Writers that have shaped my world.

SjP tagged me about 25 writers who have shaped my world.

So I did a quick list of those writers whose work has had an effect on me one way or another.

So in no order they are,

1. Steven Barnes
2. Edwidge Danticat
3. Tananarive Due
4. Walter Mosely
5. Robert E. Howard
6. Charles Saunders
7. Toni Morrison
8. Jemlle Hill
9. Langston Hughes
10. Cornell West
11. Notorious BIG
12. Jay-Z
13. Nas
14. Lance Tooks
15. Alex Haley
16. Sun Tzu
17. Donald Goines
18. Iceberg Slim
19. Lauryn Hill
20. Frantz Fanon
21. Saul Williams
22. Terry Brooks
23. Willie Lynch
24. Dr. Seuss
25. Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Good Read: Warrior Women: The Amazons Of Dahomey And The Nature Of War

I like history books in particularly African history but the best ones are not from the United States which, outside of purchasing slaves, has had very limited involvement with Africa when compared to the Europeans and Arabs who have been up and down the continent and written extensively about it.





While looking for something to read I came across this book by Robert B. Edgerton Warrior Women: The Amazons Of Dahomey And The Nature Of War

The title and subject had me hook so I bit.

From the inside flap.

Although warfare is typically conducted by men, in various places and at various times women have fought bravely and well, and in the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 19th century, they formed the elite corps of a successful army. Many European visitors to Dahomey commented favorably on their military bearing, finding them more impressive in discipline and maneuver than male Dahomean soldiers. When France invaded Dahomey in the early 1890s, their superior weapons won the war, but all those French officers and men who wrote about their bloody battles against Dahomey declared not only that these women warriors were superior to male Dahomean soldiers, but also that they were the equals of the French. Robert B. Edgerton describes the history of these "Amazons" (as they became known) and their recruitment, training, and battle experience. Of particular interest to scholars interested in culture and gender today, these women believed that in order for them to carry out their martial roles, they had to transform themselves into men. How this was done, how the Amazons lived and fought, and what their experiences might mean for the understanding of women and warfare both in the past and the present are the subjects of Warrior Women.

It was a very good read and I managed to knock it down in one day.

But it left me hungry later for more like Chinese food, I taught the author could have gave more details and background history on all sides, in this case he was a little to focus, if you can believe, for a historian.

Here is some more from Wikipedia

King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of royal bodyguards after building a new palace at Abomey. Houegbadja's son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed these bodyguards into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey's defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle.

The group of female warriors was referred to as Ahosi, meaning "Our Mothers" in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey.[1] From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Amazons were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Amazons consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army.

European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Amazons. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the "incredible courage and audacity" of the Amazons.

The last surviving Amazon died in 1979.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahomey_Amazons

I recommend it as a good beach chair read.

Good reading: Lion's Blood by Steven Barnes

It's hard to find quality black orienated black sci fi/ fabtasy novels out there, but they are out there.

One of my favorite authors is Steven Barnes, and my favorite work of his is the first in a series of novels that reverses history on it's head.

Check the review:

From Publishers Weekly
"If you would not fear the lion, you must be a lion yourself," notes an old Swahili proverb, and it's that fearlessness that gives Barnes's moving epic its strength and power. What if the captives on those long ago slave ships had been predominantly white and the slave owners predominantly black and brown? This alternative historical novel dares to dissect the differences and similarities between Muslim and Christian ethics, no easy task in these troubling times. By focusing on two engaging main characters, Irish Christian Aidan O'Dere, unwilling slave, and African Muslim, Kai ibn Jallaleddin ibn Rashid, uneasy master, Barnes manages to achieve extraordinary balance and insight into both worlds with unflinching honesty as these two become friends against the odds. Greedy white Northmen catch and sell into slavery the young O'Dere and his family, who arrive in the New World in 1863 (or 1279 Higira time). But instead of the United States, they encounter a divided Bilalstan, ruled by Zulus, Arabs, Aztecs, Vikings and Indians still unable to choose peace over war. As O'Dere strives to find his way to freedom and Rashid strives to figure out whether freedom is just a dream, their lives connect on a battlefield both metaphorical and physical. Interwoven subplots enhance the vivid characterizations, adding romance, Sufi mysticism and philosophical musings regarding martial arts, religion, family and power.

What gets me is the attention to details and customs of the various African tribes and how they would fit in the New World, I read it through in a day, that good for me.

What I have Read (yes there are black men who do read books):

I enjoy reading a good book something my mother forced upon me as a kid that I appreciate now as an adult (back than though whew!).

I am one of those dudes that can read more than one thing at a time, in fact while in college I always have some type of book not dealing with school with me.

The courses I have been taking of late have been heavy so I have kept my reading lite.

As in Graphic Novel lite.

Graphic Novels are the cross between comics and novels, and should be respected in my opinion as literature.

Same respect you would give anything on the New York Times top sellers list. (Ever tried reading the books off that list? Is it me or are most those books high browed bullshit?)

Any way what I read during finals was:

Lucifer's Garden of Verses: The Devil on Fever Street (Lucifers Garden of Verses 1) by Lance Tooks

I remember buying this brothers first novel Narcissa off a New York side walk. I was impressed with the simple yet at the same time detailed and emotional art work as well as the story line of a young black woman in Spain. I was fiending for his work since. (In fact if I am not mistaken he may have been the street vendor I brought it from.)

Lance Tooks


Along comes Lucifer a first in what is a series of GN following old scratches dirty work on Earth. The art work is modern here with him using pics as well as his pencil to get the pics out. Here is a review of the book.

From Publishers Weekly
That perennial wellspring of comic inspiration, the prince of darkness, is back. This time, the devil inhabits a b&w world, mostly inked and occasionally Photoshopped. We find Tooks's Lucifer awakening after a hundred-year nap, just in time for Armageddon, which is scheduled to occur a week after the story opens. Lucifer's henchmen, Beelzebub and Belial, are thoroughly up to date Kangol-wearing characters—this Lucifer walks today's urban streets. Eager to get their boss back into top evildoing condition, Lucifer's pals suggest that he re-enter the world of misanthropy by seducing a righteous woman: Black Lily Baptiste, a former prostitute who found God after her pimp beat her unconscious but accidentally left her with a winning lottery ticket. Her faith is strong—so strong, in fact, that when the devil shows up as a muscle-bound yet gentle man wearing a tight black T-shirt, the tables are turned and Lucifer ends up being the one who falls. But just when it looks like the devil really might leave the demonic world, there's a final plot twist. Tooks's story lacks complexity, but the world he draws is an appealing one, its sassy denizens rendered with energy. He's at his best conjuring up secondary players: mischievously ambitious demons, squabbling kids and ancillary characters reading their work at the poetry slam.

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