Derrick Ferguson: Who is Balogun Ojetade?
Balogun Ojetade:
Balogun Ojetade is a cool dude.
He is an author;
a father of eight children; a husband; a Steamfunk / Steampunk; a filmmaker; a
screenwriter; an actor (sometimes); a master instructor of indigenous African
martial arts; a creator of role-playing games and a traditional African priest.
DF: Where do you live and what do you do to
keep the bill collectors away?
BO: I
live in Atlanta, Georgia.
I am
owner and technical director of the Afrikan Martial Arts Institute, which has
representatives in Atlanta, Macon, Ga and London, England.
To keep
the bill collectors away, I avoid answering the phone, I run very quickly and I
stay in the good graces of my beautiful and loving wife, who is the hardest
working photographer in the business.
DF: When did your love of science fiction,
heroic fantasy and speculative fiction begin?
BO: My
love for science fiction, fantasy and horror began when I was two years old,
when my sisters decided to conduct an experiment and see if they could teach
their two year old brother to read by getting him hooked on comic books,
starting with Thor, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Archie and the Fantastic Four.
Their experiment worked and I have been in love with speculative and
imaginative fiction ever since.
DF: You’re an instructor of African Martial
Arts. When and where did you begin training?
BO: I
began training in April, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois, under the tutelage of my
father, who spent over a decade living and training in West Africa, when he was
employed as security for the U.S. Embassy in Dakkar, Senegal. I have been
training daily ever since. I began formally teaching my own students in 1992.
DF: You’re also heavily involved in film as a
writer, director and fight/stunt coordinator. Tell us about your film projects.
BO: I
majored in film, with a concentration in screenwriting, in college. I have
always loved films and filmmaking, but for years, I did not have the time or
resources to create my own, so I concentrated on other endeavors. In 2001, I
was asked to develop a one act play based on a popular poem I wrote entitled The Good Ship Jesus. I developed the
play and performed it myself as part of the National Black Arts Festival. The
play – and I – received rave reviews, so I decided to pursue acting. I won
roles in a few martial arts films and a few plays, always observing the
techniques of the directors, actors and fight / stunt coordinators.
In
2001, I was given the opportunity to produce a martial arts thriller screenplay
I wrote entitled Reynolds’ War. I
jumped at the chance and the film has gone on to become an underground hit in
the U.S. and in West Africa. After that experience, I formed my own production
company, Roaring Lions Productions, and recruited some of the best talents in
film to work with me to create quality works of Black science fiction, fantasy
and horror for film. We have created two films – A Single Link, a martial arts thriller about a woman who is raped
and discovers her rapist has gone on to become a mixed martial arts champion.
For closure and empowerment, she decides she wants to fight him and she goes on
to become the first woman to fight professionally in co-ed mixed martial arts
and a symbol for victimized women worldwide; and Rite of Passage: Initiation, an excerpt from a Steamfunk television
series I – and Milton Davis are developing.
DF: Before I get into “Moses: The Chronicles
of Harriet Tubman” I think we ought to talk a bit about Steamfunk. What is
Steamfunk, where did it come from and where is it going?
BO: In order for
people to understand Steamfunk, we must first give a brief definition of
Steampunk. Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction or fantasy, characterized by
a setting – in the past, present or future
– in which steam power predominates as the energy source for high,
industrial
technologies.
Think the television show Wild, Wild West,
the graphic novel / comic book series, The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or the movie The Golden Compass.
Steamfunk is a
philosophy or style of writing that combines the African and / or African
American culture and approach to life with that of the Steampunk philosophy and
/ or Steampunk fiction.
DF: “Moses: The Chronicle of Harriet Tubman”
is a wonderful reimagining of a genuine historical icon as an action/adventure
hero in a story that moves like an out of control freight train going downhill.
Where did this concept come from and can we look forward to more?
BO: I
have always been a fan of Harriet Tubman and knew that the first novel I ever
wrote would have “General Moses” as the hero. In researching her life for a
poem I wrote a few years ago, I came to realize what an amazing woman she
really was and that she seemed to possess uncanny abilities, such as psychic
visions, nigh superhuman strength and the ability to change her appearance
where no two people gave the same description of her. Even to this day, there
are only five photos of Harriet Tubman known to exist and many we that were
once believed to be her have been proven to be someone else.
Finding
out these things incredible about Harriet sparked my already wild-as-hell
imagination and the concept for Moses:
The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Books 1 & 2) was born. I am writing
books 3 & 4 at present and Harriet will make a cameo in my story, Rite of Passage: Blood & Iron, which
appears in the upcoming Steamfunk!
Anthology.
DF: Tell us about Sword and Soul and “Once
Upon A Time In Afrika”
BO: For
a definition of Sword and Soul, I will quote the subgenre’s founder, the
incomparable author, friend and mentor, Charles R. Saunders: “Sword-and-soul is the name I’ve given to the type of fiction
I’ve been writing for nearly 40 years. The best definition I can think of
for the term is ‘African-inspired heroic fantasy’. Its roots are in
sword-and-sorcery, but its scope is likely to expand as time passes.”
Once Upon A Time
in Afrika is my Sword and Soul novel. Desperate
to marry off his beautiful but "tomboyish" daughter, Esuseeke, the
Emperor of the powerful empire of Oyo consults the Oracle, which tells him that
Esuseeke must marry the greatest warrior in all Onile (Afrika). To determine
who is the greatest warrior, the Emperor hosts a grand martial arts tournament,
inviting warriors from all over the continent. Just a few of the warriors
chosen are her lover, Akin, who enters the tournament in disguise, a wizard
seeking to avenge the death of a loved one and a vicious dwarf with shark-like,
iron teeth. Unknown to the warriors and spectators of the tournament, a
powerful evil is headed their way and they will be forced to decide if they
will band together against the evil, flee, or confront the evil as individuals.
DF: Tell us about your science fiction
gangster epic “Redeemer”
BO: Redeemer releases in November, 2012. It
is about an assassin who decides to leave his life of crime – and his crime
family – behind and build a family. His boss, a ruthless gangster and
technophile, uses the assassin as a test subject in the first attempt at time
travel. He is sent thirty years into the past. Distraught at first, he accepts
his dilemma and decides to save his teenaged self from a life of crime by preventing
the events that led him to choose that life. His attempts, however, bring him
into direct conflict with a younger version of his former boss and the brilliant
and brutal man who trained him in the arts of death.
DF: And if all this wasn’t enough, you’ve also
co-created a Sword and Soul Role Playing Game called Ki-Khanga. Give us the
background on that.
BO: I
have been a player and Gamemaster of pen-and-paper role-playing games for over
thirty years, starting with Dungeons & Dragons and then adding Traveller,
Champions, Marvel Superheroes and a host of others to my collection. All of
these games were very Eurocentric, however and I was always asked by my friends
to create scenarios set in Africa. In 1987, issue # 122 of Dragon Magazine
featured an article by Charles Saunders entitled “Out of Africa”. The article
was about the deadly and mysterious creatures of Africa. This article planted
the seed in my head to create a role-playing game set in Africa. Not a supplement
set in Africa, but a stand-alone role-playing game – something very different
from the games that were already on the market.
Chasing
women, partying and (occasionally) school led to me abandoning the project for
several years.
By the time I decided to return to the development of the game,
I found myself married and raising a family. In 2006, the idea for the game
would not leave me and I began its development. In 2011, I told author and
publisher Milton Davis about the game and he asked me to send him the system I
created. He –and his son Brandon, an experienced gamer, liked my concept but
felt the system, which had no random generator, needed one. Not wanting to use
dice, like most other games, I decided to use playing cards as the random
generator. I revamped the system, which Milton liked and we began building the
world of Ki-Khanga and writing stories to familiarize people with that world.
The system is fully developed and is in the play-testing phase now. After
several play-tests, which have gone well, we are now working with illustrators
to create visual representations of the nations, people, creatures and
technology of Ki-Khanga.
DF: A common complaint of writers is that they
have difficulty writing action/fight scenes. As a martial artist what advice
can you give for writers in writing authentic and exciting fight scenes?
BO: I wrote an entry on my blog on this very subject awhile ago. You can find it on my website at I think the most important thing to remember is to remember that a good fight
scene is about momentum and rhythm.
I
provided executive protection for the actor Jackie Chan many years ago and he
gave me some advice on choreographing a fight scene that I use in my writing. “The rhythm of a fight scene
sells it. I use African and Japanese drum rhythms for my fights. Those rhythms
draw the audience in and make them love the fight.”
Each move should flow from where the
last one ended. If your hero throws a spinning back kick, where is her weight
when she lands? Is he standing straight or bent at the waist? In what direction
is his body leaning? The next blow he delivers should follow the same line of
momentum. If he kicked in a clockwise motion, his next kick will also probably
be clockwise.
Try to act out fight sequences in
order to figure out momentum and balance, which creates rhythm. Throw a side
kick and observe how your weight shifts, or what area of your body is exposed.
I often act out entire fight scenes
with my wife. We are both career martial artists, so she humors me. However, if
you do not happen to have a spouse that is a martial arts expert handy, watch
movies for ideas.
DF: Do you think it’s desirable for writers to
chase “mainstream” audiences or is that just a dream always out of reach?
BO: Many
writers have successfully gone “mainstream” and are happy. I have no desire to
go the mainstream route of major publishing and acquiring an agent, as I desire
to maintain creative control of my work. As an author of Black speculative
fiction, I know of writers who have been told by major publishers that if they
changed the hero of their story from a Black person into a white one, they will
publish the book. I have heard many other such horror stories and I refuse to
allow myself to become a victim of that madness. The route I have chosen may
take more work for me to reach the masses, however, the rewards are much
greater in the long run.
DF: What is A Day In The Life of Balogun
Ojetade like?
BO: I
awaken at 4:30 am and exercise for an hour, then I shower and meditate / pray.
I start writing at 6:00 am and write for about three hours before I take a
break to chat with Milton Davis on Facebook or his Wagadu ning site. At 11:00,
I hang out with my three-year old daughter and we have lunch at noon. My
daughter and I watch movies together until she takes her nap at 2:00pm and then
it’s more writing and social networking for me until my wife and my other
children return home from school and work. At 6:30pm, I head out to my martial
arts school and I teach from 7:00pm until 9:00pm. I return home around 10:00pm,
eat, talk with the wife and then go to sleep. This is my normal routine, with
slight variations if special events or family outings are forthcoming.
Derrick Ferguson: Anything else we should know
about you?
Balogun
Ojetade: I am a hard-working, creative guy who is very approachable and enjoys
intelligent discourse. I am easy-going unless I encounter sexism or racism and
then the…other side surfaces. So if you see me giving someone a verbal or
written beatdown on some social network or at some panel discussion, know that
otherwise, I’m a pretty cool dude.
