Other Cool Blogs: Sistah SciFi

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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/

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Writing Exercise: Rep-Pre-Sent!

Image by Luiz Gustavo from Unsplash

(Aqui não existe barreiras . Projeto social Amar e vida Surf transforma vidas)

The photo is from Loving the Surfing Life Project (?? – not sure about the direct translation from Spanish), There Are No Barriers Here.

Representation matters. Latino and physically challenged. Immigrant or homeless. Black and people of color. Gender fluid or gray-haired. All types need to exist in stories. Not just for people to see themselves as the hero, but also to see that other people can be the hero as well.

And to be aware that as their identity changes, they can still be a hero.

Will reading Ms. Pollifax as a teen affect me now that I am reaching retirement age? We shall see. The Chosen One is not a trope restricted to people coming-of-age. Everyone ages, even the Chosen One.

I should note, with age comes injury. Between ages 5 to 15, only about 5% of all people are disabled. At 75 and older, nearly half are disabled (46.1%). (https://www.statista.com/statistics/793952/disability-in-the-us-by-age/).

So while a reader might not change skin color, they could change social standing, age, religion, or become challenged physically or mentally. They could be forced to flee their home and become a refugee. Their cognitive abilities might become compromised, like a friend of mind whose ability to make decisions went from “high power” to limited – she can still make decisions, but the energy they take destroy her after a few each day. Reading about characters who are living in different circumstances can help a reader survive these seismic shifts of identity.

WRITING EXERCISE: Today write a Representation Matters scene or flash – between 100 to 500 words. Age, race, gender identity, sexuality, disabled, religion. (Somehow, the person you are writing about should not “look” like you, now or in your past.)

My attempt: Join the Crew (5/5/2024). Writing a science fiction where the planet was settled by Spanish speakers created a set of challenges for me, barely remembering the void that was my high school language, but I have two niblings who look like the characters in this story. They should be able to see themselves when they read fiction.

Flash: Haeata

Image by Jason Briscoe on Unsplash

One last kick sends the sea creature back to memory as sun rose above the horizon with dawn’s promise. Dropping to her knees in the wet sand, Anahera says a small “Yay.” between pants. Only six more days before the veil finishes regrowing.

She wishes the “heroes” who dragged the battle to their shore remained to help fix the damage, staying to protect the village during the repairs. Three of their oldest sacrificed their lives, sealing the rift shortly after the braggards swaggered away “victorious”. Since then all those of fighting age spent every twilight battling the smaller creatures able to sneak between the healing spaces stitched together by the grandmothers and grandfathers.

Taika grins at Waimarie as she slathers lotion across his chest where one of the kaurehe creased four claws. Many a woman will dance for him when this is over, but the healer brave enough to wait beside the combatants during battles seemed to have already won his heart.

Anahera wonders how many men will dance for her.

Tipene and Wiremu lean against each other.

They won’t dance for her. Two warriors in the same bed is exciting but not restful, and while they had played together well during this crisis, Anahera needed someone steadier than the brothers.

No ones injuries look serious in the growing light. With only four left in fighting shape, that is good. Anahera hoped Tama is able to return with them at sunset. Older, he has a cunning and ruthlessness the younger warriors were only learning now.

Pushing herself up, Anahera orders, “Naps, then training tent.” The others groan but rise in the soft sand. Taika plays up his injury, leaning on Waimarie, as they walk back to the nearby huts and houses.

(words 291; first published 11/22/2023 – Haeata means “dawn” in Maori; Kaurehe means “monster”)