A Cloud by Day, A Pillar by Night

So am reading in Exodus right now and am thinking about The Cloud and Pillar that went with the children of Israel. When the cloud moved, the people moved. When the cloud rested the people rested. And at night the cloud became a pillar.

"At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents." Numbers 9:18

What a predicament for folks who want to move on! It's not as if they don't know where they're going. God has given them guidance as to their future. But for reasons they don't understand they must not move. Now it's okay if the cloud does this resting bit for one day. But what if it rested for weeks on end? How to rest and enter into that rest, that stasis one doesn't understand? Oh, sure God might have caused us to rest to prepare the way before us -- wild beasts, warring tribes etc-- but this sitting around after guidance has been given and not moving...well, it's stressful I'd think.

And right now...wow... But I won't go on about my personal and financial life. But was blessed by this hymn...so.. here is Immortal, Invisible God, only wise. This is the first hymn I remember consciously learning. It's based on I Timothy 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever"

This hymn reminds us that God rules. Goodness rules. The underlying unchanging spiritual reality of perfcetion and truth rules all things, never rushes, never has to catch up. This peace operates with a wisdom human and angelic minds can't fully understand. The working of this spiritual reality -love, care, peace, justice-- is constant, powerful, mighty... yet unseen, inaccessible, mysterious. The work is to labor to rest in that truth of God's love and wisdom.


Lord, I'm trusting that underneath are your everlasting arms. -C

Theists, Deists, Atheists

Someone once asked Einstein if he was an atheist. Einstein answered something like, "No. That is too easy. It's an arrogant position and it lacks mystery."

Another person asked him another time if he believed in God. Einstein answered that he believed in Spinoza's God.

Okay, so Spinoza was a deist.

And yet, although I'm glad that such a great mind as Einstein's could not accept atheism, I'm not too thrilled he was a deist. After all, deism is almost as untenable as atheism. An Intelligence who made the world but has no interest in it and really no ability to love His Creations.

I rather like the Theistic view. A personal God with a personality -- a personality I may or may not like, who does things I may or may not like. A God who is not a machine, who has whims perhaps but who is never cruel  and is always just, wise, and loving.

Consider the meaning of the word "ATHEIST:." They do not call themselves "ADEISTS." Because it is not easy to challenge the existence of a deistic God. Deistic Gods do not need to show themselves good. They don't need to show themselves at all. Nor are there APOLYTHEISTS. Because in a world of such evil and confusion, one can possibly say (as the ancient Greeks and the modern Hindus and modern primitivists say) that gods have certain territories and often feud among themselves.

So the problem seems to be with Theism, and in particular Judeo-Christian Theism. After all the Moslem God is somewhere between a theistic and a deistic God. Not quite unconcerned but not quite in your face.

Some of my atheist friends seem to be at war with the theistic God's way of dealing with the world. "Why," they ask, "does he allow evil?" Of course I always counter with "When should he not allow evil? Should he only not allow evil when others do it? What about the evils you have done? Would you have wanted him to step in and stop you from say sleeping with your neighbor's spouse, ignoring the poor person on the street, stealing from your client etc?"

When my atheist friends go on one of their rants against God, I cannot help but feel they are mentally stuck at a sunday school level. They have a child's view of God. "Why isn't the world fair?" etc. Sometimes when God wasn't even mentioned in a conversation, and a news program comes on telling about thousands of people dying in some earthquake somewhere, suddenly OUT of the BLUE the atheist will say, "How can a person believe in a good God with this kinda stuff? Yeah, yeah, where was God then?"

This always seems a bit over-the-top for me....then I realize there is this hurt child who feels that God has not protected them from evil. Of course, as they grow older they deceive themselves by saying this is all about reasonableness.

Neuroscientists have proved that reason comes from the emotional center of the brain. When a person has an accidental injury to the emotional centers of their brain, they may become irrational and have problems reasoning. So, reason is born in emotion. Reason is emotion's way of proving itself.

So then, what is the duty of the Theist in this world? It falls to us to prove a theistic worldview. Then it falls to us to prove the theistic worldview of Christians. And the only way one can prove this, it seems to me, is not through WORDS and DIALOG but through the Living Christ, and the manifestation of His powers and miracles in this world. That is a point many Christians miss so one ends up with Bible versus Koran or Bible versus the latest atheistic tome. We have to prove what is that good perfect and acceptable will of God -- Christ in us the hope of glory. 

Why Is it important to show race, culture, minority politics or ethnicity in SciFi?

I remember the time I realized the stuff I write -- the situations I wanted to explore-- were not considered marketable by editors and agents...even if there were readers like me who lived in such situations.

The gatekeepers of book-publishing have ideas about who they are marketing to, ideas about what the reading public is like and who the readers of books are. For instance, they seem to assume that Black folks don't read or that readers don't care about religious or spiritual matters. When they see a manuscript written by a Black person, they assume the book will contain certain "issues" -- issues they feel the average American would be uninterested in. And their are expectations about books written by Christians or Black Christians as well.

My response to their expectations and stereotypes is this:
True, there are certain issues that appear in Black and/or Christian books but why assume that all Black folks write the same way.

True, but why think the non-Black world will not be interested in MY particular manuscript?

True, but why assume you already know what a Black writer is going to write?

True, but why concern yourself with only books that you KNOW will sell? It's possible Black literature -- expected or unexpected-- will sell.

But still, the sorrow that came on me when I realized I had written great works but these "assuming gatekeepers" would not let my story enter the hallowed halls of publishing.  To me, race and culture are important. Religion is important. Religion interwoven in history and race is important. I remember a reviewer saying my book Wind Follower was made for a small niche audience. Why? Because it was speculative fiction AND race AND religion. She didn't consider that Black folks and Asian folks have had to deal with ethnic fantasy such as vampires, elves, dwarfs...because to her the fantasy of the white world -- all those knights, ladies in waiting, white female scientists-- were not ethnic but were the norm.

Black folks are used to identifying with white characters because we have grown up inside white culture. We can see the humanity of these white characters. It seems to me that white folks should be given the chance to identify with non-white folks, and that folks without religious faith should  learn that folks with faith are not stupid cardboard stereotypes either.

The fact is all people need to see all people reflected in art. This is how we heal and humanize all humanity.

• So what would I like to see in this area for the upcoming year? More cross-genre publications. Black specfic graphic novels, Black mangas, for instance

By the way, promo day is coming soon, folks. I'll be giving away copies of my book, Spirit Fruit, to the three folks who have given me the most tweets and retweets during this time period.  So tweet away. Please post the link to this article to twitter using any of the following hashtags. Pass the word on about Blackscifi.

Twitter hashtag: #blackscifi2012 #blackscifi #christianspeculativefiction #fantasy #blackfiction

Other participants

Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:

Winston Blakely, Artist/Writer-- is a Fine Arts/Comic Book artist, having a career spanning 20 years, whose achievements have included working for Valiant Comics and Rich Buckler's Visage Studios. He is also the creator of Little Miss Strange, the world's first black alien sorceress and the all- genre anthology entitled - Immortal Fantasy.  Both graphic albums are available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and other online book store outlets. Visit him:  http://blakelyworks.blogspot.com/ or http://blakelyworkstudio.weebly.com/

L. M. Davis, Author--began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade.  Her first novel, Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers:  A Shifters Novel will be released this spring.  For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.

Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/   and www.wagadu.ning.com.

Margaret Fieland, Author-- lives  and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA
with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelineshttp://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/ is available from Amazon.com  Her book, "Relocated," will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy," will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013.  You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com

Valjeanne Jeffers, Author -- is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at: http://valjeanne.wordpress.com and http://wwwsistermoon.blogspot.com and   http://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/

Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel, Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012.  The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at:http://www.aliciamccalla.com

Carole McDonnell, Author--She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction.  Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/  orhttp://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/

Rasheedah Phillips,Author--is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog,AstroMythoLosophy.com.

Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage.  Visit her: http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html 

Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him:  http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd


Thaddeus Howze, Author-- is a veteran of the Information Technology and Communications industry with over twenty-six years of experience. His expertise is in re-engineering IT environments using process-oriented management techniques. In English, that means he studies the needs of his clients and configures their offices to optimize the use of information technology in their environment. Visit him:  http://ebonstorm.wordpress.com or http://ebonstorm.weebly.com


Balogun Ojetade, Author—of the bestselling “Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within” (non-fiction), “Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman” (Steampunk) and the feature film, “A Single Link”. Visit him:http://chroniclesofharriet.wordpress.com/

Reading the Bible with the Damned

Reading the Bible with the Damned by Bob Ekblad

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (September 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664229174
• ISBN-13: 978-0664229177

Here's the Blurb:

Both long-time church members and those outside the traditional church can find it difficult to read the Bible. Bob Ekblad encourages the church and the unchurched to read the Bible together, for what scripture has to teach us all. In this compelling book, he reflects on how Christians have often found it difficult to proclaim God’s good news to every realm of society, while those who have needed it most have frequently deemed themselves unworthy due to social circumstances or sinfulness. In Reading the Bible with the Damned, Ekblad demonstrates how to bridge this gap by showing us specific ways to engage people from all walks of life, from the poorest parts of town to inside the prison walls. This book is full of examples of how Scripture changes lives, offering practical suggestions on how to lead discussions on passages from the Old and New Testaments.

From the Back Cover

"This book by Ekblad …moves the Bible away from safe, conventional church venues and reads afresh among the alienated and marginalized. The effect of such a new interpretive context is that the text takes on a poignancy and sharpness that bespeaks the stirring of God’s spirit. We may be led by Ekblad to read the Bible yet again, as if for the first time." --Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary, and author of several Westminster John Knox Press books, including An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination and Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes.

"Bob Ekblad is more like Jesus than most people I know…How different the world will be when more of us share Christ’s life and heart in the same way. I say when, not if, because this book will hasten the transformation." --Marva J. Dawn, Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, and author of Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Societyand Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God.

"Bob Ekblad has raised an ominously serious question…what does the Bible say to the suffering down our street - across our town and city - and out in the fields where our supermarkets get our produce? The responses are both enlightening and challenging, and Ekblad has written a book to teach all of us about the Bible, faith and liberation, and the realities of our own social system." --Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Professor of Old Testament, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, and author of A Biblical Theology of Exile.

Psalm 11

The verse that jumps out at me is "if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

The prophet Hosea writes Hosea 8:12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. Hosea 8:11-13

Romans 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: Romans 14:15-17

If the world calls good evil and evil good, where and how can Christians ever begin to show them what Christ wants?

Psalm 11

For the director of music. Of David.

1 In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.
2 For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do [a] ?"

4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them.

5 The LORD examines the righteous,
but the wicked [b] and those who love violence
his soul hates.

6 On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

7 For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.

Footnotes:

Psalm 11:3 Or what is the Righteous One doing
Psalm 11:5 Or The LORD , the Righteous One, examines the wicked,

Okay, so what's with all these tsunami dreams

So, lately... there have been this glut of dreams and visions in the Christian world about Tsunamis, Floods, Big Waves.

Of course, this could all be a response to the Indonesian and Japanese tsunamis. Plus end of world fears and hopes. But I gotta say that when I had my vision of the terrible flood it was three weeks before the Japanese tsunami and I wasn't thinking of any floods. Plus I don't think my vision of the large rivershore (or seashore) filled with bodies and birds pecking at and eating those dead bodies had to do with Japan. So I'm thinking it still is to come.

Basically, what I'm thinking is this. The Bible often links spiritual and physical things together. For instance  symbolic famine in a dream or vision often means that physical/geographical famine will arrive at the same time there is a famine for the word of God. So I'm really thinking now that these tsunami dreams are saying both, that there WILL be some big devastating physical tsunami and at the same time a devastating tsunami of false teaching in the Christian world ...and maybe a flood of trouble in the world.

Now, the Christian world is generally unprepared about how to respond to a flood of bad theology. And lately, because we humans have always been herd-minded and with the media...well...the community that influences us has gotten larger and we have found it difficult to see the Bible clearly. I mean we have Christians all thinking it's okay to talk about pre-trib, post-trib, etc... when Jesus himself told us not to start putting dates on "the gathering away."   (Best to use "gathering away" because we don't know if we'll be caught up in the air or if we will be saved in a kind of Noah's Ark scenario.) And we also don't know what proportion of tribulation we will have to go through.

Anyway, back to theology and Christians not knowing their religion. Whether it's the Baptists, the Catholics, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Evangelicals, the Charismatics, the Mainstream Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Western Orthodox Churches.... or Christian television, all demonimations have incredibly bad theology. Worse, they all are followers of their traditions and their ministers who blindly follow the wrong core beliefs of their ancient founders or the trendy beliefs of new theologians. Seriously, I tried to tell someone who watches Christian TV that a lot of that theology is wrong and well, she had this confused look on her face. But the wrongness is just everywhere. Yes, yes, I know... the Mormons think they are the only true church. The SDA's think they are the only true church. But  they're wrong as well.

Christians haven't learned to think. We have a very bad habit of looking at things in a kind of black and white way. This makes us very easy pray for anything that is subtle. Witness the success of the Prosperity Gospel. It's very right, Scripturally...but it is also very wrong Scripturally. And as Christians we have to begin to understand subtlety. I mean, we should not forget that Satan deceived Eve by telling her the truth, and (some think) by making her think that perhaps she had mistaken God's decrees. Are you really sure God said that? Perhaps he wants you to be like him. Well, yes, God does want us to be like him...but no, he does not.

So, yeah, we have to learn how to rightly discern, and to rightly divide the word of truth. Consider, the Christian habit of using hand-me-down platitudes is also a sign of the propensity of people to simply repeat what everyone else is saying. I'm thinking the time is now here when we will have to wake up. We are asleep. Or rather, our minds are asleep. We have to read our Bibles to be aware of the traps one can fall into. The book of Colossians, for instance, warns us about what can happen in a Christian community that goes all syncretist to match its surroundings. The historical books warn us of what happens when we mix spirituality with tribal idols (and that could be ancient gods like Baal or traditional ones like crucifixes and the Virgin Mary or modern gods such as money and modern "wisdom.")

One only has to listen to how Christians pray to see how they are more influenced by tradition than by what the Bible says. I recently told a woman that if she is fasting she shouldn't be telling everyone. She behaved as if I was nuts. Why? Because -- despite what Jesus told us about not telling that we're fasting-- the typical Christian always makes a big production of telling everyone he/she is fasting. Seriously, folks!

If we can't see through the deceptions in the modern church, how will we make it when the floods of theologican deceptions come in?

Old Dog Learning New Tricks or Everything Old is New again.

Okay, so many new things in life! So many new and flaky habits!

So there goes the old adage, uh? The funny thing is that some of these new tricks or habits I've learned are totally new and Lord knows where they came from. And others were kinda dormant.

For instance I've always loved foreign films. But whence this new love of Korean films and is it really new? As a kid I used to watch Korean saegeuk dramas on PBS. But I totally dropped watching them for 40 years, only to have them return in full force. What the heck is that about?

A lot of these new tricks I keep to myself. But some...well, they're there for all the world to see. For instance, I've always had a thing for dreams. I have anthologies of dreams by famous writers for instance. I have anthologies of famous literary and religious dreams. But now I've gotten totally into listening to folks on youtube talking about their dreams, visions, and prophecies. Curiosity? Lord knows. Maybe.

Then there is this new thing about designing fabric. Back in the day I used to paint. So what to do with these new tricks?

Well, it certainly makes me long for a long life so I can enjoy and explore them. Maybe that's why new habits pop up. To give us new interests in life alongside our old long-continuing interests. But it certainly makes me smile that these aren't really new tricks or new habits, that these habits were lying dormant in my soul all this time.

I'm wondering if I should buy a violin. Yeah, I used to play the violin way back when. 

Great Things

Last year I dreamed of sitting with an angel at the table. She pushed corn, hot dogs, and ham off my plate and said to me, "Expect Great Things."

I thought that it meant "Expect great things from God, Do great things for God."

A month later, a girl from church brought some food over. Corn on the cob, mini hot dogs, and ham. 

I kept asking what the great things were. My fame as a writer? Healing for me and son? Then I was outside and opened the Bible to this. Seekest thou great things for thyself? 

Jeremiah 45:5
And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
Jeremiah 45:4-5 

A good confirming point.  Jeremiah lived in such an incredible time; I cant imagine how he dealt with it emotionally. So, we are to expect great things. But we are also part of the world. The great things we do or that happen to us aren't meant for us alone. And if the world around us falls, are we to expect great good things  for ourselves while all around are suffering? Heck, I'd like to be super-wealthy and to have my books be famous. But only to help others. I'd like my son and my healing to manifest...but only so we can help to heal others. Will see. In the meantime, here are some other wonderful great thing verses. 

Psalm 71:19
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
Psalm 71:18-20

Psalm 126:2
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.
Psalm 126:1-3

Job 37:5
God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
Job 37:4-6

Psalm 126:3
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Psalm 126:2-4 

Job 9:10
Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
Job 9:9-11

2 Samuel 7:21
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all thesegreat things, to make thy servant know them.
2 Samuel 7:20-22

Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
Job 5:8-10

2 Samuel 7:23
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
2 Samuel 7:22-24

O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.
1 Chronicles 17:18-20 

Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Daniel 7:8
I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speakinggreat things.
Daniel 7:7-9

Hosea 8:12
I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
Hosea 8:11-13 

Joel 2:20
But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
Joel 2:19-21 

Joel 2:21
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
Joel 2:20-22

Mark 3:8
And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what greatthings he did, came unto him.
Mark 3:7-9 

Luke 1:49
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
Luke 1:48-50

John 1:50
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
John 1:49-51

Acts 9:16
For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Acts 9:15-17

1 Corinthians 9:11
If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
1 Corinthians 9:10-12

James 3:5
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, howgreat a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:4-6 

Revelation 13:5
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Revelation 13:4-6

Mary and Martha

38Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-41


Is there anything more annoying than a Christian going on about having become more of a Mary person than a Martha person?

There is no such thing as a martha personality, that this is one instance in a person's life. Mary and Martha's personality we don't know. We are only given a glimpse of this exchange. Mary did something, Martha did something. So at most, we have Mary moments and Martha moments. 


We have moments when we are too busy for the Lord, and we have moments when we think we should be busy but we manage to stop in the middle of all the pressures and quiet ourselves. 


I guess this bothers me because this is one of those stories which Christians use to define themselves. In jokes, in sermons, in conferences. And when they use this story to make the trait a Martha trait or a Mary trait it is often a way to subtly pat themselves on the back. Christians have a gift for patting themselves on the back while appearing humble. And they have a gift for turning Bible stories into sound-bites. I f I hear one more Christian say, "I'm a type A personality, I have to get some more Mary into me." Or, "I love taking time to just sit before Papa. There are so many things to do but I want to choose the better part."


I can be a pain when I hear people getting all into self-praise (they don't think they are getting into self-praise but they ARE) and I often say to the person describing herself as a type A personality, "You do understand that that is a medical diagnostic term, don't you? It means you're going to have a heart attack by age 53. Have you prepared your family for that contingency?" Yep, I can be quite the bitch when I'm in the mood. Or when someone says, "I'm a left brain personality... I'm very rational and I really have to have things just organized and as a doctor/lawyer/indian chief I have to have things proven to my intellect." Everything in me wants to say, "You do understand that neuroscientists have proven that if someone gets damaged in the emotional centers of their brain that the first thing to go is their reasoning, that reason is rooted in the emotional?"


The supposed "Mary personalities" like to think they float around loving Jesus. They take on this flaky New Age persona of "peace" and "openness to God." But again, there is no such thing as a Mary personality or a Martha personality. These are aspects of every Christian's life. So a person is not to say "I am such a worker trying to be a Mary." Or "I wish I weren't so yadda yadda." 


I suspect this false dichotomy was created by religious folks who wanted to make it appear that God created certain kinds of spiritual personalities, or intellectual personalities...that somehow some folks were more born who listens to God more readily (MARY) and some folks are born who are naturally more active at doing work (MARTHA) The contemplative versus the active life, etc. But I think we were all born with all these traits. The problem is we either are praised for being Marthas (type A's supposedly) or for being Mary's (she's so sweet and not of this world) and once we grow up, our human pride use these so called traits. Yes, PRIDE. And so I have returned to the begnining of this post. We humans are darn slick at using "spiritual" matters in a very proud way. 

Why do I Love Magical Realism and Alternate History

So why do I like Magical Realism and Alternate History type of speculative fiction?

First Alternate History
I love, love, love Alternate History. For me, it's like a game. I like Dr Who fooling around with time. I like redux, films such as Groundhog Day and Run, Lola, Run..Technically, Groundhog Day and Run, Lola, Run aren't really Alternate History stories but you get the idea. Alternate History stories are like a great game of "What If?" in an analogue earth. And "what if" games in the hands of minorities are fun, insightful, and satisfactory. "What if the Civil War had turned out differently?" What if Thomas Jefferson --because of his love for Sally Hemmings-- had argued against slavery?" and the old "What if Kennedy hadn't been assassinated?"

In my novel Wind Follower, I tried to do an alternate history but it turned out to be more an analogue Africa because I had to admit that while I understood the folklore and spiritualities of many African culture, my knowledge of African history was pretty limited.  

Much of Alternate History is about challenging the conceptions found in history books or repairing the past It's a  hard thing to do. Sometimes writers of Alternate History fail because they don't consider certain aspects of history important. For instance, I was reading Steven Barnes' Lion's Blood, an alternate history world in an analogue Africa. In his novel, Christianity didn't rule the world and Islam reigned. I was willing to go along with that but then he made a very crucial error and I couldn't finish the book. (I can finish almost any book but when a crucial error is made it makes me lose my faith in the author's research. I've been known to lose faith in a movie within ten minutes because the screenwriter made some crucial historical error. Yeah, I am a bit of a pain like that.) In the book, he somewhat snidely says something about a small religion whose adherents worshiped some carpenter they thought was the son of God. The trouble with that is that Islam considers Jesus Christ a great prophet, and the one who will judge the world. So in his effort to diss Christianity by showing a totally Islamic Africa, he had ignored one of the great tenets of their faith. I realized I was dealing with someone who didn't understand what he was writing about, so I put the book away. It's no fun when you're dealing with someone who doesn't know history.

Secondly, Magical Realism (or Natural Supernaturalism)

I like it because, for lack of a better word, it is the closest fiction to real life. Real Life is full of odd happenings. Magical Realism Stories are like those stories told by the old folks on the family's back porches.  Or like the testimonies one hears in churches. As a Christian writer, as a Black girl growing up in Jamaica, one hears magical realism all the times because the world of christians (or any religion that hasn't lost itself in rationalism) is a world peopled by angels, demons, djinns, coincidences, signs, omens, family curses, and inexplicable stuff that can never be utterly defeated by mere human rational agencies. Latin American fiction is full of such things: For instance, Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Borges, and others. American fiction should have more of this, I think. And, definitely, African-American fiction should have more of it. Sadly, Christian fiction doesn't have as much of it as it should because many Christians equate the imagination, fantasy, dreams, ghosts, and such like with sin or -- for the Christians who are much too indoctrinated with rationality-- plain "untruth." That is not to say that this type of speculative fiction is utterly forsaken by some modern authors. "Living with Ghost" by the English author Kari Sperring is a great example of Magical Realism. Peretti's "The Oath" is a good example of Christian Natural Supernaturalism. And Nalo Hopkinson, a Canadian-Caribbean author writes excellent Magical realism. I've been trying to experiment with the form and I did manage to do a kind of fantasy story for Warren Lapine's "Fantastic Tales of the Imagination" but as yet I don't quite have the form down. I'm hoping my graphic novel "My Life as an Onion" will be a good entry in this field when I'm finished with it.

Please post the link to this article to twitter using any of the following hashtags. Pass the word on about Blackscifi.

Twitter hashtag: #blackscifi2012 #blackscifi #christianspeculativefiction #fantasy #blackfiction

Other participants

Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:

Winston Blakely, Artist/Writer-- is a Fine Arts/Comic Book artist, having a career spanning 20 years, whose achievements have included working for Valiant Comics and Rich Buckler's Visage Studios. He is also the creator of Little Miss Strange, the world's first black alien sorceress and the all- genre anthology entitled - Immortal Fantasy.  Both graphic albums are available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and other online book store outlets. Visit him:  http://blakelyworks.blogspot.com/ or http://blakelyworkstudio.weebly.com/

L. M. Davis, Author--began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade.  Her first novel, Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers:  A Shifters Novel will be released this spring.  For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.

Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/   and www.wagadu.ning.com.

Margaret Fieland, Author-- lives  and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA
with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelineshttp://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/ is available from Amazon.com  Her book, "Relocated," will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy," will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013.  You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com

Valjeanne Jeffers, Author -- is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at: http://valjeanne.wordpress.com andhttp://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/

Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel, Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012.  The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at:http://www.aliciamccalla.com

Carole McDonnell, Author--She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction.  Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/  orhttp://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/

Rasheedah Phillips,Author--is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog,AstroMythoLosophy.com.

Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage.  Visit her: http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html 

Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him:  http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd



Thaddeus Howze, Author-- is a veteran of the Information Technology and Communications industry with over twenty-six years of experience. His expertise is in re-engineering IT environments using process-oriented management techniques. In English, that means he studies the needs of his clients and configures their offices to optimize the use of information technology in their environment. Visit him:  http://ebonstorm.wordpress.com or http://ebonstorm.weebly.com



Balogun Ojetade, Author—of the bestselling “Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within” (non-fiction), “Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman” (Steampunk) and the feature film, “A Single Link”. Visit him:http://chroniclesofharriet.wordpress.com/

And the Old Women Gathered by Mari Evans

The Declension of Words

Declension is a linguistic term describing how certain words are pronounced. What I'm writing about is not declension in the real literal sense of the word but there really is no English word (that I know of) which can explain what I'm thinking about. The spiritual declension and downgrading of words.

It was C S Lewis who clued me into this. He basically said that many words begin with clear meanings, glorious meanings, but then after a while, the meaning of the words descends to "the man side of things." Something like that.

I forgot what word he used but I'll show you an example.

Condescension.

Condescension WAS originally a word which meant "God was in heaven and he "descended" to earth in order to be one "CON" with man. Therefore the word has a glorious beginning.

Then the man side of things began stealing the word. God was pushed aside, then the sinful boasting aspect of man took the word over. Rich people now "condescended" to help the poor. Smart people "condescended" to speak to ignorant people. It's a case of human vanity accidentally changing the meaning of a word because the human soul needs this change. Why? Because the human soul cannot understand or endure the idea of God condescending. Condescension devolved even further and is now used to show our offense when some proud person speaks to us as if we were not equal to them. This is understandable. People who condescend don't have the love God has toward their fellows. Yes, a beautiful word has fallen far.

Words such as patience (which used to mean endurance) and charity (which used to mean holding someone dear) have all fallen along the spiritual roadside.

Declension can happen because of lack of comprehension and word change caused by ignorance of historical or theological truth. Or because of man's pride. The man side of things.

For instance, we are told in the Bible, "The light shines in darkness and the darkness Comprehended it not."
The original meaning of comprehend is "overcome." This is a spiritual issue. Dark cannot overcome light. But the man side of things lowered the meaning of the word...by pushing rationality atop something spiritual. The meaning of "Comprehend" now becomes "understand." The rationale mind can understand this concept, much better than a darkness which is overcome by light. Therefore the misunderstanding rules.

Consider also the word "Swaddling."
The prophecy was "You will find the Babe (Jesus) wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
Originally, the meaning of swaddling is "clothes used to wrap the dead."
But the word descended from its glorious meaning to something the rationale mind could understand. After all, why should the baby be wrapped in dead-cloths? So now swaddle means babylike.

Consider the word "adorable." Why does a word that originally meant "Something to be adored" now mean "cute?"

Ponder the change of the Victorian word "penitentiary" (a place for criminals to become penitent and to learn penitence) to the current meaning of "jail." The Victorians meant well but corruption in anything (human, flora, or fauna, or morals) is irreversible. It cannot be patched up. A bad orange or spoiled milk cannot suddenly become good. The root of the corruption in man is moral decline based in self-love. So one cannot teach corrupted humanity, one can only change it totally through Christ. Because changing a corrupt thing requires a miracle, it is no wonder the Victorian "penitentiary" has become synonymous with "jail." It is difficult to change the spirit of self-centered man, criminals or not.

Think of the words "believe" and "hope."
They have slightly shifted from glory. When one says "one believes" it doesn't have as much power or strength or umph as when one says "I do not believe."

When one says "I hope" the word "hope" doesn't have the glorious power it should have. Nowadays, we consider "hope" a frail things with wings. But the Bible's definition of hope is stronger and more glorious. If a thing is hoped for in the Bible, it is a confident strong expectation of good.

What is the State of Black SciFi?

Black faces abound in scifi nowadays. One can hardly turn on one's TV without seeing Will Smith battling robots or Vhing Rhames or some other big name actor or actress saving the world. From the living, the dead, and the undead, from aliens, evil monsters of flesh, flora, or metal. (For the purpose of this blog tour, I'll lump all Black speculative fiction under the category of Blackscifi.)

Of course, it's great to see Sanaa Latham battling and then bonding a predator. Black power meets Girl power. But is that really Black scifi or black specfic? Sure, there is the charge to see her, and I remember the charge I got when I used to watch Mantis. He was Black, he was disabled (but not overwhelmed by that paralysis because) he was also a superhero. And really, he was one of the first scifi Black nerds on television. (Barney in Mission Impossible didn't count: that was espionage and contemporary science. Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek kinda counted but she was in repeats and really --although she broke all sorts of color barriers back in the day-- she was really only a glorified secretary in a world made by white writers.

Which leads me to the whole State of Black scifi thing.

What is the difference between Black characters in scifi movies/books/animation and Black scifi? The best answer is that Black scifi is written by Black folks with Black culture, Black issues, Black traditions, and sometimes Black artistic formats.

It's a good time for Black scifi, I think -- especially in the self-publishing community. Writers such as Nnedi Okorafor, Nalo Hopkinson, and Nora Jemisin are traditionally published with big publishing houses. Other writers, such as Milton Davis, are paving new ways in indie publishing.

Just as there's a departure from traditional publishing houses, there is also a depart from the "white" norm. Often, the white world tends to think that if they have explored a trope or an issue, then all the world should move on. For instance, because white women are tired of being put on pedestal or being considered objects of admiration or homemakers, it is often expected that Black women should not write about such matters. But Black women have not been on pedestals as beauties for a while in the present age. The same can be said for art forms. The white fantasy world -- at least in publishing-- often eschew epic fantasy. They have had their fill of warriors. But Sword and Soul, a phrase coined by the great Black writer Charles Saunders,  has not had its chance to explore epic fantasy or the warrior ethics and stories in an African (or African analog) setting.

Now, with indie publishing, self publishing and outlets such as amazon and lulu.com there is a way for Black writers to explore many genres and themes the gatekeepers of publishing are tired of. No longer do writers of all colors have to endure European fairies and elves. Black elves also exist. As do Asian and Native American elves.

So for me, Black scifi is doing well....it is stepping up to show readers around the earth a brave new world

For more on the state of Black SciFi, check on Twitter --  hashtag: #blackscifi2012  #blaskscifi

Other participants

Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:

L. M. Davis, Author--began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade.  Her first novel, Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers:  A Shifters Novel will be released this spring.  For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.

Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/   and www.wagadu.ning.com.

Margaret Fieland, Author-- lives  and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA
with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelineshttp://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/ is available from Amazon.com  Her book, "Relocated," will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy," will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013.  You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com

Valjeanne Jeffers, Author -- is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at: http://valjeanne.wordpress.com andhttp://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/

Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel, Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012.  The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at:http://www.aliciamccalla.com

Carole McDonnell, Author--She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction.  Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/  orhttp://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/

Rasheedah Phillips,Author--is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog,AstroMythoLosophy.com.

Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage.  Visit her: http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html 

Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him:  http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd