Troy

@Delano I reread the article and reminded me of the conversation we had about preserving AALBC beyond my life. If Johnson Publishing can't last two generations that is not a good sign. I wonder what is going on with the cosmetics line. I heard the photo archives is being auctioned off essentially the last major asset. Truly the end of an era.

I wouldn't wear a necklace with my name on it, but that has nothing to do with you. I suggest you "do you," and don't overthink it. I'm from New York and I doubt your wearing a necklace would draw my attention.

@whitfrazier. African writers themselves recognize they are the "model" minority and are, understandably, taking advantage of this -- indeed I'm helping. The ramifications of this are significant. When I talk about the marginzation of stories written by Black African-American men, people think I'm too sensitive or over reacting. I'm not talking about gay men, men or one with a white parent. I'm taliing about the absence of stories, like mine, in mainstream publishing. Still people wonder why Black men supposedly don't read. Self-publishing alone can't fill the gap. With Google controlling which content is discoverable, Amazon's monopoly on the sales of Black books, a few social sites dominating our attention on the web, and the lack of coverage of indie authors offline, these books rarely achieve even obscurity. The problem with PW is that it is a trade publication -- and not even all booksellers read it. I have a subscription, but I can't get through every issue and when i do focus on the bigger books. It is a good thing you posted info about your books here. You did this in 2018 too, so you have my attention and I will help promote your work. Please share more about what you discover over time.

Hey Whit do you have a website? If so, post the URL.

BTW, I'm unable to find a discussion forum on Blackvisions. The site does not use https, so chrome rejects the link you shared.

Yeah I responded to the audit, but they are taking months to respond. Way to go USA! 4th generation New Yorker -- wow! Virtually everyone I know, in NY, my age has parents who came from someplace else.

Hey Jessea, your mom is a 2-time AALBC Bestselling author (for the seminal poetry anthology she edited). Thanks for highlighting her children's book. I'll add a buy link on the page and send readers to your site. It may take a little while as this is part of a much larger effort to remove Amazon buy links from the website.

@Mel Hopkins I will start posting tips for authors/writers.

Well devotion2heart I guess I'll have to remove Lipstick Alley from my list since I'm unable to verify ownership... I'll checkout the other forum. BTW you can always participate here 🙂

Del you did not use the word "moron" until just now. Your reaction to Pioneer's statement to indicated that you got the words confused. Did I miss-read something? If you say you understand the difference between the words -- something I fully expect -- I believe you. No, the bugs bunny clip did not help clarify things.

I guess I did. Email your email address troy@aalbc.com and I'll send you the address I use.

@Delano you and bugs bunny are confusing the word moron with maroon. Bugs was being funny.

@Pioneer1 I was once a house negro, but while the analogy is far from perfect, I too liken myself to that of a Maroon as well -- independent and reliant on others like myself. The house negroes are too comfortable to join me and the field negroes are too afraid. I don't blame either group as the maroon existence is risky. Man being a Black "Greek" never saved anyone from the IRS. At the end of the day these are largely social organizations. Besides I can't afford the dues -- assuming I was even accepted as a member.

I don't think so either Del. When I named the book discussion forum Thumper's Corner I never conceived of naming it anything else after that. The url of this site has "tc" built into it for that reason. I may not rename these forum unless it is some major sponsor or something 🙂 I'll email Connie periodically to check in on her. Maybe I'll make her my sole Facebook friend to keep tabs.

Yeah this fact jumped out at me too! It is not a surprise, because I saw this all the time. However, the fact that he is also a degenerate, convicted felon and it did nothing to stunt his ability to amass a great deal of wealth is a bit much... I mean the feds are auditing me -- even if they find be completely wrong we are talking about a few grand I'd owe. They have all the money in the world to go after chump change, from small businesses, but the wealthy get rewarded for their crimes. Blow up a bank and you not only get bailed out, but you get a huge bonus. This 2nd Gilded Age, we are in, is a mother!

Humm @Delano you may have shown me a feature I was unaware of, "Last Visited." I always assumed it was the last posting date. I can tell you one thing for sure, the software does not track visitors, by name, unless they have an account AND are logged in. So, Cynique can view the forums, without logging in, and all you will see is "guest." Now, I have access to ip addresses, so I could in map the IP addresses of guests to one that Cynique has previously used and get a better indication of when she last visited, but I don't have that kind of free time. Besides, if she wanted to make her presence known she would just post. @Delano you seemed to be overly concerned that @Cynique will never return. Why? Did you look at the number of posts that she actually made over a 9 years period -- winning the day 500 times! Those stats are far more interesting. That does not included the 13,874 posts she made from 2002 until 2010, when I moved the forums to AALBC from thumperscorner.com. Del, that is an average of three posts per day, everyday, for 17 years. She is 80+ years old. If she never posted another thing here in life, she did her part. I agree with @Chevdove in that fatigue -- both mental and physical played a part. Del think about what that means. She actively engaged in a substantive and often enlightening way here for the better part of 20 years! Most people her age don't even use the web -- let alone actively engage on it. Is your mom actively engaged on the web? My own mother has no clue what I do on these forums -- let alone participate in them. I know you miss her Del. I do too, but all good things come to an end and she really did her part to make these forums interesting. All of you who participate make these forums interesting (you lurkers help too). No one else has done it on the level of Cynique -- at least not yet ;-)

Yeah this was one of the famously tragic stories that gets mentioned when people talk about police violence against Black people.

@Pioneer1 Cynique also ended with the above comment. So it was not about gender, it is was about the contributions the posters made. She appreciated many of the men who posted here over the years. @ABM comes to mind but there were many others. @Delano Cynique wrote she would be checking things out from time to time. So I guess that would make you wrong 😉 Sorry would have probably sufficed, but people rarely say I'm sorry and mean it. Even when contrition is expressed the recipient often does not accept it... This is so true. @Cynique and @Thumper felt indispensable, but they were not -- no one is indispensable. As long as someone pays the bills, maintains the software and hardware, as hard as that has been for 20+ years, I'm not even indispensable. Well @Chevdove well, what did he say?

Yeah @Chevdove they ticked every box with this creature...

Whoa! Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly: it seems like to more power you get the less likely would would need to abuse your power to satisfy you sexual predilections... I guess these guys are just sadists and use their power to increase their reach.

I agree @Pioneer1. Pioneer what is your motivation for participating here?

Hi Mea, The search engine here on the discussion forums is restricted to the forums. The search on the rest of AALBC sesrches the entire site. We actually have a great desl of information more than most sites including exclusive video, all his books reviews, etc this query on James Mcbride will show all it. Actually McBride is one of the most prominent Black writers out there. His book, The Color of Water, the story of his Jewish mother thrust him into prominence. Admittedly, his prominence is more in the white community than the Black.

Well science never says something is "absolutely true." They can have a theory that withstands a century of testing and experimentation. But the second an observation violates a theory the scientific community discards that old theory and moves on. Keep in mind that 100% of the people who smoke will not contract cancer. However we do know that 100% of the people who smoke are at a substantially increased risk of contracting cigarette caused cancer. 30% of all cancers come from smoking. 83% of lung cancers come from smoking. This is why collecting data, indeed science, is important. You would not say that because your mother smoked all her life, therefore cigarette smoking poses no risks right? We also don't know what your mom's lifestyle would have been like if she never smoked (cancer is not the only negative consequence of smoking). We also don't know the consequence her 2nd hand smoking hand on those around her... It is like man made climate change: Science does not say that it is 100% beyond an shadow of a doubt true. What they will say is that the predominance of the evidence makes highly likely. Much like astrologers and the religious, climate change deniers, are the ones who assert absolutely certainly in their beliefs.