Rococoa
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Fool’s Errand
Gerald L. Coleman is a Philosopher, Theologian, Poet, and Author residing in Atlanta. Born in Lexington, he did his undergraduate work in Philosophy and English at the University of Kentucky. He followed that with a degree in Religious Studies and a Master’s degree in Theology at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. His most recent work appears in, Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, Drawn To Marvel: Poems From The Comic Books, and Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Vol. 18. He is a speculative fiction author, including short stories, the most recent having been published in the Science Fiction, Cyberfunk, Anthology: The City by MVMedia. He is the author of the Epic Fantasy novel When Night Falls: Book One of The Three Gifts. A co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, he has just released a collection of poetry entitled the road is long. You can find him at geraldlcoleman.co or follow him on Twitter @Iconiclast.
Bloodline
D.K. Gaston was born in Detroit, Michigan. His first book, XIII was published in 2007. D.K. is the author of mysteries, thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, including the wildly popular Urban Fantasy novels, Taurus Moon: Relic Hunter and its sequel, Taurus Moon: Magic and Mayhem. D.K. is a devoted husband and father and when not enjoying time with his family, he is always working on his next novel. Check D.K. Gaston out at: http://www.dkgaston.com/.
An Omnibus Ride in Scarlet
Nat Turner was an enslaved Afrikan who led a rebellion of enslaved Afrikans and free Afrikans in Southampton County, Virginia on August 21, 1831 that resulted in the deaths of at least 60 Caucasians. Nat Turner lived in one of the most repressive regimes in the history of the world during its most oppressive time. He was passionate, energetic, committed, and dedicated to the eradication of slavery. Nat Turner remains elegantly and elaborately wrapped in the fabric of resistance to domination, earning his place in the panoply of revolutionary icons such as Boukman, Dessalines, Zumbi, Touissaint L’Ouverture, Delgres, Yanga, Harriet Tubman, Nanny, Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser, and John Cavallo.
The Adventure of the Silver Skull
Deanna Baran lives in a remote part of Texas where cowboys may still be seen in their natural habitat. A librarian and former museum curator, she writes in between cups of tea, playing Go, and trading postcards with people around the world. Her work may most recently be seen in The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories and the 2015 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide.
Fury
Zig Zag Claybourne’s short fiction and essays have appeared in Fiction Fix, Vex Mosaic, Alt History 101, The Wayne Review, Flashshot, Reverie Journal, Stupendous Stories, The City anthology and numerous other publications. He is the author of the novels The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan, Neon Lights, By All Our Violent Guides (as CE Young) and the story collection Historical Inaccuracies.
Traveler’s Song: A Pulse Prelude
Born in Iowa, but later relocating and raised in Alton, IL and St. Louis, MO, Kai Leakes was an imaginative Midwestern child, who gained an addiction to books at an early age. The art of imagination was the very start of Kai’s path of writing which lead her to creating the Sin Eaters: Devotion Books Series and continuing works. Since a young child, her love for creating, vibrant romance and fantasy driven mystical tales, continues to be a major part of her very DNA. With the goal of sharing tales that entertain and add color to a gray literary world, Kai Leakes hopes to continue to reach out to those who love the same fantasy, paranormal, romantic, sci-fi, and soon, Steampunk-driven worlds that shaped her unique multi-faceted and diverse vision. You can find Kai Leakes at: www.kwhp5f.wix.com/kai-leakes.
The Adventure of the Black Star
Jeff Carroll is a writer and a filmmaker. He is pioneering what he calls Hip Hop horror, Sci/fi and fantasy. He has written and produced 2 films, Holla If I Kill You and Gold Digger Killer, which won Best Picture at the International Hip Hop film festival. He has published 4 books: the novelization to Gold Digger Killer, Thug Angel: Rebirth of a Gargoyle, It Happened on Negro Mountain and Sci-Fi Streetz: The Book of Hip Hop Sci-fi Stories. His short stories have appeared in Genesis: The Black Science Fiction Society’s anthology, Genesis: the magazine and in the Cyberfunk anthology, The City. Jeff Carroll is also the author of the non-fiction book The Hip Hop Dating Guide. He studied African History in college and his stories always include lots of action and a social edge. Jeff writes out of South Florida where he lives with his wife and youngest son. Connect with him at his blog http://hhcnf.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The Bandit King and the Island of Tears
S.A. Cosby is a writer and poet originally from Mathews County, Virginia. A fan of fantasy and science fiction since an early age, S.A. started writing in high school and continued during his studies at Christopher Newport University, where he majored in English. His short story The Rat and the Cobra is published by Thug-Lit.com in their tenth online issue and his story The Green Eyed Monster features in the anthology Sound & Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk. He is also author of the novel The Brotherhood of the Blade: The Invitation. S.A. lives in Gloucester County, VA with his pug, Pugsley.
Seven Thieves
Emmalia Harrington is awriter with a deep love for speculative fiction. Though the bulk of her work is non-fiction, she has short stories published in the podcast magazine Cast of Wonders, and in Simmons College’s Sidelines magazine. When she isn’t making Occidental clothing, she is cosplaying or making Japanese style outfits. Aside from sewing, Emmalia enjoys knitting, dyeing, academia and especially writing. Her Master’s thesis combined several of her loves, explaining the political context of women’s clothing in the early United States.
Mkono ya Mbao
Born in California in 1986, Steven Workman (S. J. Fujimoto) developed a love of fantasy through a childhood filled with reading books and dreams of publishing his own series. Traveling around East Asia and Europe made those dreams even bigger. “Nkono ya Mbao”is his first published work and he hopes there will be many more.
The Crafters’ Cove
Currently residing in the Pacific Northwest, D.L. Smith-Lee is a natural born Midwesterner. He has published short stories of horror and dark fantasy with Sirens Call Publications, Forgotten Tomb Press, Dreamscape Press, The Were-Traveler and J.A. Mes Press. Always diligently at work on his next piece, he writes for escape from reality and the love of writing.
March of the Black Brigade
Balogun Ojetade 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 writes about Steamfunk, Rococoa, Dieselfunk, Sword & Soul and the craft of writing 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 Sword and Soul Anthology and Steamfunk and editor of the Rococoa anthology. 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.