E-Book First?

Dear friends, I'm at a crossroads of sorts.  I have to decide whether to continue with my fundraiser to publish this novel in all physical and electronic formats, or publish first as an E-book on Amazon, and later as a physical book.  The reason is that my GoFundMe page is at a standstill, with no contributions coming in since the last one a couple months ago.

So here's the question.  Should I go the E-book route first, or only an E-book, or just keep pushing the fundraiser and wait until the donations reach a level to permit physical publishing?

I humbly await your responses.  

Thank you!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.

On black women and the black men who hate them

My friend Christelyn Karazin just wrote a blog about this black dude who is ranting about "ugly black women" whining about how they're treated by "the black male collective".  She quoted word for word some of what the guy wrote, and it's atrocious, in all respects.  Not just the lack of correct writing skills, like spelling, punctuation, and word usage, but in the total disrespect toward black women (and by extension, all women).

That blog post is here:

http://www.beyondblackwhite.com/your-daughters-are-being-boycotted-time-to-heed-the-death-knell/


I've seen quite a few posts, blogs and groups supposedly dedicated to black women from black men, and every one of them is focused on the body, the physical appearance.  For example, if a "sista" has a big booty, it's like, "Bruh, I wanna get wit' her!"  And if she's small in that department, it's, "Aw, hell no, she got too much cracker in her!"

Very rarely do I ever see black men celebrating black women's accomplishments.  I even saw one dude ignore what Maya Angelou has done and say, "That's one ugly female!"  My initial reaction was, "What???  Are you nuts?  Maya was a beautiful woman, inside and outside, even more so because of what she did with her life, using her experiences and observations to teach and entertain."

Of course, every time I put myself out like that in those arena's, some fool (or some bunch of fools) accuse me of being the slavemaster or some such crap like that, and the two women I've been married to were called bed wenches, which pissed me off royally. 

Yet I've observed over my life that when some phase of human existence is on the way out, is being overtaken by something different, something better, then the hardcore proponents of the old ways come out in force and become even more forceful, because they know their time is up and they're unwilling, even unable, to go with the flow.  So they lash out at the new and better, and try like little children to hold onto the old way like it's their favorite toy.

But eventually, the new way, the better way, will supercede and become the dominant aspect of life and living.  This is true in religion, in culture, in politics, and yes, in personal relationships.  Swirling is here to stay, and I say, Thank the Universal Intelligence, because in my younger days, I risked being beaten, mutilated, and/or strung up for my choices in partners, and I love it that this younger generation is more open than mine was to the possibilities. 

In fact, I've had many younger folks ask me what it was like, and when I told them, they shook their heads in wonder, practically speechless at the insanity of my generation on the topic of so-called interracial relationships.  And I applaud them for realizing in their youth that the only thing that matters isn't the color of their skin, or the culture they were born into, or the religion their parents raised them in (or tried to).  They seem to understand intuitively that the only thing that matters is that we're all human beings.

Namaste'!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.

My first short story on Amazon!

I finally stopped procrastinating and put this on Amazon last night, and they put it out early this morning.

It's an account of my own journey through life as much as it is about the concept of love at first sight.  It does have a few short scenes of explicit sexual expression, so call it adults only.  And after the story is ended, there is an excerpt from my novel, which I'm working toward publishing.

Here's the link:

At First Sight

For those of you interesting in this type of story, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Namaste'!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.