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Copy of Copy of January 2022 LYL Yeller 

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Known as the Mother of science fiction, Octavia Butler is the most famous and well known in our line up of Black science fiction authors... 

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Read (or listen) to "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler

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My last night of childhood began with a visit home. T'Gatoi's sister had given us two sterile eggs. T'Gatoi gave one to my mother, brother, and sisters. She insisted that I eat the other one alone. It didn't matter. There was still enough to leave everyone feeling good. Almost everyone. My mother wouldn't take any. She sat, watching everyone drifting and dreaming without her. Most of the time she watched me.
Podcast: Download

Posted by Bo Kaier Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
Episode art by Soren James Read by Veronica Giguere, Delianne Forget, Ray Sizemore Twabble: Waking with her arm draped across him, he smiled recalling the night. Gently lifting it, he wondered where the rest was. by Farseeker Originally published in Asimov's, June 1984.

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My last night of childhood began with a visit home. T'Gatoi's sister had given us two sterile eggs. T'Gatoi gave one to my mother, brother, and sisters. She insisted that I eat the other one alone. It didn't matter. There was still enough to leave everyone feeling good. Almost everyone.

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This Nigerian-American author is making huge waves in the the award winning YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy circuit. Her Akata books will soon be made into films! 

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One of Okorafor's short stories on sound cloud! The Akata series is available now in the library!

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After Water Fiction: Poison Fish by After Water

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(Flickr/surfergirl1972)

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold?  We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world.  Local author Nnedi Okorafor starts out the series on Chicago's south side.  In her story, "Poison Fish" (or, "Poison Poisson"), Okorafor brings us to a dystopian backdrop of memories and chaos, set along the waterfront on Chicago's south side.

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This award winning Nigerian- American author has won a slew of awards and some say, is the greatest politically-driven fantasy writer to date!

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The book trailer for Adeyami's Children of Blood and Bone. Multiple copies available here in the library!

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CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi | Official Book Trailer

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NYT bestselling author of middle and high grade fantasy/dystopian novels.

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The world of Orleans, in Clayton's novel "Belles"... Available here in the library!

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The Everlasting Rose will hit stores March 6, 2019 and I'm so excited to share this book with everyone. This giveaway is open internationally.

If you preorder The Everlasting Rose before March 6, 2019, you're eligible to receive a swag pack*:

(1) signed alternate The Everlasting Rose cover postcard

(1) The Everlasting Rose bookmark

(2) The Belles stickers (selection made at random, image may vary)

*PLEASE NOTE: I have a limited amount of physical swag, which will only be available while supplies last. That means the sooner you pre-order and submit your info, the better chance you have of getting all the complete swag pack!

If you preorder The Everlasting Rose and Black Enough, you're eligible to receive a swag pack (listed above), plus signed TK.

ONCE THE CAMPAIGN IS OVER:
FIVE randomly selected runner-up winners will also receive:

a limited edition makeup bag full of swag
ONE randomly selected grand-prize winner will receive:

the complete swag pack (including Meet Cute button and Radical Element bookmark)

a limited edition makeup bag

a collectible fan Belle-box full of The Belles inspired goodies

Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette DVD

a trio of diverse fantasy books: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova, and Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Pre-order The Everlasting Rose before March 6, 2019 or Pre-order The Everlasting Rose, and Black Enough

Email proof-of-purchase to dhonielleclaytonwrites@gmail.com (use subject line: "EVERLASTING ROSE pre-order campaign") and fill out the form below.

Fill out the form below.

That's it! Proof-of-purchase can be a photo/scan/screenshot of your receipt, and you can purchase the book anywhere - Amazon, B&N, Book Depository, your local indie, whatever is easier for you.
I will accept entries until 11:59pm EST on 03/06/19.
Again, this is open internationally.

Nitty-Gritty Contest Rules:

" Any North American edition of The Belles (hardcover ISBN 978-1484728499 or e-book ISBN B071XNWRHC) purchased by 11:59PM EST on February 6th, 2018 qualifies for the pre-order campaign

" For a valid entry, the official " The Belles Pre-order Campaign" form must be successfully completed AND proof-of-purchase must be emailed to the admin (Dhonielle Clayton) at dhonielleclaytonwrites@gmail.com by 11:59PM EST on February 6, 2018

" Pre-order campaign is open internationally to readers 13+

" By entering, you are confirming that you are 13 or older, and giving the admin (Dhonielle Clayton) permission to contact you via email and mail you your prize(s)

" Following a valid entry, the reader will be mailed while supplies last a swag pack consisting of one (1) signed alternate The Belles cover postcard, one (1) The Belles bookmark, two (2) The Belles stickers (selection made at random, images will vary)

" Following a valid entry, the reader will be mailed while supplies last a swag pack consisting of one (1) signed alternate The Belles cover postcard, one (1) The Belles bookmark, two (2) The Belles stickers (selection made at random, images will vary), a Radical Element bookmark, a Meet Cute button

" Five (5) runner-up winners will be drawn from all valid entries on or after 02/06/18 and each will receive one (1) limited edition makeup bag full of an assortment of goodies

" One (1) grand prize winner will be drawn from all valid entries on or after 02/06/18 and will receive one (1) swag pack, one (1) limited edition makeup bag, one (1) early collectible Belle-box full of The Belles inspired goodies, one (1) DVD of the 2007 Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, one (1) copy of Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, one (1) Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, and Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova

In this special collectible fan box, you'll find unique items that are inspired by the book and will make you feel like you are part of the world of The Belles. Inside you'll find:

This is a limited edition, one-time box! It is the perfect gift for fantasy fans!

There are only 100 of these special boxes available!

(Price does not include shipping or tax for NY State residents*)

Fan Boxes will be non-refundable and non-returnable, regardless of whether the box has been opened or not.

By purchasing, you are confirming that you are 13 or older, and giving the admin (Dhonielle Clayton) permission to mail you your box.

Following a valid purchase, the reader will be mailed a Fan Box consisting of one (1) Belle-soap, one (1) Marie Antoinette Tokyo Milk LipGloss, one (1) custom Belles candle, one (1) copy of cover poster, one (1) bookmark, one (1) Kingdom of Orléans map, one (1) Belle symbol enamel pin, two (2) stickers, one (1) hologrpahic character card, one (1) character postcard, one (1) button, one (1) temporary tattoo, one (1) signed alternate The Belles T he Orleansian Times newspaper, custom Belles nail decals, one (1) signed alternate The Belles The Belles cover postcard, and one (1) handwritten letter from the author.

If you are one of the first twenty-five (25) orders of The Belles fan box, you will also receive an ARC of The Everlasting Rose, the second book in The Belles series. An ARC is an advanced reader copy of the book.

The admin (Dhonielle Clayton) does not allow returns of fan box products and is not responsible for damaged or missing items. Any concerns regarding the box should be sent to dhonielleclaytonwrites@gmail.com.

If you are placing an order outside of the continental United States, please purchase a Belle box, select International for which you will see $1.00 shipping, and fill in the google form below. You will receive an email from admin with two shipping quotes (tracked and standard). You will have 24-hours from the delivery of the email to decide what type of shipping you'd like and email admin back to confirm. If you do not email back, your Belle box will be released and refunded. International Form: https://goo.gl/forms/YcwBjwXaB72KSpmE3

If you are shipping a box in New York State, you will be charged sales tax which will appear as a second charge based on your county and city as New York State is a destination-based tax domicle.

Admin will post updates when boxes are mailed and send out tracking numbers.

INTERNATIONAL ORDER FORM (USE AFTER PURCHASE FOR SHIPPING QUOTE): https://goo.gl/forms/YcwBjwXaB72KSpmE3

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orleans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orleans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.

But it's not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite-the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orleans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie-that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision.

With the future of Orleans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide-save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles-or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.

Dhonielle Clayton creates a rich, detailed, decadent world of excess and privilege, where beauty is not only skin-deep, but a complete mirage. Weaving deeper questions about the commodification of women's bodies, gender equality, racial identity, and vanity with high-stakes action and incredible imagery, The Belles is the must-read epic of the season.

More on The Everlasting Rose:
With a price on her head, the evil Queen Sophia out for blood, and no idea who to trust, Camellia Beaureguard, the former favorite Belle, must race against time to find the ailing Princess Charlotte, who has disappeared without a trace. Sophia's imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep Camille, her sister Edel, and her loyal guard, Rémy, from returning Charlotte to the palace and her rightful place as queen.

With the help of an underground resistance movement called the Iron Ladies-a society that rejects beauty treatments entirely-and the backing of alternative newspaper the Spider's Web, Camille uses her powers, her connections, and her cunning to outwit her greatest nemesis, Sophia, and attempt to restore peace to Orléans. But enemies lurk in the most unexpected places, forcing Camille to decide just how much she's willing to sacrifice to save her people.

This limited edition poster of Camille made by the fabulous artist Alexis Castellanos will come with all new Belle box purchases. Find the amazing plot Easter eggs Alexis has embedded in the artwork. Can you guess what's next for Book 3 in The Belles series?

beauty caisse: a cross between an old-fashioned apothecary case and a massive jewelry box that houses all of the belle's makeup, tools, and accoutrement

leeches: the Belles use leeches to reset their blood protein levels and carry them around in beautiful porcelain bowls oftentimes stored in their beauty caisses

The Imperial Press Corps of Orléans and its newsies circulate series of magazines and newspapers throughout the islands detailing the most popular beauty and makeup trends, the most beautiful courtiers, and speculation about the Belles and their gifts. They are full of hand-drawn pictures and animated ink portraits of Orléansian court life. Underground scandal sheets are released nightly full of delightful gossip and lies.

The most popular magazines are Dulce, Mignon, Beauté, Sucré, and the Dame's Journal de la Mode.

beauty-scopes: resemble kaleidoscopes that are released by the court of Orleans on a weekly basis that feature the most beautiful women in the archipelago; look through the ocular part and see portraits of the women

light-graphs: resemble small handheld zoetrope that mainly feature gossip stories and headlines rendering cartoons

post-balloons: tiny, glittery balloons that carry mail

telé-trope: a zoetrope-like contraption that plays newsreels and image-reels, and functions similar to a television

newsreels: news reports that are put on film for telé-tropes

When I was in college, I visited Versailles for the first time and fell in love. I've been fortunate enough to return over four times, and the opulent palace still contains so many secrets and layers. The French court fascinated me, and the life of Marie Antoinette has always been something I was curious about. As a young reader, I would devour biographies about her, marveling at the intricacies of her beauty rituals, the rumors about her, her eventual fate at the guillotine, and the lengths women would go to be beautiful at the time. Seeing her toilette and vanity planted one of the seeds for .

Director Sofia Coppola's movie MARIE ANTOINETTE also captured the spirit of the Marie, her ladies, and her court - well, at least in my imagination. The parties, the dresses, the makeup, the shoes, the gambling, and more. The aesthetics of this film weighed heavily on me and influenced the touch points for the world of Orleans.

A few of my research sources:

HTTP://EN.CHATEAUVERSAILLES.FR/DISCOVER/HISTORY/MARIE-ANTOINETTE

MARIE ANTOINETTE: THE JOURNEY by Antonia Fraser

LOVE AND LOUIS XIV: THE WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF THE SUN KING by Antonia Fraser

HTTP://MADAMEGUILLOTINE.ORG.UK/2011/01/31/MARIE-ANTOINETTES-BEAUTY-SECRETS/

I lived in Japan teaching English in my mid-twenties on a smallish island called Innoshima. I loved my experience there - the warmth and hospitality of the people, the delicious food, the beautiful environment, and the way the ancient world intersects with the modern. I became interested in geishas and their role in historical Japanese society. I read and watched the terribly problematic book and movie Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (for the aesthetics and colors and wonderful soundtrack by Yo-Yo Ma and John Williams), then set off to find real authentic sources. I studied their beauty regimens, routines, and artistry. I thought of them as keepers of a secret sense of beauty, and toyed with the idea that if Orleans was a real place, would the Belles function in a similar fashion (in relation to beauty services).

A few of my research sources:

GEISHA: A LIFE by Mineko Iwasaki

GEISHA OF GION by Mineko Iwasaki

THE NIGHTLESS CITY: GEISHA AND COURTESAN LIFE IN OLD TOKYO (DOVER BOOKS ON HISTORY, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE) by J. E. de Becker

WOMEN OF THE PLEASURE QUARTERS: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GEISHA by Lesley Downer

My maternal and paternal family lines originate from North Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, which has always given me a keen interest in New Orleans and the southern United States. I spent most summers in this region and its customs and culture permeated my home and childhood memories.

The term antebellum refers to the time period before a war, and in this case, it's before the Civil War. Antebellum New Orleans was a flourishing city with interesting and unique social rules and hierarchies. The racial and ethnic mixture of the people of New Orleans has always interested me, especially how people related to one another, interacted, and what social norms and customs resulted from the blending of cultures. I wanted Orleans to capture some of the spirit of Antebellum New Orleans.

A few of my research sources:

THE WORLD THAT MADE NEW ORLEANS: FROM SPANISH SILVER TO CONGO SQUARE by Ned Sublette

BEAUTIFUL CRESCENT: A HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS by John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer, Kathy Spiess, Karen Wildenfels, Jane Molony

As a teen, I was hooked on magazines like Seventeen, Elle, Vogue, Ebony, and more. I used to check them out from the public library just to read back editions and smell the perfume inserts. I was never good at putting on makeup or knowing the right thing to wear or how to style my hair, but as soon as I became attuned that there was a hierarchy in school and the media based on one's outer appearance, I became obsessive about the way that I looked. I had puffy hair and acne, so I had about a thimble-size worth of self-esteem, and I took to cutting out pictures of women I found beautiful. I didn't understand that these pictures had been doctored up or photo-shopped. I thought this was how women actually looked.

I had a little storage nook inside my closet - a tiny door that lead to a small room behind my clothes. I used to go in there to read and do crafts. But as I became a teen, I started taking those cut out pictures of women and pasting them to the walls of that space. And sometimes it would be just body parts that I wanted. The whole space quickly transformed into a collaged little world detailing my obsessions. I would journal about what parts I wanted to change about my body and refer to the images. I would detail whose breasts, legs, neck, face, and hair, I'd want. It became my dirty little secret. This habit lead to some bad decisions in my teen years and early adulthood, but as I've gotten older, and through research, I realized that the commodification of women's bodies has been going on since the very beginning of time, and that women have tried a multitude of things - some dangerous - to make themselves beautiful.

A few of my research sources:

BEAUTY IMAGINED: A HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL BEAUTY INDUSTRY by Geoffrey Jones

INVENTING BEAUTY: A HISTORY OF THE INNOVATIONS THAT HAVE MADE US BEAUTIFUL by Teresa Riordan

CLASSIC BEAUTY AND THE HISTORY OF MAKEUP by Gabriela Hernandez

THE HISTORY OF BEAUTY by Umberto Eco

THE BEAUTY MYTH: HOW IMAGES OF BEAUTY ARE USED AGAINST WOMEN by Naomi Wolf

SURVIVAL OF THE PRETTIEST: THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY by Nancy Etcoff

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The Everlasting Rose will hit stores March 6, 2019 and I'm so excited to share this book with everyone. This giveaway is open internationally.

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Hugo award winner, N.K. Jemisin makes the top of the list for most celebrated science fiction author of this generation.

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N.K. Jemisin reads from her novel "The City We Became".

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Special feature for Rivers Solomon and TWO of their amazing books, one in collaboration with Daveed Diggs. I saved my favorite for last. 

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Daveed Diggs talk about the song that inspired the epic novel about mermaids.

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THE DEEP by Rivers Solomon (featuring Daveed Diggs!)

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Daveed Digs & Clipping records the audio that started the novel!

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Listen to Daveed Diggs read a sample of the novel

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THE DEEP, by Rivers Solomon, read by Daveed Diggs - Audiobook extract by Hodder Books

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The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society-and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award-nominated song "The Deep" from Daveed Diggs's rap group clipping.

Yetu holds the memories for her people-water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners-who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one-the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities-and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past-and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they'll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity-and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode "We Are In The Future," The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

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Check out the novel "An Unkindness of Ghosts" by Rivers Solomon, always available on Hoopla!

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Solomon, R. (2017). An unkindness of ghosts. [United States]: Akashic Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Solomon, Rivers. 2017. An Unkindness of Ghosts. [United States]: Akashic Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Solomon, Rivers, An Unkindness of Ghosts. [United States]: Akashic Books, 2017.

Solomon, Rivers. An Unkindness of Ghosts. [United States]: Akashic Books, 2017. Web.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2010. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.

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Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.

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Please visit sistah SCIFI online for some amazing author events and other amazing reads! 

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Please visit sistah SCIFI online for some amazing author events and other amazing reads! 