Our co-founder, Aiesha, is having a feature story she wrote about tagging along with local paranormal investigators turned into a comic for the third issue of the Cincinnati Cabinet of Curiosities anthology! Be on the lookout for the Kickstarter next spring!
Columbus author Scott Woods discusses the magical negroes in Stephen King’s work in an updated lecture from this February.
Author/publisher Milton Davis of MVmedia has a special announcement: “This month, I’m celebrating Sword and Soul. At the same time, it’s Women History Month. Which made me think about Black women and Sword and Soul. Years ago, we did Griots: Sisters of the Spear to highlight Sword and Soul stories about women of African/African Diaspora descent. But with the exception of the wonderfully talented Sarah Macklin, I have no novels written by sisters. So this is what I’m going to do. For the first time in MVmedia history, I’m going to do an open submission for pitches and stories on Sword and Soul stories written by women of African/African Diaspora descent.
Continue reading “Women-Penned Sword and Soul Pitches Wanted!”
This month, our co-founder, Aiesha, was featured on the local women-focused website Women of Cincy, discussing her journey through geekdom. Check it out!
Our co-founder, Ofeibea Loveless, is a teacher now! Her online course, Steampunk 101, is available on the Speculative Fiction Academy‘s website. The course “teaches writers about the subgenre’s origins and dives deeper into character and world building in this space.” Call her Professor Loveless!
During the extremely long break we took from working on this blog last year and earlier this year, we were up to lots of things, including moderating a graphic novel panel at Books by the Banks and throwing a The Wiz-themed roller skating party for Halloween. One of us even served as a model for a comic book character. MeSseD revolves around Lilliput, a Filipina sewer worker who fights monsters underground while trying to keep the sewers clear. Late last year, our co-founder Aiesha was asked to be the character model for Fat Mucket, a badass Amanda Waller type who’s the manager of operations at the sewer district where Lilliput works. Dylan Speeg (the comic’s illustrator) took a bunch of reference photos of her, which he’s using to draw the scenes the Fat Mucket appears in in the comic’s third season, which drops later this year. When she asked how she should dress for the shoot, Jay Kalagayan (the writer/creator) said to wear “office clothes.” Would Fat Mucket give the girls a wide leg trouser and a peplum top with a hint of boob window while lettin’ the choppa spray? YES, SHE WOULD! If you haven’t heard of the comic, you can check out seasons 1 and 2 now at www.messedcomics.com.
In honor of the launch of the Ngolo Diaspora #1 Kickstarter campaign, co-creator Balogun Ojetade wrote this origin story for the characters Malcolm and Jamela! Ngolo is an African martial arts comic book series based on a screenplay of the same name by Ojetade and Milton Davis.
Midwest BSFA co-founder Aiesha Little has received Super Heroines, Etc.’s first SHE Fellowship. The program is designed for people who want to redirect their career paths and get some experience in areas outside of their expertise, some of whom may have been affected by pandemic-related layoffs. During the month of June, Aiesha will help the organization beef up its content on social media platforms as well as its website. For more information about the group, visit superheroinesetc.org.
Midwest Black Speculative Fiction Alliance 