I came across this post and thought I'd share it with everyone:

22 Ways for Readers to Support Authors

I always get contacted by both authors and readers about how they can support authors or how authors can get support from fans. I don’t always have time to answer this accurately. However, I do have a method to my own madness. Therefore, I think that it is best share what I do in hopes that it will help both authors and readers connect.

There are many different ways to support the authors that you love to read. Although, authors reading this blog post may think, “Sheesh just buy a book already…” I believe that there are a number of ways to support authors that will ensure that the authors you love get the support that they need, the books you love get the exposure they deserve, and the authors get feedback on their work to create better work with each release.

I have been writing for about a decade. I currently have three children’s book releases out. However, with each book release my writing gets better. The reason for this is that I am not afraid to read critiques of my writing, and I depend on fans (mainly kids) to tell me what they enjoy about my work. The support and feedback allow me to push my own boundaries as a writer without fear. This way I can feel liberated to create work that inspires children to become creative, proactive, and adventurous. Below is some of the wisdom I accrued over the years of interacting with authors, readers, and fans about how to support authors.

22 Ways to Support Authors

 

1. Follow an author’s blog.
2. Buy one or all of the book releases by an author.
3. Write a one or two line review of the author’s book on a blog, Amazon, social networking site, shelfari, etc.
4. Follow your favorite author on social networking sites.
5. Go out to book signings.
6. Bring friends to the book signing with you.
7. Host authors on your campus, in your church or at meetings.
8. Recommend your favorite books to a friend.
9. Ask a reference librarian to order all of your favorite author’s books.
10. Host a theme night for your favorite book with your friends.
11. Take a picture with your favorite author and post on-line (facebook, MySpace, blogs)
12. Tweet an article about your favorite author’s interviews.
13. Make a YouTube video of your favorite books.
14. Start a blog about your favorite books.
15. Start a book club to discuss your favorite books.
16. Vote for your favorite author to win book awards.
17. Ask bookstores to order copies of your favorite books for their stores.
18. Host a literacy event and invite authors.
19. Skype with your favorite authors.
20. Host an on-line chat with your favorite authors.
21. Listen to interviews or call in when an author is being interviewed on blog talk radio.
22. Participate in contests held by authors.

 

I hope that this blog was helpful.

 

Tiffany A. Flowers is a reviewer, literacy advocate, the literary director foronixlink.com, and the author of three children’s books. You can find out more about her work by logging on to www.goldenbutterflypublishing.com or following her blog atwww.authortiffanyaflowers.wordpress.com.

http://black-authors-books.blogspot.com/2011/05/22-ways-for-readers-to-support-authors.html

Sometimes fans might not know how to support authors they like besides the usual ways--buy the book and tell a friend (which are still great ways to show support)--and I think this is a good list of ways to support.

Take care.

Fox has released a full length trailer for the Steven Spielberg-produced science fiction series Terra Nova, which is set to premiere on Mondays this Fall. The new television show “follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race.”

Terra Nova is another attempt at a time travel story without time travel. In their future of 2149, the world is in terrible shape. Filter masks are worn by everyone and they are huddled together using broken technology, basically waiting to die in their overcrowded hovels. Until a group of scientists discover a portal through time, into a cross-dimensional rift to another Earth, 85 million years ago.

They are entertaining the idea once flirted with by Julian May in her much better novels called the Saga of the Pliocene Exiles. In May's novels, humanity had not quite destroyed itself but it had fallen on hard times as creativity and self determination had all but been destroyed in their future world. A team of scientists find a hole in space-time that leads them back to the Pliocene era.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/mocha-memoirs-press-llc/an-excerpt-from-ronald-t-jones-warriors-of-the-four-worlds/199401606762572

I'm not great at doing book reviews. I just tell you what I think and what I feel. I don't get into an analytical discussion of a novel, and I seldom quote passages or phrases from one. But I make a rare exception here. Valjeanne Jeffers is a poet. The opening paragraphs of her novel, Immortal, read as pure poetry, to me:

"She was in the basement again. It was pitch black, the only illumination a glowing, quarter moon etched into the floor. A burst of light split the darkness, and she moaned low in her throat.

       Please, I don't want to see anymore. . .I don't want to look.

       Yet her feet moved of their own volition, inching toward the mark. . .and the twisted bundle now lying in its center. A man was curled upon the stone. He wasn't breathing, and his limbs were tiny and withered. But she knew he wasn't dead.  He wasn't human."

And then we're off into one of the strangest science fiction/fantasy novels I've ever read. Valjeanne Jeffers has masterfully succeeded in combining drug addicts, addiction and rehab with shape-shifting, time-travel, demons, past lives and haunted dreams, and the sheer beauty of horror to create something that is truly unique. I applaud this novel and look forward to reading the next two volumes in this wonderfully original series. Bravo bravissimo, Valjeanne!

Black people on the moon. Fellow BSFS member, William Hayashi, has taken this premise and built around it a very thoughtful and suspenseful page turner called Discovery. How did this happen? How did a small group of black people manage to depart Earth undetected? How did they gather the resources to contruct a habitat in a lunar environment? On the dark side no less? The first volume in this trilogy, subtitled the Darkside Trilogy, (William is working on volume II as I write this) puts us squarely on the path of answering those questions. But first, the author composes a solid story, taking the reader on an investigative journey, leading to this monumental (ahem) discovery. He provides a series of occurances, seemingly unrelated, but destined to converge.

There are the disappearances of nearly 2,000 highly educated, technically skilled black people over a period of decades; the shoot down of an aircraft in the Middle East, an aircraft with a design and composition unlike anything encountered on Earth; an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, and the invention of a device with unprecedented detection capability.

Discovery is a process of...discovery and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. William takes a very deliberative approach in his storytelling. He makes sure that the reader is ensconced as deeply as possible in the view point of the characters, as the pieces of a grand and complex puzzle are put together. He deftly merges real world tech with science fiction and his superb grasp of the contemporary technology portrayed in the book is an outgrowth of the heavy research he poured into the story.

As I mentioned earlier, Discovery is the first in a trilogy. The answers we didn't get in part one are sure to unfold in the forthcoming volumes. But unlocking part of the mystery in Discovery was very exciting. William has written a most intriguing work of science fiction, one I highly recommend. 

This is the first piece of concept art for WHO FEARS DEATH: The movie (click here for a larger view). It was created by Kenyan painter Yvonne Muinde (who has worked on many films including- Avatar, Happy Feet, and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith). Learn more about my novel WHO FEARS DEATH here. 

This scene depicts Onyesonwu and her companions' initial encounter with The Red People. The sandstorm parts and the next phase of the journey begins.

Thor the Movie, Black Vikings, and Buddha

Why Idris Elba’s role in the Mega Flick is More Important than Box Office Numbers

By J.K. Melki Russell

Like many of us who grew up stacking Marvel Comics, we loved Thor. Although we wished he had a fro’ rather than his blonde hair, we followed his heroics religiously and accepted the fact that beyond Luke Cage, the Black Panther, Falcon, and later Storm of the X-Men-Black super heroes didn’t exist-not even in myth.

When it was announced this past December that Marvel Studios had finally decided to make Thor into a film, even us middle-aged writers got excited and began counting the days. Excitement only increased upon hearing the startling news that Marvel cast Black British actor Idris Elba as Heimdall, guardian of the Bridge to Asgard. Unfortunately, our joy was as short-lived as Donald Trump’s hair gel after a few racists threatened to boycott the movie.

“It’s not enough that Marvel attacks conservatives values…now mythological Gods must be re-invented with Black skin,” the group said reported the Source Magazine.

Thor Director Kenneth Branagh quickly justified his decision to cast Elba arguing it’s all just fantasy, “the idea that there needs to be some kind of rule about how these characters are supposed to look was a real surprise to me.”

A bigger surprise is a Black actor drawing the ire of White racist by playing the role of the “bouncer” responsible for keeping low-class immortals outta Asgard, when the front door and kitchen seem to be two places that White folks-even those in Hollywood are universally comfortable with Black people at.

Ironically, according to many scholars on the topic, a Black Viking is not as far-fetched as some might assume. In actuality, it is more realistic and historically true than making the mega movie Troy minus any of the Black characters included in the legendary story of the Iliad.

Don Luke in African Presence in The Early History of the British Isles and Scandinavia, said “there is indisputable evidence that Africans were present, and played significant roles, in the development of early European culture. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.examiner.com/spirituality-in-baltimore/thor-the-movie-black-vikings-and-buddha  

I've created an account on Scribd so I can upload my short stories on there. You can read the full text of The Redemption of Buikhu on there right now. I'll probably have more on there in the future.

However, there is this one idea I've been toying with a lot lately. It's set in ancient Egypt, but unlike previous stories I've written about the Egyptians, this one has the Pharaonic government as the bad guys. I won't spoil too much here, but I will say that revolutionaries play a prominent role in the plotline I'm currently working with. I hope I can draw it out into a full-fledged novel, but if not, a novella will work just fine.

I WAS WATCHING AN OLD SUPERMAN CARTOON FROM 1943

IT WAS TITLED "THE MUMMY" AND I NOTICED THAT THE ANIMATORS

DREW THE EGYPTIAN PEOPLE AND THE MUMMY AS BLACK PEOPLE

THAT GOES TO SHOW THAT BACK THEN THOSE ANIMATORS KNEW

THE REAL TRUTH IN THE MATTER THAT EGYPTIANS WERE BLACK PEOPLE.

I haven't posted in a while fam :) So here goes :) This is an except from The Switch II, which I'm going to release this year.

The black-garbed officials soared above York, their jet-blasters strapped to their backs... past the clear tunnels that webbed across Tyrol. The beige and white towers of the city, rose around them.

Connections in their helmets enabled them to speak to each other. Although they were yards apart, their speech was as clear and sharp as if they were standing next to each other.

“What did you think of her?” Kilo, the pudgy official flying on the right asked. He dipped expertly to avoid an oncoming hover craft.

“Who? Ms. high class, stick up her a** Z100?” Dazz asked. He was a thin, swarthy man.

“No your mother... who else?”

Dazz smirked. “Watch your mouth about dear, old mom you putz. I think she's a rich, sexy b***** who ought to be taught some manners. I'd like to teach her naked– preferably on her hands and knees in handcuffs.”

Kilo chuckled. “Okay, if you're done with your fantasy... I meant what did you think of her story?”

“It doesn't matter what I think,” there was a shrug in Dazz's voice. “She's powerful enough to have us demoted – hell she could take our badges if she wanted to.”

“When we get back to the hub let's file a report.”

“Hell no.” Dazz said emphatically. “I don't care if she's building a bomb in her bathroom. It's not worth me risking my job over.”

“Look, we can file a curiosity report without taking any heat. It'll probably be ignored anyway. But just in case something is wrong, we'll be in the clear. We might even get a promotion... I'd love to see her knocked off her high horse.”

Dazz snickered. “And on all fours?”

“You got it.”

Simone2 was a honey-brown woman, with bobbed hair and green eyes. She was dressed in the unfamiliar, upper city garb of white jumpsuit and boots. 

A stylish purse was strapped about her waist. An onyx-handled derringer was strapped to the other side The room she stood in was lavishly furnished with a futon, wall screen and coffee table. Facing the divan beside the screen, were three transparent cubicles where Z kept her android playmates.

Her favorite, “Jason,” a muscular, dark robot sat on the futon: a blank expression on his face.

“I had a lovely time Jason,” Simone said dryly. Her words triggered his response chip to read: Date over.

Jason rose and walked stiffly to the third opaque closet. It slid open and he stepped inside. Simone keyed in sleep on the curved stand facing the closets: deactivating him. The mansion also came equipped with a robotic butler and virtual house companion; which included a recording and alarm system. The house had been in sleep mode now for over an hour.

The woman gazed at the stairs of Z100's mansion; preparing herself mentally for what she had to do. She was worried about Dumas, Carlos and Richard. Especially Dumas. But there was no time for that now.

If I don't play my part right, we'll all wind up with our heads on a stick... in front of the guillotine.

Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers 2011 all rights reserved

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YOU CAN'T F&^% WITH US NAVY SEALS.

IT TOOK US TEN YEARS TO FIND OSAMA BUT WE GOT THE

JOB DONE. IT WAS ON OBAMA'S WATCH.

As a YA author, I love Sherrilyn Kenyon's new series. I already loved reading Nick's adult story and now I thoroughly enjoy learning more about his story as a teen.  When I approached the series, I  knew that it was going to be good. Sherrilyn Kenyon knows how to tell a great story. Can you tell I'm a fan girl? So here I was minding my own business when wham! She introduces me to the character of Menyara! I love this character but more importantly, Menyara has Sisterlocks!

 I freaked out. I squeaked and called my husband. "Menyara has sisterlocks!"  He's like who the heck is Menyara? This is a really big deal to me.

Sisterlocks are a new invention in Black women's hair solutions.  I've had my Sisterlocks for over 10 years but this is not something that the average population of Americans would know about. In fact, there are African-Americans that have no clue.  I absolutely love my hair!  I love it so much that my husband started a hair journal for me.  I'm normally an advocate for natural hair and Sisterlocks. Over the years, I've converted a few Black women.  With that, though, there has been a few trials. For years, I've had to explain about my "little dreadlocks" and that "yes, this is my real hair" and "no, it doesn't hurt" and "yes, it's a permanent hair solution for highly textured hair." 

So, I was floored when I read "Her sisterlocks were held back from her beautiful face by a wide yellow scarf she'd tied around her head that trailed down her back, just past her hair..."

Not only did she know about Sisterlocks but she created a vivid image of what they look like and how they're worn. I was so excited about the Menyara's description and the fact that she's a mother figure to Nick. Menyara is "petite like his mother" and "had chocolate-brown skin that glowed..."

This is a character that's integral to the story and the depth of description is real. I'm hooked on this series just by the hair alone. Nick doesn't know how powerful Menyara is in his life but the readers know that she's a major player in this story. I love it! I'm hoping that Sherrilyn Kenyon will read this and have Menyara wear her sisterlocks in a cool, curly style. I like to wear my Sisterlocks in a sassy way. I'm also hoping that they'll change the current profile picture on Sherrilyn Kenyon's page to something that more resembles sisterlocks. I'll pose for that picture! LOL!

Well, the Nick Chronicles are off to a good start. Go ahead and read them.  Make sure you look for Menyara and her fantastic sisterlocks! So exciting. 

If you'd like to learn more about sisterlocks visit Tressie, my sisterlocks consultant, and the main sisterlocks page with general information.

Tressie Samuel's Page: http://www.tressieslotsoflocks.com/

Sisterlocks homepage:  http://www.sisterlocks.com

Learn more about Menyara: http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/char_profile.php?character_id=189

Visit my page: www.aliciamccalla.com