It truly is! I'm so bad at it. I'm hounded by imposter syndrome the whole time.

The artist of this doll maker is Kinibee, by the way!

Both, really...

I think I will take a break.
But damn this shit sucks.

I don't know how I'll even come back.

Knowing I'm a good writer, but my stories are never "a good fit."
It's really affecting my psyche.

Like, writing is the most essential part of my identify.

I've never not been a writer. I was telling stories when I was still writing in crayon..

The main characters here are Jamal and Malika, both children of Black Panthers.

The setting is that Obama has just won his first term.

Malika is very miliant, pro-black, and thinks Obama is just a figurehead.

(Will come back later. DnD session is about to start 😂)

So in Imarisha's response, the aliens instead appeal to our sense of solidarity -- help free all scarred peoples of the galaxy in exchange for advancex technology, *only* to be used by the marginalized. +

In the 90s one, the aliens offer gold and riches and tech beyond all imagination, in exchange for the U.S. selling its black population as slaves.
The U.S. sells them off in a heartbeat.

The one black conservative figures out, then, that his loyalty to the party all those years couldn't save him +

It's called "Space Traitors" (2019) by Walidah Imarisha! It's written in response to "Space Traders" (1992) by Derrick Bell.

In both, aliens come to earth. In the 90s version, they ask for all the black people. In the 2019 version, they ask for all the "scarred peoples," so any people of color +

I teach the kiddos about the Black Panthers every chance I get. 🥹
There's a specific sci-fi short story I teach that mentions them.

Like, I like Jodie Whittaker and I loved her as the Doctor, but like... Chris Chibnall could never.

That's fair!

I'm certainly doing my best! Teaching gets harder every semester, especially with A.I. creeping into everything. But I'm happy to be teaching creative writing again!

Gonna try to finish writing a novel this year.

And also I'm in a band. We're recording today 😃

Thanks, friend!

Gosh, I never see your posts -- how ARE you? 🥹

So this thread covers some gaps in my knowledge 🥰

Thank you for this thread! 💕
I can't wait to check out the links when I get home.

As an amature historian, my knowledge includes Rococo era, mid-19th C to present day, but also the Viking age and all the stuff about Anglo-Saxons I learned studying old English +

🥹💕

People who don't read and don't know what good writing look like think that A.I. writing is indistinguishable from good human writing.

The best of the OG four 😌

I must know more expeditiously

Right? Like, it's hard to get one's book noticed, it truly is.
But maybe try making actual connections with people first, and build an interesting feed.

Dude didn't even mention his book's title or what it was about.