This is the last week of our amazing online Black History Month event. It’s been an enlightening experience. I’d like to take the time to thank everyone who has participated from the other bloggers to the readers, retweeters, and commenters. You all have been wonderful. My winners this week are Chicki Brown and Ellen Barrow. Congratulations! This week we have a special treat. Each participant has created an original short story.
We each created a short story that uses a bracelet. The ATL authors shared their stories at the Georgia Tech discussion so after my short, take a look at the reading of the Mathematical Genius. Balogun has the entire reading on his website so take a look.
The Mathematical Genius by Alicia McCalla (Updated for Trayvon 2.0)
Sixteen year old Otis Clarke pulled his hoodie over his head and used his super athletic ability to jump over the wall that separated Bankhead and Buckhead. It was dusk and he knew it wasn’t safe but he had to meet her. She could teach him about manipulating the math. People thought that his ability to soar, jump, and slam dunk came from his special shoes but it really came from the mathematical genius held inside his bracelet. He just didn’t know how to connect with it. He knew that his bracelet could allow him to see the world as a sequence of equations but he could barely manipulate them. She was going to teach him how to use his real talent.
The bracelet hummed, tingled. All of his identity was held inside. If someone stole it, they’d have everything that was him. Otis sank deeper into his hoodie. The power of his bracelet thrummed up his entire arm. He could feel the math inside his soul. He looked at the world and saw numbers. He had to know how to manipulate them better. He had to get to her.
He broke into a run but his hoodie stayed in place. This neighborhood was dangerous. Perfectly manicured lawns with mini mansions. They all wanted what he had. They wanted to be able to jump and slam dunk. Some of them would do anything to steal his identity.
“Dude, give me those shoes.” Otis’ heart sped. He looked around and he was surrounded. Quick hands yanked off his hoodie. He didn’t say a word. He smashed his eyes shut and tried to manipulate the equations. Raw nerves stopped him. That’s why he needed her help. The pale faces attacked. Otis punched and kicked with bad intentions.
Pow! He elbowed a nose and watched blood splurt.
Wham! He punched and heard a jaw crunch.
There were too many! His stomach lurched.
The brick collided with the back of his head. Otis crumbled.
“Take them!” He heard in a muffled daze.
They jacked his shoes.
He saw one of them slip his size thirteens on and try to jump.
He laughed, hysterical. The bracelet burned. He stood up slow and studied the red spatter on his white socks. He pulled the hoodie back over his head. That’s when he saw his answer. The bracelet cooled against his brown skin. He manipulated the mathematical equations like second nature. He smiled at the suburban thieves as he jumped higher than he ever had. He didn’t need her after all. He’d become one with the math inside the bracelet.
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If you’ve loved this online Black History month event, please continue to share it. We’d love for University professors, High School English Teachers, and Librarians to get involved and share it with their students. Although the event is over, the information is so amazing that we want to extend the experience beyond the month of February. So you can still #blackscifi2012 on twitter and post comments for the rest of this year. If you’re new to this online Black History Month event, start from the beginning:
Day 1: What is the State of Black Sci-Fi 2012?
Day 2: Why I Love Teen Dystopian Sci-Fi?
Day 3: Why is it important to show race, class, minority politics, or ethnicity in SciFi?
Day 4: Giveaways and Upcoming Paranormal Romance from Alicia McCalla
Day 6: My Tribute to SF Icon Octavia Butler
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.
Ja Ja (DjaDja) N Medjay , Author—DjaDja Medjay is the author of The Renpet Sci-Fi Series. Shiatsu Practitioner. Holistic AfroFuturistic Rising in Excellence. Transmissions from The Future Earth can be found at: http://authordjadja.wordpress.com/ , www.renpetscifi.com or on Facebook - www.facebook.com/RenpetSciFiNovel or on Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/Khonsugo .
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, Lifelines http://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 , http://wwwsistermoon.blogspot.com/ and http://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/
Thaddeus Howze, Author – is a veteran of the IT and Communications industry with over 26 years of experience retooling computers to best serve human needs. Unknown to humanity, our computers have another agenda. Thaddeus recently released his first collection of short stories, Hayward Reach. In a coded format, he has secretly informed Humanity of the impending computerized apocalypse. You can read parts of the code here: http://ebonstorm.wordpress.com or http://ebonstorm.weebly.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 is available in print or immediate download on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and other booksellers. The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on iTunes and Amazon. Visit her at: 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/ or http://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.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/
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
