Hey, y’all!

Real Talk: I have had some heavy stuff weighing on my mind since January and I thank Michael for letting me borrow his blog to help me get it out of my system. I knew things would be uncomfortable when the new administration took office but I never expected to find myself a character in a dystopian novel. I never expected to learn that the elements of government that I looked to for a sense of safety and security were propped up by nothing more than hopes and handshakes. When I tell you my home is being dismantled, I say that as a Black person watching the clock run backwards on racism in real time, as a queer person waiting for the axe to fall on the legitimacy of my 15 year marriage, as a trans nonbinary person whose existence is being demonized and criminalized, as a neurodivergent person living under an administration that doesn’t understand my reality and doesn’t care to do so, and as an immigrant witnessing people with increasingly similar status to my own being subjected to inhumane treatment.

My anxiety is high, but I won't turn this into a pity party. It’s time to act.

You've heard the call to support marginalized authors before but the stakes haven’t been this high in a long time. We need you to buy our books. Buy books by Black folks and Brown folks and queer and trans folks and immigrants and disabled folks and neurodivergent folks and women and femmes and any and every combination thereof. This administration is working to rewrite our history and erase our experiences. They want to demonize us and deny the innumerable contributions we’ve made to this country. They want to pretend that our existence has no value until enough people believe the lie that it becomes the truth.

Don’t let them.

Our stories are so important. They’re windows through which you can see into worlds beyond your own and simultaneously mirrors through which you see your own humanity reflected. They are empathy. They are intelligence. They are compassion. They are community. And, to this administration, they are weapons against their ideology.

Buy our books. Read them. Learn them. Discuss them. Embed them into your brains, not only to support us, but also to arm yourselves against the lies this administration will use to justify making us disappear.

They underestimate the power of our little corner of the internet. Let’s surprise them and make it their downfall.

Falencia is the author of Devil of the Deep, a Haitian-inspired fantasy following a mermaid, a pirate and a navy captain who must work together to thwart the plans of an underwater cult and protect everyone they love from imminent destruction.

I encourage you to support her by following her on all social media platforms. Also, I am attaching a Black book that I HIGHLY recommend. Go grab a copy.

And as always, make sure you are subscribed to this community. We are actively working toward our goal of 10,000 subs so that we can move forward with our publishing journey. Make sure you are one of them! :)