Maurice Broaddus's Blog

I’m doing a lot of community events over the next couple weeks (and I’ve been informed that I’m terrible about informing people about them. So here goes…

Discover Worldbuilding – Tues, June 29th @ 6:30pm
Glendale Branch — Adults & teens

How do authors make their fictional worlds feel real? In this 1-hour presentation/discussion, author, teacher, and librarian Maurice Broaddus will discuss how to build a believable world for you characters to live in. You will get tips and resources for creating histories, customs, dress, commerce and other elements for your imaginary world.

Discover Afrofuturism – Tuesday July 13th @ 6:30pm
East 38th Street Branch – Adults

Kheprw Institute’s Afrofuturist in Residence Maurice Broaddus will discuss Afrofuturism and its influence on such works as Black Panther, N.K. Jemison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as his own writing, and how it can influence your writing in this 1-hour workshop.

CLD Imani Book Club – Thursday July 8th @7pm
A meet and greet/Q&A with @cldinc’s Imani Book Club participants. They are reading The Usual Suspects and I can’t wait to see what these young leaders come up with.

Ujamaa Community Bookstore – Saturday July 10th
I’m back after a GREAT Grand Opening. We have a lot of surprises planned because well, my sister (who’s the chief architect behind the bookstore) is amazing and is keeping me on my toes. Details to follow.

Happy Hour at @IndyCM with me (a Bookmark Indy author! I never get tired of saying that!) featuring live music from @ClintBreeze and the Groove. Get all the details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bookmark...

Special shout out to @INHumanities, @INAuthorsAwards, and @FlannerHouse for all you do to support the literary scene in Indianapolis.

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Tales of Wakanda

[TRIES TO CONTAIN NERD GLEE] I’m so excited to announce that I have a story in Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda! Debuting Feb 2, this is the first ever Black Panther short story anthology, edited by Jesse J. Holland. I’m alongside such great authors like Tananarive Due Linda D Addison Sheree Renée Thomas Suyi Davies Okungbowa Troy L Wiggins and more! [I WROTE A BLACK PANTHER STORY, Y’ALL]

You can read all about it here:

Pre-order your copies now here!
#publishing #books #blackpanther #disney #titanbooks

Join the Indiana Arts Commission and Cafe Creative for the next Re-Group! Co-hosts Anna Tragesser and Maurice Broaddus invite industry pros to chat about what’s possible in the creative economy every other week in this Zoom gathering of Hoosier creatives. 

On December 8th at 7p, we’ll be talking to Carrington Clinton aka Clint Breeze (of Clint Breeze and the Groove) on the art of collaboration: experimenting and risk-taking our way through these times.

ABOUT CARRINGTON
Carrington “Clint Breeze” Clinton is a musician and creative based in Indy who is the band leader of Clint Breeze and The Groove. He enjoys teaching and the life of a musician by trade. In this free time he’s spending time with family and his two dogs. Allow Clint to introduce himself:

And if you want to sample Clint Breeze and the Groove before (or after) our conversation, here’s their latest project

Endtime Overture

That’s December 8th, 7p

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Check out IAC and Cafe Creative on social media:

Facebook: @inartscommissionInstagram: @inartscommFacebook + Instagram: @cafecreativeindy

A Year in Review

The end of the year usually marks the perfect
excuse to look back and see what all has been done. I was recently “chastised”
that I don’t talk about what all I do publicly enough. So since my work is kind
of the point of my Patreon,
I thought I’d do this year end update.

I basically have three full time jobs: a
teacher (and librarian (where I gave this
talk) at The Oaks Academy
(where I gave this
talk on racial reconciliation), a writer (and editor at Apex Magazine (where my story, The Legacy of Alexandria
was just published, a love letter to libraries, community, and the Kheprw Institute)), and a community activist
(and resident Afrofuturist at the Kheprw Institute/founding member of Café Creative). They all function
to provide platforms to do work in the community.

KHEPRW
INSTITUTE/CAFÉ CREATIVE

The Kheprw Institute is a grassroots organization that trains up young leaders. The mantra is “Community Empowerment Through Self Mastery” which highlights the focus on developing people’s capacity to think and act critically to improve themselves, their community, and speak from their experiences. By elevating community vision, leadership and voice creating shared prosperity in under-invested communities, we want to build community wealth (I’m also part of their grants team).

(In this pic, l-r, Kheprw Institute co-founder, Imhotep Adisa; me, The Learning Tree founder, DeAmon Harges; and community griot, Januarie York).

We had two major initiatives that launched this year. Alkhemy and Café Creative and Alkhemy. Alkhemy is a 3,000 square foot workspace located in the Concord Building. It is equipped with modern furnishings with an open-office design and high-speed internet. It’s a great place to work alone, meet others or host small meetings. Kheprw Institute collaborated with Forward Cities to launch a pilot entrepreneur hub there for under-resourced entrepreneurs to work, develop skills and build their network. It opened February 18th to much fanfare with the goal of gauging community needs and collecting information to adapt and scale the project. However, the entrepreneurial incubator and co-working space is on hiatus as the COVID-19 crisis resolves itself. Alkhemy made the pivot to virtual workshops and other collaborations.

Cafe Creative is an artist coworking space, performance venue and art gallery focused on supporting local artists and creating community and culture. The work of Afrofuture Fridays and Mo*Con fall under its auspices. We’re in the process of renovating the basement of the 16 Park Building, where artists will have access to the space and tools of their art (for example, studio space) for free use.

We, too, had to do a major pivot due to Covid-19. Once the pandemic lockdown began, I began writing from my front porch. I soon declared it my “coffeeshop, with my neighbors as the regulars.” After that pronouncement, artists began dropping by and I began mentoring artists and having conversations. One of the things that has arose from all of my porch meetings is RE-GROUP. It’s a series of conversations with Indiana artists about how they are charting their way forward despite the pandemics. Officially a partnership between the Indiana Arts Commission and Café Creative, it’s me and my co-host, Anna Tragesser. Here are some of the conversations we’ve had so far:

–Re-Group:
With Clint Breeze

–Re-Group
– 11/11/20 (w/ Anna Powell Denton)

–Re-Group
– 10/28/20 (w/ Diop Adisa)

–Re-Group – 10/21/20
(w/ Maurice Broaddus)

For
those wanting more about how KI operates, I wrote this piece:

–The
Kheprw Institute: Nurturing Community During a Pandemic (Donate here)

AFROFUTURE FRIDAY

On the second Friday evenings of the month, the
Kheprw Institute/Café Creative launched Afrofuture Fridays, using Afrofuturism as
our framework to re-examine events of the past, critique the present day
dilemmas of the African Diaspora, and create a space to imagine and dream of
possible futures. The series brings community residents together to have hard
conversations about identity, race, economic models, systems of organization,
and justice but one that is rooted in innovation and imagining a hopeful
future. From music to film, discussions center around various forms of
Afrofuturist content as well as invited guest speakers who are authors,
artists, and visionaries creating Afrofuturist content. Our tagline is “building
a better future together.” This year we did:

–Afrofuture
Friday (A Mo*Con sponsored Saturday edition): A Conversation with Nisi Shawl
and K. Tempest Bradford

–AFROFUTURE
FRIDAY: A Conversation with Maurice Broaddus

–AFROFUTURE
FRIDAY: Black Futurists and Community Work

–AFROFUTURE
FRIDAYS – Curating the End of the World/Creating New Futures: A Conversation
with Dr. Reynaldo Anderson, Sheree Renee Thomas, and Andrew Rollins

–Afrofuture
Friday: Parable of the Sower Discussion

–Afrofuture
Fridays – Pimp My Airship by Maurice Broaddus

I ran a workshop using Afrofuturist
worldbuilding to model community work for Spirit & Place, exploring how to
build a new future, Corona Dialogues: Dreaming of New Worlds. The application
of science fiction to community work is something I plan on doing more of. Since
I was asked the question “what does it mean to be the resident
Afrofuturist at the Kheprw Institute?” quite a bit, I wrote this: Radical
Black Re-Imaginings: Afrofuturism and Community Work

BOARDS

I’ve been asked to sit on the advisory board
for the Center for Ray Bradbury
Studies. It’s located on the campus of IUPUI and holds a significant
portion of Bradbury’s papers and artifacts. Jon Eller has been the director
(he’s transitioning into retirement), and he and Bradbury were friends, which
is why Bradbury left Jon in charge of his collections. The center has been
working to get the documents archived, digitized, and accessible to the public.
Meanwhile, researchers can visit the center, which has re-created Bradbury’s
office.

I was also asked to join the board of the daVinci Pursuit. “Connecting Art,
Science and Community,” the daVinci Pursuit brings together artists,
scientists, and community members to create unique interactions and
conversations.

The thing about year end reviews is that
looking back on what all we did, I’M EXHAUSTED! Next month, I’ll dive back in
exploring some potential new partnerships and programs and conversations. Thank
you for your support.

As
a bonus, I’ll leave you with this mini-documentary about Premium Blend, a local
jazz band, and their latest project, Vices. It features many of the artists I
work with in the community. Plus, they’re just great.

As always, I appreciate your support of my Patreon. Words cannot express how encouraging it is, especially during these dark times. I really appreciate it…and each and every one of you. Thank you!

I launched a Patreon because some friends wanted a way to help support the work that I do in the community. If you would like to support it (and receive updates on the work that’s being done) please feel free to join. Thank you so much!
Become a Patron!

ETA: A STORY (WHEREIN YOUR HERO IS LARGELY AT FAULT)

So, for the last few weeks, my mother (Lieta Broaddus), who lives with us, and I have been in an unspoken cold war. It started when I criticized her spaghetti dish.

WHERE WERE Y’ALL WHEN I FIXED MY LIPS TO CORRECT A 75-YEAR-OLD, BLACK, JAMAICAN WOMAN’S RECIPE? Praise Jesus, I’m still here.

You’d have thought I learned my lesson a long time ago. The reason I’m a good cook is because of a joke I made a long time ago. My then newlywed white wife (Sally J Broaddus) fixed me a casserole. I *jokingly* referred to casseroles as a possible hate crime. I then spent the next thirteen years making the family meals.

Anyway, the following week, my mom made a meat sauce and may have said with NO ATTITUDE AT ALL that I should make the pasta. The next day, I made Chicken Marsala.

Things kept escalating. The last two weeks featured her making Chicken Maryland (“mom, that’s not chicken Maryland. That’s jerk chicken you topped with pineapple.” #praiseJesusagain) I responded with Chicken Bruschetta with angel hair pasta and balsamic glaze.

My wife: You know how uncomfortable it makes me when you and your mom fight. *switches from her jeans to sweatpants* #justkeepeating

After negotiations, we decided to join forces for Thanksgiving. My mom would make the main dishes. I was relegated to sides.

My oldest son (Reese Broaddus): I don’t want your Karen macaroni. Have your brother make it.

See? I’m not the only one with jokes. My now former son got his way.

My brother (Anthony Broaddus): I’ll make it, but that’s the only time I’m leaving this couch. Come pick it up. And when you do, take my trash out. #missiongoals

Thus, our meal came together. As I sit here in my formal dinner attire (my Wakandan shirt and my Nap or Nothing sweatpants), I’m thankful for friends and family. Speaking of, I’m about to text my sister something obnoxious, that way it’s a typical family dinner.

It’s that time of the year, when all the good little authors and creatives to post their lists of eligible works as we head into the SFF awards season. I have a novella, a novelette, and a couple short stories for consideration.

NOVELLA

Sorcerers (NeoText Books)

EXCLUSIVE: AMC has optioned the rights to Sorcerers, a novella by co-writers Maurice Broaddus and Otis Whitaker and featuring illustrations by internationally renowned artist Jim Mahfood, with plans to adapt it into a series. The short story is a psychedelic urban fantasy about a 30-year-old man from Harlem who comes into his own as a hip hop-inspired sorcerer. It follows Malik Hutchins, the black sheep to one of the most successful families in Harlem. Malik couch-surfs with relatives, parties with his girlfriend, and ghostwrites rhymes for local rappers for a few bucks to finance his lifestyle—but when cocky Malik sells two warring rappers the same verse, he paints a target on his own back. Then on his deathbed, Malik’s beloved grandfather Pop-Pop reveals that Malik is a sorcerer, in the great tradition of African sorcery born on the plains of the rift valley before the beginning of time. Malik is thrown headlong into a quest that winds through the streets of Harlem, to the rural South, and places much farther beyond, places he’s only visited in dreams…

NOVELETTE

“Bound By Sorrow” in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

From SFF Reviews: “Thematically, this novella is about grief, death, and choices. It is also a story about the power of stories. Its main character, Dinga, and his wise-ass friend, Gerard, are on a quest to deliver Dinga’s dead sister to a city where gods reside, the Dreaming City. Along the way, their journey is interspersed by stories told by Dinga and others they encounter. These narratives give a story-within-a-story feel to the piece that help further illustrate Dinga’s life and mission while building a richly layered history and mythology. You may need to read the story twice to fully grasp all its nuances, but your time will be well spent.”

SHORT STORIES

The Legacy of Alexandria in Apex Magazine



“Cities of Refuge” in Escape Pod

Some of the SFF awards:

Nebula Awards
If you’re a member of the SFWA (any type), you can nominate a work for the Nebula Awards right now. The deadline for nominations is February 15, 2019 at 11:59 PM PST.

Hugo Awards
Nominations for the Hugo Awards aren’t open yet, but they will be early in 2020. In order to nominate and vote in the awards, you must be an attending or supporting member of Worldcon 77 (last year’s), Worldcon 78 (this year’s), or Worldcon 79 (next year’s).

World Fantasy Awards
Attendees of the World Fantasy Convention can nominate works to be considered for the World Fantasy Award.

MY JUNIOR YEAR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER LEFT THIS COMMENT ON MY BLOG! MR. BROWN AND MR. COMBS (MY SENIOR ENGLISH TEACHER) FOREVER CHANGED THE TRAJECTORY OF MY LIFE! I AM BESIDE MYSELF RIGHT NOW!!!

A couple stories of mine have been published on Serial Box:

El is a Spaceship Melody

Originally published on Beneath Ceaseless Skies, it’s now narrated by Eboni Flowers over on Serial Box. “On a spaceship powered by jazz, the ship’s AI approaches sentience while dissent builds between the captain and a group of rebels who want to change the music.”

The Migration Suite: A Study in C Sharp Minor

Originally published on Uncanny Magazine, it’s now narrated by Eboni Flowers over on Serial Box. “The movement—both willing and not—of African people, from prehistory to the stars. A story told in five stanzas.”

Here’s the text from my talk at the Indiana Library Federation Conference. Thanks to Indiana Humanities for the opportunity.

“DREAMING OF A BETTER WORLD” aka How Pimp My Airship Came to Be

Back
in 2009, a horror writer wondered why I kept talking about my latest story,
“Pimp My Airship,” because it was such a departure from what I usually did. I’d
spent the previous ten years building my reputation as a horror writer, having
already published a couple dozen short stories by that time. But I sensed, even
then, that this story was the beginning of something new for me. A new direction.
A new potential. Because I was looking to write something new.

Now
some of you know how the story “Pimp My Airship” came into being. It began as a
joke on Twitter. I didn’t know much about the steampunk genre. Folks dressed in
Victorian clothing and there were a lot of gears … that was about it. Enough to
make a joke on Twitter: “I’m gonna write a steampunk story with an all-black
cast and call it ‘Pimp My Airship.’” That was it. That was the post. I was
ready to move on but then a half dozen editors reached out to me for me to send
the story to them when it was finished.

I’m
never so published, especially then, that when an editor asks to see work that
I’d pass up the opportunity. But I knew that I needed to do more research on
the genre.

Steampunk
is weird to explain. It’s a retro-futuristic subgenre that mixes future
technology and aesthetic designs with culture inspired by the 19th-century
Victorian era. Basically, imagine alternate histories where future tech is
powered by steam. Think H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen.

So
I began reading a lot in the genre, mostly short stories. The anthology Extraordinary
Engines and the VanderMeer’s anthologies, Steampunk and Steampunk
II. After several dozen stories, I couldn’t escape this feeling that this
genre had this weird … unspoken longing. Like it looked by to the good ol’ days
… without people that looked like me. It was like a subgenre with a near
systematic erasure of black people.

And
I was like … “I can’t do this.”

But
I really wanted to send something to these editors. So I popped in some
Parliament-Funkadelic and began dreaming. I got caught up in their mythology, starting
with the Star Child and the idea of a Bop Gun, and imagined an alternate history.
One where America lost the Revolutionary War and remains a colony of England.
I’m also a British citizen. One where Jamaica is its own world power. My mom’s
a Jamaican citizen. One where black people are in the world and a part of the
culture. I’m, uh, black.

I
began telling the tale of three conspirators:

A
lay-about named Sleepy

A
professional social agitator named 120 Degrees of Knowledge Allah

A
rogue, female scientist named Deaconess Blues

United
to free the Star Child, a popular social activist and community organizer, from
prison. Three of my favorite characters I’ve ever created.

The
story was published in Apex Magazine. Its editor, Jason Sizemore, was a huge
champion of the original short story. I originally sent it to him for an
anthology he was editing because Apex was on hiatus. He wrote me back and said
“I’m rejecting this story because it’s too good for this anthology. I’m
bringing back Apex, let me publish it in there.” 

The
story was well-received. Um, really well-received. Requests began pouring in
for more stories. Hang on, let me back up: there was one critique, a constant
in many of the reviews. Folks kept saying that I’d crammed a whole novel into a
short story. People wanted to see more of the world. Well, two things:

-One,
I do the same level of world-building work for a short story as I do a novel

-Two,
they were only paying me for a short story. So that’s all they were getting.

But
the requests came in which gave me the excuse to build out the “Pimp My
Airship” world a bit.

            -I wrote more about Deaconess Blues
and her history at Oxford University

            -I wrote about Knowledge Allah and
his involvement with his activism

            -I wrote about the Star Child, first
in a Jamaican steampunk novelette, then in my novella, Buffalo Soldier

Soon
I had over a dozen stories, novelettes, and novella … but I never wrote about
Sleepy.

A
few years ago, not long after Buffalo Soldier sold in 2015, I began
thinking about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was in a sales
job, in my early 40s, and I had given myself permission to dream about
possibilities for my life. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to make my
community a better place. I wanted to make my world a better place, leave a legacy
worthy of my children.

But
I’m just a writer.

I
was talking about making a major leap from my job to re-create my life with
purpose and intentionality, but the only recent thing on my resume, my main
skillset, was being a writer. I had no idea how to go about leveraging my gift
for the benefit of community, no idea what a possible job or future could look
like—and mind you, none of this process made my wife, mother of my two
children, nervous at all—so I did what I always do when I’m unsure about things.

I
wrote.

Now
you have to understand that I write for me. I’d never tried to turn a short
story into a novel before, so it was an interesting experiment.

Thus
I returned to the world of “Pimp My Airship.” Particularly Sleepy. I wanted to
work some things out in my head and Sleepy was the perfect vehicle. I was
inspired by my friend J.J., a poet and rapper. Watching him with his gift, not
even realizing how gifted he was.

At
the same time, I was looking at what kind of art-based work was going on in my
community. a journey that took me through Second Story to The Learning Tree to
the Kheprw Institute.

Mirroring
Sleepy’s journey, starting in a spot where you’re comfortable in life. Got a
9-5, bills paid, and can do a little thing of his own at night at a poetry
spot. You know, life was comfortable. That “I gots mine” mentality.

Only
to have your world intruded upon and expanded by the reality of the system that
controls the pillars of your world:

-redlining

-over-policing

-predatory
capitalism

-poverty
criminalized

-mass
incarceration

-Given
the context of turn of the century Indianapolis to add the weight of history to
the lens of viewing those issues.

-Being
opened up to the reality that the world is bigger than “the I”—that there’s in
fact a “we,” your community—that puts “the I” in context.

-What
it means to examine your gifts, use them to find and define your voice, and
organize into a chorus of voices that can leverage change.

All
while having a fun romp.

Because
I gots jokes. This entire journey began with a joke and the name of the book is
still Pimp My Airship. And while I want to make you think, the other
part of my job is to entertain.

Can
I tell you a secret? This book was never supposed to be published. Like I said,
I write for me. Once it was finished, I put it in a drawer. I’d just signed a two-book
middle grade book deal and was mid-doing the work of what would be a three book
science fiction deal. In 2018, I was a co-host of the podcast Writing
Excuses. On one episode, I was asked about the strangest hero’s journey I’d
written. So I talked about Sleepy.

He’s
a dude who just wants to be left alone so that he can enjoy his little corner
of the world. Every character has to have a motivation, a goal, some thing they
are trying to achieve or work toward. Well, Sleepy just wants to get high. And
I won’t let him. I keep piling ever increasing obstacles in front of him just
to keep him from getting high. Criminals underworld. The Klan. Riots. Prison.
Giant robots. You know, the usual.

When
the episode aired, my inbox started filling with people asking where they could
get the book. I couldn’t just say “in my drawer,” so I reached out to Jason of
Apex Books. He’s my friend, but I also respect his taste as an editor. It was a
weird conversation.

I
said “as a friend, I need you to look at some pages and tell me if I have
something worth revisiting to get it into publishing shape.” And I sent three
chapters.

He
said “Yes you do. I’ll take it.”

“You
can’t just call dibs on stuff.”

“Well,
I’m about to announce that this book is coming out in May, so you better start
working on the re-write.”

We
were now friends. We could negotiate like that. Plus, I secretly wanted the
project to land at Apex to bring things full circle. I wanted to write
something that would excite him as much as the original story had.

He
called dibs in October of 2018. Pimp My Airship was published in May of
2019. And the whirlwind around this book hasn’t stopped.

I
have to say, I’m pleased with how the book has landed with readers. And it has
been recognized. It’s changed my life in a lot of ways, took my writing in a
different direction, but the key was in why I wrote the book in the first
place. The journey started by giving myself permission to dream.

When
you have a clear picture of what you want to work toward in the future, you can
create a roadmap to begin those first steps in the present. Figure out what
your gifts are, what you’re passionate about, and live your life in light of
that. Be a part of a community that you can dream alongside. One who holds you
accountable. Who sees your potential and keeps pushing you to be the best
version of you.

In
the end, that’s what Pimp My Airship is about.

Thank
you for listening.