Troy

Hi @Valjeanne Jeffers, anything that helps booksellers helps book sales. The most common comment I get about this list is from people who were unaware of the stores that support black writers in their city.

Hey @Valjeanne Jeffers please visit your page on AALBC and let me know if I'm missing any titles. Of the three categories let me know which one would be best to put your book in.

This book just came in and we will be publishing a review next month. It is exactly the the of book I'm talking about. Material Witness: The Drew Smith Series (Book 3) by Norwood Holand Publication Date: Sep 17, 2018 List Price: $15.99 (store prices may vary) Format: Paperback Classification: Fiction Page Count: 336 ISBN13: 9780983165699 Imprint: Windmill Books

Hey Milton, I'll looking for more titles to highlight in the "Top 10" lists I'm compiling. You mentioned the following categories: Sword and Soul, Steamfunk, Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, African Fantasy, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Horror You or anyone is welcome to post prospective titles for the lists. Also, share some of your Horor titles on the Lipstick Alley book forum where there was recent conversation on horror books. I posted about Sumiko Saulson, you'll find some additional potential readers there. Happy Black Speculative Fiction Month!

@Pioneer1 no, Tariq's own behavior illustrates why his point is impossible to implement. If Tari himself demonstrates no ability or desire to adhere to it himself? I remember the video of Tariq going in on Dr. Umar. I actually agreed with much of what Tariq said but I completely disagreed with how he said it. It was actually childish. I lost a lot of respect for Tariq as a result of watching tha video. So while you or I would not disrespect another Black man for a white audience. Many successful Brothers will and do; Tariq is a perfect example. No one ever gave me a code... This is just self respect and respect for one's people, which should come somewhat naturally. No code is needed. Maybe all we need is solidarity to each other rather than to personal gain.

Win a copy of Mary Monroe’s New Book, REMEMBRANCE, “A Cozy Holiday Read!”

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 4 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book! Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists Honored by the National Book Awards in 2017 A New York Times Notable Book for 2017 Publication Date: Sep 07, 2017 List Price: $26.00 (store prices may vary) Format: Hardcover Classification: Fiction Page Count: 304 ISBN13: 9781501126062 Imprint: Scribner Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc. Parent Company: CBS Corporation Read a Review of Sing, Unburied, Sing by Book Club Moderator, Tony Lindsay

I see now Google is feeding me pro Cosby stuff. I'm 40 minutes into this video and I believe I've agreed with everything thing this Brother said.

Cosby was clearly far from perfect but he was always supportive of Black people

@Pioneer1 I just listened to the entire Tariq Nasheed video you posted the other day. The code of Black men never speaking against another Black man in public sounds good. But Tariq, made it sound like no other culture does this. When the reality is they do. I defy anyone to think of some heinous thing that a white people has done -- even to a Black person -- where another white person has not condemned the action. White people trash each other in the media all day long indeed this is quite a lucrative activity. In fact, I'd argue that it is Black people who have adopted this code of not speaking against another Black person. Look how little criticism Barack Obama got. In fact, he got so little criticism many people people think he walks on water. Barack got very little criticism from Black folks because he shut down folks like Cornel West and as far as I know Barack did not give a single interview to a Black-owned newspaper (I know he went at least the first 6 years in office without doing it). Still, how many Black men openly condemned Cosby when the news broke -- virtually none. Speaking personally, I called anyone who would not vote for Obama a "self-hating negro," including @Cynique (sorry I was wrong). I shared evidence supportive of Bill Cosby's innocence (I still would do this even given the benefit of hindsight). But here is the kicker Pioneer; Tariq, IN THE VERY SAME VIDEO, was critical of people like Don Lemon. How do you square his calling for a code that he himself violates in the same interview?! Did you listen to what the man was saying? Man, we have to be more critical of ourselves not less.

These young men live in a completely different world than the vast majority of Americans. I got a glimpse of this world as my kids went to one of these elite NYC prep schools and I worked at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms for 15 years, and attended a top business school.. Most people have no clue just how privileged these white boys. Some Black people strive to be like them, the ones that look down on other Black people who can not be in this "class" turn my stomach -- literally, they disgust me. That said if it is not Kavanaugh is not hired would be another clone. Obama loved these people and used them through his administration. The whole system is fu*ked. On a related subject John Oliver did a segment lambasting florida and it's oppressive voter suppression laws. There was an article in the paper where Florida discovered a guy 30 years later and took aways his right to vote. He attempted to cash a bad check for less than $300 got a felony conviction did not server time, he has no realistic chance at appeal as the video below will explain. Privileged white men created these laws to enhance their wealth. There is a opportunity to change this law, Florida, but since so many of the people who would vote for this have been disenfranchised there is no guarantee that the law will be changed, especially sInce poor white folks show no lack of willingness to vote against their own self-interests.

LOL! I looked it up OTP but could not figure out what it meant. I gather the perimeter is the boundary created by I 285, and that Six Flags over Georgia would be considered OTP West; is that right? As far a spiritual meccas how about Sedona Az. It is a lovely place and there are nothing but crystal gazing hemp users out there.

@Cynique well I'm sure you KNOW I was just joking and you understand why a casual observer might draw the conclusion, which was perhaps why I thought it would be funny 😉 Now while @Pioneer1 may have an inflated ego and will certainly never admit he is wrong, the notion that he is smarter than educated individuals (a notion bolstered by @Delano in the recent past) is not something I'd question Pioneer relative to a college graduate. You just don't need to be genius to get a college degree and there are many bright individuals who don't earn a degree for a variety of reasons. What I would question is Pioneer's information and how he uses it. As he continues to state that Black men were on Earth for millions of years is a comment I just simply ignore, as well as everything that flows from it. Pioneers "bestilaity" comment made me chuckle though 😉 I would definitely stop short of comparing Pioneer to 45. 45 strikes me as sociopath -- having no empathy for the people he hurts. Indeed exhibiting a willingness to hurt someone when he stands to benefit simply because he has no conscious to bother him like a normal person. I would not put Pioneer in that bucket. Yeah I miss a lot of the regular posters too, ABM, Thumper, etc, etc.

When you ask Google Home's Smart Assistant to “name some African American websites,” Google pulls the information from AALBC. While Google cite's AALBC as the source, I would be much happier if they compensated me for my research. If AALBC's information is good enough to reference on a service for which people pay them, shouldn't AALBC.com be compensated? Honesty I don't mind Google or anyone sharing the information -- indeed I encourage it. This is why I researched the information and maintain it on AALBC, but if a multi billion dollar corporation is using it to enhance their services, why shouldn't the underlying sources, like AALBC, be compensated? I'm not talking about a lot of money, a buck a query, 10 cents, a penny -- something! Google presents the same information information on their search engine results page (see screenshot below). Google calls these “Rich Snippets,” and encourages developers to markup their HTML to make it easier for Google to pull this information from their webpages to create these rich snippets. The problem with these rich snippets, on the web, is that they discourage searchers from visiting the underlying websites. As these Rich Snippets often provide the answers searcher are seeking right on the search engine results page (SERP). Google argues this provides the best search experience for their visitors, this may be true, but the reality is that it this is killing the underlying websites by robbing them of traffic they would have received if Google did not put the website's content right on the SERP. I've argued for years that Google putting their own bookstore on the SERP page has all but killed Black book websites. I just read an article on the New York Times, “The Big Secret of Celebrity Wealth: (Is That No One Knows Anything) Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine and Chris Pratt are cumulatively worth $150 million, according to your Google results. Are they really?” This article was interesting because it informed me that Google is using these rich snippets on the Home devices. I was already aware that query above generated a Rich Snippet in on the Google SERP and I was able to quickly confirm that Google was using the same information in their Home devices which is depicted in the video I created above. The Times article goes on to explain that the site Celebrity Net Worth's information is used by Google as well. I was already aware that Google are using their data because earlier in the year I read an article on The Outline last year, “How Google eats a business whole: Google’s Featured Snippets are not only often wrong, they’re also damaging to small businesses that depend on search traffic.” The Times articles focused on the inaccuracy of the information provided by Celebrity Net Worth, that Google is sharing, while The Outline's article focused on how Google destroyed Celebrity Net Worth's traffic. Google asked Celebrity Net Worth for a sample for their data for potential use on Rich Snippets. Celebrity Net Worth declined, not seeing and benefit, and Google took the data anyway -- causing an immediate 65% drop in Celebrity Net Worth's traffic. I actually reached out to the owner of Celebrity Net Worth and explained that the same exact thing happened to my website thanks to Google's bookstore. There are not too many people who "get this" and it was refreshing to talk to someone who does. He encouraged me to reach out to The Outline, who ultimately ran a similar story about AALBC, “Google is jeopardizing African-American literature sites.” While the article made some important points, it also provided an unusually harsh and factually inaccurate critique of the website. After some back and forth I was able to get some of the inaccurate information about the AALBC removed. Despite that experience, I'm still glad the article was published, because people can judge AALBC for themselves. Speaking about Google sharing inaccurate information, Google exploits Wikipedia to the hilt. I wrote about this over 5 years ago in an article, “The Pimping of Wikipedia: Contributing to the Decline of the World Wide Web.” Google makes liberal use of Wikipedia's information not just in the Rich Snippets, but Google also uses Wikipedia's images and biographies for the author information in their own book store! Now if I copied Wikipedia's information directly, as Google does, Google would bury AALBC in search results -- rendering it undiscoverable. Since Google is monetizing Wikipedia, why is Wikipedia always begging for contributions?! I will never give Wikipedia a dime. Google needs to pay Wikipedia, and Wikipedia needs to pay the people who create Wikipedia's content -- end of story! This is just one reason wealth inequality has greatly increased. The writers who contribute content to Wikipedia are expected to volunteer their services while Google gets rich off the content. Don't for one second think that because users get answers from Google for "free" that there is some societal benefit here: There isn't. As websites are weakened by Google using their content without compensation, the ability of these websites to provide continue to produce quality content is diminished. Google still relies on their information and quality of Google's answers suffers -- often with comical results (or tragic depending upon you perspective).

Queen, try again now. I've greatly simplified the process. Yeah, I don't really know enough about the BLM to really speak to it. Like most things driven by social media it is more about young people and what they think trather than what more seasoned adults, like me, think or care about...

@Pioneer1 so you are just going to ignore the irrelevance of bringing the Catholic priest sex scandal into the argument... OK. Harvey's case has not played out yet. Lets see what happens when it has been fully adjudicated; then maybe you'll have a point

Will you two love birds just get a room LOL!

@Cynique Why in your opinion do you think the movement is dying? What is not happening that you expect to be happening? What are the indications that it is fading. I have own theories but I'm interested in yours. For example, from my vantage point there has not been a lot of media coverage of BLM lately, But they may still be grinding at a grassroots level, so I may not know what I'm talking about. I have never gotten a BLM email or mailing. Am I expected to follow them on Twiiter to know is happening? Queen Melanin please consider creating an account, so that I do not have to manually approve your posts. I looked up Utilitarianism, and with this definition (below) it is still difficult for me to answer your question. Would you rephrase the question in a way that does not require an understanding of utilitarianism theory? Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences) of choosing one action/policy over other actions/policies. As such, it moves beyond the scope of one's own interests and takes into account the interests of others.

Yes I remember Evonne, she was one of the best players of her day. I did not know until now that she was an Aboriginal Australian. You so rarely encounter these people -- outside Australia. Then the Europeans did murder every single indigenous Tasmanian to the point not one lives today.

@Mel Hopkins what does "OTP" stand for?

@Cynique, why do you say the leadership is lacking? I invested a lot of time and effort in promoting a book one of the cofounders published earlier this year. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele. The results were disappointing for a variety of reasons I wont go into now. However, it seems like movements that are dependent upon the social media (or media in general) can never last very long, because once the algorithm changes and the media's attention inevitably moves on to the next shiny object, so called "movements" like #BlackLivesMatter languishes -- think #ArabSpring, #OccupyWallSt, or #MeToo (whose days are surely numbered). ‏Marching and tweeting don't accomplish much without working to change laws.

God only knows the brutality this woman witnessed that was perpetuated by white men against Black people... Clearly. I'm largely ignoring the whole Kavanaugh affair. But even though I'm not actively pursuing information, I'm fairly apprised of the situation since it is being covered 24/7 by a media driven by controversy -- you'd have to be off the grid to not follow this story... a pure spectacle of American dysfunction.

@Delano the tarot card plot element may interest you. @Patrick Lohier that was an excellent introduction to your book. I suggest use affiliate codes when you send people to websites to buy your book. Glad to see you include an independent bookseller among the list. Most authors do not do this and it is so easy and important

I can't answer your last question on a public forum @Delano I'll in box you. Next time on my laptop

@Delano sure, since "reasonable" is subjective. But I'm talking about things most people would agree on and have would have no issue complying with -- again presuming they loved the person.