Troy

Yeah I know K'wan is an example of "street lt" author who writes Sci-fi. I guess the problem, in 2012, is that the primary focus is to generate money and that leads to a lack of diversity in what is published. There are many reasons for this, but at the end of the day readers have a lot less to get excited about. And what they do get excited about is quite mediocre (50 Shades of Grey, etc).

Nah'Sun, here is my personal Harlem Book Fair anecdote: In the late 90's people would come by my table and see titles from John A. Williams get excited and buy a book. The last year I exhibited people would come by see titles from John A. Williams and not recognize the name at all, nor care to check him out after I explained who he was. I doubt you could give away a John A. Williams book today... The demographics of the attendees has changed over the years. I believe this is cultural, the popularity of Urban Lit is a reflection of this not the cause. Milton, you are obviously mission driven. You do not write books solely for fame and large amounts of money. You of course recognize that you are the exception not the rule. While I believe in my people too, I'm clearly more pessimistic than you are But it is not in my nature to give up so I keep going. Tina is extraordinary too. We need more people like you, Tina, Nah'Sun, etc....

I don't know Nah'Sun, folks never seem to get tired of the redundant beats, and the rehashed gangsta lyrics we now call hip hop. While we may tire of this stuff there is always a new crop of youngsters ready to consumer the music. It seems more and more folks never grow out of the music, made of children: sorta like grownups gettin' down to the theme from Barney and Friends. The same goes for books. The urban/street, erotica, celebrity stuff will dominate and the rest will struggle -- but again that is better than nothing (I think). And yeah, you are right it is choosing between the lessor of two evils. But that is the real world. You have to make a choices between the lessor of two evils because those are usually the only choices available. You compromise, and make concessions through all the time. I wish all my choices were just between good and bad things -- life would be of so simple. I think our biggest problem is our inability to distinguish between good and bad options; hence the f'ed up choices we make and our current situation...

http://aalbc.it/cherylwade Continuing my focus on highlighting the literary output of married couples today's couple for my "Authors Your Should Know" spotlight are Wade and Cheryl Hudson, founder of Just Us Books. If this type of material is of interest or important to you please consider sharing with friends and associates. From my perspective successes like these deserve more attention. Of course few platforms expend the resources to share stories about married couples because it generates very little interest -- unless the marriage has gone horribly wrong. The trend is getting worse -- lets try to reverse it.

Cynique, I completely feel you! All in, it will take about 1/2 a million dollars to provide a college education for my kids, that was in line with the education that I obtained 30 years ago. That does not include paying for private school since they were in nursery school. This to me is crazy!!? By the way, did I say that I don't have $0.5 million? Sure I could opt out of sending them to college, send attend a local community college, or make them play but lets be serious. For a country like the US a university education should be an entitlement along with health care. Today a world class education is ONLY for the rich. If you don't have some serious paper -- you better be a genius to get in and graduate from a decent 4 year school. Of course opportunities for a decent education vary from state to state - but the point is valid in general If we spent a few dollars making American smarter that would actually help the space program... I think one of the disadvantages of getting older is that you can see more easily how things will play out -- because you have the benefit of experience -- which only comes with age. Unfortunately it appears youth is what is valued rather than experience. Everything on network TV and increasing the Internet seem to reflect this preoccupation with catering to 12 years olds or people with 12 year old mentalities. I stopped engaging people on Facebook, they way I might here, folks. People really don't listen there and egos are SO much more fragile on Facebook. Facebook really is the poster child for the dumbing down of our culture. On a sadder note: Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, died today at 82. RIP

http://www.domainsforauthors.com/ This is a service that I have been offering for years, but have not done very much to promote it. Domains for Authors is actually part of a much larger well known company which I can not mention because of contractual reasons. At any rate, I resell Domain Name Registration, and Web Hosting (including very easy WordPress setup). The support is the same level of support you'd expect from any large company -- live 24x7 Telephone Support (a BIG benefit) all at very competitive pricing! In fact, I'm my favorite customer, utilizing this service most recently for my Edit 1st Manuscript Editing Service company's website: http://edit1st.com The easy domain name setup using Domains for Authors.com and the one click WordPress configuration allowed me to rapidly deploy a website and immediately begin generating revenue. And if you ever get stuck just call the support number and someone (in the US) will stay on the phone as long as it takes to set everything up. Peace, Troy

I love the idea of space exploration and would like to go into outer-space myself. When the US landed a SUV sized vehicle on Mars I could not help but be impressed by the ingenuity, creativity, concerted effort, time and money that went into the project. Like landing on he moon it was yet more evidence that given the resources and the commitment there is very little man can accomplish. So then, why are some many problems, which are much easier to solve, than placing a mobile laboratory on the Red Planet allowed to fester while people die, stuffer and loose their minds as a result? Of course given on the crop down here on planet Earth I could not help but be reminded of Gill Scott Heron's Poem. Whitey on the Moon A rat done bit my sister Nell. (with Whitey on the moon) Her face and arms began to swell. (and Whitey's on the moon) I can't pay no doctor bill. (but Whitey's on the moon) ...

I can't knock the Brothers and Sisters coming out of jail and making in big in publishing -- there are so few opportunities I'm glad to see a few take advantage of this one. I bet the recidivism rate for formerly incarcerated authors who have published books is miniscule. Na'Shun, I'm on Facebook because I have to be (for now). Sure I get business through Facebook, but I was getting business before Facebook came along. It is a big waste of time and contributing the rapid decline of our culture (reminds me, I did not do my daily "Author You Should Know" post, Maybe I'll do Steven Barnes). Milton, I'm on the same page with you about keeping control. It is a daily battle I wage. Some days, shoot many days, I feel like I'm losing but I can't give up.

Nah'Sun the parallels with Rap, unfortunately, seem quite valid. Oh, yeah I owe you a "Why Facebook an't sh-t rant". I'll probably blog about it when I find 5 free minutes.

The distinction between authors published by major publishers and who are self published have blurred. Some self-published authors are indistinguishable from authors published by a large publisher. I can name a dozen authors published traditional who work as hard as anyone in the game. In reality, an increasing number of Black authors obtain book deals after demonstrating commercial success on their own -- so much so, if seems as though self publishing success is a requirement to get a deal. If is true all authors need to work together, but this is rare beyond very small groups, or cliques. Part of the ABLE mission is to facilitate this collaboration, but building these alliances requires a lot of work... Steven Barnes and his wife author Tananarive Due are a fascinating couple.

It really is discouraging Cynique and it will only get worse.

I'm not making anymore contributions. The $3 amount make me think of the panhandler you asks you for a penny saying, "anything will help". It is amazing what political campaigns, in this country, have become -- contests to see who can raise the most money and is best spearing at the opponent. $750MM to become Mayor of NY, $1B+ to become president. I seem to remember the Democrats, and Obama, campaigning on campaign finance reform. Both parties are up for sale.. For anyone so inclined... Troy -- We've run a lot of contests on this campaign, but you should pay special attention to this one. Here are three reasons why: The winner gets to go to the Democratic National Convention, meet the President, AND spend time with the First Lady. Chip in $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered for a chance to meet her -- and her husband -- in Charlotte. In addition to sitting up front with the First Lady as President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president, the lucky winner and a guest will get airfare, a hotel room, and VIP tickets to all three days of the convention. You should give it a shot -- chip in $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered: https://my.democrats.org/Join-Us-in-Charlotte Good luck! Joe P.S. -- Every time you donate in the next 78 days, you are getting us that much closer to a win on Election Day. It's closer than you think. Chip in today.

There will be no assassination. I can say that with absolute certitude. Obama as a martyr would actually be more effective, sort of like the no good dad worth more dead, for the insurance money than alive. Besides it is not like Obama is exactly jamming things up for the rich...

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And China has more than a billion more people than the US

Congrats Sister as you embark upon you 8th decade of life! Love Troy

I always use the "print" option for articles like these: http://www.alternet.org/print/books/whats-matter-white-people-longing-golden-age-never-was I'll check it our a get back to you.

Milton do you know Sheree Thomas? If not check out her Dark Matter anthologies: http://aalbc.com/authors/sheree.htm and hit me back.

Milton, please share your conclusions of your conversation.

http://bit.ly/whatyoudont

With nukes, unmanned drones and God knows what else the US Government has in it's arsenal; the argument that the right to bears arms enables people to rise up against the government seems archaic and naive. Maybe that was possible in the mid 1700's but not in 2012. Besides there is no organization amongst the oppressed to "rise up" let alone get from in front of the TV. Agreed national law, and a total ban on assault weapons. But this will never happen people are too stupid and greedy -- despite the carnage in the streets..

I do know the murder rate in London is lower than it is in Philadelphia and unless things have changed the police in London don't even carry guns. But it should be fairly obvious that the number of killings would go down if gun ownership was illegal. In NYC, so many children have recently been shot or killed by accident. There is far less collateral damage when baseball bats, knives and nunchucks are the available weapons. Shoot (no pun intended), maybe kids will go back to fisticuffs to settle disputes if guns were unavailable. Guns make it so much easier to kill both the target and innocent victims. Guns also have the effect of turning punks into what they think are men -- making it possible for a situation to become deadly. If a gun were not available, the situation could have been squashed. So while we live in a violent world why increase the violence by making it easier to kill each other? Now I know if we made guns illegal. It would be the poor inner city Black kids being thrown into jail while the rich (most white kids) would take advantage of the inevitable loops hole for collectors, hunters, etc. So I do not like the idea of taking away the right. It should just be VERY difficult to obtain a gun and ammunition so difficult in fact that most people won't even bother to try. If the weapon is used to kill someone in the commission of a crime the gun's owner and the shooter get life.

No problem, I see you URL starts with "https" This is how you obtain the long link; when you at at YouTube clikc the share button, then select the long link option, then copy that URL (or you can just change "https//..." to "http//..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EhaPUqG3M

....or obesity.

Hi Mystic Woman, just post the youtube long link http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EhaPUqG3M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EhaPUqG3M