For those of you who read my previous blog—to which I showed a deplorable lack of interest—you may know that I completed my first full novel, Queen of Zazzau, several years ago. In the intervening years, I have revised, streamlined, and polished. I had hoped to publish the novel in 2016 (or was it 2015?), but circumstances forced me to put that idea on hold. Circumstances being that we wanted to publish stories by other authors before publishing my own.
I used to believe that the dearth of SciFi/Fantasy stories featuring people of African descent was a result of the traditional Big Houses not wanting to publish them. I still believe it. However, I now also believe that good SFF authors of African descent are simply not writing characters of African descent. Either that or they are self-publishing. On more than one occasion, I have heard an author say that s/he did not want to be put into a box (or something of that nature) by Afrocentric Books. I will admit that I am not certain what that means in the context of a writer. Only you can write yourself into a box.
Regardless, I am very content to be in a box, because it seems the only kind of story I write well is African Historical Fantasy. Afrocentric Books caters to Afrocentricism. You do not have to be Black to read it and, frankly, you do not have to Black to write it. We generally do not require our authors to specify race or ethnicity. We require only that the written word be written well. So, circumstances be damned. My novel will be published some time in 2018. I think I have waited long enough for other authors to debut with me at Afrocentric Books.
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