10 Brief & Polite Directives for Most Writers

Not everyone will "get" your work. Move the hell on.

Not everyone will like your work. Move the hell on.

Some will love your work. Move the hell on.

Most will not care about your work, as most will never see your work. Move the hell on.

Eighteen million other people are having the same idea you are having right now. Write the damn thing and move the hell on.

Readers don't give the least interested damn whether you were inspired to write or not. Put the pinafore and petticoat down and move the hell on.

If given the chance to write or have sex, write. This will give the appearance of aloofness, leading to even better reclamation sex. We're kidding. Take your clothes off and stop burning daylight.

If a thousand copies of your book sell in a day, praise all the gods most high. If a single copy of your book sells in a day, praise all the gods most high.

Vacuums are for floors. A book is not a message in a bottle floating aimlessly. A book is a rock loaded in a slingshot; get your target practice in.

Respect words. They have power. If you are not going to respect words, move the hell on.

Energy = Mic-dropped Squared

Knowledge Lateef... 

is watching the watchers.

The City. Alive. Teeming. Whirling through the unknown cosmos carrying the descendants of heroes, villains, poets, and revolutionaries. Carrying us. A diaspora spread across species, tech forms, and a living, sentient world. This is a special project on many levels. It’s the largest MMO “game” black speculative fiction has seen yet, taking 18 visions and making it one world. Fiction, artwork, music, energy, blended as surely as Parliament merged universal fabrics into funk. 

Welcome to the Future. CyberFunk.

This is a project I was proud to join. This isn’t bubblegum dystopia, these stories are riffs on Earth’s current major chords. Overpopulation. Love. Systemic corruption. Exploration. Hope. Resilience and truth. Identity when the gene pool is a constant swirl of wonder. The City represents stories that actually want to say something to the world in the way that good science fiction should demand it be said: with an eye toward a better life under truthful skies.

But if your first thought is “Blacks as a major presence in space?” – maybe this isn’t the bus you’re looking for. This is The City, not The Burb. Still here? Cool. There’s work to be done. Livin’ just enough for The City won’t do. Knowledge Lateef can’t do it all.

You've got 18 warriors spitting words at you. My contribution is entitled Move, for as we know, funk not only moves it can remove.

Energy equals mic-dropped, squared. 

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The City anthology will be available as an e-book via Amazon, Barnes and Noble (Nook) and Kobo on September 25th and as a paperback at MVmedia and wherever books are sold by October 15th.  

Ready to wander the streets of The City? Lose your Tell at https://www.facebook.com/groups/cyberfunk/