dreamup itself is that is is built off of LAION.
     
    In all actuality, not a whole lot really changes here. dA themselves are not taking our images to train this generator, the flag doesn't really do much right now, and there are still outside bots trolling the web to take images as they already were.
     
    I'm not planning on leaving dA BUT now that the workweek has started, I do hope that dA takes the community feedback to heart. I, myself have voiced my concerns directly to staff and I now wait to see what they decide.
     
    I did a special stream talking about this and my concerns over the weekend if you want to give it a watch
     

     
  14. richardmurray

    Street Fighter of the 80s

    By richardmurray,


    Game Art
    I only have two points to make, outside that enjoy as you well
    1) the haircut from guile:) I want to see somebody wear that:)  

    2) Chun-li's arms!!! ahh why? why is it so hard for people to realize that a woman fighter's body is not going to look like barbie. Look at female olympian runners or weight lifters or acrobats, all of them have developed arms, veins/muscles. Look at chun li, come on!!! Who does this chun-li fight in the street against? pooh bear?:) 

    P.S. I don't have an issue with Balrog. He is meant to be an older fighter. 
     

  18. richardmurray

    Fae Farm

    By richardmurray,


    game news from somewhere
    Fantasy Life, from LevelFive is the game that had the most fun in my home, cause we all could play, even offline, even traveling, together in an immersive world. 
     
    LevelFive is coming out with Fantasy Life i , but Nintendo has reached out to indie developer Phoenix games, to make a hybrid between  : fantasy life/animal crossing/stardew valley/Breath of the wild from the Zelda seriea. And Fae Farm is the result. 
     
     
    Farm to Fable: The Peace Seekers

     
    Farm to Fable: The Farmers

     
    Farm to Fable: The Adventurers

     
    Farm to Fable: The Artists

     
    Farm to Fable: The Friends

     
     
    I really like the blend of open world, no routine or guided activity, the design parameters of animal crossing with colors or visual perspectives, the connectivity of fantasy life with goals possible but not forced upon the user, side stardew valleys wide array of activities.
     
    If you are in Europe consider the following
     
    https://b2b.gamescom.global/gamescom/the-gamescom/
     
    Have fun!
  19. richardmurray
    Video


    TRANSCRIPT - my thoughts in the comments
    0:28
    all right good evening my name is Dr Jason ockerman
    0:34
    I'm a faculty member at the uh in the IUPUI School of liberal arts
    0:40
    and I'm the director of the Ray Bradbury Center what is the Ray Bradbury Center it is a
    0:47
    one of the larger single author archives in the United States it's also a small Museum we have
    0:53
    recreated Ray Bradbury's basement office with entirely original artifacts and we do offer tours to the public on
    1:00
    occasion so please follow us on social media if you'd ever like to come and see the collection
    1:06
    on behalf of the Bradbury Center and the school of liberal arts I want to welcome you to our literary Festival Festival
    1:13
    451 Indy we have events throughout the month of September to celebrate our literary
    1:20
    Heroes two of mine are going to be taking the stage uh in in just a moment to encourage people the festival
    1:27
    encourages people to cultivate an active reading life and to celebrate the humanities our
    1:33
    Festival references Ray Bradbury's most famous work Fahrenheit 451.
    1:38
    a cautionary tale about the consequences of the cultural devaluation of literacy
    1:45
    his words you don't have to burn books to destroy a culture just get people to
    1:51
    stop reading have only become more poignant and relevant today
    1:56
    that's why we felt that a festival like Festival four or five when Indy was necessary so thank you so much for for being here
    2:04
    tonight and being part of it hopefully you picked up some note cards
    2:10
    as you're listening to the speakers today please write down your questions and I think these two aisles here if I'm
    2:18
    wrong somebody will correct me okay I got the thumbs up from the boss so these
    2:23
    two aisles here you'll be able to approach a microphone and address your questions so please stick around for the Q a sometimes that's the best part
    2:30
    although I think everything about tonight's going to be great we also want to thank the aw Clues foundation for sponsoring tonight's
    2:36
    event and for sponsoring the entire Festival um that lasts the entire month of
    2:41
    September their generosity made this Festival possible uh in your programs
    2:47
    tonight there's a short survey if you could fill that out and turn it into one of our team members at our information
    2:53
    table uh in the lobby that would be super helpful for us we do have to do a grant report for Clues and your your
    3:01
    response to the event tonight would go a long way in helping us craft that report we definitely appreciate it
    3:08
    before introducing our speakers I want to share a brief land acknowledgment
    3:13
    IUPUI acknowledges our location on the traditional on the traditional and
    3:18
    ancestral territory of the Miami padawatami and Shawnee people
    3:24
    we honor the heritage of native peoples what they teach us about the stewardship of the earth and their continuing
    3:31
    efforts today to protect the planet founded in 1969 IUPUI stands on the
    3:39
    historic homelands of native peoples and more recently that of a vibrant a vibrant black community also unjustly
    3:47
    displaced where we sit tonight Madame Walker theater is one of the last vestiges of
    3:53
    that Vibrant Community as the present stewards of the land we honor them all as we live work and study
    4:01
    at IUPUI today people in this state who teach about the
    4:07
    injustices of the past are under attack and I want to affirm tonight that we
    4:13
    stand with our public Educators our public libraries and librarians
    4:18
    we honor their expertise we will never correct the injustices of
    4:24
    the present if we fail to acknowledge our past especially the parts that make us uncomfortable
    4:30
    if there are Educators and Librarians in the art in our audience tonight would
    4:35
    you please raise your hand so we can honor you [Applause]
    4:46
    thank you thank you for what you do um you know tonight in part we honor Ray
    4:53
    Bradbury a great author who spent his life standing up for public libraries because knowledge
    4:59
    should be free and accessible to everyone no matter what
    5:06
    we stand against any attempt to whitewash our history the old adage that
    5:12
    those who refuse to learn history are doomed to repeat it rings true but I would add it seems clear that
    5:18
    those who actively try to prevent history from being taught intend to
    5:23
    repeat it we will not let that happen so tonight the red Bradbury Center is
    5:29
    thrilled to partner with our friends at the center for Africana studies and culture and presenting a night with two
    5:35
    legendary authors Dr Charles Johnson and Stephen Barnes
    5:41
    tonight's event will be moderated by my dear friend and colleague Dr lasatien
    5:47
    executive director of the center for Africana studies and culture Dr Les the stage is yours my friend
    6:02
    good evening good evening good evening everyone thank you for coming out um a little little housekeeping before
    6:08
    we get started because we are breathing rarified air here tonight so I want to
    6:14
    acknowledge uh in in right in the front here to also legendary writers uh Ms
    6:21
    Sharon Skeeter and also miss Tanner nariev do right here in the front
    6:29
    and big thanks to to Jason uh and the the staff and and Folks at the Bradbury
    6:36
    Center for putting this on and also giving us an opportunity to play a role in it um some colleagues from Liberal
    6:43
    Arts are sitting right there shout out to y'all hello um and also our Dean
    6:49
    um let me say oh and look Rob Robbin uh our other colleague but our Dean is also
    6:55
    in the house here tonight as well uh Tammy Idol so I'd like to bring up uh Mr Barnes and Dr Johnson if they could hear
    7:02
    me to come on up and we'll get started let's give a round of applause
    7:17
    you wanted the right I'm gonna go to the right thank you
    7:24
    all right welcome welcome welcome thank you thank you both for being here greatly appreciated I think it's um it's
    7:33
    always good uh to introduce uh folks uh to who we have this August panel that
    7:40
    we're in here tonight so if you wouldn't mind if we just get started Jump Right In but also I think there might be
    7:48
    people in the house that would want to know uh about uh who we are are sitting
    7:54
    with tonight no I'm always curious about who I'm sitting with especially when I'm sitting
    8:00
    alone in a room exactly okay there we go so you know what I forgot to say what
    8:05
    did you forget to say we have Mr Maurice Broadus in the house tonight as well yay
    8:10
    foreign yes that's right yes yes so if you don't
    8:17
    mind I will start with uh the youngest of us um
    8:23
    [Music] okay if you don't mind um because uh you know uh I think it's
    8:29
    it it's it's very important for us to understand um the value uh in in the work you've
    8:35
    done uh in the literary World um but also you know in Academia and and
    8:42
    it's you know and some of these other other places if you don't mind just giving us giving a brief brief bio a
    8:48
    little bit about yourself okay uh you got 30 minutes
    8:54
    um first I want to say this is a joyful occasion for me to be on the stage with
    8:59
    this gentleman but especially that gentleman on the end we have collaborated on any number of projects in the past
    9:07
    most recently the Eightfold Path yeah uh which is uh award-winning as it turns
    9:13
    out uh graphic novel all of it all the credit goes to Steve they're all of his
    9:18
    stories okay I came on and I I you know I took
    9:24
    the ride with you and it was like anything we do together um a great pleasure we have a lot of
    9:30
    overlap you know I did a book in 1988 called
    9:36
    um being in race black writing since 1970. and in the last chapter it's a
    9:43
    survey of black writers uh up to 1970 in the last chapter I I mentioned this guy
    9:50
    I keep running across um his you know he's a martial artist and he writes science fiction
    9:58
    um he's a black dude too I'm thinking that's me that's me but then I really no
    10:04
    it's this character over here Stephen Barnes who um has been my hero for a
    10:09
    very long very long time um my history my journey
    10:15
    and to creativity had it was truly influenced by the man who did this book
    10:20
    he was in and the Art of writing uh brave adverry but I come to this
    10:28
    from being a journalist and a cartoonist that
    10:33
    was my first love my first Passion was drawing in high school I became a
    10:39
    professional illustrator when I was 17 I did some illustrations for a magic Company catalog in Chicago and
    10:47
    um I saved that dollar by the way too that I got paid it's framed and there were times I was I was gonna
    10:54
    use it because I was so broke in grad school but I started out as a as a Cartoonist and a journalist
    11:02
    and along the way read you know voraciously of course you know cartoons
    11:08
    do read a lot so we can get ideas from all kinds of different you know sources and it was around the time when I was 18
    11:15
    I got exposed to philosophy and decided one of these days I I have to get a
    11:20
    doctorate in philosophy I just have to and one of the lights I discovered is
    11:25
    how much Bradberry admired Socrates and Marcus Aurelius you know among the uh
    11:32
    the stoics right so so my journey took me from drawing to to scholarship and
    11:40
    then to writing at a certain point uh you know novels and short stories and
    11:46
    essays and and other things uh one of the things I want to emphasize which I'm sure most of you know already but I have
    11:53
    to remind myself of it repeatedly is all of the the liberal arts in the
    11:58
    humanities are interconnected one thing will lead you to another thing
    12:04
    you know if you might want to get up one day and draw but then the next day you
    12:10
    might want to get up and start a short story and the third day you might want to get up and write an essay on a
    12:17
    question that's been troubling you about the mind-body relationship there is no reason why any of us should have to
    12:25
    allow anybody to put us in a little box and say this is all that you do you know
    12:31
    if you see my name crop up with something it'll be Charles Johnson novelist but that's not the only thing I do so all of these Arts feed each other
    12:39
    you know create creatively and I when I was young looking at Bradbury's movies reading his short stories I felt that
    12:47
    Spirit you know of openness and the excitement that just comes from doing
    12:52
    something not as Bradbury said for money or fame first is for the love of doing
    12:59
    it you get money in Fame later if you get it well that's fine but that's not your motivation your motivation is the
    13:06
    fact that when you create you're creating yourself
    13:11
    with every canvas with every novel with every story with every poem you're
    13:18
    realizing your own individual inherent potential as a human being who can
    13:24
    through craft give a gift to the world of beauty goodness and Truth goodness and beauty
    13:31
    that may enrich the lives of others that's why I think we create and why we
    13:36
    honor this guy now shut up [Applause]
    13:45
    goodbyes if you wouldn't mind just no I was uh relatively poor kid grew up in a broken
    13:52
    home in South Central Los Angeles and I knew that the world that was presented to me was not the real world I knew that
    13:59
    there were some things that were said to me about who I was and what my potential was and what my people were that was not
    14:04
    accurate so I as many people did I think a large number of people in the science fiction fantasy fanish Community are
    14:11
    people who grew up feeling like the world was not the world inside them that they connected with was not the same as
    14:17
    the world that they saw and that they looked to the Stars they looked to the past they looked to other worlds and
    14:23
    other winds to get a sense of in some ways what might be truer that science
    14:29
    fiction is a fiction of ideas and Concepts that you know what if if only
    14:35
    if this goes on often anchored to physics but sometimes about
    14:40
    the human heart but usually if there are two questions that are Central to philosophy those questions are probably
    14:46
    who am I and what is true what is it to be human and what is the world that human beings perceive and science fiction approached it in one way fantasy
    14:54
    approaches it in another fantasy is not about the world of physics it's about the world of symbols and the human heart
    15:01
    and the way these things interact it's about the Poetry what's happening kind of between the atoms kind of between the
    15:09
    events so whereas science fiction has to be both internally and externally consistent connected to physics as I
    15:16
    said fantasy has to only be internally consistent that within this we're
    15:21
    talking about human heart human perception and what are we and how do we feel this
    15:30
    Bradbury Drew my attention I was reading voraciously at that time because I was
    15:35
    looking for you know that question who am I and what is true so am I slept in a
    15:41
    bedroom with the walls aligned with books and Ray Bradbury was interesting because he
    15:47
    wrote he was published in science fiction magazines but he was not writing about what if in that way it wasn't
    15:53
    interested in the physics of the situation he was interested in the Poetics of it as if he were a fantasy
    15:58
    writer he was about where is the human heart in all of this so the Martian Chronicles were not it was not what
    16:05
    Voyager landed on or whatever it was that were our first Rovers I forget what the name of was he was interested in
    16:12
    Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars he was interested in barsum you
    16:19
    know he was not he was interested in the Poetics of Science and because of that
    16:24
    he touched my heart he was a poet writing science fiction stories being published in science fiction magazines but you weren't going to learn anything
    16:30
    about science by reading Ray Bradbury which you were going to learn about was what is it to be human what is it to see
    16:36
    the stars what is it to yearn for a meaning to our lives you know what what
    16:42
    are we in the vastness of the universe and that really touched this young kid
    16:48
    trying to figure out who he was that the vision of the universe in that sense was so large the individual political or
    16:56
    philosophical differences that that deviled us on Earth are meaningless once
    17:01
    you start backing up you know when astronauts talk about how when they were in orbit they looked down at the world
    17:07
    and there were no divisions of Nations and they had a spiritual experience where they said the first day everybody
    17:12
    was pointing out the city they came from you know the next day when they were talking about the the the the
    17:18
    International Space Station they were talking about what nations they came from the next day after that they were
    17:24
    talking about the continent and then by the fourth day they're just looking at the world and those individual
    17:30
    differences dissolved when you look at the world in terms of a sound of thunder
    17:36
    going back 100 million years or forward into the future the problems that we
    17:41
    have right now politically or in terms of nations in the in the the the joining
    17:47
    together of just different groups of people who've been separated by large amounts of geography
    17:52
    all that stuff disappears the question of what is the difference between this civilization and that Civilization
    17:58
    it might be a thousand years of development but a thousand years of development is
    18:04
    nothing in terms of the 13.7 billion years that this universe has existed
    18:09
    it's nothing at all those differences dissolve and when that was the world
    18:14
    that I wanted to live in a world in which those differences that were necessary because the human mind works
    18:20
    in terms of what is similar as opposed to what is different we're very that dualism created a lot of our science and
    18:27
    so forth and so on but ultimately getting caught in the middle of that you are not this because of that you are
    18:34
    this because of this if you feel caught in that then taking that larger perspective can feel like taking a
    18:40
    breath of fresh air for the first time of stepping outside anything anyone ever said about who you were or what your
    18:46
    potential was and being lost in the Poetry of experience so my connection to
    18:53
    Bradberry was that I sought The Poetry in the mundane the the unusual in the in
    19:00
    the daily and he went went there every time he went there from his earliest
    19:06
    stories which were often what are called biter bit stories where somebody does a
    19:11
    bad thing and they are destroyed by the consequences of their action in these old you know uh pulp magazines you know
    19:19
    and stories of ghastlys and murderers and ghosts and goblins I just ate that
    19:25
    up because I I would read him and I would read other people wrote the same thing but Bradbury was always about
    19:31
    something more than the events and the actions there we go absolutely absolutely so you know who I am growing
    19:40
    up in the shadow of giants one of whom was the man that we come here to honor today
    19:45
    is a kid who grew up in South Central Los Angeles wanted to be a science fiction writer found a great mentor in
    19:52
    Larry Niven who's one of the great science fiction writers of the 20th century took me under his wing showed me how to do it gave me opportunities I was
    19:59
    able to build a life I published over three million words and you know the New York Times bestseller list in this award
    20:04
    and that one that's all fine but the important thing is I got to spend my life doing the thing I dreamed of as a
    20:11
    kid that was the reward just to be able to do that to be able to every day talk
    20:17
    to the little kid inside me and say I've kept the faith and for him to look at me and say Dad you sure did that is worth
    20:24
    you there is nothing I would exchange that for and and Ray Bradbury was one of
    20:30
    The Shining lights that said it was possible to get all the way there and never sell yourself out yeah can I add
    20:37
    something to that of course um one of the things Bradbury gives us it
    20:43
    gave me as a young person I hear you saying Brad baby gave it to you too as a
    20:49
    sense of mystery and wonder about this existence in which we find ourselves the whole thing with the view
    20:56
    from The Sciences right from the solar system moving all the way out to galaxies as our problems seem so
    21:04
    infinitesimally small and trivial and race so small and trivial when we you
    21:10
    know take that perspective um so science fiction has an intellectual discipline
    21:18
    um allows us to dream you know one of my colleagues um the late Joanna Russ
    21:24
    once pointed out that the female man yeah yeah
    21:30
    um and at UW University of Washington she she once wrote that a woman wrote to
    21:35
    her um about why she loved science fiction she lived in a in a kind of ordinary
    21:42
    town you know very very boring and conformist but science fiction what she
    21:47
    really found appealing were the Landscapes the
    21:53
    landscape's so different from the ones that she was living in right it opened up the imagination science fiction has
    22:01
    always served that purpose I think well you know Ray Bradbury if I if I may add to what you're saying is that he might
    22:09
    quibble with something that you said there it isn't about developing your ability to dream it's about remembering it that we we go we all go quietly
    22:17
    insane every night but we forget that and that creativity
    22:22
    to a certain degree is simply opening up a pore between our unconscious minds that dream every night in the conscious
    22:29
    mind that that performs it does the performative part of our mind the part of us that says I am uh and the child
    22:36
    has that and life keeps telling the child be practical right stay here and
    22:43
    we'll start shutting that down Ray Bradbury never lost that thing he never
    22:48
    lost that connection with the child and their people will say that all there is of Genius is maintaining the creativity
    22:54
    of a child with the disciplined knowledge of an adult that if you can do that if you can maintain a connection
    23:00
    there you are going to be performing at the highest level that you are capable of performing it isn't it isn't
    23:06
    gaining something that you don't have it's remembering how you started it's
    23:11
    remembering the creativity and the aliveness and the sense of wonder that sense of Engagement that every child has
    23:18
    that gets squeezed out of us by the adult world yeah I know I know and
    23:24
    that's what we want to keep alive yes that child um Bradbury also put a lot of emphasis on
    23:31
    the importance of the subconscious too so I'm glad I'm glad you pointed that out
    23:37
    um you know we we always have to I think of you know think how do we get back to to
    23:43
    that innocence that that openness that we had as children before the world beat
    23:49
    it out of us or before critics you know beat it out of us um and and so what's that's one of the
    23:56
    reasons that uh Sharon skies are there and I are both practicing Buddhists
    24:01
    um our my practice at least gets rid of an awful lot of that conditioning
    24:07
    from childhood on from parents and field teachers so that I can experience the
    24:13
    world where that sense of newness and wonder and mystery you do have that I've
    24:18
    I've commented to people that one of the things I love about you is how easily you are astonished
    24:25
    that it's like you're constantly rediscovering yeah so you just you see it right there
    24:32
    oh the world is here still have that you're not numb it
    24:39
    hasn't been it hasn't been scabbed over your nerves are alive you're strong enough that you're not afraid to feel
    24:46
    okay and I think that when we lose courage you know fatigue makes cowards of us all often as we age or as we get
    24:52
    tired or as we shape our egos to fit into the different molds that people want us to shape into we start
    24:58
    forgetting who we are and and that we started this life to enjoy it that that
    25:04
    we want that sense of joy and instead of that we sack we settle for not being afraid if at best
    25:11
    yeah we can't lose that you cannot yeah a human being cannot lose that and still be fully Alive one of the things I would
    25:17
    like to think is my capacity one of the things at least in my work as a
    25:22
    philosophical novel is I think that literature should liberate our perceptions liberate our perception you say
    25:29
    astonishment I would like to be able to look at some look at you know look at
    25:34
    something as if I've never seen it before it's often been said or very creative people they look at something
    25:40
    strange as if it's familiar and the familiar is if it's strange right so we're constantly working with
    25:47
    Consciousness and our perception and here every moment that we're alive is new
    25:54
    every single moment is alive the past I've written a lot of historical fictions and so forth but the past has
    26:00
    passed in the future I'm not going to worry about it because it ain't come and it never will because that's a horizon the
    26:06
    future that we can never reach the only moment we have right here with each other is right here right now
    26:15
    before I came over here I sat for a little bit of meditation I always do that I would not meet a group or a crowd
    26:21
    or do anything in public and so I had that chance to sit if only for 10 or 15 minutes so that I can be
    26:28
    here right here with all of you right now and the only moment that exists in
    26:34
    time not worrying about what am I going to do when we're done with this or what what was the flight light getting us
    26:40
    here with no sleep you know from Seattle right here right now new never like this
    26:46
    moment before you get up in the morning why wash your face you got the soap you know okay that has never happened before
    26:54
    you might think I'm doing a routine thing no not that soap not that water
    26:59
    not that moment and not that version of you and not that version of me you're
    27:04
    right you can't step in the same piece of water twice because your foot is never the same and the water has changed
    27:09
    that's right so it's it's that awareness that the sacred is in the mundane that
    27:15
    it is in this moment it that what I try to do is to Center myself and then ask
    27:21
    myself what is the task to do next it task may be to get out of bed and have breakfast it may be to embrace my wife
    27:28
    it may be to counsel my son it may be to play with the cat it might be to answer an email it might be to write a story
    27:34
    but all those I'm not different people when I do those things I'm the same person playing different roles so let me
    27:40
    be appropriate the question is can I be appropriate in this moment can I be here with this moment and the demands of this
    27:47
    moment with the story that I'm writing or the person that I'm speaking to or the task that I have to do be here
    27:53
    totally right now yes 30 of yourself isn't trapped in the past remembering
    27:58
    regretting 30 is not projecting into the future what you're going to do you bring back all of yourself 100 to this moment
    28:06
    right now whether it's writing whether it's talking to your your son or me
    28:12
    talking to my grandson uh you're here totally right at this moment so one of
    28:18
    the reasons why the martial arts have are such a great tool for learning
    28:25
    that because one second of not thinking about right here and you get hit in the head that's right you know so there's
    28:31
    nothing like a smack upside the head to wake you up no I better be here now you know you better forget about the
    28:37
    hamburger I had yesterday or what my wife's gonna say when I get home this guy's Gonna Knock my head off right here
    28:42
    right now in this instant there is no more other moment in time there is no other moment that that's it and that
    28:49
    that sense of being there is consistent across all arts and so this conversation
    28:55
    concerning getting hit in the head it's like an athlete in the zone yes in the
    29:00
    zone right yes so go on well no it's the dissolution of the subject object relationship there is not a you and it
    29:08
    there is there is a there's something that is happening here and you're not observing yourself doing it because when
    29:15
    you're observing yourself some of the energy that you would have put into that moment is put into creating a self to
    29:20
    observe and what's even worse is when people observe themselves observing themselves now you're two steps removed
    29:28
    yes and you've lost all the energy you need to liberate your true self so in
    29:34
    one sense Society will try to keep you in the place of observing yourself and judging yourself because that way you
    29:40
    become dependent upon Society to say that you're okay because if you're in the moment you you know you're okay
    29:46
    you're always okay when you're in the moment you're you're not okay once you observe yourself and start judging
    29:52
    yourself but when you're there and it's just happening that's when you're totally alive and that's what we look
    29:59
    for in sexuality in driving on the freeway in in heavy traffic in the rain
    30:05
    in fighting in in writing in Reading is the sense of total engagement in the
    30:11
    moment the eye is not observed it is it is
    30:17
    subsumed in the process of the interaction that that thing of the page
    30:22
    opening up and you fall into the page can happen only once this component skills have been
    30:30
    reduced to unconscious competence right right as you can tell we we've talked a lot together [Laughter]
    30:37
    and we have long conversations like this but this gentleman here may have I was
    30:43
    going to say that this is the easiest job I've never had if they were paying me
    30:50
    man I you know um and uh I I definitely the interesting
    30:55
    thing is you know the the one I think it was like the one time I got a chance to I think Jason and I were on a zoom with
    31:02
    you in a similar conversation happened and we were like in the chat like hey man let's just stay here they don't
    31:09
    notice us let's just listen and and get it so that's what I and I also would be remiss if I didn't mention that I am a
    31:14
    fill-in uh Dr Rhonda Henry uh was uh ill and could not make it she would have
    31:20
    been the person here today uh so I didn't want to lift her up and mention that as well
    31:26
    um so thank you first of all thank you for for that first that opening sound thank
    31:32
    everybody for coming see you later oh no we're still we got one more got one more so I do have one more uh thing and and
    31:39
    this is more specific uh you you've certainly touched on it you you showed us uh these were uh yeah yeah these uh I
    31:47
    I purchased uh some years ago of a complete line of Planet stories
    31:53
    from the late 30s to the early 50s these are the original issues and they have Brad Barry's Original Stories in them
    32:00
    and a lot of other people too who became famous because this is this is where he
    32:06
    began you know with the pulse I wanted to have the actual feel of that
    32:12
    um underneath my fingers see one of the beautiful things about Bradbury and the
    32:17
    pulp Riders to me they're prolific they they were not worried about am I
    32:23
    writing something that will last for the ages no Bradbury is getting 20 to 40
    32:28
    dollars per story he's making himself right a thousand words a day a story a
    32:35
    week he's got to sell um to a month in order to pay his bills
    32:40
    okay he is immersed in the moment these precede comic books okay by a few years
    32:45
    and the comic book artists were the same people you know you you were not looking back you were immersed in the moment of
    32:53
    creation you had a deadline to meet that's right um and and you produced all
    32:58
    this stuff not thinking that this might shape called culture that the characters that you're creating from Edgar Rice
    33:04
    Burroughs to the Marvel characters that these would be installed in popular
    33:09
    culture 50 cents uh you know 50 years later so that even my grandson knows
    33:15
    these characters right um I I admire artists who work like that
    33:20
    who don't think that what they're doing is precious but what they're doing is absolutely everything they can do at the
    33:27
    present moment yes and then you let it go and you go on to the next one yes and you go into the next one and you're
    33:33
    blessed to be able to have the opportunity to do that and and that certainly was going to be you know kind
    33:40
    of the next question I wanted to throw out there very open-ended of course but just the idea of you know Bradbury's
    33:46
    influence I know you've touched on a little bit but just maybe if there was any any particular specific oh I
    33:52
    absolutely can but yeah go you can go first or you know I can go there or whatever whatever is appropriate I want
    33:58
    to hear your stories about bravery okay anybody want to hear my stories about rape River okay
    34:04
    because he was very important in my life and I did not write this out because I know for a fact that I'm going to get
    34:11
    choked up so get ready for that um and I wrote down some dates just so I
    34:16
    could I could get as precise as I could but this is not a formal you know
    34:22
    scholarly thing so if any of the dates are wrong you know apologies in advance so
    34:28
    I I grew up and I had a dream of being the science fiction writer it was a thing
    34:33
    that I I really loved to do because I didn't understand math well enough to be a scientist so I did the other thing I
    34:39
    could wrote write poetry of the sciences and so I was a little kid growing up South Central L.A and had dreams of
    34:45
    being a writer and I was writing as much as possible and everything around me told me that I could not do it you know
    34:51
    my mom my dad was a backup singer for Nat King Cole and I was in the studio when they did the the background vocals
    34:58
    for Ramblin Rose yeah just watching dad and every time it's on the radio I hallucinate that I can hear my dad's
    35:05
    baritone and my dad's singing career ultimately floundered and
    35:10
    it led to a divorce and so my mom was terrified that if I followed the Arts that I would have a similar failure and
    35:17
    she used to tear my stories up and burn them because she was so scared that I would go down that path but I you know I
    35:23
    just kept going and kept going and kept going and by the time I got to college I had
    35:31
    um tried I knew my mom wanted me not to write and so I tried to step away from
    35:36
    writing I would but I was tricking myself I'd take all kind of other classes I would take you know drama and
    35:43
    composition and English and speech and stuff like this work in the radio station I think things adjacent to
    35:49
    writing without writing and then finally they had a contest a writing contest on campus
    35:56
    where the winner would read a story to the to the alumni and I won the I won
    36:03
    the contest and I read the story to the alumni and I watched them react to me
    36:09
    and I realized this is who I'm supposed to be that there is I would rather fail
    36:15
    as a writer than succeed at anything else so I dropped out of college my girlfriend at the time who later
    36:23
    became my wife and are living together she was an artist and I was a writer and I was taking jobs adjacent to Hollywood
    36:29
    trying to work my way and I was also writing stories and I was starting to send them out and I was you know getting rejected and rejected and rejected and I
    36:36
    I think that at some point I started getting like a fifth of a cent a word and you know getting paid in
    36:42
    contributors copies but I think before my first sale uh I wrote a story a
    36:47
    Halloween story called trick or treat about a guy who it when he was a kid he
    36:55
    his candy is snatched by the kids in the neighborhood they were bullies and when he becomes an adult he starts you know
    37:02
    the kids in the neighborhood he's living in the same house they're playing tricks on him so he plays tricks back and the
    37:08
    next year they play a nastier trick and they asked that he plays a nastier trick on them and it goes back and forth and
    37:13
    back and forth until one year he plays a trick and the kids he accidentally kills a kid and he knows it next year they're
    37:20
    going to kill him and so this story is called trick-or-treat and I found out that Ray Bradbury was doing an
    37:28
    autographing at a bookstore and so my girlfriend was an artist and I created a
    37:33
    a a Halloween card that contained the story and artwork and we went to his
    37:39
    signing and we gave it to him in an envelope that had my address on it and about six weeks later I got a letter
    37:45
    back from Ray Bradbury saying he loved my story and this was the first time a
    37:51
    professional human being a person who was doing the thing that I wanted to do let alone somebody who I admired so much
    37:57
    had said yeah kid maybe you've got what it takes it meant more than I can
    38:03
    possibly say and inspired me to keep going so I kept going I'm writing and I'm trying to do this I'm trying to do
    38:09
    that I'm still not succeeding very much but I was starting to make a little bit of progress my mom
    38:15
    who had always been terrified finally realized that there was no way I was going to give it up and so she kind of
    38:21
    got on the bandwagon and she found a course that was being taught at UCLA
    38:27
    extension by Robert Kirsch who was the literary editor of the LA Times in about
    38:33
    1980 let's say 1975 1975 and
    38:39
    uh no no this is about about 1980 about 1980. uh and so I took a class from
    38:46
    Robert Kirsch and it was a strange class you know it was the little blue-haired lady writing astrological poetry and it
    38:52
    was the guy writing this going and I was writing these strange stories and I wrote one very strange story called is
    38:59
    your glass half empty about a compulsive Gambler who Hawks his pacemaker and he
    39:06
    Kirsch looked at me and he didn't know quite what to make of the story and he said
    39:11
    I've Got a Friend I'd like to show this story to would you mind if I did that and I said sure go right ahead and about
    39:17
    six weeks later I got a note I got a letter from Ray Bradbury who was Robert kirsch's friend writing telling me again
    39:24
    he didn't remember the earlier story he just said hey you know kid you know this is this is good you know this you know
    39:30
    that you've got something go for it don't ever give up doing that Ray Bradbury inspirational thing I kind of
    39:35
    said I got two letters from him you know this is this is cool so let me keep going
    39:41
    I eventually met Larry Niven and began working with him and started getting my
    39:47
    career going and in about what year did you publish your first story I published
    39:52
    my first story in probably about 1980 1981 somewhere in there maybe 79 to 81.
    39:58
    somewhere in there and it was like a fifth of the center word you know and then I finally the first story that was
    40:03
    published in a professional magazine was called uh it's called endurance vial about an
    40:12
    athlete who accidentally discovers a meditation that triggers his ability to
    40:17
    be more of an athlete and he starts running and he can't stop you know so that I think that was my first my very
    40:23
    first publication and I was working with Larry Niven and I had the balls to walk
    40:29
    up to Larry you know at the Las Vegas science fiction thing and I said hello Mr Niven my name is Stephen Barnes and
    40:35
    I'm a writer and he looked at me and said all right tell me a story I I found out that from the way I'd come
    40:40
    on to him I had about 10 seconds to prove I wasn't an luckily I just put that story is your
    40:47
    glass half empty into the mail that morning so I was able to stumble out you know I
    40:53
    think and that led to us eventually working together in my CR in my working he gave me a chance to work on an
    41:00
    earlier story of his that he hadn't been able to finish to his satisfaction called the locusts which was about a
    41:06
    group of space colonists who go to a planet and their children begin to devolve to australopithecines and they
    41:13
    don't know how to deal with it and if the problem in this story who would right if the problem of the story had
    41:19
    been biology or a cryptozoology or
    41:25
    physics or astrophysics I would have been lost but luckily the problem in the story was the psychology that Larry did
    41:33
    not understand group psychology as well as I think he could have such that he did not understand the impact that would
    41:40
    have on that little Colony if these things happen he was underestimating the emotions involved so that gave me an
    41:47
    opening a way that I could contribute something this story and it led to a Hugo nomination and my first real
    41:54
    publication you know with lyrics it was like you know wow this was you know I'm on my way so one of the things that I
    42:00
    was asked to do in this process was there was something called the planetary society in which I was asked to be a
    42:07
    presenter to be an announcer so I introduced several luminaries that were there astrophysics I mean there might
    42:14
    have been an astronaut so forth and one of the people was Ray Bradbury so Ray walked up on stage and before he walked
    42:20
    up on stage I told my story about how I was he was responsible for my me getting published by giving me inspiration at a
    42:28
    time when I was getting rejection after rejection after rejection started to question myself and he walked up on
    42:34
    stage and gave me a big hug and it was just a great moment everybody applauded it was very nice about eight years after
    42:40
    that um I was teaching a class at UCLA
    42:45
    and it was a a symposium and every week we had a different notable come in one
    42:51
    week it was Ray Bradbury so when I went to Ray's house came to class he came to
    42:56
    yeah he came and talked at the Symposium he was one of the I think seven notables that we had coming there
    43:03
    um and before the class I took him to dinner at in Westwood and
    43:12
    Larry Niven had asked if he could keep me but before Larry got there
    43:17
    ah I for 20 years I was the only black male
    43:24
    science fiction writer in the world so far as I could determine chip Delaney had left the field he'd gone into
    43:30
    Academia and queer fiction because he couldn't make a living in science fiction I survived largely because of my
    43:37
    partnership my mentorship with Larry Niven because I would I do collaboration with him and I'd make enough money to be
    43:43
    able to keep food on the table in the roof over our head but I was starting to wonder was I losing myself
    43:49
    was had I sold myself out was I losing
    43:55
    my art and I remember I had dinner with Leo and
    44:01
    Diane Dillon who we were just talking about in in Greenwich Village and they
    44:06
    are they were the essence of art it was like we're one they work they did Art together where one would start a line
    44:11
    the other one would finish it and back back so far and I was sitting at that table talking to them about the career
    44:19
    of an artist thinking I'd get some tips for my wife who was interested in being a professional artist and I suddenly realized that I didn't care about that
    44:25
    but I wanted to know was had I sold myself out had I sold out
    44:31
    my heart and I sat there and I just poured my eyes out and I just started crying finally I realized because I was
    44:38
    in the presence of real artists here this this was this was for real and I felt like a fraud I felt like a phony
    44:44
    and I was I just you know I poured my heart out to them and I finally said it is it too late for me
    44:51
    and they looked at each other and Diane looked at her husband and then she reached across the table and she took my
    44:57
    hands and she said Steve if you can even ask that question it's
    45:04
    not too late well that helped but I'm sitting at the table
    45:11
    with Ray Bradbury my childhood Idol who somehow I had choreographed an
    45:16
    opportunity to to be with him and and break bread with him and speak with him and I it was pretty much the same
    45:23
    question it's like you know I I've been hiding behind Larry Niven and his partner Jerry Purnell I'm writing these
    45:29
    things and I've gotten these Awards and made this money and so forth but I feel like I don't know have
    45:36
    am I broken you know is it too late for me is it can I can I still touch that
    45:42
    part of me that that is that's sacred and he asked me of course
    45:48
    he said have you published and I said oh yeah I published all these
    45:53
    stories in about six books and this that he just started laughing he just laughs oh you are going to have no problem at
    46:00
    all and hearing that for the second time is what made the difference I was able to see
    46:06
    that that I was just on this road I did not see Rey again
    46:11
    for many years and then in maybe the end of 2011 or the
    46:18
    beginning of 2012. I would I was asked if I would make a presentation at a more
    46:24
    at a at a acknowledgment dinner for Ray Bradbury who was very ill he could barely speak
    46:31
    he was in his wheelchair and it was held at the Universal Sheraton Sometime Late
    46:37
    2011 or early 2012. and I got up on the stage
    46:44
    it was so good to see him and he was so diminished physically but
    46:49
    the child self was still so alive in him his eyes were still still alive and I I told the
    46:57
    story of how he had reached out to me when I was getting started and he'd
    47:03
    written these letters giving me hope ing me believe that maybe it was
    47:09
    possible for me to have the life that I wanted how grateful I was for a chance to say
    47:16
    thank you to this great man and after I finished he held out his arms and he
    47:22
    gave me a hug and I went home and six weeks later I got a letter from him
    47:32
    telling me thanking me for the words I'd said
    47:38
    and how it had reminded him of his own path and his own Joy in his gratitude for the life that he
    47:46
    had had and the fact that he'd been able to touch others in the last words in that letter were
    47:53
    some of your tears are my own Ray Bradbury
    47:58
    and about six weeks after that he passed away and I just
    48:05
    wanted to say there's is no greater gift in life than
    48:12
    being able to take a look at the child you were and the truth and the dreams that they
    48:18
    had it realized that you were actually able to live that life
    48:24
    and that there was no possible way that you could have done it alone and that being able to talk to other
    48:31
    people along the path who say you know you're not remotely at
    48:37
    their level not remotely but they don't care all they care about is are you
    48:43
    writing are you reading are you teaching where are you what does the territory
    48:48
    look like from where you are and I just wanted to say that everybody in this room
    48:55
    has walked a path that others wish they could walk has answered questions that other people can't even formulate yet
    49:02
    and you never know what a kind word or a kind act is going to mean
    49:09
    his actions meant the difference between life and death
    49:16
    for part of my soul and I could not be who I am we're not
    49:22
    for people who had been kind to me who saw me and saw some potential Within Me
    49:31
    it reached out their hand and said you're going to have no problem at all
    49:38
    and I think you for the chance to come here and say
    49:44
    publicly how much I owe those people in one specific man one great man
    49:53
    Ray Bradbury who changed and saved my life
    50:11
    I'm going to pick up on like two things that you said Steve I know in my life there were individuals
    50:18
    who encouraged me when I couldn't get that encouragement from anywhere else
    50:23
    and when you're young you're tender you know you're in your teens and um
    50:30
    you know I'm not gonna belabor you know and bore you with those individuals who
    50:35
    did that for me but that's an extremely important thing for a young person an
    50:41
    old person too to have somebody who gives you permission
    50:46
    to go that route and to trust yourself and to trust your passion that could be
    50:52
    a teacher you've also written about a teacher in high school who um you know
    50:58
    positively gave you reinforcement yes so those those teachers are
    51:04
    extremely important um in our lives and I've had a a a several you know uh when I was a
    51:12
    cartoonist and then the novelist John Gardner when I started writing novels
    51:18
    and he led me into the book World which I knew nothing about and then later you know when I was in philosophy with my
    51:25
    dissertation director who became a dear friend who's actually passing away right
    51:30
    now but those teachers are extraordinarily important but there's something else you said I'd like to know
    51:36
    I'd like you to say a bit more about you've worked with Niven yes collaboratively yes and you're wondering
    51:43
    what's happening to me you know where am I you know so is that the opening that
    51:50
    question that led you to and to Nana Reeve to afrocentrism
    51:56
    is that how you found your way there well okay afrofuturism yeah I'm sorry yeah
    52:03
    for future futurism um well all that happened is that I worked with Larry Niven and his partner
    52:09
    Jerry Purnell and um I learned the basics of my craft and
    52:16
    I already had the basics of my craft I came to them with a certain amount of skills that were developed but then they
    52:21
    took me to being professional I remember you know Jerry I never I don't know how many writers in world history have ever
    52:27
    had the experience of two world-class writers best-selling writers award-winning writers sitting on opposite sides of the room tearing apart
    52:34
    their work at the same time because I was working on a book with the two of them and Cornell was taking great
    52:40
    pleasure in this how Burns we're ripping apart barnes's precious Pros Barnes was your mother
    52:47
    scared by a gerund I mean he would take he took such Glee in ripping me a new
    52:55
    one every single time I would drive home from working with them crying sobbing
    53:01
    because you know just taking this battering but it was like it was like being asked to spar with the black belt
    53:07
    class you got your butt kicked every night but you would crawl off the mat
    53:12
    but you'd know if I can survive this I'm going to be a fighter so I knew if I
    53:18
    could survive this I will learn things that are taught in no school in the world now one of the things is that
    53:23
    Jerry wrote stories that Jerry wanted to read Larry Niven wrote stories Larry Niven wanted to read so in order to be
    53:30
    like them I didn't it wasn't writing like Larry nibbon or Jerry Purnell I had to write stories that Stephen Barnes
    53:37
    wanted to read what were those stories into a huge degree
    53:42
    there is that question what was missing from the field and what was missing was people who
    53:48
    looked like me right and it wasn't passive it was active insult Edgar Rice
    53:54
    Burroughs would write stories you know in which in which uh the
    53:59
    Enterprise Burrows stories were the the core of Tarzan was specifically racism
    54:05
    specifically the idea that a British that an English Lord gentleman raised by Apes is still a gentleman and he made
    54:11
    racism specific in one of his stories in the jungle Tales of Tarzan where he says
    54:16
    white men have imagination black men have little animals have none I mean that was specifically so you can't get
    54:23
    away from it but I needed those stories because I was trying to Define myself as a man where I
    54:29
    am in the universe so as I once said to a group that I I sacrificed my melanin
    54:35
    on the altar of my testosterone I mean I I wanted to be a man more than I cared
    54:40
    about being black I would I would add something you brought something to Parnell and and Niven that they didn't
    54:46
    have yes from your perspective in your history they did not have the black orientation any of that no but but I
    54:52
    don't know if that worked into the books not that much I mean Jerry was was by
    54:58
    his own uh statement took politically to the right of Attila the Hun so it was
    55:05
    difficult to navigate that territory but one of the things I learned was how to argue with somebody smarter than you because Jerry was just smarter than me
    55:11
    just you know he's you know Jerry's brain had a rocket attached to it Larry's brain had a transport a
    55:19
    transporter attached to it whereas I could understand how Jerry would do stuff it was just an ordinary brain with a lot more information working a lot
    55:25
    faster but Larry would dematerialize and materialize someplace I was just like I don't even know how you got there so
    55:33
    taking their lessons and then writing my own stories demanded that I write for my
    55:39
    own experience so I'm then dealing with the fact that you know my my first book
    55:45
    was a book with Larry my second book was a book with Larry my third book was a solo book and I wrote a black character
    55:53
    I specifically wanted to create a black hero that was Street Lethal yeah but the
    55:59
    book company Ace put a white guy on the cover he's very clearly described as being as dark
    56:05
    as Zulu and they put a white guy on the cover and my poor editor called me up and she's in tears you know Beth Meacham
    56:13
    is her name very nice lady not her fault she said that they had done this Susan Allison who was the head editor I don't
    56:20
    have as good a feeling about her because she kind of blew it off she wasn't upset well it's one of those things that
    56:26
    happened it was the marketing department and I talked to the marketing department oh no it's the advertising it's the art
    56:32
    Department I talked to the art Department the art Department said well it's the sales department and the sales
    56:39
    department said well the truck drivers who are going to put the books on the stands would think that this was shaft
    56:45
    in space and so I realized at that point I can either hate white people I'd
    56:52
    rather not do that did I say that out loud no
    56:57
    I could either hate white people or I consider that what's going on here is an
    57:03
    example of how human beings think that human beings feel protective of their
    57:08
    tribe and almost all human beings are tribal they happen to have that power Everybody wants to rule the world
    57:13
    everybody wants to feel that the world reflects who they are in the mirror so this is I'm just at the an unfortunate
    57:21
    unfortunate effect of this what do I do with it I can either use this and say
    57:27
    the world kicked my ass or I can say this is where we are right now my dad
    57:35
    working with Nat King Cole performed in in hotels in Las Vegas where he could
    57:42
    not stay the world has gotten better than that
    57:47
    it's just not as good as I would like it to be how much longer will it take and I
    57:54
    projected trend lines in my mind I thought it might take two generations it might take two generations it might
    58:00
    take another 30 to 40 years before the world is ready for the stories that I want to tell
    58:07
    can I survive long enough to do that and so I started a program of I am going I'm
    58:14
    going to stay in this field and I'm going to create my stories and I'm going to do everything I can do
    58:20
    because I'm going to make it first of all I'm going to write stories that the kid who started this path would have
    58:25
    wanted to read and I'm going to create a career path so that other people coming in will have an
    58:31
    easier time than I have an Octavia Butler and I were the only black people working in the field we had many
    58:37
    conversations about this we lived walking distance from each other and Octavia was a level above me as a writer
    58:42
    she was often not happy with what I wrote Because she felt I was not living up to my potential
    58:48
    she would write and they put green people on the covers of her books but they wouldn't put black people you know
    58:53
    so we had lots of interesting conversations about that what do we feel about it what are we going to do I felt
    58:59
    I if I can stay in here and write the stories that I want stories that would
    59:05
    nurture the younger person I was that no matter what happens I've not been beat
    59:10
    and then I found out one day that there were Scholars studying something called afrofuturism and I was considered to be
    59:16
    an afrofuturist I didn't try to be one I was just trying to write Stephen Barnes stories
    59:21
    casually said that you lived walking distance from Octavia but I want to point out oh yeah you know we
    59:27
    used to come over for dinner and I'd go over her place and then we would just sit and we'd talk writing in life she was like my big sister I was wondering
    59:33
    you know um you go back to what is it the 20s the 30s and you've got black no
    59:39
    more that that early yes um and then you fast forward a little
    59:44
    bit and you got chipped Delaney and yeah you he said he couldn't make a living so
    59:50
    he moved on incredibly um once again elegant Pro stylist amazing and and then
    59:56
    you have October Xavier Butler and then there's you yeah that's about it and now
    1:00:01
    we have a lot of people tons of sci-fi can't even count them yeah but you guys are the best you guys were the pioneers
    1:00:09
    you seriously you were Pioneers um which is really quite incredible when you think back about it remember Pioneers
    1:00:16
    get arrows in the butt you know I was just trying I was just trying to
    1:00:22
    be the best writer that I could be in trying to survive trying to take care of my family and trying
    1:00:28
    to to survive in Hollywood and I made mistakes I made mistakes I betrayed that
    1:00:34
    little creative spark inside me a couple of times and it hurt I mean I was just
    1:00:39
    you know you can only sell yourself out so much yeah you know what's even worse is if you try not to sell out and then
    1:00:46
    one day you sell out nobody's buying you know so that's even worse but I remember
    1:00:52
    one of my agents I lost or walked away from one of my agents in Hollywood because I walked in there with my heart
    1:00:59
    on my sleeve and I said you know I don't know what's going to happen in my career but when I leave Hollywood I want to
    1:01:06
    leave with my sense of Honor intact and he looked at me and he said you'll be the only one and I realized at that
    1:01:13
    moment he and I did not understand each other at all I need to find a new agent because I'm not going to sell my soul to
    1:01:20
    do this I'm going to do everything I can and I will not sell out but I will rent myself
    1:01:25
    you know and I will stretch as far as I can but I'm always going yeah I'm I'm I'm kind of a hoe but
    1:01:36
    enjoy my work
    1:01:43
    if I write an episode of Baywatch and I have I wrote four episodes of Baywatch
    1:01:48
    people say that's not science fiction I said you ever see those silicon life forms running around on the beach
    1:01:53
    um I found something in every episode that I could actually care about and there's
    1:02:01
    another story I can go into that I might tell another time where the producers did eventually end up turning on me but
    1:02:07
    I got revenge but that's another story that's
    1:02:13
    um let's let's we'll uh well first okay before I think we can open up to a
    1:02:22
    little bit of a q a um but before we do that of course we want to just really thank you for your
    1:02:27
    words and Candor have you have you said everything you wanted to see you came prepared with some comments you came
    1:02:33
    prepared with some comments have you expressed what you wanted to express I came prepared with you no you had some
    1:02:39
    comments you were almost going to write a talk to do this but instead of that you prepared some comments I just wanted to be sure that that Charles has had an
    1:02:46
    opportunity to express himself no no no no I'm fine okay I think it's probably a
    1:02:51
    good idea if you want to move to that next question yes but before we did that look at this beautiful let's thank these
    1:02:57
    uh these these wonderful discussions
    1:03:04
    respect just trying to be like you no you don't want to believe me so uh
    1:03:12
    what what we could do um is you know
    1:03:18
    the the aisles could be your your pathway or if you so choose you could
    1:03:23
    just kind of raise it I can't see you because of the lights so perhaps you might want to stand up over okay that
    1:03:29
    they just raise the house lights yeah they just did so I could see folks so if
    1:03:34
    you have a question if you have a comment please just raise your hand and uh I will uh
    1:03:39
    catch you not everybody at once there we go Tumbleweed we got one yeah
    1:03:47
    and you'll have to project because I don't think we have a walking mic you're a big boy oh it's over here there we go
    1:03:53
    okay
    1:03:59
    no they were right even better
    1:04:07
    okay so they're gonna they got questions on index cards oh I see that people wrote already yes all right all right
    1:04:13
    good this is good because I can read them all okay come on yeah I just get them all at
    1:04:21
    once
    1:04:29
    don't do it all right
    1:04:36
    all right I'm gonna start here okay we're ready okay so I think this one is
    1:04:41
    for both of you and so this person says that they want to say that they appreciate uh that you both came out to
    1:04:47
    speak with us this evening and they love hearing your story um the question is is there a book that
    1:04:53
    you wrote that holds the most significance to you um if so would you be okay with sharing
    1:05:00
    your thoughts on the story um and then there's a little statement uh
    1:05:06
    at the bottom it says on the day when life seems to be too much to handle with all that you do okay that's the second
    1:05:12
    question so just go with the first question is there a particular book that you wrote that holds the most significance to you
    1:05:19
    um and if so uh would you share your thoughts on the story I can do that easily okay uh most significant book for
    1:05:25
    me was my second novel called oxygen tale which was rejected two dozen times nobody understood it my own Mentor
    1:05:34
    um John Gardner did not understand it and actually was afraid of the Buddhism that was in this
    1:05:41
    novel which is in the form of a slave narrative philosophical novel no form of a slave narrative with access to Western
    1:05:48
    and Eastern philosophy and my editor didn't understand it for my first book and um but that was critical
    1:05:54
    had I not done that book all the other books that I've done 26
    1:06:00
    after you know total 27 I would not have done it I had to do that book and once I
    1:06:07
    did that book I understood some things about myself I wrote the book to free myself of my
    1:06:15
    passion in reading of Eastern philosophy and Buddhism from my teens so I'm going to write this book you know and I'm
    1:06:21
    going to be free of it got to the end of the book I realized no this is the beginning for me so everything I've done has been in a
    1:06:28
    way referenced back to Oxford and tail which has a Bradbury connection because there is a soul catcher a slave Hunter
    1:06:35
    and Coors of Adam who has tattoos all the black people that he captures
    1:06:42
    are killed he gets tattoos on his body that where where is that going to come from except the Illustrated Man right
    1:06:48
    we're not which I read when I was younger so that that was a critical book for me I'll say that much
    1:06:55
    um yeah so that's mine for me it would almost certainly be
    1:07:01
    lions blood which Lion's blood you know which uh was my statement on race
    1:07:08
    relations in America uh basically it was it took me six years of research and I
    1:07:14
    basically created an alternate history which was an alternate America that was colonized by Islamic Africans bringing
    1:07:20
    in this particular instance Irish slaves here and so the story it deals with a
    1:07:26
    young Irish boy named Aiden Odair who is kidnapped by Vikings and sold to the Moors in Spain in andalus the word
    1:07:32
    perspective and brought to balalistan the United States to the province of nujibouti Texas where he becomes the
    1:07:39
    foot boy slip of Kai ibiz who is a young Islamic nobleman and the
    1:07:46
    story covers their friendship for about eight years from childhood to the beginnings of adulthood and um that I
    1:07:53
    don't know if I'll ever work that hard on a book again I probably will not I remember what you said you invited
    1:07:59
    Scholars to a party yeah to ask them questions yeah I basically knew that I could spend a hundred years researching
    1:08:06
    and still not touch one percent of what I needed to know so I did one of the smartest things I've ever done it's probably one of the 10 smartest things
    1:08:12
    I've done in my life I invited a room full of the smartest people that I knew and people came from from hundreds of
    1:08:18
    miles in addition to my invitation and we had a pizza party all day long I fed them pizza and beer and I had graph
    1:08:25
    paper and butcher paper on the walls and I passed out notebooks with the basic
    1:08:32
    premises of the world you know the politics and the economics and so forth of this alternate universe and I had a
    1:08:39
    videographer following people around and all day long we theorized about this
    1:08:45
    world that I was trying to create and they showed me everything they showed me so many things that I had not thought of
    1:08:50
    that by the end of that single day I had enough research to begin the writing process that I'd done six years of
    1:08:57
    research before I did that party so I my attitude is you want to know enough to
    1:09:03
    ask the right questions of experts and if you can ask an expert the right
    1:09:09
    question and they say oh yes well that's you know and they go off then you know enough to write your story you this is a
    1:09:15
    perfect example of what they call World building yeah World building and you went on to do a sequel or at more than
    1:09:22
    well I I did two of them Lion's bullet in Zulu heart Zulu heart yeah
    1:09:27
    all right and so we have we have a good number of questions I think we can okay I'll keep it shorter no no but we're
    1:09:34
    good I think everybody here is enjoying uh being able to hear is this okay guys I think we're all right this is what you
    1:09:40
    came for it's all it's all about you you can't get you can't Prime me out of the house but once I'm out of the house I really
    1:09:47
    do want to serve whoever brought me out so this is your chance okay and then for anyone out there if I misread anything
    1:09:53
    feel free to correct me um uh given that we celebrate uh
    1:09:59
    creativity originality and the process of fantasy is naming things a reductive
    1:10:05
    Act
    1:10:11
    is naming things a reductive Act well that's a big epistemological
    1:10:18
    question of course I mean how would you answer that um to name something is given of nature that's one way you could
    1:10:24
    talk about this to name something is to limit it uh to whatever name you you've given it uh given to it I there's a lot
    1:10:33
    of ways you could take this but but naming can be extremely important um guys how to talk about I guess people
    1:10:41
    who are Chinese have four or five different names you know a birth name and it it I'm going to let you you feel
    1:10:48
    that one um it is reductive but then again all language is reductive all language is a
    1:10:55
    reification of of something all language is a symbol and it's possible to mistake
    1:11:00
    the menu for the meal you know if you go you know kind of stepping into my core zipski for a second
    1:11:06
    um but language is all we have you know we're communicating with people
    1:11:12
    he said when you go in the other room and get what do you say you know the the salty thing you know it's all you know
    1:11:19
    the thing that makes things taste sharper you've just use labels for things the the concept of taste you've
    1:11:26
    used the label for the concepts of something that is bitter as opposed to sweet as opposed to Salty all those
    1:11:31
    things are labels all words are nothing more than that and
    1:11:37
    what you do with language I remember chip Delaney in his book The Jewel hinge jaw on writing he talks about the fact
    1:11:44
    that every word creates an impression you know the okay is this definite article the boy okay we
    1:11:51
    getting a noun in here the boy ran he got a the boy ran from oh okay now we're getting a sense of direction that that
    1:11:57
    just as music is what happens between the notes poetry is what happens between the words
    1:12:03
    as you hear a word and your brain does what's called a transderivational search for the meaning of that word it's the
    1:12:10
    journey that people go on between the words that creates the impression of art it's like you know this note followed by
    1:12:16
    that note what happens in between there the negative space is what an artist is manipulating or it's the thing that we
    1:12:23
    don't see we see the words but we don't see the space between the words let me see the tree the trees but we don't see
    1:12:28
    the space between them but it's a space between them the trees punctuate that space to create a forest so the labels
    1:12:35
    that we use we use not necessarily to Define things but to guide Consciousness you know think about this now think
    1:12:42
    about this now think about this what is the journey you go on between the words that's the thing that the artist plays
    1:12:49
    with that people do not see and that is in some ways the most important thing and you only learn to get there by
    1:12:56
    concentrating on the words and then at some point you see the forest that you have created with the use of those words
    1:13:03
    it's one of the reasons why the first draft it's so important it just as far as I'm because it just vomited out your
    1:13:09
    first draft should be trash just get it out there what what Bradbury referred to as running Barefoot through the grass
    1:13:16
    let your first draft be done from Pure Love then
    1:13:21
    the rewrite process is where you're adjusting and playing with it but just
    1:13:26
    get that first draft out there don't try to make your first draft meaningful they'll try to make it good don't try to
    1:13:32
    you know make the work of the Masters just write down the music that you're hearing and adjust it later
    1:13:38
    and then rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite that's right that's right
    1:13:45
    okay and uh so um you keep mentioning trials uh Delaney
    1:13:51
    uh Samuel I'm sorry okay I don't know I'm well enough to you know I know who he is
    1:13:58
    I've read his work but I don't I don't know him see I know you know you just casually mentioned Octavia Butler so I'm
    1:14:04
    sure you know chip Delaney wasn't enough to come to anyway I'm stop joking around here um so this question is about uh Mr
    1:14:11
    Delaney why is Delaney out of fashion and the person mentioned that they loved
    1:14:17
    reflection of light in water I would say it's simply because different styles of writing go in and
    1:14:24
    out of fashion chip Delaney came into the science fiction field in the 60s was called the new wave where
    1:14:30
    people see the first generation of Science Fiction were people who knew science and literature you know Jules
    1:14:35
    Verne and H.G Wells and so forth the next generation of Science Fiction Olaf Stapleton and people like that knew the
    1:14:42
    work of wells and and the the Next Generation after that people like uh
    1:14:47
    Robert Heinlein they knew the Olaf stapletons and so forth and they were doing the same thing but by the time you
    1:14:52
    get to the 60s there was enough science fiction literature that it actually started coming back around instead you
    1:14:59
    know the that science fiction of the 30s and the 40s was justifiably mocked by
    1:15:05
    literary establishment because it wasn't interested in literary qualities it was interested in ideas Big Ideas you know
    1:15:11
    back it up to yeah to the first science fiction magazine which is what
    1:15:16
    if uh analog astounding uh no no it's
    1:15:22
    even earlier than that something planets or something the whole purpose of it was to teach young people science you talk
    1:15:29
    about Hugo guernsbach gernsbach gertzbach okay yeah yeah the grinsberg and that's where you get the term
    1:15:34
    science fiction it was to teach and be didactic right however the earlier guys
    1:15:41
    if I don't mischaracterize them would give us a science but they really weren't good with certain things like
    1:15:47
    characterization yes and and the virtues that go along with literature by the time you get to the 60s you see
    1:15:55
    the shift from the hard Sciences physics you know and in chemistry and all that kind of stuff to the soft Sciences yes
    1:16:02
    that is to say sociology and anthropology and blah blah blah so you
    1:16:07
    and my colleague Joan Russ was was part of that I interviewed yes she was I interviewed her and Chip Delaney because
    1:16:14
    we did a special issue of the Seattle review which I was at fiction editor of for 20 years devoted to science fiction
    1:16:20
    so I interviewed them together in the office at the University of Washington
    1:16:26
    um so so I want you to finish this off what happened to chip Delaney what happened to chip Delaney is that in the
    1:16:33
    new wave people like him and Ted sturgeon and Harlan Ellison were playing with language
    1:16:39
    they started playing with language and deconstructing the the relationship
    1:16:45
    between language and Consciousness to create effects in their work so they weren't telling you know uh
    1:16:51
    straight forward stories Bradbury was an early person who was grounded in the
    1:16:57
    pulps but used that manipulation of negative space emotionally and
    1:17:03
    artistically to create an effect you would put down one of the stories and say this wasn't science fiction but somehow you know I want to look at the
    1:17:09
    stars okay chip Delaney was in some ways well there were ways in which he was
    1:17:15
    limited from writing about what he really wanted to write about which was his sexuality and race and he could not
    1:17:20
    write about those things at that time so he would deconstruct language in concepts of race and Consciousness and
    1:17:26
    so forth and he was friggin brilliant he was one of the very first if not the
    1:17:31
    first black writer that John W Campbell who was the editor of astounding which
    1:17:36
    became analog would published because Campbell was a racist I mean he right there he would I know two people who
    1:17:42
    have letters from him where he stated straight out you can't write about an advanced application of civilization
    1:17:48
    because Africans aren't smart enough to create one that was and he was one of
    1:17:53
    the foundations of the field so Chip Delaney had to hide who he was in order to write so he hid in the world of the
    1:17:59
    intellect I will be so brilliant I will people when people think chip Delaney
    1:18:04
    they will not think black they will think brilliant he he deliberately expressed his intellect so that people
    1:18:11
    wouldn't notice his skin color but that where and that's my interpretation
    1:18:17
    that's nothing he ever said directly to me about it but that wears on you how do
    1:18:22
    you write stories for people and you feel in your heart they don't want to know who I really am they if they
    1:18:28
    acknowledge my intellect they're making me an exception oh if they were all like chip Delaney we wouldn't have a problem
    1:18:33
    that that eventually can turn to ashes in your mouth and lead to you asking
    1:18:39
    questions of Ray Bradbury and Leo and Diane Dillon um and he at some point got out of it
    1:18:46
    but the field moved on that the 60s broke the box that Olaf Stapleton and
    1:18:52
    Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov created by asking us to you
    1:18:57
    know the 60s were a time of experimentation and drugs and love and peace and so forth and so on
    1:19:03
    the generation that came after the 60s took all of that for granted and they began exploring Science Fiction with
    1:19:09
    simultaneously a sense of the Aesthetics that lead to literature and by the 80s and the 90s you actually
    1:19:17
    had a body of Science Fiction where the best of the best had both mastered storytelling and the sciences and the
    1:19:24
    capacity to create art and so Chip Delaney was forgotten to a degree because we no longer needed
    1:19:32
    what it is that he had brought to the field there was a recent issue of a magazine National magazine I can't
    1:19:39
    remember what it was a friend told me about it I didn't read it was a long piece on Delaney it's a long piece under
    1:19:45
    like a genuine genius huh Delaney was a genuine genius no question about it he
    1:19:51
    was one of Octavius teachers okay and you know so to act to him he Octavia is
    1:19:57
    insane Octavia she's a good writer sometimes better than others and so for you know and he's for real you know he
    1:20:02
    really means that um and both of them are above my level
    1:20:08
    but they what they were
    1:20:13
    helped make the field what it is they were foundational so let's get we got
    1:20:20
    four more I think we could get through them we will need to potentially move a
    1:20:26
    little quicker a little quicker okay I'm sorry because I'm I'm getting the signs but I don't want to disrupt the flow of
    1:20:33
    what's Happening Here so this person says growing up reading comics there was plenty of violence but now graphic
    1:20:39
    novels have the power to push out I believe it's saying out peace what are
    1:20:45
    your thoughts on that if you could push out peace I don't even know what that means if they mean that art is going to
    1:20:52
    make the world more violent I disagree with that wholeheartedly okay I think that that violence comes from being you
    1:20:59
    know it's like the Billy Budd syndrome you know the the greater your vocabulary and the more ideas you can express
    1:21:04
    through language the less you have to hit people there is an inverse relationship in prisons between the size
    1:21:09
    of vocabulary and the violence of the crime it's been noted many times by sociologists so the people who can play
    1:21:15
    with ideas don't need to stab you okay okay [Laughter]
    1:21:25
    moving at a steady clip we're gonna get there um thank you Elders for sharing your wisdom uh with your stories and the
    1:21:31
    question is how do you uh nurture the connection between your adult self and your child's self
    1:21:40
    how do you nurture the relationship between your adult self and your child
    1:21:46
    self you know I'll give you a meditation that I've seen other people use I don't know
    1:21:52
    if anybody here meditates but you can visualize this visualize yourself
    1:21:58
    as your younger self what what if you had a time machine and you could this has been done in movies
    1:22:04
    go back and talk to your younger self on a bad day when he or she just everything
    1:22:10
    went wrong getting beat up and so forth visualize yourself giving yourself that
    1:22:16
    kid you were a hug and holding that kid for you know a
    1:22:22
    breath or two and telling that kid you know it's pretty bad right now
    1:22:28
    but you don't know what's going to happen in the future that I do and it's going to be good
    1:22:33
    see that's perfect you know in in my system you know our pedagogy we teach we
    1:22:39
    have a podcast you know the life writing podcast and www.lifewritingpodcast.com and we talk
    1:22:46
    about a technique called the ancient child what the ancient child okay it is
    1:22:51
    a technique and it's like you imagine that at one end of a string is the child
    1:22:57
    that you were at the other end of the string is the old the Elder you're going to be on your deathbed you know just
    1:23:02
    just you're gonna die tomorrow be on all ego Beyond any need to look good or any
    1:23:08
    of that nonsense and all you're trying to do is move with Integrity between the dreams of childhood and the knowledge of
    1:23:15
    what values are real that you will have on your deathbed on the other side of ego and if you use a meditation like you
    1:23:22
    just suggested and you visualize the child self you can ask the child what it wants you to do
    1:23:28
    and you can also visualize the child and the Elder simultaneously then just sit
    1:23:33
    back and listen to them talk to each other and they will express everything you need to live your life with Integrity I've got another variation
    1:23:40
    that might be interesting particularly if you have difficulties with your parents
    1:23:45
    with your mom or dad visualize them and also maybe when they were young yes
    1:23:53
    they give them a hug love it I hadn't thought about that I
    1:23:58
    love that that it's not original to me that's multi-generational healing yes that's great yeah no I I didn't invent
    1:24:06
    that it's it's a meditation that people do in in the Buddhist tradition but also
    1:24:12
    I do the one with my younger self every time I meditate I give younger me a hug
    1:24:17
    yeah I do that I've never done that with my parents though and I'm going to do that within the next 24 hours that's
    1:24:23
    great I love it thank you last two very quick because these are quick ones what
    1:24:30
    are you reading now or watching
    1:24:35
    um I'm studying a time and energy management system I'm not reading any well actually no I'm reading the new
    1:24:41
    Stephen King novel of Holly and I'm studying a time in energy management system okay thank you well on the plane
    1:24:46
    from Seattle which left at seven in the morning so we had to be up at four in
    1:24:51
    the morning and I didn't get to bed but nevertheless from Seattle to Chicago I
    1:24:57
    read the essays in this the uh sin and the Art of writing by Bradbury okay and
    1:25:03
    that that was it was great well from Atlanta to Indianapolis I read a story
    1:25:09
    by one of the greatest living writers a guy named Charles don't go there don't
    1:25:14
    go there him a story that I just finished two
    1:25:20
    three days ago that's right because it's about martial arts I gotta show this to Steve and you promised you'd read it on
    1:25:26
    the plane and you didn't I thank you yes I did thank you I worked and one word possibly one quick word yes and we're
    1:25:33
    gonna bring Dr ockman back up but one quick word for any aspiring uh graphic
    1:25:38
    novel novelists writers who that was one of the questions so I'm terrified okay if you told me for just a second I've
    1:25:45
    got something specific I like to say the six step process that we teach in life writing and we learned this from Ray
    1:25:51
    Bradbury and studying other people like this the first step is write at least one sentence a day every day just make
    1:25:56
    that commitment second step is right between one and four short stories every month the third step is finish those
    1:26:02
    stories and submit them the the fourth step is do not rewrite your stories
    1:26:07
    except to editorial requests once you finish them don't rewrite them go on to the next door the fifth step is you read
    1:26:14
    ten times as much as you write and the last step is repeat this process 100 times we teach this to our students and
    1:26:21
    not a single person who's following this advice has failed to publish by story 26. okay well I used to teach at the
    1:26:27
    University of Washington in 33 years and I give my students assignments but one of the things I got them to do that I
    1:26:34
    found extremely valuable is keep a writer's workbook do not let your day go by in which you
    1:26:40
    have a thought a perception an image that comes to you and you don't put it down in your writer support workbook you
    1:26:46
    see an article that you like clip it this these These are extremely valuable I have
    1:26:52
    writer's workbooks that cover three shelves and go back to the early 70s
    1:26:57
    they're like memory memory aids keep a writer's workbook blank pages put
    1:27:03
    anything you want to on it you know like just descriptive passages you see somebody that you run into and they're
    1:27:10
    dressed in a distinctive and interesting way oh they got an interesting tattoo that goes the world is yours to process
    1:27:17
    through perception and you put that these scraps into your writer's workbook
    1:27:22
    and I assure you that they will be of use to you when you're I go through my writer's
    1:27:29
    workbooks I see I've thought about and written something on every subject Under the Sun literally since the early 70s so
    1:27:37
    it triggers my memory and I see my younger self actually because what is it you're paying attention to in the 70s
    1:27:44
    different than the 90s it's almost like an archeology of your own Consciousness
    1:27:50
    what you're focusing on during a particular decade I just filled up one
    1:27:55
    and I was I was telling one of my friends here I'd like to go by the bookstore to see if I can get another
    1:28:00
    blank book because I have to have that during the course of the day put stuff
    1:28:06
    into it is my journal every day yeah yeah I mean writers have them if you
    1:28:12
    want great examples of what they look like look at Hawthorne look at Chekhov look at um no I'm not Starcher I'm
    1:28:20
    thinking of some of the great writers we have their workbooks they have plot
    1:28:26
    outlines for stories they've never written they have observations of people um it started writers and just keep it's
    1:28:34
    just for you not for anybody else I'd like to make one quick comment
    1:28:39
    that if you like the way we've been talking about writing here you might want to come to a screenwriting Workshop that my wife and
    1:28:46
    I are doing you can find out about it at www.hollywoodloop hole.com and what I
    1:28:51
    will say is ignore the price on there if you need a price where we just want good people we don't care if you can afford
    1:28:57
    the full price for people who we know just write us a letter and saying that you you need a break on the price we'll
    1:29:02
    take whatever you got what we want is people come on September 23rd and really
    1:29:08
    want to learn how to write and about screenwriting
    1:29:13
    www.hollywoodloopole.com all right and folks please uh
    1:29:19
    make sure you're going to the events for the the festival 451
    1:29:24
    um tomorrow at the cancan theater will be filming uh screening Horror in the
    1:29:30
    war with uh Tanana you do wonderful you have an opportunity for book signing in
    1:29:35
    the back here thank you thank you thank you
    1:29:40
    [Applause]
    1:29:51
    thank you all so much that was amazing that was amazing thank you thank you and
    1:29:57
    uh there is an opportunity to get your books signed by Steve Barnes Dr Charles
    1:30:03
    Johnson Sharon Skeeter antonina review there are four tables up here at the front please put on your note cards what you
    1:30:10
    would like them to write in your book to my left the aisle in the far left
    1:30:16
    your right we're going to line up over here we're going to pull the tables forward and we're going to to get your
    1:30:21
    book signed if you need to purchase a book in order to have it signed uh The Book Table is still up in the in the
    1:30:28
    foyer to the back there where I'm pointing and thank you all for a wonderful night thank you for such a a
    1:30:35
    stimulating discussion and uh we love you thank you [Applause]
     
  20. richardmurray

    A White House Carol

    By richardmurray,


    Literature
    A White House Carol 
    From  
    Richard Murray 
     
     
    In the morning and afternoon, in Christmas eve, in the year two thousand and seventeen: tweets, blogs, news anchors, or other modern media personnel utter out variances to President Trump; the year, is near complete, when the President try to climb above: rigid governing party line, violent tribalism, backstabbing factions, or other negative partitioning structures throughout humanity; but he fail in making positive partitioning structures, while ever increasing problems generate from the early or hopeful deals; now, dedicate to making a deal that will win all, he is in his bad alone; demand from his doctor can not be ignore; he stay awake while the moon peer in his temporary home and eventually he fall into sleep, and the clock strike ten. ...  
     
     
    Trump feel a pinch on his left foot, and shuffle; easy to incense, he notice a light figure and look to call the secret service.  
     
     
    "Why do you modern presidents always do that"  
     
     
    Trump expect to hear a voice through the phone; none arrive after many button are press, and he calm his nerves; his eye set to the light figure, and he notice a human visage; he cry out to his guard. 
     
     
    "I have all night, which is as long as you want it"  
     
     
    "Don't hurt me"  
     
     
    "You have already hurt yourself... but I am here to guide you"  
     
     
    Trump collect his thoughts and say: "who are you?"  
     
     
    "Monroe... James Monroe"  
     
     
    Trump think for moments 
     
     
    "You had us align chronologically in the hall, sequentially I am between Madison and Quincy Adams"  
     
     
    Trump still ponder 
     
     
    "That does not matter, do you have an idea to why I am here"  
     
     
    "Not at all, really... I really don't"  
     
     
    "I am here to warn you"  
     
     
    "Warn me about what?!"  
     
     
    The eyelids from the light figure close and it grimace extremely  
     
     
    "It is amazing how the living is free from the pain absent time while treasuring a handful from moments in their life"  
     
     
    Trump is in disconnect or confuse. Monroe turn round and set his back to Trump. Trump jump out from his bed to the door, witnessing creatures eat the entire backside from James Monroe.  
     
     
    "Do not fear them Trump, but heed their warning!"  
     
     
    "And what is that... Monroe"  
     
     
    "The harshness that your eventuality can bring"  
     
     
    "Listen, I don't understand, I really do not comprehend"  
     
     
    "Of Course you do not, none of us did..."  
     
     
    Monroe turn to the window and a loud shriek come into the room.  
     
     
    "What was that!"  
     
     
    "That was Jackson"  
     
     
    "Andrew Jackson, I don't believe it, he was a great president"  
     
     
    "Great... yes, he was great, but you confuse great to good, you see his deals, domination, expansions, and you see power, prestige, but side that was cruelty, treachery, sinful pride, a hardness that never bent... and so he bends now... look!"  
     
     
    Trump go onto his bed and hide under sheets 
     
     
    "You can not hide from the truth"  
     
     
    Trump, encase in covers, is raise above the bed; he cry out: "what are you doing?!"  
     
     
    "Nothing... you still do not see"  
     
     
    The cover about Trump is peel away and a thing, pull his arms out, while in the air; and, pull his eyelids back; he shrieks seeing Andrew Jackson bent like a taco being burn or frozen in various places.  
     
     
    "Do you see now Trump..."  
     
     
    Monroe point to another place and Trump is place there. In terror Trump say: "Who is that!"  
     
     
    "It is John Tyler... do you recall him"  
     
     
    Trump turn away and say:"no"  
     
     
    "He made a choice to betray those whom he was supposed to stand by, instead he tried to appease those that did not like him and in that imbalance, as you can see, many people were tore apart from those that was part to who they were, now he has to continually tear at his body, bands from one side to the other"  
     
     
    Trump squeeze his eyes shut after hearing Tyler cry louder; the spirit tear at itself, left hand to right torso or right hand to left torso, tearing roughly while skin fall or blood spill. Trump is set down. 
     
     
    "Am I in hell?"   
     
     
    "Calm yourself, you are alive and getting a chance to make your passed time better, you are not in hell"  
     
     
    "But I don't get this at all... did my predecessor have a night like this"  
     
     
    "Yes"  
     
     
    "Why didn't he say something?"  
     
     
    "Would you had listened or had any respect to the man"  
     
     
    Trump look down  
     
     
    "Of course now, besides you don't see the cause to this"  
     
     
    "What is the cause!"  
     
     
    "The presidency itself, the position like all powerful chairs binds whomever sit in it. Some chairs let you dream the lies you made or keep you isolated side your biggest failure... this chair torments you using your errors"  
     
     
    Monroe approach Trump and offer, the mortal, a comfort or pat on the back. Trump jitter nervously.  
     
     
    "Don't you see, none of us can manipulate you, only guide you hoping you will see what you have to do and I see you will have a long night... to that end you will be visited tonight by three ghosts: purpose, community, truth and it is time for me to go"  
     
     
    "But wait Monroe, if you always do this, why not come earlier"  
     
     
    "I do not always do this"  
     
     
    "But why come here then, you are not my ancestor... why not Washington"  
     
     
    "It is simple, you are most like me... like you, I wanted to bring Columbia back to what I thought was a greater time... I did not see, how many were hurt from cruel people I empowered through my plan to bring everyone together. I learned that uniting all peoples can not occur on one people's terms or ... or... you get these creatures knowing at all I don't see including my own reverse... if any of us match a new president, the chair choose us to warn you on Christmas Eve"  
     
     
    Monroe suddenly yell and scream; the creatures are bigger on her back while, a thing, lift him to beyond the window, about his peer.  
     
     
    Trump go to the window and in horror see Abraham Lincoln; the father to the Republican party melting away from a blob like thing emanating form his skull; he notice Monroe is set face up while the creatures attach to a void; he call out to Monroe, but the pain overtook the spirit.  
     
     
    Trump step back and notice the thing whose own skin is trying to suffocate it is Thomas Jefferson; he only notice through a moment to normal as the skin grow back and peel off into the mouth from Jefferson.  
     
     
    Trump turn and jump into bed. 
     
     
    "Mad spirit... bah humbug, that is the stupidest thing ever, I will find out who did this and they will pay"  
     
     
    The light dim and return to the state before, while the: howls, yells, or screams fade.  
     
     
    "I need a drink... some nice egg nog"   
     
     
    And Trump put on his slippers and prepare to travel the hallway; he open the door and people are sitting all about on a lawn. Trump rush to go back into the room and close the door.  
     
     
    "Donald Trump!": announce a booming voice; again, it speak the same.  
     
     
    Trump run to his bed, slippers on, and hide under the cover; after moments, he hear a voice say: "you can not evade me, my purpose is clear" ; and some grab the covers and pull them off him.  
     
     
    Trump sense bright light and know his room is not present; he say: "please don't hurt me"  
     
     
    The voice gently say: "Monroe told you the truth and you can not stop this so the harder you make my situation, the longer and more painful it will be for you"  
     
     
    Trump open his eyelids and see the lawn where people sit, surround his bed; he ask worryfull: "who are you?"  
     
     
    A voice from a person standing behind a podium in a distance speak:"come here and you will learn"  
     
     
    Trump walk between two long columns in a narrow isle, not a seat empty, every face look to him; a little fatigue he try to see, looking to the horizon, where any row end; but none seem to end.  
     
     
    "Come on Trump... you can make it, you walked far less than this"  
     
     
    Trump reach the podium and the man put out his hand.  
     
     
    "Welcome Trump, I am William Henry Harrison, your ghost of Christmas purpose"  
     
     
    "I don't recall your presidency"  
     
     
    "Yes, most do not know of it. I caused my death in a place like this"  
     
     
    "Assassination"  
     
     
    "Well, yes, through natural forces... they were the bullet, the gun was my love to speaking"  
     
     
    "I am a pretty good motivator"  
     
     
    "... well, remember that essay in the New York Times"  
     
     
    "Listen, I spoke the truth"  
     
     
    "Ha ha ha... yes, you spoke as you saw fit, the most truthful intention... but not the truth in the scenario"  
     
     
    "Ok listen, I am a pretty smart guy, where is my past, where is that woman that I mistreated... who I grew up with"  
     
     
    "Ha... yes, you still do not see. This is not Dicken's fable. this is real. you were given a choice already, a choice in every moment in your life, but you failed to choose positively to yourself side others, usually only to yourself"  
     
     
    "I don't have to listen to this, this is ridiculous"  
     
     
    Trump try to walk away but is unable to.  
     
     
    "You were told, the chair has decided"  
     
     
    "Well can I just talk to the chair then, and forego talking to you or your two friend"  
     
     
    "No but I will help you, as talking is my skill too... this chair started when Opechanacanough"  
     
     
    "Who!" 
     
     
    "An old native leader... on his death bed cursed whoever led the English colonist"  
     
     
    "But what does that have to do with the U.S.A."  
     
     
    "Patience, please do not interrupt like that... led the English colonist to suffer the pain from all their failure as he id in his life, to his own, that English colony, Virginia, would be led from George Washington who would be the first president to the U.S.A."  
     
     
    "So because of Virginia, the U.S.A. has to suffer?"  
     
     
    "No because of those european... White colonists, presidents will suffer long after they think they can not"  
     
     
    "That guy was a fool, should had used his magic to win a victory"  
     
     
    "Magic, mathematics, science... all mean knowledge, how often has humanity used the knowledge it is modernly eager to acquire to positive use... not vain, individualistic goals that hurt others"  
     
     
    "You do what you gotta do"  
     
     
    "Yes a saying that seem very purposeful yet lack mentioning the sacrifice to undo what others did before"  
     
     
    "You have said your case, is that it"  
     
     
    "No you have some more guest"  
     
     
    "If they are like you, this should be a cakewalk"  
     
     
    "Why do you say that?"  
     
     
    "You are just standing in front of this immense crowd, not great cause no one is talking, but a great crowd"  
     
     
    "You do not see, my talking caused my death, got pneumonia, lasted for a few weeks, from my own memory"  
     
     
    "So the chair is unfair to punish you"  
     
     
    "No, when you accept a chair like this, the time spent is irrelevant, and my punishment is my mouth, every time I talk another person is added, the columns or rows grow, I am surrounded by all the possibilities my pride or vanity did not allow"  
     
     
    "These people are not people you know"  
     
     
    "No, they are people my lack of purpose did not make happen. And that is my point to you Trump. Be purposeful, vain advertisements do nothing except lead to a quicker death"  
     
     
    A person in the front row get up. Trump shuffle frightingly. Harrison say: "remember" as he side Trump are surround from the former sitters; they brush past Trump but the first one nearest Harrison hit the ghost in the face; and the mob assault Harrison through: rips, pulls, hits, bites, kicks; they each hit any part to the body they can access while Harrison wail. Trump see people at the horizon in every angle, riotous; he step back in fear to the refrigerator in the kitchen; it take moments for him to cognize his position; he open the refrigerator door, hurrying, and lift liquor to his lips.  
     
     
    A door open and Trump cry out: "please leave me be"  
     
     
    "Sir": say a secret service agent. 
     
     
    "Oh... I apologize Jim... Listen, can you walk me back to my room"  
     
     
    "Of course Mr. President... is everything all right"  
     
     
    "Yes... lets walk... how is your family"  
     
     
    "They are fine sir, we will enjoy tomorrow, got a good surprise for the kids"  
     
     
    "Good, good... well listen, come with me into my room"  
     
     
    "Sir, step back, give me a moment"  
     
     
    The secret service agent communicate to others as Trump stand in the hall way; Trump watch him go into the room; Trump notice a secret service man in front to him, suddenly.  
     
     
    "It is okay sir": say a secret service agent behind Trump, startling him.  
     
     
    The door to Trump room open and Jim usher the President in.  
     
     
    "Do you want me to stay in the room sir"  
     
     
    "Yes Jim"  
     
     
    Trump go into his bed, and relax, certain no spirit will make itself known, now that a guard is present; he slowly rest or relax; before he can nod off he hear a tap; he try to ignore his fear and hear more taps. Trump open his eyelids and see a man he cognize tapping Jim.  
     
     
    "Herbert Hoover"  
     
     
    "Yes, I am glad you know me"  
     
     
    "You were a winner and it is nice knowing you are similar to me"  
     
     
    "Not in personal terms Trump. I was an engineer, a fiscal operator who never went bankrupt on fiscal maturity. Did you ever think to learn architecture, or engineering a building construction?"  
     
     
    Trump is frustrate: "then what do we have in common"  
     
     
    "We both believe... had faith in business, in individuality overcoming collective woes, especially in this country, we are both businessmen"  
     
     
    "We are both right"  
     
     
    "This is not about right or wrong Trump, it is a curse, and we both do not or at least I never saw the truth. Fiscal prosperity, growth benefited us both personally, made life seem like a win if only government get out of the way, as in your bankruptcy, I did not see how greater fiscal allowance never gained the collective value but only disempowered the fiscally poor more"  
     
     
    "That stance on prohibition was a bad call"  
     
     
    "Yes, but one I made, cause like you, I talked community only in spirit, not in function and in trying to favor government responsibility in the cultural aspects I neglected many who never had the means to fly or allowed by their fellows to do so... efficiency... efficiency to the enabled is blocked by the successful inefficient"  
     
     
    "So your my ghost to Christmas community"  
     
     
    "Yes"  
     
     
    Jim suddenly fall and break into pieces.  
     
     
    "It is alright, your friend is safe, just a scare tactic, but it is not for you"  
     
     
    Trump is in a puzzlement while Hoover bend over and slowly progress to the floor. 
     
     
    "Are you still here Trump?!"  
     
     
    "Yes... oh god, oh god your blind"  
     
     
    "I can not see you any more, or feel your skin... as you may guess my pain is to hurt form what I can not stop, hinder, or prepare to"  
     
     
    Trump watch Hoover crawl on the broken pieces, that is Jim, blood dripping and yet unable to cry out or feel the shards position. Trump turn away from the horror, kneeling to pray or bed or wail. Thunder sound, wind howls all about Trump; he rise from a kneeling position on the white house lawn; a man appear before him; and he say:"you are not death or the ghost of Christmas future"  
     
     
    "No, I am your ghost of Christmas truth"  
     
     
    "And what is your pain?"  
     
     
    "Simple to see truth, totally throughout my soul, unable to discard or hide it"  
     
     
    "Well what do you want to talk about, certainly not my essays or finance"   
     
     
    "As you have guessed, your campaign"  
     
     
    "What happened is in the past, aren't you here to give me a chance to be better, if I can't escape the curse, why do this"  
     
     
    "You still do not see... like you I did not see truth. I saw signs the rules from my past or in my present were cracking, and I lied to myself about what needed to be done. In the end my actions to maintain order or justice led to alot of pain"  
     
     
    "Well, can I go now"  
     
     
    "I hope you see, your post mortem pain is inescapable, but if you lessen it, you may make the wait easier"  
     
     
    "The wait, to what!"  
     
     
    "To the destruction of the chair, which can only happen when Opechanacanough's curse is satisfied"   
     
     
    "But from all the talk I heard tonight from you lame spirits, no deal is possible"  
     
     
    "Your wrong... we may get lucky and a truly positive or great leader may arrive or..."  
     
     
    "Or what"  
     
     
    "Or the U.S.A.  falls, absent a community to govern the chair is nothing"  
     
     
    "Well, that will not happen in my lifetime!"  
     
     
    "The truth is, I do not know but I saw quite a few presidents before you and... you give me hope"  
     
     
    A complete lightness totally surround Trump or the spirit. Trump ponder, looking round.  
     
     
    "This is energy from the chair"  
     
     
    "I thought evil was black"  
     
     
    "You know already, evil come in all colors... and I leave you to what you wanted an audience too"  
     
     
    "Wait! I get to go home yes... I really got work to do"  
     
     
    "You must stay"  
     
     
    The spirit begin to fade. 
     
     
    "Who are you?!"  
     
     
    "You can call me Pierce... never forget, acting against the truth will lead to fire, unconsumable fire to the chair"  
     
     
    The spirit, name Pierce, merge into the lightness. 
     
     
    Trump feel hear as the lightness approach; his hand burn as it get closer and he scream and scream and scream... and wake while the sun beam on his face. Trump sit up silent or disquiet; he wonder to his guest and is startle when his Christmas day breakfast come in.  
     
     
    Later, in the morning, Kelly Anne Conway is about to start the morning tweet plan when she is halt from President Trump; and he say: "It is time to speak to the press about my new plan"; she ask:"What is the basics?"; and he reply... 
     

     The Beginning
     
    Check out my ebooks- the free one is noted, please read/enjoy/give me your response:
    Sunset Children Stories: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sunset-children-stories  
    Looking West and West: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/looking-west-and-west  
    Janidogo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-janidogo  
    The Gospel of Joseph: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gospel-of-joseph  
    The Nyotenda FREE : https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-nyotenda   Includes a comic. The following link is an excerpt LINK
  21. richardmurray
    Leah Cutter has this idea for a  island map where you use the coordinates for the genre you write in and make these islands
    So I first had to list my work, I chose only the work I have published on Kobo, I didn't choose everything I have ever written or had accepted in this that or the other. While that would be fair, to be honest, my mindset is, if I incorporate those things that I may have to add another axis and I didn't want this to be muddled too much. If you ever tried to graph a function having five variables by hand you comprehend me, in the visual imbalance to that. 
    As it is, I first listed each work I have in Kobo or I am working on this year, and labeled them next to it
    Gospel of Joseph- Religious fiction
    Kings of London Epic Poem CFC 2012-2013 sport Poetry/sport Comic/Sport Assessment
    Kings of London Epic Poem CFC 2013-2014 sport Poetry/ sport Comic/Sport Assessment
    Kings of London Epic Poem CFC 2014-2015 sport Poetry/sport Comic/Sport Assessment
    Looking West and West - Story Collection - Fantasy
    Lucky 13 - unfinished science fiction 
    Richard Murray Thoughts Round 1 to 8 and ongoing /Sport Assessment/sport Poetry
    Sunset Children Stories Fable Collection/ Story Collection
    The Janidogo Fantasy Script
    The Nyotenda Science Fiction Script 
    The Visasiki Story Collection FREE intro
    Richard Murray Poetry Collection- Fantasy poetry/Social critique poetry
    Richard Murray public paths- Fantasy/Science Fiction 
    For me, what I see is quite a bit of poetry and story collections
    If I use two axis- one for poetry the other for prose, the poetry can go from sport to fantasy(red)
    the prose from sport assessment to fantasy either have social critique or religious fiction in the center (green)
    I came up with the grid in the following ...Before I created it I knew it would not be good enough, the graphical scheme needed a change for me. I added Roman numeral index to the list and applied the numerals into the graph but I then went at it again
    I Gospel of Joseph- Religious fiction
    II Kings of London Epic Poem CFC 2012-2013 sport Poetry/sport Comic/Sport Assessment
    III Kings of London Epic Poem CFC 2013-2014 sport Poetry/ sport Comic/Sport Assessment
    IV Kings of London Epic Poem CFC 2014-2015 sport Poetry/sport Comic/Sport Assessment
    V Looking West and West - Story Collection - Fantasy/adult riddles 
    VI Lucky 13 - unfinished science fiction 
    VII Richard Murray Thoughts Round 1 to 8 and ongoing /Sport Assessment/sport Poetry
    IIX Sunset Children Stories Fable Collection/ Story Collection
    IX The Janidogo Fantasy Script
    X The Nyotenda Science Fiction Script 
    XI The Visasiki Story Collection
    XII Richard Murray Poetry Collection- Fantasy poetry/Social critique poetry
    XIIV Richard Murray public paths- Fantasy/Science Fiction 

    So I was more rigid, placing an alphanumeric next to each representing a book next to each book that applied going down the line adding in
    Fiction- Religious 1
    Poetry-Sport 2347
    Prose- Sport 2347
    Comic- Sport 234
    Fantasy- short story 58B      
    Adult-riddles 5
    Science Fiction- unfinished 6
    Fable 8
    Fantasy -script 9
    Science fiction - script A
    Fantasy poetry C
    social critique poetry C
    Fantasy fiction D
    science fiction D 
    Then I remade the categories to focus on genre, I excluded audio which is unfair since i added the comics. But, the audio is akin to the text.
    Religious fiction 1
    Sport poetry 2347
    Sport prose 2347
    sport comic 234
    Fantasy - short story 58B
    Adult- riddles 5
    Science fiction unfinished 6
    Fable 8
    Fantasy - script 9
    Science fiction- script A
    Fantasy poetry C
    Social critique poetry C
    Fantasy Fiction D
    Science Fiction D
    Then the true boundaries came to light. 
    I have fiction: religious/Fantasy-short story/fable/fantasy script/science fiction script/fantasy/science fiction
    Sport: poetry/prose/comic
    Adult: riddles
    poetry: fantasy/social critique 
    if I combine riddles into poetry, which is not literally true, a riddle need not be a poem but the adult riddles in looking west and west are poetic, i should know:), then I have three shapes
    Fiction is a septagon
    Sport is a trigon
    and the poetry is a trigon 
    but then i realized the shapes don't merge functionally , fiction needs to be an  nonagon, to include sport and nonfiction; sport must be a quadgon to include nonsport, and poetry must be a quadgon to include nonpoetry, and I index them
    fiction(green): I religious/ II Fantasy-short story/ III fable/ IV fantasy script/ V science fiction script/ VI fantasy/ VII science fiction/ IIX sport/ IX nonfiction (yellow)
    Sport(red): I poetry/ II prose/ III comic/ IV nonsport (blue)
    Poetry(black): I fantasy/ II social critique/ III adult riddle/ IV nonpoetry (brown)
    So the following is the second attempt, I made the shapes and then placing the alphanumeric described above. 
    For example, the gospel of joseph is religious fiction. So I placed digit one under the appropriate green line, using purple. For some books where I do multiple I made purple lines connecting, thus making islands, if you will on top of each other in the air that are see through except for the border. 
    But this proves how some work I do have multifaceted and some does not. 

    The first thing is obvious I learn about my writing, a lot of poetry. More than I even considered, spanning various genres, which makes my first poetry book this year, common sense. 
    But it also shows how much of my poetry is dominated through sport and not beyond into the fantastic thus the poetry book this year will be about the fantastic. 
    I also have not settled on a favorite fiction genre I like to write in. well, as it is , can you make your own graph and share with all what you have learned about your writing
    I was inspired by this post
    https://kobowritinglife.com/2017/03/09/writing-all-over-the-map-leah-cutters-island-sampler/

     
  22. richardmurray

    SanaTambo is here!

    By richardmurray,

    ADINKRA EXAMPLE 2/21/2019
     
    Link to example in comments: https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/215-sanatambo-is-here/?do=findComment&amp;comment=504
    Kobo complete version: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sanatambo-adinkra
     
    ORIGINAL POST 3/25/2018
    Good day all, 
    I wanted to accomplish a few things early two thousand and eighteen: make a video game utilizing some sort of Black cultural reference, sell it on a platform; I achieved it. SanaTambo which mean art puzzle is here; it is a rendition to nonograms, more commonly known in the usa as picross; the images one can create are versions to Adinkra from Ghana. To access it, you must use the Kobo App. If you want to test out whether you can utilize it, you can use the first entry in the SanaTambo series, which is free. 
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sanatambo-adinkra 
     
    The process itself was very interesting. I will share that in my emailing list. If you want to join my email list, you can comment on here as a member or guest and we will connect.
     
    SanaTambo Versions
     
    English  
    https://www.kobo.com/pt/pt/ebook/sanatambo-adinkra-1
    Français
    https://www.kobo.com/fr/fr/ebook/sanatambo-adinkra-3
    Português
    https://www.kobo.com/pt/pt/ebook/sanatambo-adinkra-1
    日本語
    https://www.kobo.com/ja/ja/ebook/NNxdRbPVXT-g8GicV2IVSw 
    中文 
    https://www.kobo.com/zh/zh/ebook/sanatambo-adinkra-2 
     
     
    SanaTambo Example 
     
    I have created a system that allow me to make puzzles in the style to picross/nonogram/SanaTambo . But I need to check how the system will operate in varying scenarios. I made an example epub to see. In my emailing list I asked folk to check it out but I ask as much in the AALBC community as well. Whatever your experience please share it publicly in comment, guest comments are allowed, or in private, or ,<if you are in my emailing list> an email. If you want to join my emailing list, please ask me and I will add you after a short correspondence.
     
    The Example is linked below , it is a free ebook 
    https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sanatambo-example
  23. richardmurray

    Masterclass 2020

    By richardmurray,

    The essence of day 1 was making a game that was a non zero sum base. I placed in the audiobook my audio thoughts. If you want a complete reference, the ebook has the audio as well as the transcript and the game. The Game link below is where you can see my gaming example. In a non zero-sum game, winning or losing is not the goal. In the game I made, the goal is to keep playing it, thus you do not want it to end, you are in control of both sides, like when one plays chess by themselves but unlike the chess scenario the goal is to never have either side win, it is to keep going. In my head, I had an idea of jason and the argonauts, if you know that film from ray harryhausen.
    Question, what problem does the game have? I will not tell
    Oh, penultimately, what is the game imaged on the cover of the audiobook/ebook or this blog?
    And lastly, I love to quiz, where does Houyhnhnm come from?
    Audiobook : https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/gameclass-audio-i
    EBook : https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gameclass-i
    Game: https://houyhnhnm.github.io/Gameclass/game1.html
     
    Introduction , Day 1 (Above)
  24. richardmurray

    3D printing to aid Gamers

    By richardmurray,


    Gaming Craft
    Caleb KRaft is a great maker, this is a video with examples on how to aid gamers with disabilities.
     
    The Controller Project
    This site is a place where you can find documentation on how to modify game controllers for people with physical disabilities. Most of my mods have been used for assistance muscular dystrophy, but the library is an ongoing process and people may find the modifications and accessories helpful for other physical needs.
    I will be adding other modifications from around the web as I find them.
    If you need a controller modified, or want to share a modification tutorial or 3d printable files, contact me at Hello(at)calebkraft.com
    http://thecontrollerproject.com/
     
     
  25. richardmurray
    The Designer Of The NES Dishes The Dirt On Nintendo's Early Days

    Masayuki Uemura demonstrates a Famicom at Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters on July 1, 1985.
    Photo: The Asahi Shimbun (Getty Images) 
    By Matt Alt 7/07/20 5:00PM 

    When discussing Nintendo’s rise as a digital dreamsmith in the ‘80s, game designers like Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi get most of the limelight. But it was the hardware designed by Masayuki Uemura that served up their fantasies to millions around the globe.
    I spent 2019 criss-crossing Japan researching my book Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World, in search of the country’s architects of cool. In March of that year I came face-to-face with a true legend: Masayuki Uemura, the engineer who designed Nintendo’s first cartridge-based game system, the Family Computer, aka the Famicom, aka the Nintendo Entertainment System.
    With a design based on the arcade hardware that powered Donkey Kong, the Famicom quickly revolutionized home gaming in Japan when it was released in 1983. As the NES, it revitalized the home video game market in the United States after the Atari market crashed. From then on, it proceeded to deliver a steady stream of Japanese fantasies into the hearts and minds of people around the world. It’s hard to imagine a world today without Uemura’s machine.
    Masayuki Uemura joined Nintendo in 1972. Gunpei Yokoi, the inventor and toy designer whose products like the Ultra Hand had transformed Nintendo from a humble maker of hanafuda, Japanese playing cards, into a well-known toy and game company, recruited Uemura away from his previous employer, the electronics company Hayakawa Electric, known today as Sharp. Uemura retired from Nintendo in 2004, and currently serves as the director for the Center for Game Studies at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. The university’s leaf-covered Kinugasa campus is a quiet oasis in what is—or was, before COVID-19—a bustling and tourist-packed city. It is also a 10-minute walk from the ancient Zen rock garden of Ryoan-ji temple, whose evocatively arranged boulders and artfully raked gravel seem to me one of Japan’s earliest “virtual realities.”

    Departments that teach students how to make video games abound in higher education today, but the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies is one of only a handful of academic efforts specifically designed to preserve home video gaming equipment and ephemera. Its archives contain everything from early home versions of Pong to the latest consoles, every controller variation under the sun, and an ever-expanding library of software on tapes, cartridges, and discs. The packed shelves of its climate-controlled storage facility look like something out of a kid’s dream, organized with the obsessive rigor of the Library of Congress. The scent in the air is that paper from countless magazines and strategy guides, tinged with the nostalgic ozone smell of vintage electronics.
    Uemura was 75 years old at the time of our interview, but seemed much younger. A benefit of a life spent making playthings for the world? Whatever the case, there is no mistaking the amusement and restless curiosity in Uemura’s eyes as we sit down over a round of Famicom Donkey Kong to talk about the little beige and burgundy machine that touched so many lives.
     
    < Interview> 
     
    Kotaku: What was Nintendo like when you joined the company?
     
    Masayuki Uemura: One of the things that surprised me when I moved from Sharp to Nintendo was that, while they didn’t have a development division, they had this kind of development warehouse full of toys, almost all of them American.
     
    Kotaku: What were your impressions of Nintendo’s former president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who ran the firm from 1949 to 2002?
     
    Uemura: He loved hanafuda and card games. I remember once, early on, a birthday party for an employee and he showed up and got right into hanafuda with everyone.
    He was a Kyotoite. It’s a city with a lot of long-running businesses, some maybe five or even six hundred years old. In the hierarchy of the city, traditional craftspeople rank at the top. Nintendo, as a purveyor of playthings like hanafuda or Western playing cards, originally ranked down at the very bottom. Doing business in that environment made him very open to new ventures. He wasn’t interested in specializing. He was keenly interested in new trends.
    Here’s an example of what I mean. In 1978, he bought around 10 tabletop versions of Space Invaders and placed them in headquarters and our factory. The idea was that we’d playtest them as a form of research. But what ended up happening was the entire company got so obsessed playing it that we couldn’t get a turn in. It was like a fever. Everyone abandoned their posts and stopped working. I was just bummed out that we hadn’t made it ourselves. Shocked and annoyed [laughs].
     
    Kotaku: Did you feel behind the curve compared to other game companies back then? 
     
    Uemura: In the 70s, we had no idea what was going on with companies like Namco or Atari because we were here in Kyoto. If you lived in Tokyo, you’d probably pick up lots of things about companies like Taito or Sega or Namco or even what was happening in America. But none of that filtered down to Kyoto at all. That’s Kyoto for you—a little standoffish, going its own way, and proud of it. To a certain degree, not even caring about the outside world. A little conservative when it comes to new things. When I worked for Sharp, I took many business trips to Tokyo. But when I started working for Nintendo, that completely stopped. It’s pretty shocking when I think back on it, but Kyoto has always been kind of closed off that way. So no, there wasn’t any sense of us being behind.
     
    Kotaku: I’ve heard that the atmosphere inside the company was very competitive, with a big rivalry between Nintendo’s two R&D divisions.
     
    Uemura: There wasn’t really any R&D 1 and 2! It was just Yokoi and Uemura. There wasn’t any rivalry! Yokoi found me and recruited me to Nintendo; he was my senpai. It was Yamauchi who set us up as rivals. It was symbolic, which is important in any corporate organization. That’s why he created R&D 1 and 2.
     
    Kotaku: How did the Famicom project come about?
     
    Uemura: It started with a phone call in 1981. President Yamauchi told me to make a video game system, one that could play games on cartridges. He always liked to call me after he’d had a few drinks, so I didn’t think much of it. I just said, “Sure thing, boss,” and hung up. It wasn’t until the next morning when he came up to me, sober, and said, “That thing we talked about—you’re on it?” that it hit me: He was serious.
     
    Kotaku: Were you influenced by other companies’ machines?
     
    Uemura: No. I mean, after I got the order I bought every single one, took them apart, analyzed them piece by piece. I looked at the chipsets, saw what CPUs they used, checked out the patents, all of it. That took about six months. Most of it I did myself, but I did have some help from outside resources, people who worked at semiconductor companies. I looked into Atari’s [2600] machine, of course—it was the biggest—and the Magnavox machine. Because those two were the biggest hits, and Atari’s biggest of all.
     
    Kotaku: How did you analyze rivals’ game consoles?
     
    Uemura: I had a semiconductor manufacturer dissolve the plastic covering on the chips to expose the wiring underneath. I took pictures, blew them up, and looked at the circuitry to understand it. I had some experience with arcade games, and right away I knew that none of what I was looking at would be any help in designing a new home system. They simply didn’t have expressive enough graphics. They had a monopoly on patents for them, circuit structures and features such as scrolling. And they were simply old-fashioned. That’s why I couldn’t use anything from them.
     
    Kotaku: Did America’s game industry crash scare you?
     
    Uemura: Japan didn’t really experience a video game industry crash like America did. What we had was an LCD game crash. They stopped selling at right around the same time—Christmas of 1983.
     
    Kotaku: In US the crash made the very concept of games taboo in the industry for a while. What about Japan?
     
    Uemura: In Japan, the issue was that toy stores didn’t know how to carry them. Toy stores didn’t carry televisions. So they didn’t see game systems as things they should carry, either. That’s why a lot of companies tried positioning their products as educational products, with keyboards, more like PCs than game systems. The thinking in the industry was that was the only way to go, back then. The only way to sell a video game was showing it on a screen, and it was a big ask of toy stores, making them purchase TVs. LCD games had their own screens; you could just put them out and they’d sell themselves.
     
    Kotaku: Is that why you chose to style the Famicom more like a toy?
     
    Uemura: It was less of a choice and more that this was the way it had to be.
     
    Kotaku: Why is that?
     
    Uemura: Because that was the cheapest way to do it [laughs]. The colors were based on a scarf Yamauchi liked. True story. There was also a product from a company called DX Antenna, a set-top TV antenna, that used the color scheme. I recall riding with Yamauchi on the Hanshin expressway outside of Osaka and seeing a billboard for it, and Yamauchi saying, “That’s it! Those are our colors!” Just like the scarf. We’d struggled with the color scheme. We knew what the shape would be, but couldn’t figure out what colors to make it. Then the DX Antenna’s colors decided it. So while it ended up looking very toy-like, that wasn’t the intent. The idea was making it stand out.
     
    Kotaku: And it did. Were you surprised when it became a societal phenomenon?
     
    Uemura: I didn’t have time to be surprised! When it really took off, I was totally focused on making the NES for the American market, and also on making the Disk System. I had my hands full. And we were swamped with defective returns. At first we had a very high percentage of defective machines being returned to us. We were just getting so many returns, far more than anything we’d ever seen before. That’s when I realized just how many people out there were playing with them; there hadn’t ever been a system this popular before. That was about the time Super Mario Bros. came out, 1985. Everyone in the company realized we were going to be swamped. Super Mario was fuel on the fire of the fad.
     
    Kotaku: Mario arguably became even more of a phenomenon than the Famicom itself.
     
    Uemura: Super Mario Bros. was the first to really bring a kawaii perspective to game characters. Actually, Donkey Kong was first to do it, in the arcades, and it established that unique sense of design. Until that point, most games followed the arcade style of shooting game design. Super Mario is often cited as the very first game to connect that style of cute character and cute music together. I’m not sure who specifically on Miyamoto’s team connected the dots, but that’s what happened. Probably Miyamoto himself.
     
    Kotaku: After Nintendo went from 3rd or 4th place to 1st in the ‘80s, was there a sense things changed, among people inside the company?
     
    Uemura: No! We’re in Kyoto [laughs].
    Well, my salary went up. That’s a fact. So I was getting paid more, but the flip side was my job got a lot harder. President Yamauchi’s attitude played a big part in this, but my feeling was one of “seize the day.” Just go for it. You have to remember, there was a time, after Donkey Kong, that we really didn’t make another game for about two years. Well, not exactly, but pretty much. That’s the period Super Mario Bros. was being developed. That game basically ended up including everything and the kitchen sink, gameplay-wise.
     
    Kotaku: What led to the decision to export the Famicom abroad?
     
    Uemura: There’s a rule in the game industry that fads last for three years. That’s why President Yamauchi targeted America—to get around that. The prevailing sense at the time was that television games would fade into history as they were replaced by personal computers. So we were shocked that the fad kept going. It was Kudo-san, the president of a company named Hudson, one of the Famicom’s first licensees, who said to Yamauchi, “this is a culture.” Yamauchi was like, “What are you talking about?”
     
    Kotaku: Japanese games swept the globe starting in the late 70s: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong. Why do you think this made-in-Japan culture resonated with people all over the world?
     
    Uemura: Actually, that’s what I want to ask you [laughs].
    Super Mario Bros. isn’t set in Japan, but the character’s Japanese. The name Mario sounds Italian, but he isn’t Italian. They were really able to capture that ambiguity. The number of dots you could use to draw the characters was extremely limited, so Miyamoto was forced to use colors to differentiate them. He spent a lot of time working on the colors. In the end, it became the template for how a designer might express themselves through a game. It was a whole new world.
    Until video games became able to portray characters, they were nothing more than strategy games like shogi or chess. Once hardware developed to the point where you could actually draw characters, designers had to figure out what to make. Subconsciously they turned to things they’d absorbed from anime and manga. We were sort of blessed in the sense that foreigners hadn’t seen the things we were basing our ideas on.
     
    The Designer Of The NES Dishes The Dirt On Nintendo's Early Days (kotaku.com)
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