Friday, May 29, 2015

32 Months Later With Balogun Ojetade

Derrick Ferguson: What are the major changes that have taken place in your life personally and professionally since we last talked?

Balogun Ojetade: Personally, I now have two grandchildren (I had one back then), with a third one on the way and my father passed October 16, 2013, a year and a day after our first interview went live.

Professionally, I have published several books, completed a feature film, won a screenwriting contest and participated in several panels around the country.


DF: How have you grown as a writer/editor/publisher in the past 32 months?

BO: I certainly have – physically, at least. I now weigh 220 pounds. Back in 2012, I weighed about 180!

Seriously, I believe I have. I certainly have much more experience in all aspects of the business and the art. I have always worked hard at my craft as a writer, but I am devoting almost as much time to learning the business side of books.

DF: Is the direction you’re heading in now the same as it was 32 months ago?

BO: Pretty much. I have a stronger focus on pushing Black Speculative Fiction to the masses, now and I – with Milton Davis – have produced and / or curated nearly a dozen events since we last talked. These events include The Mahogany Masquerade; Alien Encounters; the Black Speculative Film Festival; the Black Science Fiction and Fantasy Youth Summit; The Black Speculative Fiction Author Showcase and many others. And now we are Co-Chairing SOBSFic Con (“State of Black Science Fiction Con) in 2016.

DF: Where do you see yourself five years from now?     
         
BO: I see myself publishing other authors, making more films and giving the world SOBSFic Con II. I also see a vacation in there, as I have not taking a vacation (other than working ones) in twenty-five years. My vacation spot of choice is Gabon, in Central Africa, my ancestral home.

DF: Do you think you’ve found your audience? Or that your audience has found you?

BO: My audience has found me. I wish I knew exactly who they were; it would certainly help with marketing. However, in this digital age, people buy books and you don’t know who they are unless they send you a message saying how much they loved, or didn’t love, your book.

DF: Have any of your attitudes about your work or your style of writing changed completely or modified?

BO: No sir. I’m still the same old me. If anything, I am more willing to experiment. Three years ago, I would have been too intimidated to write a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style book. I did that last year with The Keys and I am plotting out the second book in the series.

DF: Tell us about Steamfunk and your place in the genre.

BO: Steamfunk is the Black / African expression of Steampunk, but it is more than that. While steam is the dominant technology in Steampunk it doesn’t have to be in Steamfunk. Most non-European cultures did not rely on steam and saw steam technology as a tool of the oppressor. We deal with that in Steamfunk. We tell the stories of George Washington Carver, Bass Reeves, Harriet Tubman, John Henry and Frederick Douglass – stories you won’t read in Steampunk.


My place in the genre is as an author and screenwriter. Up until this year, I would have been considered the Steamfunk activist. But now I push Black Speculative Fiction in general. I think Steamfunk has grown wings and really caught on, which was my plan. No need for me to keep that as my focus.

DF: Rococoa is a genre that really excites me. For those not in the know can you tell us what Rococoa is?

Where Sword and Soul ends and before Steamfunk begins, there is the Age of Spring Technology and Clockwork. Think Three Finger’d Jack; the pirate, Black Caesar; and the Haitian Revolution. Think the Black Count, Nat Turner, and the Stono Rebellion…that is Rococoa!

A couple of years ago, at the Mahogany Masquerade: An Evening of Steamfunk and Film, I inquired about the era that sits between Sword and Soul – the subgenre of African-inspired epic and heroic fantasy that is usually set before colonization – and Steamfunk, which normally takes place between 1837 and 1901. I asked if anyone had a name for that time because it is a time that fascinates me – a time of revolution (in particular, the Haitian Revolution); a time of pirates and swashbucklers; a time of reverence for art and science. I am a huge fan of The Three Musketeers in all media and Brotherhood of the Wolf, also set during that era, is one of my favorite movies.


No one at the event had a name for the era, however, everyone agreed the time possessed that same  “cool factor” found in Steamfunk and Sword and Soul.

Curious by nature and a researcher by choice, I immediately began my quest of discovery, fueled by my determination to find a name for this era that fascinated me so.

After a brief bit of research, I stumbled upon Rococo…and, to my surprise, Rococopunk.

Rococo is derived from the French word rocaille, originally meaning the bits of rocky decoration sometimes found in 16th-century architectural schemes. It was first used in its modern sense around 1800, at about the same time as baroque, and, like baroque, was initially a pejorative term.

Rococopunk is – like Dieselpunk – a sibling of Steampunk, set in the earlier Renaissance era, primarily in the high-class French community of the time. Participants in this movement wear outlandish makeup and hairstyles and sport bold, brightly colored clothing.


Think Amadeus, Pirates of the Caribbean, or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. For darker Rococo, think Last of the Mohicans, Perfume: The Story of A Murderer, Brotherhood of the Wolf, or Sleepy Hollow (the 1999 film, not the television show).

Okay, I had a name for the era. Now, I needed to come up with a name to define the Black expression of Rococopunk; a name to define the subgenre so that – as author and publisher Milton Davis says of Steamfunk and Sword and Soul – “when you hear or read ‘Steamfunk’ or ‘Sword and Soul’, you know exactly what you’re getting.”

Before I could come up with a name myself, the brilliant Briaan L. Barron, artist and owner of Bri-Dimensional Images, did it for me with her release of the documentary, Steamfunk and Rococoa: A Black Victorian Fantasy. While there is not much talk of Rococo or Rococopunk in the documentary – it is mainly about Steampunk and Steamfunk and features Diana Pho of Beyond Victoriana and Yours Truly – the spelling, Rococoa, was perfect!

At present, I am seeking submissions of Rococoa stories for an anthology I will release in early 2016. It is the first anthology I am publishing and I am very excited about it.

DF: You and Milton Davis won the 2014 Urban Action Showcase Award for Best Action Script for your screenplay NGOLO. How did you guys celebrate when you won?

BO: We celebrated with some great Chinese food and a beer. The next day, we were back on the grind, strategizing our next step with the screenplay.




DF: Tell us about the story of NGOLO and your plans for it. Will we eventually see the movie?

BO: The basic premise of NGOLO is this:
In the near-future, assassinations are legal, as long as they are carried out by government-sanctioned guilds of assassins, who settle disputes in boardrooms and political offices around the world. One guild – the Bloodmen – is the most skilled; the most dangerous; the most feared…until the day the hunters become the hunted.

Here’s the plot:
When a contract for the life of Senator PATRICK STANTON – a man hell-bent on eradicating the assassin guilds – is issued and taken on by the Bloodmen, it is suspected by the Bloodmen’s Guild Professor (2nd-In-Command), STEPHEN JONES, that the master of the guild, KAMARA KEITA, accepted the contract pro-bono (an illegal practice) in order to force Senator Stanton to vote in favor of the continued existence of legal assassination and assassin guilds at the upcoming vote on the Anti-Assassination Bill.

Desiring leadership of the Bloodmen, Stephen challenges Guildmaster Kamara to combat, with the prize being command of the guild. Kamara defeats Stephen. Ashamed and envious, Stephen leaves the Bloodmen and attempts to turn the other guilds against Kamara. Instead, the other Guildmasters and Guild Professors back Kamara and even encourage him to kill Stephen for his betrayal, which Kamara refuses to do.

Stephen goes to assassin wannabes, the TIGERS and offers them a chance to become a legitimate guild if they help him bring down the Bloodmen. The leader of the Tigers, CARLOS FAIRCHILD, is reluctant at first, but Stephen convinces him that, under Guildmaster Kamara’s leadership, the Bloodmen have become corrupt and they must be stopped before they cause the eradication of legal assassination and all the guilds. Carlos joins forces with Stephen and hands over leadership of the Tigers – and a few street gangs he has influence over – to the former Bloodman.

The Bloodmen throw their annual Founders’ Day celebration. All of the Guildmasters and Guild Professors from around the world attend. Kamara awaits the arrival of his son, MALCOLM and Malcolm’s fiancĂ©e, JAMELA RASHON, both top Bloodmen assassins.

Jamela is en route from an assignment in San Diego and Malcolm is en route from a job in Japan. While on his way to the Bloodmen’s guild house, Malcolm is ambushed by the Tigers. At the same time, the guild house is attacked by an army of Tigers and thugs, led by Stephen.

Jamela comes upon the house as it is being attacked.
And then…

You’ll have to wait for the movie or the graphic novel to find out what happens next. We are negotiating both right now, so I can’t say much, but a major feature film is going to happen, but man, it is a long process. Hopefully, the feature film will hit the Big Screen in 2017. The graphic novel should drop a bit earlier in the same year or in late 2016.

DF: You and Milton Davis have proven to be quite the formidable partnership. What’s the secret of such a successful team?

BO: Hard work, consistency and courage. When Milton and I first met – to discuss creating Ngolo, actually – I told Milton that I operate from a position of power; not fear; that I get things done and have no time for naysayers. He had the same principles, so we started setting up events and projects together. Of course, we would discuss our stories with each other and that led to us doing some collaboration with Ki-Khanga, Rite of Passage and Ngolo.  Now, my final installment of Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman will be set in Milton’s world of Freedonia.

It’s fun working with Milton and we have much more work to do together.


DF: Tell us about the State of Black Science Fiction Convention. How did it come about?

BO: Milton and I have long discussed doing a convention. All of the Black conventions at present are focused on comic books. That’s cool, but we need something more. There are many fans of Black Speculative Fiction who aren’t into comic books. I’m one of them. I lost a real interest in comic books after the last issue of Brotherman dropped, but I never lost interest in novels, films and television. Milton is not a fan of comic books either. I say that, not to bash comic books or comic book conventions, but to say that we need conventions that offer more, so we decided to create our own – one that would feature all aspects of Black Speculative Fiction. After curating Alien Encounters, a four-day Black Speculative Fiction conference (more academic than a convention) and sitting on panels at cons across the country, we know how to do this and it is going to be epic.
We call it State of Black Science Fiction Con because State of Black Science Fiction is the name of our collective. We call it SOBSFic [SAHBS-fik] Con for short. SOBSFic Con is set for June 17-18, 2016. There is already a huge buzz around it and we are expecting to get a great turnout.


DF: What are you working on now?

BO: I am working on Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman: Freedonia now. That will be the only novel I release this year. The rest of my time will be devoted to developing and marketing SOBSFic Con and doing panels at a few conventions.

Derrick Ferguson: Anything else we should know?

Balogun Ojetade: I am always seeking to collaborate with other authors and artists, so if any readers want to work on something, they can reach me at Chroniclesofharriet@gmail.com. 

I also love doing cons, so if you are doing a con and need a panelist or a moderator, let me know that, too. Oh, and buy my books. Word on the street is, they’re pretty good.

For more information about Balogun Ojetade and his work, check out his blog Chronicles of Harriet


Sunday, May 3, 2015

17 Months Later With...Percival Constantine

Percival Constantine stays so fargin’ busy that I could easily do an update interview with him every three months and he would always have some new project to inform us about. It’s taken me awhile to catch up with him to find out what he’s up to 17 MONTHS LATER…

Derrick Ferguson: How do you feel your career as a writer has grown in the past year?

Percival Constantine: I’ve gotten more serious about it, I think. I’ve started planning out a release schedule in advance and have that roughly set for the next two years or so and I make it a point to try to write every day. Although I still miss some days, I succeed more often than I fail, even on days when I feel like I won’t be able to get anything done.


DF: You’re somewhat unique in that you not only write; you design logos, format print books for a number of publishers and have done lettering work for comic books. Was this a deliberate career plan or did you just fall into these various creative arenas you operate in?

PC: It just sort of happened. Formatting, lettering, logo design, this all came about out of necessity. Someone had to do it. When I was putting together FALLEN for publication, I was a poor college graduate without the money to afford for formatting and Microsoft Word was just too frustrating to use. 



So I read a lot of guides and taught myself how to do it with InDesign. And while the first few books took days or even weeks to format, I eventually did enough of them and got to the point where now I can format a book in under an hour or so.

Lettering as well came about because of necessity. When I was putting together my first comic book project, I found an artist who could pencil and ink, but he couldn’t letter. So with the help of the fine folks over at NinjaLettering.com, I learned how to do it myself. And I was surprised to find out that not only could I do a pretty good job at it, but I enjoyed it, too. I then began applying for lettering positions and was able to make some extra cash doing those jobs. And logo design just grew out of the lettering work.

In this day and age, I think it’s important for authors—especially indies—to learn as much about the production process as humanly possible. For one, learning new skills is always a healthy thing. Two, you never know what you might be good at or enjoy doing until you try it. And three, it can save you a lot of money in the long run.

DF: Where do you see yourself in five years?

PC: Hopefully with a PhD or close to achieving one and able to make a living from my writing.

DF: Do you think you have found an audience? Or has your audience found you?

PC: I don’t think they have yet. But it’s building slowly, little by little.

DF: Tell us about your latest project.

PC: Right now I’m finishing up the first season of VANGUARD. It’s a superhero team in the vein of the X-Men and the Avengers, and I’m a huge fan of the Bronze Age comics. When I first discovered people were doing serialized prose stories through e-books, I thought it was a great idea and I felt like it would suit a number of concepts I had in mind which didn’t quite lend themselves to novels or novellas. Vanguard definitely falls in that camp. The serial format really lends itself to the types of comics I’ve always loved to read, the ones which are pretty much self-contained stories, but have overarching sub-plots that stretch out in the background. So I’m having a lot of fun with it.


The concept behind the series is that the world has changed through a mysterious occurrence called The Event. No one knows what it was or how it happened, but what we do know is that humanity has been changed on a genetic level. For the vast majority of the population, this mutation hasn’t resulted in any obvious change. But a small percentage have developed superhuman abilities as a result of it. The President sees the potential for problems and secretly authorizes the creation of Vanguard, a team of specials overseen by Colonel Leonard Thorne. It’s their job to police the specials who would threaten humanity.

The first season ends with the release of Vanguard #5: Rise of the Red Fist coming out on May 18th on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Soon, the episodes will be made available on all e-book retailers and I’m also going to release a compilation of the first season in print and digital formats, probably in the fall. I’m already in the middle of writing the second season and if all goes well, it will also debut in the fall.

Curse of the Necronomicon comes out on June 22nd, and this is the third book in THE MYTH HUNTER series. Elisa Hill is tasked with tracking down her former partner, Lucas Davalos, who disappeared while seeking out the Necronomicon. Of course, as is usually the case, things aren’t always as they seem and Elisa, Lucas, and Asami will soon find themselves hip-deep in a world of trouble.



Gentleman Rogue has a release date of July 20th and it’s the third book in the INFERNUM series. In this installment, a heist by a thief named Dalton Moore causes some losses for Infernum’s mysterious leader, Dante, and so he tracks down Dalton and offers him a choice—work for him on a job, or face the consequences. Dalton is paired with Dante’s right-hand woman, Tauna, and sent to retrieve a deadly biological weapon.



I’ve also got the third LUTHER CROSS story coming out from Pro Se Productions sometime in the near future, called Bloodlust. Some other work coming out through both Pro Se and Airship 27, but if I say anything more about that, Tommy Hancock and Ron Fortier might team up to do some unspeakable things to me.

DF: Hollywood calls and says that they’re going to give your $500 million and the director of your choice to adapt one of your books into a movie. What book do you choose and which director?

PC: Good question. I think I’d choose The Lost Continent, the first MYTH HUNTER book (and now free on all platforms). Now as for director, that’s tough. I might have to go with Joss Whedon or the Russo Brothers. Through “The Avengers” “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” those directors have clearly demonstrated that they understand the pulp mindset. They understand that these movies can be fun and don’t have to take themselves super-seriously. So I think they’d be wonderful to handle my work.

DF: Recommend a book, a movie and a TV show.

PC: I’m in the middle of reading Russ Anderson’s “Myth World” right now and really digging it. It’s a wonderful book that deserves more attention, so everyone head over to your e-book store of choice and buy it. For movie, I just saw “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and really dug it. I thought Joss Whedon and co. upped their game from the first film by a massive degree and it’s now my favorite Marvel film. And as for TV show, I’m really tempted to say “Daredevil” because it was just balls-out awesome, but I don’t want to seem like too much of a Marvel zombie. So instead, I’ll recommend “Sons of Anarchy”. The last season is finally on Netflix and I just started watching it.

Derrick Ferguson: Anything else we should know?

Percival Constantine: Both The Lost Continent and Love & Bullets are available for free on all platforms and if you go to percivalconstantine.com and enter your email address, you’ll get more free stuff.





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