Credibility, Natives, and better life ways than Capitalism.

Credibility and trust can take decades to build up. 

It can be smashed in an instant.

Rebuilding it is harder.

Know your friends, and hold them to account.

There are Native life ways that reinforce this in matters that "Capitalism" and "Civilization" fail to.

For us, in my family & Rez, that means the richest of us are measured by how much we give away, or help others in our group, or inter-tribally. (You may have heard the term Inter-tribal at Powwows.) "Wealth" was measured by our generosity.

A generosity which Colonizers and Settlers abuse(d), to DEVASTATING effect, that I'm sure you've heard about. (Natives being disappeared and genocides, etc.)

(a few digressions to follow)
Colonizers for the purposes of my thread are the First Contact Generations of NonNatives (European mostly)

Settlers are the (not Black*) generations that lived and live here now and act as if this land is "their land."

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rRnHx3yVuf4…

(*Black People are neither Settlers or Colonizers, but instead they are the descendants of the Enslaved People, and it's NOT my place to talk about that in any detail except to refer you to the Black Natives  I know. Contact me)

Back to the wealth thing...

Capitalism is a demon. It will feed and crush as many humans, other living beings, and this entire planet if it can. Even its most beloved supporters will one day (soon) be crushed by the cancer that is "eternal profit growth."

But Indigenous peoples have worked with the planet's environments to live relatively stable lives for tens of thousands of years. We hoard stories and moments with our families, not Things. Collect wealth in jokes, and in oral histories, not stocks and bonds, collect driftwood for a warm fire at night surrounded by those we love, not bills and cars or houses or what have you.

we do this by (young people will hate this part) listening to our elders, and Listening to Our Elders. The world is a big scary place sometimes, but our grandparents and our tribal Elders have seen harder times. (we were chased, hunted and murdered by the tens of millions & still are) There is always a push and pull between generations. But for Indigenous people (this one at least) revering our Elders is second only Babies and those that carry them. Elders and babies are SACRED to us. 

Something I've learned in my 9+ years being a parent? I lean on my mom's advice and help just as fiercely as I will react like a pissed off Kodiak if you threaten my child.

Work together with your friends and chosen family, including those "boomers" others denigrate.  Native "Boomers" are still VERY important to me, because they are often also our tribal elders and our ancestral knowledge keepers. And for decades they protected us, died for us, and suffered for us.  But not just anyone can be an Elder. and these tweets are a life lesson this 42 year old Native learned at terrible cost.

Credibility and trust can take decades to build up. 

It can be smashed in an instant.

rebuilding it is harder. I hope I can rebuild mine, not so I can be an Elder, but so that I can have the right kind of wealth.

Because Capitalism is a demon.

This tweet essay-thread brought to you by my Patreon Patrons. all 295 of them. This Patron essay is also brought to you by Approximal, by Inter-tribal relations with members of the Diné people, and by 14,000 of Anishinaabe Lifeways. Miigwetch to my families, my clan, and all my friends and supporters.

If you like this, you can join my Patreon today for as little as $1 month. (Ironic, I know, but you wouldn’t want me to be in charge of ending Capitalism by myself, so I’m forced to ask.)

337 words on Racism

When you go to prison, you can insult the guards.

But you cannot replace them, fire them, or in any other way, hurt them (riots take large groups, and you WILL pay a high price for that.)

why

Because in prison the guards have the power.

In a prison you cannot oppress the guards. Try it. You will get tased, thrown into solitary confinement, and worse. The guards might get their feelings hurt, hell you might even kill one of them, but as a whole, the guards have ALL THE POWER in that system It’s the same way with racism. 

This country was designed by white people for white people. White people have the power (See Congress, Wall Street  CEO’s, and the Court System.) Whites can literally shoot at cops and more often than not, they are taken into custody alive & well.White women can call the cops on non white people for simple WAITING IN A FUCKING STARBUCKS FOR FRIENDS TO ARRIVE, or having Native Faces, or Barbecuing, and the cops will help them. 

While Natives, Black People, and other PoC are shot dead for literally nothing by the cops. This is how the system was designed. It was designed by whites for whites. Natives, Black folks and people of color are prisoners of white supremacy in this system. Yes, we can spew epithets at white folk all day long, but who do the cops back when they show up, guns drawn? Racism is about power. You cannot oppress the powerful if you are powerless. Sure its unfair when a Native woman calls white people a plague of Settlers, but so is being shot because you’re a Black man wearing a hoodie. Your feelings are not worth people’s lives. 

Until the Power is removed from White Supremacy, until white supremacy is dismantled, white people will benefit, even when PoC are calling them names, and what not. Because in the Settler State that is America, they are the guards, and the rest of us are the prisoners. 

TERMINAL UPRISING, REVIEW

Terminal Uprising, available Feb 12th from all fine booksellers

TLDR; Must Read, well worth it at thrice the price.

What would you do if you awoke from a coma in a hospital, and the Doctors’ had told you that you made yourself go insane before, and had mindlessly killed someone? What if the Doctors found you and took you in, fixed your mind, trained you, made you tougher, and gave you a job?

Would you feel guilty? Thankful?

What would you do if you found out 

(SPOILER FOR THE FIRST BOOK, TERMINAL ALLIANCE)

that in fact it was the Doctors themselves who made you this way, and that you didn’t ruin your own life, but that they did?

Jim C Hines’s protagonist, Marion ‘Mops’ Adamopoulos, (who spent twelve years gratefully working in a spaceship; not as a fighter pilot nor a dashing space captain, but as a janitor,) learns that her species’ alien saviors were actually the ones that had caused Humanity to become mindlessly feral and terrifying. This upsets her, because the aliens had remade much of humanity into their grateful foot soldiers. For years much of humanity was nothing more than enlisted grunts rebuilt to kill, die and serve. 

When something terrible happens that makes a portion of the human crew go feral ‘Mops’ is left in command, but other things happen and things go from worse to really bad. With little to no experience amongst her ragtag survivors, she is thrust into the role of rogue captain of an lawless alien ship.

Her former saviors can’t let the galaxy know what really happened to Humanity, so they are very eager to silence the entire crew to keep the universe unaware.

Well, I hate to say it but…

Mops fails, and her whole crew dies and the second book is about her life as a ghost in space…

…just kidding. But let me say this, in Book 1, the characters are well developed and thoroughly fleshed out, and people you root for. The ending is innovative, and a fine ending to the premise, but Book II Terminal UPRISING takes that premise and runs out the door with it. It includes action packed scenes, but also a shocking new secret, and characters that you can fall in love with all over again. 

Mops and her crew face a new challenge with new enemies and new allies, as Adamopoulos is forced to come up with inventive solutions to combat and logistical problems she was never trained for, to guard humanity’s greatest treasures from absolute destruction. 

And several of her solutions are hilarious. This is not a grim dark struggle, but Terminal Uprising has some good up and downs, and I was constantly surprised by funny scenes.

(All I will say about this is look out for the  ‘space whales.’)

In closing I just want to say that this book is better than the first, and if you liked Alliance, Uprising is an absolute must read. If you’re new, go pick up Book 1 AND 2 so that you don’t miss a beat of this smart, hilarious thrill ride. I cannot wait for book 3!

Terminal Alliance Review

TERMINAL ALLIANCE by Jim C Hines is one of those titles that lends itself to the idea of the small screen as a multi season TV show helmed by the folks who did The Expanse. TERMINAL ALLIANCE picks up at a fast clip, carefully setting the stage for the larger story behind the twist, all the while giving the reader enjoyable, relatable characters I couldn’t help but root for.

These hapless out of place humans are way out of their depth, but how these reformed wild humans turned space janitors approach each problem left me howling with laughter. This is a strong start to what I hope is a long lasting series. I highly recommend it for you and anyone who enjoys rocketing and rolling sci fi.

I HAVE A PATREON

BUT I ALSO HAVE A NEW STORY OUT! GET MY STORY HERE FOR LIKE $3! Apex Magazine Issue 99 - Apex Publications BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT!

From Pixabay

ALSO MY PATREON, WHICH HAS 94 PATRONS, CAN BE FOUND HERE! WEEKLY POEMS! BIMONTHLY STORIES! INSULTOGRAMS, PERSONAL POEMS! ART! JOIN HERE!

Natives Killed in The USA and Canada in 2017

I started tracking names last year. This is this year's list, so far. It (like the list for the year before it) is incomplete for many reasons. Not all murders are reported, not every murder reported is listed as an Indigenous person's death, and of course I can't reliably track anything south of the USA or around the Indigenous world because I do not have access to accurate reporting data. This is a volunteer task, and one I hate doing. But as far as I can tell, no major media is tracking these murders, and people need to know. 

1. Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, 28. Two Spirit woman

2. Jeanenne Fontaine, 29.

3. Ivan Wilson Drags Wolf 24.

4. Anthony Joseph Raine age 20 months.

5. Wendy Carlick, 51.

6. Sarah Macintosh, 53.

7. a 19 year old woman in Sagkeeng (family prefers to not publicize her name)

8. Jimmy Smith – Kramer

9. Zachary N. Bearheels

10. Pekelo Sanchez

CONVENIENCE

They came from mud. For one hundred thousand years they struggled. Crawling down from the trees, walking into the caves,  salvaging worms, creating tribes, learning fire. They learned to adapt to the weather, learned to pray, learned to dance. They spent their days devising language, tamingwolves and breeding dogs, making weapons, sewing clothes, making babies, building pyramids, roads,  massive earthen mounds and two thousand year old calendars. And they created fireworks and discovered mathematics and science and mastered agriculture and trade and civilization, which was, ostensibly an excuse for a invention called war, which was most truthfully defined as killing anything that threatened them.  

They even made it to space. They left their precious mother planet, and visited a nearby moon. That was as far as they made it as a species. 

They didn’t actually murder each other with nuclear weapons that could vaporize the planet’s surface, no, what did them in was the individual decision to prioritize comfort and convenience over survival, over living. They built machines to make everything more convenient. Travel, food, homes, clothing, even the weather could be controlled by machines! At least the weather inside their artificial caves! They made satellites that watched the weather, watched the earth’s temperatures, and her storms. They tested machines that measured the pollution their great Convenience Machines farted into the air for them, and soon generations of new children were born who had never looked to the horizon and not seen brown clogging up a sad blue sky. Then a brown sky. Then a black sky. In the end what undid them was famine, disease, over crowding, and all of it created by the run away storms and heat and brown skies their machines had conveniently made for them.  Horrific acid rains mixed with the brown smoggy sky and the whole planet’s worth of living creatures died in the mud of their conveniently created machines. 

Do not be silent

Fight now, in whatever ways you can. Speak. Call, Resist. Make Tyranny afraid to show its face in the streets, shout down every cowardly lie, face every snarling demon-hearted hater head on, and do not break. In time the historians will know whether our silence birthed their violence, or if we rose up and resisted, fought back. Do not let history ask where you were. When your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends, and bonded-heart families are at risk, march, fight. Do not be silent. Rage. Scream. Do not be silent in the face of Lies.  Burn bright with truth, and the righteous anger that is your birthright, the urge to fight for and protect those you love, and those who cannot protect themselves. Scream your truths in the face of Lies. Rage and roar into the hate of their white eyes. Fight back big or small, so that when history asks where were you, you can answer, “I was in the middle of it all.” 

Save the human race. Now is the time, Here is the place.

Medical Fund update

Okay! I’m trying not to swamp everyone with constant updates, but here’s a teeny one! Stage one funding has raised $3270 for medical expenses, ADA housing rent and bills. WOW! Gang, I’m crying here. Two months ago I was freaking out about needing to pay for emergency surgeries, and now I’m getting donation notifications daily! You’re so awesome! 

I’ve bought a back brace to help me stay upright when walking, I’ve got a new proper sized cane, and I’ve ordered a back massager heatpad thing which hopefully will cut down on pain days. I’ve also paid down $2768 of the $5000 direct medical debt owed for my jaw surgery +follow-ups, and also used some for rent. 

So that’s the update! Thank you so much for donating, sharing, and offering good thoughts and prayers! You’re amazing, and I’m so grateful! Thank you!

Next steps if I hit the 5k goal will be stage 2 funding for possible leg/back surgery, and or dental visits. 

I have no idea why I threw this hospital scene from an anime in?

REVIEW: CLOUDBOUND

This review contains spoilers about the first book in the Boneverse Series, UPDRAFT. Go read that before you read the review here! 

Cloudbound is an adventurous tale that picks up a bit after the events in Updraft. We shift perspectives from Kirit, to Nat, who finds himself a rising voice in the post-Singer world. One of Cloudbound's greatest improvements over the series debut novel is that the pace picks up and Wilde dives right into many of the secrets from the first book, including what lies below the seemingly never ending clouds and the surface layers of Updrafts main players. 

This novel takes a darker turn as the after effects of upsetting the world order start making themselves more visible. In the wake of the collapse of a central institution, various groups maneuver to take control of the city, trying to use Heroes of the events in the first book as pawns set against each other. But if a Machiavellian plot seems a bit dry, worry not, Wilde upsets the balance early and often, forcing the reader onto a back heel with anticipation. Wilde adroitly lays out the book’s themes here organically, never missing a beat in every scene. Her characters breathe, live and suffer in their own ways in Cloudbound, struggling to survive in a fully detailed world that feels real and lived in, one that the reader is lucky to observe. And as the novel descends into the thick of things many questions from the first book are answered in mind blowing fashion, while many new questions are hinted at in a way that makes the reader pine for the third book.

Especially when you learn what’s below the clouds. Oh dear.  I won’t give anything away, but I will say that loose tongues ruin the most ardent of political ambitions. 

Cloudbound pulls no punches in the fantastic third act, and the world-building seamlessly grounds the story in a meaty realism. Wilde is easily a contender for the top 5 best SFF writers of our era, earning her place alongside NK Jemisin and Nnedi Okafor. I cannot wait for Horizon, the next book in the Cloudbound Series. 

Chrome Crash

My new story Chrome Crash, will be available in ABSOLUTE POWER: TALES OF QUEER VILLAINY extremely soon, and you can preorder the anthology right here! Besides my story, awesome authors like Merc Rustad, JD Glass, Claire Monserrat Jackson, and Erica Friedman as well as others!

Click the book to purchase it from Northwest Press!

Book Review: Fran Wilde's UPDRAFT

Imagine living in the air, flying as free as a peregrine. Now imagine the sky exploding into a bloody red maw, a vicious mouth rimmed with glass teeth. This is the world of Fran Wilde’s Bone Universe.

The series starts with the richly layered Updraft, where we discover a human society living far above the clouds, on tiers connected to large towers of living, growing bone. 

Click the book art to buy the book on Amazon

Kirit Densira is an aspiring sky trader, hoping to soar on the air currents like her city-renowned mother. She dreams of flying from tower to tower on wings of delicate silk, bringing fortune to her family and fame to her tower. There's just one problem with this plan.

The humans aren't alone in the skies. 

Cunning, invisible predators await them in the clouds, hidden to the eye and possessing mouths filled with with dagger sharp teeth. These creatures, called skymouths, are some of the more dangerous secrets lurking in the skies of Wilde's densely imagined and tightly written world. Another group shrouded in secrets is the city's protectors, the Singers, who possess extraordinary skills at sensing and protecting the city from skymouths. 

And after a frightening encounter, the Singers realize that Kirit posesses a rare power that they must have. So begins a wild (ahem) journey of being ripped from one's dreams and shoved into a mystery that will threaten the very city itself.

Wilde's word craft is elegant, yet wrapped with multiple plot points and twists. It's  a well paced thriller-action piece woven together with a deeper drama about a child's identity as she becomes a young woman whose abilities push her to go beyond the City's plans for her. The characters are living and breathing people with complex motives, all of which Wilde plays out like a master composer, building until the epic, climactic battle. Wilde's ability to humanize her protagonist as well as the villains really make you see the horrors these people face as they come to terms with Kirit's powers. When the twists come and the tables turn, expect to be cursing the betrayal as much as the characters themselves do.

What really made me happy on my read through was the way Wilde would tease out a subplot thread just enough to leave me thinking about it, as opposed to beating me over the head with it, and still tying up most of them before the end, in an organic fashion.

The few ties she left loose?

Well, that’s what sequels are for.... 

Shame on you, Trump voters.

Shame on you, if you voted for Trump. Shame on you for undoing all that the Greatest Generation fought against. Sham on you, Trump voters. Shame on you for turning your backs on people who were different than you, but still deserving of the same rights as you. Shame on you.

Shame on you, Trump voters, for reacting from hate and fear when Jesus said “Turn the other cheek” & healed a Roman soldier’s ear. Shame on you Trump voters for believing lies, for telling lies, and thinking that everything is going to be “ok” now. Natives have seen this under Jackson, under Lincoln, we’ve seen what’s coming. And it is not greatness. It is just hell. So shame on you Trump voters, Shame.

I will not give hate a chance. I will not work with fear or give bigotry the benefit of the doubt. I will resist this with strength. My ancestors have resisted for 525 years. We’ve lost millions more souls to the American Genocide than you know, & we resist, persist, exist. I’m not going to “stop shaming Trump voters.” I’m going to yell louder than before, shame on you for all you betrayed cause you’re afraid.

I’m not going to give a break to a man & a group that wants to break me and hate me for what I am. Shame on Trump voters & shame on him.

Resistance

1,459 days to election 2020. Man, if you thought I was a mouthy bitch to racists before.....Native people...our peoples come from 525 years of resisting white racism. Of resisting hating, and genocide, and obliteration. We will resist this.

The good news, is there are actually less racists than not, judging by the popular vote. I take heart that it's not people, it's the Settler system

Yeah, it's a half and half battle, but it's not a mandate. It's not a vacuum. What it IS, is a fight. It's a bloody war waiting for us. Too much blood has been spilled, in Sanford, in Ferguson, in Winslow, the Crow Reservation, in Neshoba County. I hope no more is spilled

Black Lives Matter, still, always & forever. Indigenous Nations matter, & so do our lives. We have resisted for 525 years. 4 more is doable. I am heartened that it is the system that has failed us, and that there aren't as many racists out there as I feared. Systems can be changed.

So yeah, I will resist. I will work to improve the lives of Indigenous people in my small ways. And to everyone scared, grieving or sad? I am too, but I am with you. And I promise

But levity aside, take time to take care of yourselves and your families. Take hope that Indigenous people have always resisted, & join us. join us at Standing Rock. Learn from your Native communities. Resist despair, and claim hope as your own. This is not the end. 

Hillary won the popular vote by 151,116. 

We have sooo much work to do. Support BLM. Support #NoDAPL Take care of yourself! A supportive way to do a good, tangibly useful thing?

Find someone vulnerable, & give them $ 

Also, feels are real. Take care of yourself

Doesn’t have to be a lot. 

$1 if you can.

Show up at actions if you can

RT if you can,

Take care of yourself too. 
Trump is not the answer. Clinton is not. Stein, Sanders? Not the answer. Black Justice, Disabled Rights & Native Sovereignty is the answer. 

Black Lives Matter. Native Nations’ Sovereignty is vital. #MMIW deserve justice#CripTheVote does good. #NoDapl, still.
The bigots, racists, and misogynists have scored a terrible victory that will lead to more deaths. Black Folks’ lives are at risk. Disabled people WILL die over this. Same w/ LGBTQIA folks. All the more reason to resist, every time. 

Native Sovereignty, Native lives, it’s all on the line. Now more than ever is the time to support one another & resist the darkness. Find your way. Take care of yourself, and take care of one another. We’ve resisted worse ( our attempted genocide) & we can fight this.

We have to. I have to, ‘cause even though I’m LGBT, disabled, & Indigenous, I have to do right by my 6 year old son. No matter what comes. 

And yes, I will need support too.  http://j.mp/2fDa9Cs or https://www.paypal.me/CyborgN8VMari . A dollar or two helps more than you know. So does sharing And if you can't support me with a $1, that's OK, RT if you can, take care of yourself too. Support #NoDAPL. Support Black lives. Resist! 

Spoonies. Take your meds. Stay hydrated. Eat. Rest. Take a self care day.

I am tired, and still fighting this infection so I'm going to go rest. To my supporters, THANK YOU, to my friends, -•hugs• others: resist!

An update for your petition on the Dakota Access pipeline:

The "Response" from the White House.

Thank you for taking the time to sign this petition using the We the People platform.

On September 9, the Department of Justice, Department of the Army, and Department of the Interior issued a joint statement about ongoing litigation involving the Dakota Access pipeline. Among other things, the statement announced the following:

“The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws. Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time. The Army will move expeditiously to make this determination, as everyone involved -- including the pipeline company and its workers -- deserves a clear and timely resolution.”

On October 10, the departments announced that:

“[t]he Army continues to review issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other Tribal nations and their members and hopes to conclude its ongoing review soon.”

Consistent with the We the People Terms of Participation, we will not comment on that ongoing review being conducted by the Army.

You may be interested, however, in hearing about some of the broader work being undertaken by the departments on infrastructure-related issues affecting tribal nations.

Last month, the departments announced they were inviting:

“[R]epresentatives from all 567 federally recognized tribes to participate in formal, government-to-government consultations on how federal decision-making on infrastructure projects can better allow for timely and meaningful tribal input.”

This consultation, with sessions scheduled to take place at locations across the country during October and November, is focused on how the federal government can better ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources and treaty rights. The sessions also explore whether changes to the existing framework are needed to promote those goals. More information about this process can be found here.

We encourage you to continue to use the We the People platform to petition the Administration to take action on policy issues you care about.

Thank you again for making your voice heard.

So, in line with Obama's half assed promises and general "It's not really my problem" attitude, the White House declines to address this in any meaningful way.

Sadly, Clinton is no better. 

The statement from director of coalitions press Xochitl Hinojosa, who oversees Hispanic, black, and women's media for the Clinton campaign, reads in full:

We received a letter today from representatives of the tribes protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. From the beginning of this campaign, Secretary Clinton has been clear that she thinks all voices should be heard and all views considered in federal infrastructure projects. Now, all of the parties involved—including the federal government, the pipeline company and contractors, the state of North Dakota, and the tribes—need to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest. As that happens, it's important that on the ground in North Dakota, everyone respects demonstrators' rights to protest peacefully, and workers' rights to do their jobs safely.

Jill Stein has openly made her opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline clear, even going so far as to get herself arrested by Morton County for "trespassing." Unfortunately, financial documents freely available on the web suggest that she's invested north of 8 million dollars in big energy and big oil funds. Stein insists this does not affect her stance, and that investing with socially just index funds is just too demanding, despite the evidence otherwise.

And well, Trump has literally invested in Dakota Access Pipeline, so I don't think more needs to be said about him, except that several Native languages have a word to describe those beings who look and act human, yet are not. 

Indigenous/Natives killed in 2016 in US/CAN

As of today, 42 Natives have been murdered, 15 by police.
( Updated 11/11/16)

The genocide against the Native Nations did not happen "long ago."

It's happening now. Ongoing
#AmericanGenocideNow

Joanne Neepin
Loreal Tsingine
Marilyn Munroe
Bradley Errol Green
Charnelle Masakeyash
Delaine Copenace
Azraya Kokopenace
Diane Pootlas
Jocelyn George
Joseph Molinaro
Raymond Gassman
Vincent Nageak III
Sherrisa Homer
Patricia Kruger
Francis Clark
Mark Nelson
Verl Bedonie
Hubert Burns Jr
Jamie Lee Brave Heart
Joey Tiah English
Cyril Weenusk
Roylynn Rides Horse
Rex Vance Wilson
Renee Davis
Jayden Eric Redden
Gustav Christianson
Kristie Hart
Sherry Ann Wounded Foot
Samantha Burnette
Phillip M. High Bear Sr.
Carla Yellowbird
Deanna Desjarlais
Colten Boushie
Todd Little Bull
Ernest Worm
Alvin R. Silversmythe
Dylan Laboucan
Cory Grey
Kira Friedman
Te'Ca Clifford
Jacqueline Salyers
Herman Bean Jr

What am I doing?

Bit of a status update!

Tweeting too much. Not writing as much fiction as I’d like, though I’m still setting words to the page almost every day. If you count my tweets, I’m getting a pretty good word count.

I’m also really sick/ill/feeling the effects of my physical disabilities piling on. I’ve had this leg infection now for months, and I have a nasty cold/virus that I cannot kick. I recently had surgery for my jaw/teeth, which was not cheap, and has in essence turned me into a digital beggar due to my Medicaid being canceled and no longer covering the gap in my Medicare payments. It’s getting to the point where I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pay off my medical debt,  afford my suddenly really expensive meds, and pay my part of rent.  Eeek! All the more reason to crak the writing whip!

I’ve also been polishing the manuscripts for various things, since getting my novel Escape Light ready for the next #DVPIT pitching session. Aside from that project the novella Withering Earth proceeds slowly but surely, and the final book in the Space Opera Trilogy is teasing me with its percolation. So maybe I can get that going too!

On the published front, I have a story in the amazing Indigenous Queer Sci-fi Fantasy anthology Love Beyond Space And Time, which is an amazing collection of Indigenous/Native written queer stories with such luminaries as Dr. Darcie Little Badger, Daniel Heath Justice, Gwen Benway,  Nathan Adler, Richard Van Camp and Cherie Dimaline to name a few. It’s an awesome collection where I feel like the newbie amongst masters, but it was a fun story to write! Go pick it up!

I also have something coming out that’s… well. It’s pretty dangerous. Head over to Erica Friedman’s website for more details. I’ll talk about this next week!

As always, I am surrounded by amazing friends, allies and family, even though some of them are only over broadband. But thank you. Thank you all so much for pulling for me. For praying for me, for holding me up when i’m crying like a baby and wanting to give up, for donating to help pay for my medical needs, buying my work, leaving reviews, and generally just making me smile. I appreciate and love you all!

See you next week!

GO GET MY LATEST SHORT STORY IN THIS AMAZING INDIGENOUS SCI FI ANTHOLOGY!

Edited by Hope L. Nicholson, Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. And my story, Imposter Syndrome is included, which is YAY! It’s the first published story I’ve had in six years, which coincides nicely with the birth of my amazing but attention-requiring kiddo! 

COVER BY INDIGENOUS ARTIST JEFFREY VEREGGE

AND RIGHT NOW YOU CAN SNAG THE EBOOK HERE

Imposter Syndrome is the short story of Aanji, a noncitizen artificial life-form who is desperate to escape a grim fate, using her human ancestors’ memories. Set several (hundred?) years after the events of Escape Light, it details one person’s attempt to reclaim her soul. It’s also very autobiographical in some spots, which is why I’m nervous and pleased as punch that the wonderful Hope L. Nicholson is publishing it, alongside amazing Indigenous authors like Doctor Darcie Little Badger, Daniel Heath Justice, Nathan Adler, Gwen Benaway, and Cherie Dimaline.

So if you like my work, make sure you preorder the book from Bedside Press, here. At just $10 it’s an amazing deal. It’s scheduled to be shipping from September 16th. I can’t wait for you to read it with me!

Natives get nothing for free. Nothing.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE GET NOTHING FOR FREE, WHATEVER WE GET IT IS PAID FOR IN BLOOD, MULTIGENERATIONAL STRUGGLES, AND SUFFERING. 

Estimates of Pre Contact North American population are 75-150 million Indigenous people. 525 years later there are only 6.4 million left . That's 68 million to 143.6 million people murdered. Not by accidental disease (it was planned) but by murder.  That's %95.6 of the total population of a people gone, with the remaining %4.4 survivors put into prisons, adopted away from families, and the survivors were  forbidden from practicing and maintaining their cultures. All so that the land could be "given" to Settlers. 

But we turned those prisons into the hearts of our cultures, we made the reservations our own, & we maintain our cultures. Our families are reuniting, our people keeping the histories and the sacred ways of our ancestors. Descendants of Settlers? We see you. 

We see your oilfields and mining operations and logging and city construction on the sacred land and bones of our people. We see you mocking our peoples and cultures as though we are long dead. We are not. We see the oil spills, the forest fires, the radiation leaks in the water. We see the inaction of your Environmental Profit Agency, the laws you write to make theft legal, the babies you've stolen. 525 years of Indigenous genocide and erasure, but we see you. We know your part in this. We see how you benefit from our deaths & erasure. Think long and hard on whose land you really sit on. Whose blood soaks the soil where your home is. Because we see you, & we remember. 

"That's all in the past! It has nothing to do with me!” you cry.

Wrong. 

We are still being murdered by Settlers and the State. In Canada, USA, and Mexico. The Dakota Access Pipeline HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH YOU. Lands are being destroyed, along with the peoples, & it has everything to do with you. It's where your food, gas, & homes come from. TODAY. And the colonizers and settlers stole an entire people, from tribes and clans and lives of their own, and treated them worse than tools. Millions of lives interrupted so people could be brutally made into nothing more than labor units. From free humans to slaves, And now the freed descendants of those Stolen People have to fear for their lives from the police—groups created to hunt them. Kids shot dead. Mothers murdered. Therapists shot, lunchroom workers killed. No, the genocide continues in Native & Black communities.

And. It. Has. Everything. To Do. With. You. 

If you live in the USA, Canada, Mexico. Indigenous & Black Genocides, ongoing, and they are for your benefit.