Blog

Other Cool Blogs: Sistah SciFi

Erin Penn

Company logo from website

In 2023 I got called out on TikTok … well, not directly, but Directly – you know how that works right? The reaction of “why didn’t you just @me?”

Well, @serareadthat commented on how black content creators on BookTok constantly made videos and did reviews for white authors and books, but white content creators didn’t do the same for BIPoC authors. Why should the BIPoC community invest in the white community if they are not returning the favor?

Here on my blog, I have worked hard at making sure I have equal representation of women and men. My annual spreadsheet is broken up in alternating reviews and blogs between the genders. I even pay attention to the queer community and endeavor to include diverse characters in my stories. But on TikTok, at that point I got called on the carpet, I hadn’t been making an effort.

Fortunately my efforts of equality on Erin Penn’s Second Base carried the gender work to my BookQuotes. But … big BUT … I still complete Fell Down on BIPoC. I also, during my TBR Project, got a good intense look at my actual reading. It wasn’t pretty how much I leaned on a system that I knew was broken but didn’t try to avoid the embedded bigotry. I needed to do better.

First, and immediately, I created a system for creating my BookQuotes where BIPoC consideration is a step. No matter what 25% of the BookQuotes  for TikTok will be BIPoC. Took nearly two months, but I managed to turn the percentages around. To do so used up every indigenous, Hispanic, Immigrant, and black book I had read in recent memory. So next, I had to set up a system to READ books by BIPoC so I could keep up the BookQuotes in an appropriate ratio in the future. I had to Read with Intent. (I created a whole series of why Reading with Intent is important and you can find it on my YouTube channel – @erinpenn7745.)

Sistah Sci-Fi has helped a lot. Rather than curate through Amazon’s crazy mess, I can focus on solid science fiction by black woman science fiction authors. Completely online, this store has been perfect to get me connected to the books I would want to read.

Let me tell you, there are books in here you want to add to your Christmas List too: https://sistahscifi.com/

Sign up for their newsletter and kept informed.

Writing Exercise: Pull Through

Erin Penn

Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash

This is a comment I wrote during an edit:

Need more pull through – I read about half-way through, about 12 hours over two days (I read for pleasure faster, but doing mental edits while reading takes longer). I stopped last night at the start of chapter 10 (page 150 of 300). Waking up this morning, I didn’t feel the need to jump right back in. Yes, I had something else to do this morning – but still, nothing in my mind thought “what is happening next with these people.” The chapters don’t really end on cliffhangers and nothing makes you want to jump back to the character you were cut off from – a scream of “really, a POV switch NOW?!?” followed by “Oh, right I wanted to know this about this character, carry on writer”.

Pull-through is the mirror of the hook. The hook is at the beginning, drawing the reader into the story; pull-through is what keeps the reader in the story. That wonderful, disastrous entanglement keeping us engaged in the story long after we should be in bed. While you don’t need a “cliffhanger” at the end of every chapter, as a writer, you should be leaving enough IMMEDIATE questions that the reader feels if they read just one more page, one more paragraph, even one more sentence after the chapter ending, all will be revealed.

READING EXERCISE: Review your present work-in-progress for final paragraph pull-through at the end of chapters. Has the author made it easy to put the book down between chapters, or is it a struggle to shut the book every night? Comment below.

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a scene where the reader will end up screaming at you, “YOU ENDED IT THERE?!?” Again, this isn’t a cliffhanger. It shouldn’t be a huge buildup being left unanswered, but something simple where the reader had a pretty good expectation of what happens next, but they don’t know for certain. The difference between a protagonist getting shot while stepping into the shower, assailant unknown, versus the protagonist and their love interest stepping into the shower after just putting their two-year old into bed and they hear a sound at the bathroom door.

My attempt: Even when the trees are apart (6/23/2024). It’s a romance, obviously the two are getting together … but are they getting together right then?

Flash: God Preserves

Erin Penn

ID 74521121 © Jessie Eldora Robertson | Dreamstime.com

“Let us pray that God preserves us.” The woman lowered her head.

I knew I shouldn’t but I had to ask. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Of course. The almighty saves and preserves his favorites.”

“Okay, just checking language because my aunt saves and preserves her favorite foods all the time, and I am fairly certain I don’t want to be chopped, boiled, and canned.”

(words 68; first published 3/10/2026)

Geeking Science: Reading and the Brain

Erin Penn

Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

When I surface from a book and sounds return to my ears, I’m always amazed at how deep a book can take you. Peripheral vision goes as I focus on the words. Sounds processing diminishes as my eyes turn over the words to process through the hearing and speech centers. And when I emerge, the aches and pains of my body return. And, strangely, the last scent and taste described in the scene linger against my nose and tongue.

Reading is intense.

It activates our brain feel the words before us – a crackling fire teases our ears and warms our fingers, a favorite sweater pulls our hair as the hero yanks it over his head, and a punch whistling before the heroine’s face causes our heart to jump in a fight or flight mix.

This gives writers a very particular power. “According to neuroscience, we have two different types of memory: semantic and episodic.” (DeFreitas)

Semantic is library storage – things learned and then shelved. They go moldy over time if they are not taken down and brushed off. For some people, Algebra is no longer a thing and for others, the history dates memorized to carefully pass tests in high school. If you can web them into other things, sharing shelf space, they stay clean longer and are easier to restore – checks are similar to deposits and paying bills online. It might take a moment to remember all the details needed to write a check at this point, but so long as you keep the rest of the banking-system shelf active, it can be done.

Episodic memory is capturing a whole scene. The time you cried your heart out because you lost a card game, going off to overnight camp the first time, a first kiss. You remember names, and smells, and lights, and emotions.

It’s like reading a scene in a book.

Now here is the Geeking Science part to tap into for NaNoWriMo – please use this power for good. You want people to remember something – not just the facts, but the emotions, write the information to activate the episodic memory, not the semantic. We all remember The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank’s Diary) because of the emotions, not the facts. People argue about whether the holocaust occurred, but that book, that gave teens something to hang history onto.

Create stories to expose people new thoughts, new people, new concepts, new science. They might never really “get” it when they read it in a newspaper, but the fiction reaches them. They see it, they hear it, they smell it. They feel it.

Now, go write.

Go read.

Bibliography

DeFreitas, Susan. “The Fascinating Neuroscience of the Scene.” Jane Friedman. 8 June 2023. (https://janefriedman.com/the-fascinating-neuroscience-of-scene/ – last viewed 11/16/2023)

Book Review (SERIES): Percy Jackson and the Olympiads

Erin Penn

Amazon Cover

The best boy-centric middle grade urban fantasy mythology-based series out there. Author is Rick Riordan.

I read this series through books borrowed from my local public library. Support your library!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series

  1. The Lightning Thief
  2. The Sea of Monsters
  3. The Titan’s Curse
  4. The Battle of the Labyrinth
  5. The Last Olympian

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE LIGHTNING THIEF

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse-Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him.

MY REVIEW for THE LIGHTNING THIEF

This is the sixth or seventh fantasy book I read this year. I’m more of a science fiction reader, but friends had recommended things over the years so I did a bit of catch up.

Wow, there is a reason why this book took off and gained the following it has. Two sentences and it just sucks you in. The world is real with family drama and school, and fantastic with monsters and gods. Mr. Riordan words things with a thousand quotes that just captures encases you in the world – from Percy smiling and affirming “I am impertinent” to Annabeth explaining “Monsters don’t die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don’t die.”

The lightning thief is funny and poignant, action-packed and character driven, has one foot in reality and the other in mythology.

Definitely lived up to its hype for me.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE SEA OF MONSTERS

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson—a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any “normal” friends. But things don’t stay quiet for long…

MY REVIEW for THE SEA OF MONSTERS

Percy Jackson returns in an action-packed adventure. With the world established, the author is able to drown every page with the maximum adventure, plunging deep into mythology to fill a sea’s worth of monsters.

For young or first-time readers of Greek-inspired stories, the monsters likely appear as imaginative creations. For long-time readers and mythology explorers, Nobody does it better. Hints and interpretations bring a fresh story to old stand-bys.

Jump in – the waters are fine.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE TITAN’S CURSE

When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped. And now it’s up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess?

MY REVIEW for THE TITAN’S CURSE

A half-blood life isn’t easy. Percy continues to investigate, fight, and survive, while maturing towards hopeful adulthood or at least prophecy age of 16. At fourteen, his relationship with Annabeth continues to evolve. Next up, learning to dance; something the Son of Poseidon should be able to master, like waves dancing on a shore. But is still a middle schooler, so it will take time.

The Titan’s Curse has everything from the first two books: friendship, humor, struggle, mentorship, betrayal, questions, magic, creatures, family. The nature of the quest is similar to book one, with a trip from Coast to Coast. I preferred the Sea of Monsters (book 2) as it places Percy in his water element and he really shines. I should note that this is the first book of the series to make me cry. Well done Mr. Riordan.

TL/DR – Book 3 is another great addition to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH

Percy Jackson isn’t expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to diabolical. In this latest installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near.

MY REVIEW for THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH

So far my least favorite of the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth had the least amount of humor, the action isn’t quite over the top (though still there), and the hijinks isn’t quite as far-flung even when traveling across America (running around underground just isn’t as “in the location” as traveling by car or boat). That isn’t to say it isn’t amazing; it’s just when the OMG factor is normally 10 out of 10, this is “just” a 9.

Fourteen going on fifteen Percy Jackson starts facing emotions as well as monsters – three ladies attract his head and his heart, all worthy of love in their own ways. He has to deal with his mother actually having a good guy in his life, other than his father, and figure out how to respect both of the men. Percy discovers heroes don’t always stay heroes, gods don’t always stay gods, and villains have reasons for their villainy.

Where before campers have died, they have nearly always been “before now”. War is coming and the first real battle comes to camp. Shrouds are used. The series is escalating.

Life is complicated and the Labyrinth leads us through the maze of changes as Percy nears the sixteenth year of his life.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE LAST OLYMPIAN

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

MY REVIEW for THE LAST OLYMPIAN

The fifth book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians delivers the series. There are twists of fates left to go off on their own yarns, but the buildup of the prophecy has been delivered. The final battle is huge and wide-ranging, friendships are tested, and everything comes at a cost. I love how mythology is used to provide weapons to both the good and bad sides of the conflict, and how both sides of the conflict are both good and bad.

Amazing worldbuilding, amazing characters, amazing action, well-crafted plot.

This is one of the best series for middle-grade of this age.