The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman- Freedonia

by Balogun Ojetade

  “You ain’t listenin’,” Harriet said. “We destroyed everything of yours. Your story ends here. You put a period on it the minute you sent Caleb and John Brown after Baas. They dead, too, by the way.”

  “So, Baas Bello has finally won and he is not here to gloat and to celebrate his victory?”

  “You weren’t worth his time,” Harriet replied. “He had mo’ important matters to attend to…getting’ his toenails clipped I think it was.”

  “Harriet! No!” Banneker wailed.

  The scrape of the shovel and the tumble of cold dirt soon muffled his pleas.

  Harriet patted the loose soil over Banneker’s grave and then hurled the shovel off into the dense forest that surrounded her. She turned away from the mound and as she walked away, she looked skyward.

  “Lawd,” she began, “I know a man deserves a prayer when he’s buried, but I ain’t one for prayin’ for my enemies. I knows you forgives me, Lawd, ‘cause I keeps Heaven filled with fresh souls. I know, too, that my fightin’ days is close to an end, but let my lovin’ days be long, ‘cause me and Baas got some catchin’ up to do. Amen!”

  Steamfunk, Alternate History And A Country Called Freedonia

  By Milton J. Davis

  The year is 1870. As the young country of Freedonia prepares to celebrate fifty years of existence, a young bounty hunter by the name of Zeke Culpepper is hired by a wealthy businessman to find a valuable book. In the kingdom of Mali on the continent of Africa, veteran warrior Famara Keita has been assigned to find that same book and bring it back to its rightful owner. And in the newly formed nation of Germany, an ambitious Prussian officer seeks the book as well for its secrets that could make Germany the most powerful nation in the world. The result is an action adventure like no other.

  —From Here to Timbuktu

  I’m a history nut from way back. As a matter of fact, until I was in high school all my extra-curricular reading was History. From dinosaurs, to World War II to eventually African history, I was and I still am fascinated about things that were. I’m not dazzled by dates and names, but by the personalities, customs and cultures of the past.

  Despite my love of history, I haven’t been much of a fan of alternate history. I’ve read a few novels and I’ve been slightly interested, but my question has always been, ‘where we at?’ It seems that all the authors that write alternate history, at least the ones I’ve read, either completely ignore people of color or as far as they are concerned, people of African descent always end up being slaves. The only difference is the duration of internment.

  So imagine my shock when I discovered Lion’s Blood by Steve Barnes!

  Here was an intelligent and fascinating alternate history where Africans settled North America and those who became slaves were of Irish descent. It was not a wish fulfillment book, but a thoughtful analysis of the condition of slavery and the effects on both master and slave.

  When I first laid the groundwork for MVmedia, one of my ideas was an alternate history based on the questions: What if the Haitian Revolution spread to the southeastern United States? What if, with the help from Haitian soldiers, it succeeded? And What if the new country of Haiti claimed French territory as its own? The result of such musing is the maps displayed at the end of this book of the country of Freedonia, a country that serves as the background of my Steamfunk anthology story The Delivery, my novel, From Here to Timbuktu and this novel you now hold in your hands. Freedonia is a country where in the 1870’s Fredrick Douglass is president, Harriet Tubman is Vice President, George Washington Carver is the scientific genius behind Freedonia’s prosperity and W.E.B. DuBois is an industrialist rivaling Getty and Rockefeller.

  So this is where I’ll be hanging out for a while. I hope you like where my Steamfunk is coming from. Pull up a rocking chair, have some sweet tea, and let me tell you a story.

  Because It’s Tastier Than Bacon And Thicker Than Three-Day Old Grits!

  That’s “Why should you read the entire Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series, From Here to Timbuktu and the Steamfunk anthology?” for a thousand dollars, Alex!

  While some might argue that nothing is tastier than bacon – the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series is certainly tastier than turkey bacon and, without a doubt, is thicker than three-day old grits.

  Hold the series in your hands…that’s it!

  See?

  Now, I would argue that the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series is much tastier than bacon. Whether you agree or not, however, you must agree that the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series and bacon share some uncanny similarities.

  Let’s explore the worldwide love affair with bacon and how it is indicative of the success of the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series:

  Why do we love bacon?

  According to a recent scientific study, it is due to the Maillard Reaction, a form of nonenzymatic browning, which results from a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar. This reaction produces a wide range of molecules that vary in flavor and smell and is what gives us the flavor of toasted bread, roasted coffee, chocolate, caramel and – of course – bacon.

  Bacon is made of mostly protein, water and fat. The protein is made up of the building blocks we call amino acids. The fat contains reducing sugars. Get that bacon really hot and the Maillard Reaction starts. And the smell of that sizzling bacon is enough to tempt even the staunchest of vegetarians.

  And somehow you know, dear vegetarians…there is something deeper going on inside that sizzling meat. There’s some complex chemistry going on.

  Well, the funky goodness that is the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series occurs just like that bacon.

  Scientists refer to the phenomenon as the Ojetade Reaction, a form of creativity and determination born out of a desire to see great Steamfunk stories – Steampunk told from an Afrikan and Afrikan-Diasporan perspective.

  After a conversation with other authors online, in which we decided to tell our stories in this fascinating subgenre of science fiction and fantasy called Steampunk and to call such stories Steamfunk, Milton Davis decided to produce an anthology of Steamfunk stories. I came to Milton and offered my services as Co-Editor, extolling my knowledge of Steampunk, my Steamfunk / Steampunk blog and my bestselling Steamfunk book, Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman. After about five minutes of contemplation, Milton sighed “Okay, you can be Co-Editor,” and followed this with a barely whispered “Damn!”

  I think that “Damn!” Was Milton’s way of saying “Oh, happy day,” or something to that effect.

  We then posted a call for submissions and received a surprising twenty-one – we didn’t know so many people were interested in telling Steamfunk stories. While all of the stories were incredible, we picked the twelve most funktastic ones and Milton and this author added a story each to this Blacknificent mix.

  Marcellus Shane Jackson created some hot artwork and voila…the Steamfunk anthology was born.

  The funk created by this thrilling anthology was enough to spark other great works of Steamfunk you should pick up: Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective by Valjeanne Jeffers and From Here to Timbuktu by Milton Davis. This final (?) installment of the Chronicles of Harriet Tubman series – along with From Here to Timbuktu – is set in Milton Davis’ alternate world of Freedonia.

  Wild, huh?

  Yep. And tasty. So, dive into some great Steamfunk and devour it all.

  You can thank me the next time you run into me at a Con, or on the street, in the airport, in a Thai restaurant anywhere in the world, or on a cruise ship to Hawaii – my usual stomping grounds. Just not at an Anthony Hamilton concert. That would just be creepy.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Afrikan Martial Arts Master and Babalawo / Olorisa / Elegbe, Balogun is the author of the bestselling non-fiction books Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within, The Afrikan Warriors Bible and The Young Afrikan Warriors’ Guide to Defeating Bullies & Trolls. He is screenwriter / producer / director of the films, A
Single Link, Rite of Passage: Initiation and Rite of Passage: The Dentist of Westminster.

  Balogun is one of the leading authorities on Steamfunk – 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 – and writes about it, the craft of writing, Sword & Soul and Steampunk in general, at http://chroniclesofharriet.com/.

  He is author of nine novels – the Steamfunk bestseller, MOSES: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Books 1 & 2); the Urban Science Fiction saga, Redeemer; the Sword & Soul epic, Once Upon A Time In Afrika; a Fight Fiction, New Pulp novella, Fist of Afrika; the gritty, Urban Superhero series, A Single Link and Wrath of the Siafu; the two-fisted Dieselfunk tale, The Scythe, the “Choose-Your-Own-Destiny”-style Young Adult novel, The Keys and the Urban Fantasy epic, Redeemer: The Cross Chronicles. Balogun is also contributing co-editor of two anthologies: Ki:Khanga: The Anthology and Steamfunk.

  Finally, Balogun is the Director and Fight Choreographer of the Steamfunk feature film, Rite of Passage, which he wrote based on the short story, Rite of Passage, by author Milton Davis and co-author of the award winning screenplay, Ngolo.

  You can reach him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Afrikan.Martial.Arts; on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Baba_Balogun and on Tumblr at www.tumblr.com/blog/blackspeculativefiction.