The M(N)STRY: Black Girls and Fugitivity

Remember this song from Ludacris and Mary J. Blige? “Runaway Love” came to my mind last week when the stories of the Missing DC girls started to spread throughout media. One particular story highlighted a young girl who ran away because she felt mistreated in foster family. Much too often the mistreatment of young black girls are ignored […]

The M(N)STRY: Butler’s Kindred — Possession, Objectification and Whose Gaze Controls Black Futurity

Recently I received a copy of Octavia Butler’s Kindred graphic novel, which was adapted by Damien Duffy and John Jennings. Reading the story in graphic novel form gave me a chance to see aspects of the book that I didn’t pay as much attention to as before. One was the mechanism by which Dana traveled back […]

The M(N)STRY: Black Speculative Fiction Is Protest Fiction

I’ll be honest. These past couple of weeks has made writing for me difficult. I was lacking encouragement to keep writing my fantasy novel and wavering back and forth between if being a writer mattered. But attending events like Writers Resist in Queens and reading my own work, reading from Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to […]

The M(N)STRY: Words of Wisdom from “The Jumbies”

Recently I’ve been reading Tracey Baptiste’s YA book, The Jumbies, which is a supernatural fantasy book that takes place on the island of Trinidad. I won’t give away what the book is about; instead I suggest for you to go read it, but I will tell you that one of my favorite characters is the […]

The M(N)STRY: Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round

This week, this country has elected a egotistical bigot to become the next president of the United States. I am saddened, scared and sobered by it but I am not shocked. This country was founded on favoring white male landowners. The founding fathers were racist slaveowners who though the only men who should be seen […]