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.