Chapter 6 - Loa 

"Did you understand me, child? Remember." 

The voice that spoke to me was as much of a question as why I woke with a mouth full of sand, in a place hotter than Hell. Okay, one question at a time. Where was I? Face down, I could notice I was seeing sand. White, dry, hot. Sun overhead and been so for quite some time. Clothes were the last ones I remember, stylish and inappropriate for desert walking. 

I slowly rose to my feet, but stopped somewhere between kneeling and standing, a bit dizzy and realizing I was terribly thirsty. Doing a quick check, I noted no injuries, I was armed with two silvered 9mm pistols and silvered bullets with high quality loads. Strong enough to drop almost anything. There were runic scripts on each bullet increasing their efficacy. So whoever dropped me here wanted me to be able to shoot and kill almost anything that lived and a bunch of things that bordered the boundaries between life and death. 

Looking around, I noticed a dark wide brimmed hat sitting on the sand nearby. I felt I should recognize it. It was on the tip of my tongue. I had the distinct impression that there was something I should be remembering right now. Something so important my life depended on it.

"Don't say that name."  

I heard it as clear as if someone had spoken aloud, but I didn't see anyone for miles. I mentioned that I was standing in a desert. No people in any direction. No shade either. So, who said that? 

"Don't say the name of anyone you remember while we walk. You are able to be here because you do not remember anyone or anything. Names have power. Yours has greater power than most. For now we shall call you Adam." 

"Okay, so who are you and how can you be talking to me?" 

"I am on the ground in front of you. You perceive me as a common article of clothing."

"You mean this hat? Yes, you look like a very common, if a bit unstylish hat." 

"I will have you know I am a very uncommon and quite stylish hat. If you were around three hundred years ago." The hat's tone was less than conciliatory as if it was trying to appease a less than intelligent houseplant. 

"Put me on. You will need protection from the sun." 

"Do I have to?" 

"No, you could stand out here until your brain fries, you remember who you are, shout out the Names of people who should remain forgotten for a bit longer, attract the people who are trying to kill you, and get me killed trying to fruitlessly protect someone too stupid to put on a hat to prevent sunstroke. I think that is sound reasoning. I'll wait here." 

How did I know I wasn't already past the point of common madness? Wasn't I out in the middle of a desert I did not recognize arguing with what I believed to be an acerbic and style-impaired hat? Well, if I was crazed, I couldn't be any worse off for having a tiny bit of shade in this blazing damn desert. 

I picked up the hat. It was heavy. Made from a thick leather, no sand adhered to it and I turned it around in my hand. It was black. Completely black, where I expected shadows, it seemed to become even darker. Then I looked at my own shadow and realized what was wrong with the hat. It cast no shadows. My hand appeared to be empty and holding nothing. 

I put it on and just like that, neither of us cast a shadow. And I was a whole lot cooler as well. As hats go, a lack of style had to fall by the wayside when you can knock twenty degrees right out of the air. Relief. 

"Go that way." The hat's command caused a tingling sensation off to my right. I understood intuitively what it meant. "While I cannot tell you much about how you got here, Adam, I must tell you this. You are special. A person so special there are only a few dozen like you on the entire planet at any given time. Right now, you are unique and a number of people want you dead. We cannot allow that to happen. We are on our way to see a person who, while he will not be happy to see you, will want to help you because he has no choice." 

"Um, I have to ask, if we are coercing him into helping us, won't that make him resentful and maybe kill us too?" 

"That is true. And it is even more likely he has already been treating with our enemies. But we have something he wants and needs. And to get it back, he would do almost anything." 

I stopped walking for a moment. Sand is hard to walk in and my feet were already cramping. I looked in my pockets and noticed nothing but a few extra clips of ammunition, a nutrition bar I eyed hungrily, but reasoned I had no idea when my next meal might be, so I put it back. No wallet. No ID. Nice jacket and dual holsters for guns. I did not see anything I had I could bargain with for my potential benefactor to consider helping me. Maybe he liked boots. The ones I was wearing were heavy,  shiny and black. Very comfortable.  

"Okay, so I just took inventory and I don't see anything I have to haggle with unless he has a penchant for really well made, magical firearms or very comfortable footwear." 

There was a series of strange sounds, that took me a minute to realize were laughter. When the hat stopped laughing, it said,  "No, you don't have anything he would want, but when the time comes, you are to offer me in trade for a favor. It will require craft on your part, so don't offer me up until you have everything you want." 

"How will I know when that is?" 

"That young man, is your gift, to be between all things, to be part of everything and nothing, shadow and substance. Between wisdom and foolishness. When you see things looking completely hopeless, you will know its time. Now get back to walking, we have a long way to go before we get there." 

"Where is there?" 

"The boundary between Twilight and Night. The realm of Mr. Black, Master of the Loa."

Equinox © Thaddeus Howze 2011. All Rights Reserved [@ebonstorm]

 "Anytime people who are usually ignored decide to credit themselves with recognition, it’s a problem. If people who are often silenced demand a voice, extreme efforts are exhausted to suppress their cries. Whenever there is an emergence of unity from a socially neglected and once dismantled group, those in power scatter for an oppressive solution and attempt to revive the ever so popular “divide and conquer” method. Highlighting subtle differences in hopes to cause the newly proud people to bicker with each other, tear one another down, dismiss what connects us. 

 Our pride is so intimidating. Knowledge of our power is such a threat. Know that. Be aware of the strength that is held in unity. Don’t fight the urge to unite."
by Monochromaticblack
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 5 - Sunstruck 

The Sun rose over a desert. This is not your Sun. Hotter, more pure, the essence of sunlight. Fiercely white-hot, if you found yourself here, you would be nearly blinded for a time. A light so bright it bleached the color out of the world. Once you adjusted you would notice other things about this desert.  

Unlike deserts in the First World, nothing moved here. There was no sign of life, no undercurrent of hidden activity. Nothing, you as a vistor, would recognize, at first. If you spent a hundred years, and you could, because for you time would pass slowly, you would age slower, you would be out of sync with the First World.   

Here in the Second World, you might begin to notice a texture to the light, a shimmering that was different than any other light here. Like a mirage in the desert, it would stand out to you, a discontinuity you could not ignore. If you were more discerning or terribly lonely, you might approach that shimmer, that trick of the light only to find a single immense structure, also made of pure, hardened light.    

If you had lived in the First World during the time of the Roman Empire, you would recognize this building as the great Colosseum of Rome. In all ways, that majestic structure would appear before you the same in every way save one, this one was immune to the ravages of time. No great walls had fallen, no wreckage due to the imperfection of Man. No trauma of earthquakes throughout time. This structure was perfect, permanent and static; unchanging, outside of the forces of Entropy.   

If you were to, now that you have found this Colosseum, continue for another hundred years or so to meditate upon it, you would begin to see signs of life, not as you know it, beings, mere wisps flickering out of the corners of your eyes, nothing you would see straight on, a movement that seemed to move with purpose, malice and forethought; mostly malice.   

Listening intently, you would hear a conversation taking place between two forces. To wrap your mind around them, you might consider them people, if people were to have the power of a hurricane wrapped neatly in a shape slightly resembling a man in the less of those two and if a star were trapped in the body of a giant in the other form. And their conversation would be troubling to you. Because it whispered of a world without darkness, a world perfect with the structure of Order, a world without Change or the forces of Entropy.    

And after three hundred years of listening, you would begin to know the horror of these perfect, shimmering forms of trapped and barely contained power. You would see their idea of what the world should be like and if you are like any rational being with any ideas of free will, you would be, no, should be repulsed. And that would be the correct response. These beings were not evil. They were merely focused on a different way of being.   

"We have failed to acquire the Equinox. The boy has already tainted it toward the Dark." The smaller storm being stood imperiously before the sun-god giant.  

"Are you saying you have failed me?" His voice, hot, shimmered the very air around them.  

"Yes," the storm being thundered in response. A momentary silence followed.  

"Kill yourself immediately."   

"I will, post haste, your Vastness. But I believe our failure may allow us new opportunities."  Another silence.  

"Continue. Your impertinence may still please me."   

"I believe they may decide to seek the Master of the Loa, Mister Black. He has not accepted our treaty, nor denied it outright. Knowing him, he will betray them if it suits him. All we need do is wait for the right moment."   

As if he were explaining to a small child, the sun-god spoke. "Illuminatus, we must take advantage of the transition of Gaia. She is at her weakest. If we can overcome the Darkness during her transition and re-acclimation, she will have no choice but to accept the state of things upon her return. We can simply destroy the opposition and force her to treat with us instead."   

And in a way surely to arouse the ire of his master, the storm being responded. "I was under the impression unless we were able to harness the power of the Radiant Ones, we would not have the ability to resist her. She is the greatest power in the First World, unparalleled. She cast all of us out during one of our earliest wars and forbade us using our powers fully in the First World. If we did not mask our powers in the Veil, she would have detected our many conflicts. It is only because our human operatives are so weak and puny that she remains unaware of our plans as it is."   

"All of that is true. Which is why your next mission is to bring the Radiant Ones into the fold." If a sun-god of blazing solar light could be said to smile, this would be the feeling you might sense from him. A strange, good humor.  

"I thought you had agreed to spare my life. To go to the realm of the Radiant Ones is to court destruction."   

"Are you saying you are not interested in the mission?"   

"I would be only too happy to serve you in this vital operation. The Radiant Ones live at the very edge of the Second Realm. It will take time and resources to reach them. I was under the impression you still valued my abilities and had spared my life."  

"I did, but if you fail to secure their cooperation, then you would resolve my need to replace you with someone more... effective."  
  
"By your command." 
  
"Before you go to the land of the Radiant Ones, you take my decree to the Master of the Loa. Let him know he is out of time. He is to join us, or you are to take your army and destroy him, utterly. Destroy his clan, the Loa, and any of his offspring. When the Equinox seeks him out, I want him to find my servant or nothing to offer him hope at all. Then you can bring the Radiant Ones to my court." 
  
"Absolutely, your Immenseness. Your will be done. He will join us or die." 
  
In a flash of heat lightning, the storm being would vanish, leaving a pile of steaming glass in the desert floor of the Colosseum. The sun god might look in your direction, sense your attentions and with a flash of light, oust you from the Second Realm. You would be only too glad to be gone from that place.

Jump to Chapter 6

Equinox © Thaddeus Howze 2011. All Rights Reserved [@ebonstorm]

I was a little shocked this morning when I was checking emails and upcoming events and realized that I was in the future.

The new black is now.

If the “Attending” numbers on Facebook events are accurate, then tomorrow night the African American Arts and Cultural Center in San Francisco will be overrun with approximately 300 black/afro/futurist/punk/geeks and the people who roll with them. The opening of Black Diamonds Shining’s “The Black Futurists” exhibit and accompanying two month schedule of events, performances and film screenings sound like a love song that’ll lure in all sectors of the Bay’s black outlier culture. The ones usually only glimpsed on the deepest house dance floors, select street art installations and the most underground art events.

A couple weeks after that, the much YouTubed TED conference is getting the Black to the Future treatment, when Berlin based Afrofuturistsaxtechologist Onyx Ashanti takes the stage to show off the latest evolution of his Beat Jazz project-an open source, woodwind mimicking, motion sensitive, MIDI music system.

In September, South Africa will see the 4th installment of the annual Pan African Space Station, a 30 day music and arts festival and “cross-cultural and cyber-spatial exploration, bringing together diverse pan-African sounds from ancient techno to future roots.” The event features everything from musical tributes to Steve Biko and  Busi Mhlongo to performances by Doctor Philip Tabane & Malombo and Theo Parish.

And in true “seen it like a Zenith” steez, Black Rock evangelist, cultural curator and community catalyst Rob Fields recently announced that on October 17th he’s hosting theFestival of the New Black Imagination in, where else but the black planet of Brooklyn. The Festival sounds like a place where all the corners of black creativity can converge and add ingredients to the next serving of cultural cosmic slop.

If you’re looking for the next “It”, it’s here. If you’re looking for African diaspora folks who’re on something different, you really, really don’t have to look too hard. The forward thinking, tech savvy, community building tribes mainstream culture has been “searching” for-those “positive”, nuanced portraits of black folks-are being created in hyper real, augmented reality.

My eyes started to open about the 5th grade. We lived in the new projects built on a fresh landfill. It was sweet for a while, then we got our own house where I became a teen. Looking back I saw the pattern how the urge of care produced a big bang of built progress, but no sustainability in people.

We'd all cry out "unfair!", get smoothed over with fanfare, then slide again into despair. I remember castoff teachers and bullies in school. How I wished I could blame them today, my foundations are as stable as the landfill we lived on. The trouble with me was the wakeup was slow, my timing was off. Perhaps I could have compensated for the lacks in the system and made alternative choices. There were parallel circumstances going on that threw me off. I kept waking up and going back to sleep. Soon I realized sleep helped me not deal with some complexities of life. I fought harder to awaken.

All this time I cursed my brain, a run away explorer, taking opportunity when no opportunity was there. Busy wither I had the skills, tools or not. It made use of everything awake or sleep. I had to tinker, had to draw, had to act out, had to act up, I had to, I just had to. To grow a developing brain is hard without skills, tools. No math to speak of, ironic I became a draftsman. No science yet I formulate many ideas that require science. Some times I lay on my bed, eyes unable to close. Something had removed the little light-bulb of ideas and replaced it with a photographer's flash. Flash, flash, flash, soon like a deer in the headlights, I see you but don't. It's grand, too grand to draw, too grand to write down. Funny thing is that I thought they were fleeing images passing through me, then gone forever. Now I realize they are my realizations of the whole world I know. No wait, I've seen this before. The soul is the present, the spirit is ancient. I extend my soul, there is want of filling. Like the landfill of my old neighborhood, it is not able to sustain. I touch the spirit, there is rest but an overwhelming fullness. You can't be empty, you can't be full, your awareness can't take it, so we struggle to awake somewhere between the two.......This has been science fiction radio, the attack of the creative brain.

For those of you 'jonesin' for your favorite Goddess in mortal guise, the Priestess is back! The Aesir Chief is searching for his men, but the Slave-Trader King and his sorceress Aunt are looking for him as well! Can the Chief find his men and get them out of the Citadel of Aduni before the King's forces find him? Will the Chief encounter the 'Man in the Black Mask' the Valley Knight warned him about and if he does, will the Chief stop at nothing to free his men? Find out in the latest phase of the Priestess Saga, "All Things Bearing Fruit" Part I!

All Hail the Priestess!

African and Non-African Populations Intermixed Well After Migration out of Africa 60,000 Years Ago, Genome Studies Show

New genome studies reveal that African and non-African populations continued to exchange genetic material well after migration out of Africa 60,000 years ago. (Credit: © Sailorr / Fotolia)

ScienceDaily (July 13, 2011) — Researchers have probed deeper into human evolution by developing an elegant new technique to analyse whole genomes from different populations. One key finding from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's study is that African and non-African populations continued to exchange genetic material well after migration out-of-Africa 60,000 years ago. This shows that interbreeding between these groups continued long after the original exodus.

For the first time genomic archaeologists are able to infer population size and history using single genomes, a technique that makes fewer assumptions than existing methods, allowing for more detailed insights. It provides a fresh view of the history of humankind from 10,000 to one million years ago.

"Using this algorithm, we were able to provide new insights into our human history," says Dr Richard Durbin, joint head of Human Genetics and leader of the Genome Informatics Group at the Sanger Institute. "First, we see an apparent increase in effective human population numbers around the time that modern humans arose in Africa over 100,000 years ago.

"Second, when we look at non-African individuals from Europe and East Asia, we see a shared history of a dramatic reduction in population, or bottleneck, starting about 60,000 years ago, as others have also observed. But unlike previous studies we also see evidence for continuing genetic exchange with African populations for tens of thousands of years after the initial out-of-Africa bottleneck until 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.

"Previous methods to explore these questions using genetic data have looked at a subset of the human genome. Our new approach uses the whole sequence of single individuals, and relies on fewer assumptions. Using such techniques we will be able to capitalize on the revolution in genome sequencing and analysis from projects such as The 1000 Genomes Project, and, as more people are sequenced, build a progressively finer detail picture of human genetic history."

The team sequenced and compared four male genomes: one each from China, Europe, Korea and West Africa respectively. The researchers found that, although the African and non-African populations might have started to differentiate as early as 100,000 to 120,000 years ago, they largely remained as one population until approximately 60,000 to 80,000 years ago.

Following this the European and East Asian ancestors went through a period where their effective population size crashed to approximately one-tenth of its earlier size, overlapping the period when modern human fossils and artefacts start to appear across Europe and Asia. But, for at least the first 20,000 years of this period, it appears that the out-of-Africa and African populations were not genetically separated. A possible explanation could be that new emigrants from Africa continued to join the out-of-Africa populations long after the original exodus.

"This elegant tool provides opportunities for further research to enable us to learn more about population history," says co-author Heng Li, from the Sanger Institute. "Each human genome contains information from the mother and the father, and the differences between these at any place in the genome carry information about its history. Since the genome sequence is so large, we can combine the information from tens of thousands of different places in the genome to build up a composite history of the ancestral contributions to the particular individual who was sequenced.

"We can also get at the historical relationship between two different ancestral populations by comparing the X chromosomes from two males. This works because men only have one copy of the X chromosome each, so we can combine the X chromosomes of two men and treat them in the same way as the rest of the genome for one person, with the results telling us about the way in which the ancestral populations of the two men separated.

"The novel statistical method we developed is computationally efficient and doesn't make restrictive assumptions about the way that population size changed. Although not inconsistent with previous results, these findings allow new types of historical events to be explored, leading to new observations about the history of mankind." The researchers believe that this technique can be developed further to enable even more fine-grained discoveries by sequencing multiple genomes from different populations. In addition, beyond human history, there is also the potential to investigate the population size history of other species for which a single genome sequence has been obtained.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Chapter 4 - Room with some views

I was going to try to describe what I saw but I am not sure I have words for it. Put on a blindfold, cover your eyes, turn out the lights, and then head out to sea on a cloudy night. That is the kind of darkness we are talking about. I have never known darkness in my entire life. I have always seen in the night like it was, at worst, a kind of dusk. And its not like the kind of stuff where when you close your eyes, you see those lights from your optic nerve firing. Your optic nerve wouldn't dare to illuminate this darkness. 

Then there was a point, far away and we seemed to be falling toward it, and as we approached, that feeling of falling came to me, that unbalanced feeling you get as you start flailing about and realize you are about to come to an uncomfortable, sudden stop. I started waving my arms about, and screaming as I, since I did not see anyone else but me, I thought I was about to become a bug on a glowing windshield. I slammed into the ground face down and made a tiny bounce before settling to a painful and unpleasant landing. 

"Get up." A hobnailed boot punctuated that command by further traumatizing my rib cage.  

"Ow. And I was just starting to get comfortable down here. Was that first class?" 

Then I noticed the feet standing in front of my head as I started looking up. They were connected to very powerful legs and each thigh looked like it would be comfortable on a body builder. Then I found myself being lifted by the back of my collar into the air. "Is this it? This is the savior of the Six? I thought it would be bigger." 

"It is a he, Shango. Put the boy down." Kali's voice had a completely different tone. Warm, gentle. Was this the woman that made me question my very existence a few seconds ago? Shango. Why was that name familiar? Shango, the Thunderer? Shango, Thundergod of the continent of Africa? 

"Why is it, that I can't see the boy, then?" What is this black matter covering him?" Shango took a finger the size of my hand and wiped it across my forehead. A sticky swath of darkness followed his finger before disintegrating in a crackle of lightning. 

Umbra raised his head and put his hat back on. "Begging your pardon, Thunderer, the Equinox has determined that you are a threat and is attempting to protect the boy. I think we can fix that." 

"Is that what you call protection, Dark One? He would be better naked." 

Ms. Hart glared at Shango and reached out to take me from him. "Do not mistake his apparent lack of control for weakness, Great One. His power may not rival yours, but among his kind, it is not to be trifled with." 

"Do not mind my rude husband. I half expect he was hoping the Equinox would arrive and be attacking him to alleviate his boredom at watching the Nexus. Please come into the tower so we can talk in comfort." 

Ms. Hart gently placed me on the ground and brushed off some of the strange particles which were clinging to me. Then she and Umbra took my hands and the Equinox retreated into my body but remained hot in my chest. I also noticed all of my injuries of our recent travails were slowly diminishing. We walked around Shango who appeared to be looking out into the darkness and seemed to lose interest in us. He was a giant, easily seven feet tall and in his belt was a huge double headed axe, that bristled with electrical energy. As I walked by, I kept staring at it and a bolt of static electricity shot out to me, as if to tell me to mind my business. I promptly did. I think I saw Shango smiling. 

We went into what she called the Tower, but it was not like any tower I had ever seen. It was made from some kind of shiny stone like onyx, and when I touched it in passing, I immediately felt at home and welcomed. We walked to the center of the main floor and there was a sigil at the center. I did not recognize it immediately but everyone else walked toward it and got inside the lines. Trying to look like I knew what I was doing I joined them. 

The inside of the tower was lit and showed a collection of unusual objects, many looked like armor or art objects. The closest thing I could think of was a museum, except nothing was under glass, and many of the weapons looked very functional. The place was swimming in sigils of power, they floated through the air, and many of them when they passed me, sang out to me, telling me of their puissance, and the danger one would be in if one was to be so foolish as to touch anything here. No need to threaten me, I wasn't going to touch a thing.

With less than a second of apparent time, we appeared in what looked like a modern apartment. The kind my father never seemed to want to stay in for more than a few days. Lots of room, lights and windows. But it was the windows that were the most fascinating. Each looked out onto a different place. I recognized more than half of them as places we had lived. I found Paris, New York, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and I found myself running off to see where each of them went. When I was done, I came back to the coffee table that was in the center of the space and the others were already having coffee and talking. 

"Finished sight-seeing? Umbra was graciously accepting a cigar from Kali. "You might want to come over here. This concerns you." Kali proffered the cigars to me, and I looked at Ms. Hart. She shook her head and I politely said no. 

"He is a man, now, Hart. You will be asking him to risk his life. He should at least have all of the pleasures a man could know." As Kali said this she was looking at me in a manner that immediately made me uncomfortable. 

"He is not ready for the particular pleasure of any gifts of yours, Lady Kali. He does not understand the obligation it would place on him. His knowledge of the Second World is still incomplete." 

"Then you had better complete that education, because where he has to go, he must represent all of the missing clans and understand the obligations he current holds. He stands here completely unaware of his already considerable debt." 

I had enough of not knowing what they were talking about. "Someone needs to tell me what you are talking about. Especially this risking my life thing. I did not agree to risk my life for anyone. All I know is my father is dead, my governess is a superhero, she has friends who can make shadows come to life, and parties with mythical beings who are living in a tower with windows that look out over two dozen cities in real time. Did I sum that up right?" 

Ms. Hart looked at me and smiled, the first genuine smile I had seen in quite some time. "In reverse order, those are not windows, those are doors. You can walk through any of them and go to the places seen in them. In addition they can be changed so while there are two dozen current settings, they can actually be set to go anywhere on Earth, depending on the willpower of the person using them. Lady Kali and Lord Shango are not myths. They are people who currently embody the mythological energies of the mythical beings. They were once normal people like you or I who were changed by a divine decree. If they want to tell you more, it is up to them. Suffice it to say, their power, dwarfs anything you or I can do. But their limitations are also as interesting as their powers. Your governess is not a superhero, but the difference to you may not matter much. And Umbra is much like you, part of his powers are derived from the Darkness, a primal force in our universe. And as much as I hate to admit it, your father is dead. He died protecting you. He spent his life trying to see that you would not have to become the Equinox. He did not want this for you. But he prepared you in case it came to this. Did I miss anything? Do you want that drink now?"

I sat down and tried to organize my thoughts. "Why did they kill him? And who or what is The Light? 

Umbra looked up from his contemplation, tipped his hat back and said, "I guess, since we just entered storytelling time, I better go first." 

Nothing I heard this evening up to this point prepared me for what he said next. Not even close.

Jump to Chapter 5

Equinox © Thaddeus Howze 2011. All Rights Reserved [@ebonstorm]

In my trip to the RWA National Conference in New York City, I witnessed a historic event. Trisza Leann Renee won the Golden Heart award for unpublished authors in the Paranormal Romance category. Suffice it to say, it's like winning an Emmy! The awards ceremony runs like a red carpet event. When I saw Trisza's manuscript as one of the top four, I was excited but when she won, it felt good. It's a little hard for African American's to win in any event but in paranormal romance, doubly so.  If you'd like to read my interview with her, please check it out my blog: www.aliciamccalla.com.

I've posted the first three chapters of one of my novels on my Authonomy account if anyone wants to read. I mainly started writing it to get my husband through his Song of Ice and Fire withdrawal a couple of years ago.The title's a little hokey, but I'm still working on it. Let me know what you think!

http://www.authonomy.com/books/35487/darkening-horizon/

I just finished this novel by Milton Davis this morning, and as much as I want to give props to a fellow Sword & Soul writer, I am sorry to say that while I enjoyed it at first, ultimately it disappointed me a little.

I'll get the biggest and most fundamental problem out of the way: I didn't see any connection between the story suggested by the book's blurb and any of the three Kitabu within. The blurb makes you think this is going to be a tale of Changa's seeking revenge against the sorcerer Usenge, yet that is not at all the overarching theme of the actual Kitabu. We do see Changa confront a completely different evil magician, seek out a mysterious spice, and get caught up in Chinese/Mongol politics, but none of those plots seem to have anything to do with Changa's vendetta against Usenge. The impression I got was that Changa was actually putting his past behind him to pursue a life as a Swahili merchant, which reflects poorly on his character.

Speaking of characters, I was also bothered by the handling of the supporting characters. Neither Panya and the Tuareg get much if any backstory whatsoever, leaving us to wonder what they and Changa are doing together on the opposite side of the African continent from their native homelands. Nor does Panya, a supposed sorceress, get to demonstrate her magical powers very often if at all. She should have cast many more spells.

Then there are the editing errors. Not only are there scattered typos, but Davis seems to use "Chinese" and "Han" interchangeably when he should have stuck with "Han". In addition, the glossary at the end is incomplete because it doesn't list many of the ethnic terms used in the Kitabu (exactly what are a bahari and a bwana?).

None of the above is meant to say that this book is irredeemably terrible. The concept of an African hero exploring the Indian Ocean is definitely novel, as medieval Indian Ocean civilizations have definitely been unfairly neglected by storytellers, the prose is generally decent despite the aforementioned editing issues, and the numerous action and battle scenes are fun. It is for these reasons that I'll give the overall book a fairly positive rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

The Priestess returns midnight July 18th! The Priestess Saga continues as the Valley Knight, Little Fish and the Aesir Chief battle their way through the sewers of Aduni, City of Golden Towers. Their quest to find the Chief's men is nearly at  an end, but will it end with them being saved by the 'truculent trio' or have they already met a grisly demise at the hands of the Slave-Trader King and his sorceress Aunt? And what will be the fate of the beautiful Marta? Will the future daughter of the Aesir Witch Mjarga also meet a hideous fate alongside the Chief's men or will she find salvation as well? Find out in phase 4 of the Priestess Saga, "All Things Bearing Fruit"!

All Hail The Priestess!

working sucks, point blank.  It takes time away from stuff that really matters like the fam here at BSFS.  thats where i have been working.  Oh well, check out my relationship blog and lift me up in prayer or whatever it is that you do so that i successfully finish my thesis.  I am psychoanalyzing the hell outta Octavia Butler, lol!  Her Xenogenesis novels are the bomb though...

http://www.examiner.com/african-american-relationships-in-nashville/were-has-the-village-gone-the-evaporation-of-the-black-family-1

http://www.examiner.com/african-american-relationships-in-nashville/infidelity-can-prove-dangerous

Right now I have two major writing projects going on, both of which I started yesterday. One is a short story set in a world where humans and dinosaurs coexist and the second is a fantasy novel with an ancient Egyptian/African theme. I have a clear mental plan about where I want the short story to go, but the novel is more of a mystery to me now; I know how it begins and maybe how it will end, but the middle needs to be filled in.

This is actually one out of many times I've attempted to write a novel, but each of my previous efforts proved unsatisfactory and had to be scrapped because of plotting issues. I just hope this will turn out better.

Those interested can check out an excerpt of the novel-in-progress here.

Chapter 3 - Dancing in the Dark 

Umbra took off his hat and threw it at one of the Light. Halfway there, it changed its shape and became a hawk made of shadow. Its razor sharp wings sliced off the heads of two of them with its wide wingspan. It had a keening cry, mournful, the kind of sound a hawk might make past its prime. It flew past them and wheeled about slashing low through a half a dozen of them before returning to Umbra and landing on his head as a hat.

Ms. Hart followed behind the hawk, an engine of destruction swirling her spear and clearing a path through their ranks. "Keep up, we're not staying." She was everywhere and nowhere. My father used to called the spear, the king of weapons, because of its reach, speed and power in a fight with sufficient room. I used to laugh when he said it because I never saw him use one. It would seem I might owe the bastard an apology. Every move, whether it be forward or backward allowed her spear to smash, slice, pound the enemy. They began to realize she was not the target to be attacked. Which directed their attention toward me. Lucky me. 

Not to be outdone, I planted bullets anywhere a target presented itself, that Ms. Hart didn't already claim with lightning speed. Umbra came behind me and though he appeared to be unarmed his boots which I thought were just shod in metal, seemed to shoot shards of shrapnel with ever step he took in nearly every direction. He directed the shards with his hands, each slicing into the creatures of the Light. With so much carnage going on, I did not understand why we were not running out of enemies. Then I saw it. A portal of light just around the corner. My darkness adapted sight could not focus on the portal, it was simply too bright. But I could see waves of creatures of the Light pouring out of it, every few seconds. 

"Call Mr. Black, Umbra. We are not going to be able to get away without some help. Somehow they know he is the last scion and have decided whatever risk they take of being discovered is worth killing him for." 

"Are you sure, Mr. Black does not work for free. He will want something for his troubles. As a matter of fact, he will insist. I just as soon stay here and see if we can work this out." Umbra was starting to sound tired, his shrapnel boot were releasing their shards of razor darkness with less frequency. I was already on my second clip. 

"Look around you. Do you really think we can make it? If the Equinox were awake, maybe, but he does not have the skill to control it and we dare not wake it until he has learned how." She had been holding the creatures at bay but had stopped advancing as a new wave landed in front of us, leaping directly over us to land in front. Three dropped dead as I targeted them mid-flight. "Nice shooting, you are down to your last six. Hold them. Can you remember the black sword spell I taught you last month?" 

I had to think about it. She had shown me the rune forms and I was able to manifest a sword but after three minutes it fell apart. I wasn't sure I wanted to be that close to them when that happened. "Yes, I remember." 

"Good, cast it now." 

I could hear Umbra starting to breathe heavy and he threw his cigarette at one of the Light. The creature burst into flame when the cigarette hit it. I drew the rune in my mind's eye. It came to me easily and I extended my hand as the sword manifested there. It wasn't like before. This was easy. I slashed at a one of the Light as it rushed at Umbra from a blind spot. The blade was sharp, and the slice was effortless, like the blade was made of air.  

"Thanks, kid." 

"Take a load off, old timer. I got this for a minute." 

And for about sixty seconds I was the best I had ever been. My foot work was perfect, it was like a dance where I knew all the steps. I got hit a couple of times but each hit was absorbed by the jacket, which fought from my back as well. I was grabbed by one of the creatures and the jacket created a mouth and chewed through it. It was incredible. I turned toward the portal and began to approach it trying to stop the flow of the Light at the source. 

I could hear Ms. Hart shouting at me, but I couldn't understand her any more. The creatures were pouring out of the gate now five and six at a time and I killed them in waves, my sword strokes becoming longer, reaching farther, they died and they died and they died. And the closer I got to the portal, the more powerful my blade became, each stroke caused the ground to shake and buildings nearby to tremble. The Light rushed me trying to bring their mass to bear but it did not matter, nothing mattered anymore. They had killed my Father. I hated him, I feared him, I missed him. And they were going to pay. 

My blade sang a song of terrible destruction shearing away cars, buildings, the Light, everything in sight. When I reached the portal, the creatures stood there blocking it and my last stroke cut them down and slashed across the portal. As the blade crossed the Light of the Portal, I saw a man inside. He was watching me. The last thing I remembered hearing was "Magnificent." Then my blade reached the center of the portal and an explosion was unleashed. That was the last thing I remembered. 

When I woke up, Umbra was wearing his jacket and his hat. He was smoking a cigarette and looking at me with his strange dark eyes. Ms. Hart had a look on her face that reminded me of her when I was a kid, a moment of softness, then she hardened again. "Never approach a portal of Light again." 

"Why?" I was as weak as a kitten. My arms felt like lead.  

"You lost control. Look around you. This is why you can never lose control. If you do, people die." She pointed to the area where the portal stood. The creatures of the Light were scattered everywhere, sliced neatly in half. I expanded my vision and noticed buildings nearby also had huge slices through them, sidewalks were slashed, with waves of concrete broken up, chucks thrown everywhere. The pillar of the train platform sliced neatly in several places. There were also two bodies of homeless men who were nearly twenty feet away from the conflict, but my dark blade swept in a wide, long swath. I felt terrible. I didn't mean for anyone but these monsters to get hurt. She reached down to help me to my feet. I could hear the car's metallic frame reluctantly releasing me. 

"It's a good thing that car broke your fall. I really wanted to catch you, but I saw you were going to land on a Volvo and knew you would be okay." Umbra looked at me, a wry smile on his face, his cigarette lighting the space between his hat and jacket collar. 

"We have to go. The authorities will be here in a moment and we want them to think a bomb went off here." 

"Umbra, handle that." 

"Yes, your Highness. You know I just lit this one, right?" 

"I don't care." 

"It's my last one."

She turned, gave him a withering look and waited.

Umbra took one long, last drag on his cigarette as she pulled me toward her. Planting her spear into the ground in front of us, we watched Umbra flick his cigarette toward the location of the former portal. I watched him clench his fist and then release it. A fireball erupted and swept over us. Storefronts were destroyed. Car alarms went off. Her spear, protected us from the fireball while Umbra stood, apparently unaffected by the flames. 

The flames and shockwaves seemed to go on forever. Then slowly, the night and the darkness was restored. Burning embers, chunks of debris, everything seemed to return to what would have been expected, if a bomb had gone off here. The Light were gone, the bodies of the two old men were also gone. Somehow, that made me even more sad.

We were half a block away before the police and fire engines began to approach. 

Ms. Hart grabbed her spear and collapsed it into a small truncheon and strapped it to her hip. It disappeared as well as her armor did returning her to a conservative business suit. Umbra appeared to be little more than a derelict in a dark hat and coat. Ms. Hart touched my clothing and it returned to the appearance of clean and undamaged urban chic. We slid from the Veil and returned completely to the Human world. She was waiting for us when we did. She was a fierce looking woman, diminutive but radiating immense power. Her face and sari said she was Indian and her physical presence was a blow to my weakened body. I fell to my knees. Then I noticed Umbra and Ms. Hart also fell to one knee. 

Ms. Hart spoke first. "Kali Bodhisattva, Mother of Mankind, Slayer of Monsters, Queen of Darkness, how may we serve you?" 

Her gaze turned toward Umbra, who took off his hat, and stroking it absentmindedly, he muttered. "Uh, what she said." 

"Is this the Last Scion?" 

"Yes, Kali." 

"You have already drawn too much attention to yourselves. Now you are coming with me." 

"Is anyone going to tell me what this is all about?"  

"Speak when spoken to, boy. Now is not the time for questions," Umbra hissed. 

Kali looked at me, and I looked at them. Ms. Hart on one knee? She was the fiercest warrior I knew outside of my father. Umbra, while I did not know him well, he was quite capable in a fight and in his own way a master of magic. Who was Kali that she had them both on one knee? And why did I have this feeling I should be wetting myself right about now? 

She waved her hand and everything went black.

Jump to Chapter 4

Equinox © Thaddeus Howze 2011. All Rights Reserved [@ebonstorm]

Chapter 2 -Umbra

"Get up, boy." His voice was rough, like a heavy smoker, husky with a slight country twang. "Get up, we have to go now. Where is your father?" 

"He didn't make it. Who the hell are you?" I tried to sound tougher than I was. Then I threw up. He moved. 

"It will burn all night. The Light makes for fine kindling. Gives us cover." He wore a black trenchcoat made from some strangely slick matte-black leather. It was thick, coarse and had a weird animal smell. His clothes were hard to make out as if they defied my ability to focus on them. His shoes were a serviceable boot with hard metal studs all the way to the kneecap. "Get it out, because in two minutes we will be in the wind." The firefighters gathered around the fire were not having any luck putting out the fires. 

"They have my governess. My father said I had to find her." I started to feel a bit better.  

"I don't care two bits about your nanny. Your father called me and told me to come and get you. I got you. My job is to keep you alive. You are my priority now." 

I did not appreciate his tone. I grabbed his jacket and pulled myself to my feet. I leaned in close. "She is the closest thing I have to a family. I don't know you and couldn't give a damn about what your job is. So you help me or I will do this by myself." My chest hurt but I could feel this strange power trying to gather itself. 

"Alright, there is no need for that kind of talk. Do you have anything that belongs to her?" I thought about it and reached into the holster on my hip.  

"This was hers." He took off his jacket and threw it to the ground. 

"Give me that." He snatched the gun from my hand and released the clip. Then he threw the gun on the jacket. I watched him move his hands and with a ritual movement he touched his jacket. It became dark, shrouded in shadow and then the shadow stood. It had the shape of an alligator or crocodile, low to the ground long and masked completely in shadow. Except for its exceptionally white teeth. The gun was in front of it and it was sniffing the gun. It turned as if to smile, showing off its teeth floating in a shadow body, then it shot off into the dark. "If she's still here, he will find her." 

"What do we do in the meantime?" 

"We hope they don't find us first. How much do you know?" 

"About what?" 

"The Life, boy. How much did your father tell you?" 

"Nothing he didn't have to. Which was basically nothing at all." 

"Did you get any schooling at all?" 

"Yes, I got plenty of education, can speak a dozen languages, can use basic magic signs and sigils. I can fly anything, drive anything, fix anything and shoot anything." 

"Okay, so you're not a complete idiot." 

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" 

"Eventually, but now is not the time. I reloaded your gun. Do not shoot unless I tell you so. Do you understand?" 

"Yes." 

"Let's go. He's found something." 

"Your jacket?" 

"Yeah, kid, my jacket." 

We ran out of the alley away from the fire and the only home I would ever likely care about. Once we got to the street we didn't run but maintained a brisk pace as we headed toward the local boulevard. I could feel the tension draining out of me and I felt suddenly tired. 

"You know, I don't even know your name." 

"Umbra, kid. Keep up, pay attention. If you see anything out of the corner of your eye, you tell me, right quick." 

"Okay, Mister Umbra." He pulled up short and turned toward me. He towered over me and looked me in the eyes. His eyes, previously hidden under his hat were suddenly visible. There was nothing but darkness in them. No iris, no sclera, just an sense of a never-ending night with tiny glimmerings of light.

"Umbra, no mister, no title. Just Umbra. I know you are working with a lot of stress and handicaps right now but I need you to focus. You are a man now, and you are one of us. We don't take titles, we don't use 'em. We have our name and that is the most important thing about us. Your father was Equinox. And now, that is your name. Whatever he used to call you is not important." 

He turned and kept walking up the street, focused on something far away. "He didn't used to call me anything but Boy. I think I may have had a name we used when we introduced ourselves but it changed every time we changed towns." 

I was about to say something else when I saw it. There was a flickering in the corner of my eye. When I turned my head, I couldn't see anything, but as soon as I stopped looking at it, I felt a distinct awareness of something on the side of my vision. The boulevard was almost completely quiet, with only a few people coming home from their night jobs, heads down, focused on getting home.  

"Umbra..." 

"Good, you saw them. Get ready, they are surrounding us. She is up ahead and still fighting." In this section of the Bronx there was an overhead train system and there were pillars of steel holding the train above the city streets. I was able to ride the trains a few times. It was noisy but fun. There was a station ahead and she was still alive fighting there, but I could not see her, directly, only sense her. No one else seemed to see or hear her either. 

"You can't see them can you?" He stared at me and then grabbed my head. He turned it left, than right, looking into my eyes. "You have not had it long enough." He turned and bent over to pick up his alligator-cum-jacket. "Put this on. Its the only way you will be of any use to me. Don't take it off for any reason." 

I gripped the jacket like I expected it to come to live in my hands, but it seemed to have returned to its jacket state, inert and still creepy. As I slid into it, I noticed its coldness, its seemed to suck away my heat and sweat and re-sized itself to fit my much smaller proportions. It was only then I noticed how big Umbra was. I was also aware, I could no longer see anyone on the street. Okay, that wasn't true. I couldn't easily see anyone on the street. It was if I was seeing them through a gossamer veil. 

"Stop gawking. Get your head in the game." With just a few more seconds. I became aware of them. Then I wondered how I could have missed them. They were massive, much bigger than the things that attacked the house. They had that same alien feeling about them, but they did not have wings. They made up for that by having two sets of arms. They were also surprisingly fast, much faster than their size would have you think. Their bodies had that same luminescent mother-of-pearl look to them and they did not have any kind of clothing, armor or weapons, save their wickedly clawed arms; all four of them. 

Then I saw her; Ms. Hart. She was beautiful. And she still fought with the creatures. She wore a silver body suit, similar to the one she trained me in. While she had it on, she was faster and stronger than she had any right to be. I had never seen her as fast and as deadly as she was tonight. I realized she was always taking her time with me. She could have destroyed me, at any time during our training.

She looked tired. She was covered in blood, some bright red, some black. The blood of the creatures splashed on a nearby shadow person and they dissolved into a green and gaseous cloud, accompanied by a baleful scream of sheer terror.  

She was using a metal shod spear made of the same shiny silver, with a blade at the tip and whipped it around her slicing away the limbs of the much larger creatures. But the loss of an arm did not seem to incapacitate them as well as I thought it should. But they were not asking me. I would have suggested rolling around on the ground.

She saw us approaching and instead of looking relieved she appeared to be far more angry. Her rage cost three of the glowing giants their heads. She vaulted over their bodies she strode toward us as the creatures used her break to completely surround us. 

"What do you think you are doing?" Her voice was sharp like a knife. 

"Rescuing you," I began. 

"You stupid boy, I lead them away so you could escape." Her emphasis seemed to focus her will. Her words cut me. Literally. A slash opened on my cheek. Using my sleeve, I wiped away my blood and her rage. Where Umbra's jacket touched, the injury was just as easily healed. But it hurt. 

"And you, you ought to know better." Her gaze fell on Umbra, who lit a cigarette and apparently ignored her. 

The circle closed around us. The giants began to move toward us, a light in their eyes. The streets were clear, and a chill wind blew past me. I drew my pistol. 

"Feel free to shoot any time, kid." He blew out his match.

Jump to Chapter 3

Equinox © Thaddeus Howze 2011. All Rights Reserved [@ebonstorm]

Hello fellow members,
Eric and I are gearing up for the New York City Comic Con in Oct and will be releasing an updated new Trade edition of GALTOW with a brand new cover and 5 new pages which will launch into the next issue of the series!

here's the cover drawn by the very talented Jay Aquilera, which will be on sale in our online store this week!

As we are currently focusing on the Intellectual property we will also seek out five pin-ups to be added to the tradebooks and promoted on our very popular website that has followers from around the globe.
We are looking for colored character designs of our major characters:
KEYLON JIYA CAFA or WU

The first prize is $100
and the second prize will be that you get to draw yourself as a warrior in the upcoming story.
this is also one of the perks in our INDIEGOGO promotion!
http://www.indiegogo.com/Xmoor-Studios-NYC-Comic-Con
so those folks interested lets get to work... The deadline will be September1, 2011

My first attempt at poetry in years. This is really just me getting my musings about my dream girlfriend out of my head and onto something tangible for the whole world to see.

Dream Girl

Most of the time I like being alone,

Living in my own little world.

Never was that guy who needed an army of friends.

Two or three is just fine.

Yet sometimes when I’m feeling down,

When my spirits hang low over the ground,

I think about you.

I know it’s cliché to say,

But you’ve got that hourglass figure.

You may be slender,

But your curves are gentle.

Your skin is a moonless midnight,

But it shines brighter than the sun.

Your eyes twinkle like onyx gems.

To look into them steals my attention.

What could please me more than

Wrapping my arms around your warm torso,

Stroking your woolly raven crown,

Or being stunned by your kiss?

Maybe it’s your voice,

Which the nightingale envies.

Every word you say massages my temper

And brings the sun out on a cloudy day.

I don’t believe in gods or souls,

But if they were real,

Jesus would covet your inner diamond.

You know how to make this peasant feel like an emperor.

You never miss a word I give you.

And even when the hurricane comes,

You are the cave that shelters me.

If only you could be my queen.

If only we could rule a home together.

We would always watch over each other

And when our final time comes,

Our ashes would mingle.

If only you were real.

See how the black rays of the black race
Have touched the immeasurable wisdom
And therefore the unknown quantity
See how they are not understood
Because as they are is not understood
And as what they know is what they are
See the unlimited freedom of the black rays

(Sun Ra)

If the Oankali from Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy came to earth with their Ooloi and took genetic material from Butler, Prince, James Brown, Sun Ra, Grace Jones, Jimi Hendrix and Betty Davis (Miles Davis' former wife), then you would probably get Janelle Monae, a.k.a. Cindi Mayweather.

After listening to her Archandroid album for the umteenth time, I realize that I need to make a decision if I want to go back to school and study world mythology with serious intensity, or continue to cut and paste my interest with my writing and screenwriting. I would love to create my own degree in Mythological Afrofuturism. I like school for purely intellectual reasons. I don't want to pay for it or waste time on academic bullshit that has nothing to do with my interests. (I should just audit classes and pretend to be a regular student) Or, I may just write my own manifesto and just share my work like some Platonic Griot. Some outlier blogging to an omniverse that may or may not be ready for some serious Afrofuturism.

As a writer of speculative fiction (everything from Sci-fi, horror, and dark fantasy)I get really frustrated with trying to create alternative ways of seeing the world, and having to deal with people in the slow lane who want the same vanilla films and TV and music. I have my peeps at The Black Science Fiction Society, and every year I flock to Michael Davis's Black Panel at the Comic Con to find my tribe of fringe dwellers. What kills me the most are black producers I meet who want to create the same silly "black" films, with the same dull black actors. They play it safe and small. No vision, no balls (or clits in some cases.) Silly comedies. Melodramas. Unoriginal thugnasty shit. Yawn.

Maybe I'll do like Janelle and create my own alter ego. Well, I actually did awhile back. Originally when I was going to do a blog, I was going to write under another name I created. I may still do it, but I won't share it here. There are some things I need to say, but I don't want folks to know it's me just yet.

I'm getting my portfolio together for the Clarion Science Fiction Workshop to apply for next year, and I'm in dire need of cosmic inspiration to help me muddle through bland ideas and concepts. My friends over at the Black Science Fiction Society have been great supporters and cheerleaders. So it's nice to know I have Fringe Fam in the world.

I'll just be like Sun Ra, do my thing for the thing's sake and nothing else. Which I do anyway.