Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Voices of Martyrs
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1975
WEBSITE: http://mauricebroaddus.com/
CITY: Indianapolis
STATE: IN
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Broaddus
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: nb2010021502
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/nb2010021502
HEADING: Broaddus, Maurice
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PERSONAL
Born 1975, in London, England; married; children: two sons.
EDUCATION:Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, B.S., 1993.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, educator, and community organizer. Works at a nonprofit organization called the Learning Tree. Consultant on Watch Dogs 2 role-playing game. Previously, worked as an environmental toxicologist and as executive director of Cities of Refuge Ministries.
AWARDS:Kitschies Award, for King Maker.
RELIGION: ChristianWRITINGS
Co-editor of People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror. Also writer for Marvel Super-Heroes, Leverage, and Firefly role-playing games. Contributor to publications, including Weird Tales, Lightspeed, Apex, Cemetery Dance, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and Black Static.
SIDELIGHTS
Maurice Broaddus is a writer, educator, and community organizer. He has been involved with nonprofit organizations, including Cities of Refuge Ministries, Outreach, Inc., and the Learning Tree. Broaddus spent about twenty years working as an environmental toxicologist. He writes works in the urban fantasy genre. Regarding the structure of his pieces, he told a writer on the Booknest.eu website: “My first love is short stories, but what draws me to the novella length is the best of both worlds quality: I have the novel-ish room to allow a story to breathe more, but keep the power/punch of a short story. That said, invariably, people tell me that my novellas should be fleshed out into novels.”
"Knights of Breton Court" Series
Broaddus is the author of the “Knights of Breton Court” series of novels. He explained the origins of the series in an interview with Iulian Ionescu, contributor to the Fantasy Scroll website. He stated: “‘The Knights of Breton Court’ had its origins in a local ministry called Outreach Inc. They work with homeless teenagers. We were working on various art/writing projects and I was trying to get the kids to imagine themselves in different contexts. What struck me was how they couldn’t imagine their lives past next week.” Broaddus continued: “So I started imagining some of them caught up in a larger story. What started out as a lark, eventually became a full blown novel. Basically, the book is a re-telling of the legend of King Arthur except set in modern day Indianapolis, told through the eyes of homeless teenagers. I call it The Wire meets Excalibur.” The first book in the series is King Maker. Among the protagonists is King, son of a powerful street hustler named Luther. Luther dies when King is young. When he grows up, he is told he must claim his birthright as the leader of the Breton Court housing project.
Sara Polsky, critic on the Strange Horizons website, commented: “Even with the bright spots of a rich setting and occasional humor, King Maker doesn’t quite hang together as a novel. Though it’s only the first book in a planned trilogy, it reads the way middle volumes of trilogies sometimes do: perhaps it provides background information that will make the sequel clearer, but the story doesn’t stand on its own.” Amanda Rutter, writing at the Fantasy Literature website, remarked: “Although the dialogue is very effectively written, it is also hard to understand at times.” Rutter added: “The characters are difficult to like, and, due to the nature of the gang warfare, all of them are written in shades of grey.” A contributor to the Shiny Book Review website suggested: “While the pacing can drag a bit, the plot which drives the book is rock-solid, with enough action, suspense and intrigue to keep the ball rolling.” The same contributor concluded: “Any fan of true, gritty crime mixed with urban fantasy will definitely appreciate this book.”
In King’s Justice, the second book in the series, King interacts with colorful characters, including sorcerers, his FedEx driver best friend, a confused young woman called Lady G., and a lesbian couple whose relationship may be doomed. A reviewer on the Publishers Weekly website described King’s Justice as an “engaging tale of urban renewal and vigilante justice.” A contributor to the SF Book Reviews website remarked: “King’s Justice performs the impossible feat of improving on it’s [sic] predecessor. It’s simply an incredible work of compelling fiction and the closest most of us will ever get (if we are lucky) to living in a getto, pure genius.”
Dark Faith and Streets of Shadows
Broaddus and Jerry Gordon are the editors of the short-story collection, Dark Faith. Contributors to the volume include Jennifer Pelland, Ekatarina Sedia, and Chesya Burke. Carl Hays, contributor to Booklist, commented: “There are enough provocative scenarios here to provide hours of faith-challenging entertainment.” Writing on the HorrorNews.net website, Anton Cancre asserted: “Dark Faith is a gutsy anthology of a type that you will rarely have to opportunity to peruse. Regardless of your own faith, it will be tested within these pages and you will not leave unscathed.”
Broaddus and Gordon collaborated again to edit Streets of Shadows, another anthology in the urban fantasy genre. The book includes twenty-one short stories by authors, including Seanan McGuire, Gary Kloster, and Damien Angelica Walters. “Urban fantasy fans will find these works palatable but not entirely satisfying,” remarked a critic on the Publishers Weekly website.
The Voices of Martyrs
The Voices of Martyrs is a collection of short stories by Broaddus. The stories in the book include mentions of various aspects of the African experience throughout history. Slavery is a theme in the story “Rite of Passage,” while “The Ave” involves obeah, a Jamaican religion. In an article he wrote on the Geek Dad website, Broaddus discussed his inspiration for some of the stories. He stated: “I was walking the aisles at the Indiana Black Expo when I ran across a painting. It juxtaposed two images: a group of African American men in a slave ship hold and the same group of men in a modern prison cell. I don’t know who painted it and I’ve never seen it since, but the images haunted me and went on to inspire two of the stories in the collection, ‘Rite of Passage’ and ‘The Ave.’”
A Publishers Weekly reviewer suggested: “Hints of magic in both the past and present, as well as the science fiction elements of the future stories, make this an exciting exploration of genre as well as culture.” Peter Dabbene, critic on the Foreword Reviews website, commented: “Broaddus’s text doesn’t always flow perfectly, but the voices of his characters . . . are both the main focus and the strength of the collection. Most refreshing is that nowhere in The Voices of Martyrs does Broaddus present a stereotype or predictable trope.” Writing on the Templeton Gate website, Galen Strickland remarked: “His characters are very distinctive, and his words paint vivid imagery of setting and mood.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2010, Carl Hays, review of Dark Faith, p. 73.
Publishers Weekly, January 2, 2017, review of The Voices of Martyrs, p. 42.
ONLINE
Booknest.eu, http://booknest.eu/ (March 9, 2017), author interview.
Fantasy Literature, http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ (February 26, 2010), Amanda Rutter, review of King Maker.
Fantasy Scroll, http://fantasyscrollmag.com/ (December, 2015), Iulian Ionescu, author interview.
Foreword Reviews, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (March-April, 2017), Peter Dabbene, review of The Voices of Martyrs.
Geek Dad, https://geekdad.com/ (March 31, 2017), article by author.
Grasping for the Wind, http://www.graspingforthewind.com/ (November 10, 2011), Bryan Thomas Schmidt, author interview.
HorrorNews.net, http://horrornews.net/ (October 9, 2017), Anton Cancre, review of Dark Faith.
Maurice Broaddus Website, http://mauricebroaddus.com/ (November 7, 2017).
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (January 31, 2011), review of King’s Justice; (June 22, 2015), review of Streets of Shadows; (November 7, 2017), review of Dark Faith.
SF Book Reviews, https://sfbook.com/ (January 29, 2011), review of King’s Justice.
Shiny Book Review, https://shinybookreviews.com/ (February 18, 2013), review of King Maker.
Strange Horizons, http://strangehorizons.com/ (November 22, 2010), Sara Polsky, review of King Maker.
Templeton Gate, http://templetongate.net/ (November 7, 2017), Galen Strickland, review of The Voices of Martyrs.*
Coming closer to the truth, he was originally born in London, England, but has lived in Indianapolis, Indiana for most of his life. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Purdue University in Biology (with an undeclared major in English) and spends the bulk of his time doing community development work.
Claim the Throne
[Photo by Chandra Lynch of ANKH Photography]
[50 words]
His work has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Apex Magazine, Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Black Static, and many more with some of his stories collected in The Voices of Martyrs. He wrote The Knights of Breton Court trilogy and the novella, Buffalo Soldier. Learn more about him at MauriceBroaddus.com.
[100 words]
A community organizer and teacher, his work has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Apex Magazine, Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Black Static, and many more. Some of his stories have been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. He wrote the urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court. He co-authored the play Finding Home: Indiana at 200. His novellas include Buffalo Soldier, I Can Transform You, Orgy of Souls, Bleed with Me, and Devil’s Marionette. He is the co-editor of Dark Faith, Dark Faith: Invocations, Streets of Shadows, and People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror. Learn more about him at MauriceBroaddus.com.
[FULL]
A community organizer and teacher, his work has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Apex Magazine, Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Black Static, and many more. Some of his stories have been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. He is the author of the urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court, and the (upcoming) middle grade detective novel series, The Usual Suspects. He co-authored the play Finding Home: Indiana at 200. His novellas include Buffalo Soldier, I Can Transform You, Orgy of Souls, Bleed with Me, and Devil’s Marionette. He is the co-editor of Dark Faith, Dark Faith: Invocations, Streets of Shadows, and People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror. His gaming work includes writing for the Marvel Super-Heroes, Leverage, and Firefly role-playing games as well as working as a consultant on Watch Dogs 2. Learn more about him at MauriceBroaddus.com.
DSC_1074
[Photo by A.G. the Pharoah – gear by Nap or Nothin’]
He is about the pursuit of truth, be it by art, science, or by religion. He believes that lives should be lived missionally, that people should be about loving and serving one another, a lesson learned in his most important job: that of husband and dad.
Maurice Broaddus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maurice Broaddus
MauriceBroaddus Cropped.jpg
Maurice Broaddus
Born London
Occupation Writer
Nationality United States
Genre Science Fiction, Urban fantasy, Horror fiction
Website
mauricebroaddus.com
Maurice Broaddus is a fantasy and horror author best known for his short fiction and his Knights of Breton Court novel trilogy. He has published dozens of stories in magazines and book anthologies, including in Asimov's Science Fiction, Black Static, and Weird Tales. His steampunk novella Buffalo Soldier was released in 2017 by Tor.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Life
2 Writing and editing
3 Awards
4 Bibliography
4.1 Novels
4.2 Anthologies
4.3 Novellas
4.4 Short Stories
5 References
6 External links
Life[edit]
Broaddus was born in London, United Kingdom, but grew up in Indianapolis, United States. His mother is from Jamaica, where many of his relatives still live.[2]
Broaddus earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Purdue University and worked for two decades as an environmental toxicologist. He now works as a freelance writer and was formerly the executive director of Cities of Refuge Ministries, which provides transitional housing and employment opportunities for people dealing with addiction, reentry, or homelessness.[3] He currently works at The Learning Tree, a neighborhood association focusing on community development and improving the lives of local residents.[4]
He still resides in Indianapolis, where he lives with his wife and two sons.
Writing and editing[edit]
Broaddus has published dozens of short stories and hundreds of essays (including as a columnist for the Indianapolis Star and as a reviewer for HollywoodJesus.com). His fiction has been published in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Cemetery Dance, Apex Magazine, Black Static and Weird Tales.
In 2010 Angry Robot published Broaddus’ urban fantasy novel King Maker, a "retelling of the Arthurian mythos involving street gangs."[5] The novel was called a "triumph" by SF Book Reviews[6] and was followed up by two sequels, King's Justice[7] and King’s War. In 2012 Angry Robot published the trilogy in an omnibus edition entitled The Knights of Breton Court.
Broaddus has also edited and co-edited several well-received anthologies, including Dark Faith (alongside fellow editor Jerry Gordon), which focused on the intersection between horror and religious faith.[8] He also co-edited the "People of Colo(u)r Destroy Fantasy" and "People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror" special issues of Fantasy and Nightmare magazines.[9]
His steampunk novella Buffalo Soldier was released in 2017 by Tor[10] and was described by the New York Times Book Review as an "exciting" story packed with "alternate American history, fantastic technology and father-son bonding."[11]
Awards[edit]
Broaddus, along with co-editor Jerry Gordon, was a finalist for the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology for Dark Faith[12] and won the Kitschies award for debut novel for King Maker.[13] He was also a finalist for the Black Quill Award.[14]
Bibliography[edit]
Novels[edit]
The Knights of Breton Court
King Maker (Angry Robot, 2010)
King's Justice (Angry Robot, 2011)
King's War (Angry Robot, 2011)
Reprinted in the omnibus edition The Knights of Breton Court (Angry Robot, 2012)
Orgy of Souls (Apex Publications, 2008), co-authored with Wrath James White.
Anthologies[edit]
Dark Faith (Apex Publications, 2010) edited with Jerry Gordon
Dark Faith: Invocations (Apex Publications, 2012), edited with Jerry Gordon
Novellas[edit]
Devil's Marionette (Shroud Publishing, 2009)
Bleed With Me (Delirium Books, 2011)
I Can Transform You (Apex Publications, 2013)
Buffalo Soldier (Tor, 2017)[15]
Short Stories[edit]
"Kali's Danse Macabre" (Honorable mention, 1996 Asimov's Undergraduate Award)
"Family Business" (Weird Tales, January–February 2006)
"Black Frontiers" (Voices from the Other Side, edited by Brandon Massey, Dafina Books / Kensington Publishing Corp., 2006, republished 2012)
"Nurse's Requiem" (Whispers in the Night, edited by Brandon Massey, Dafina Books / Kensington Publishing Corp.,2007)
"A House is Not a Home" (Legends of the Mountain State 2, edited by Michael Knost, Woodland Press, 2008)
"Broken Strand" (Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, #12, 2008)
"Just a Young Man and His Game" (Doorways Magazine, March 2008)
"Rite of Passage" (Space and Time, Fall 2008)
"Pimp My Airship" (Apex Magazine, August 2009; reprinted in The Book of Apex: Volume 2 of Apex Magazine, 2010)
"Closer Than They Appear" (Shroud 7: The Quarterly Journal of Dark Fiction and Art, Autumn 2009)
"Trouble Among the Yearlings" (Harlan County Horrors, edited by Mari Adkins, Apex Publications, 2009)
"Hootchie Cootchie Man" (Black Static, Issue 14, December 2009-January 2010)
"A Stone Cast into Stillness" (Dark Futures edited by Jason Sizemore, Dark Quest Books, 2010; republished 2012)
"I, Theodora" (Beauty Has Her Way, edited by Jennifer Brozek, Dark Quest Books, 2011)
"The Problem of Trystan" (Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance, edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg, DAW Books, 2011)
"Lost Son" (Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology edited by Charles R. Saunders, Milton J. Davis, MVmedia, 2011)
"Rainfall" (Cemetery Dance, #65, 2011)
"A Soldier's Story" (Vampires Don't Sparkle!, edited by Michael West, Seventh Star Press, 2012)
"Being in the Shadow" (Appalachian Undead, edited by Jason Sizemore, Apex Publications, 2012)
"Awaiting Redemption" (Eulogies II: Tales From the Cellar, edited by Christopher Jones, Nanci Kalanta, and Tony Tremblay, HW Press, 2013)
" "The Electric Spanking of the War Babies" (co-written with Kyle S. Johnson, Glitter & Mayhem, Apex Publications, 2013)[16]
"Steppin' Razor" (Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2014)
References[edit]
Jump up ^
QUOTED: "I was walking the aisles at the Indiana Black Expo when I ran across a painting. It juxtaposed two images: a group of African American men in a slave ship hold and the same group of men in a modern prison cell. I don’t know who painted it and I’ve never seen it since, but the images haunted me and went on to inspire two of the stories in the collection, 'Rite of Passage' and 'The Ave.'"
5 Things That Inspired ‘The Voices of Martyrs’ by Maurice Broaddus
Posted on 31 March, 2017 by Melanie Meadors • 0 Comments
Image: Melanie R. Meadors
This week we welcome author Maurice Broaddus to Geek Speaks…Fiction! Maurice has written many pieces of wonderful speculative fiction that have appeared in places such as Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Asimov’s, and more. Most recently, several of his stories have been collected in The Voices of Martyrs, available now from Rosarium Publishing (Rosarium is a fabulous small press headed by Bill Cambell. I highly suggest you check out all their books!). In this article, Maurice talks about five things that inspired this new anthology!
My first love is writing short stories, so, naturally, I love short story collections. Such collections brought me into the genre (Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, Clive Barker) and showed me what all could be done with the genre (Walter Mosley, Kelly Link, Tananarive Due, Ted Chiang, Jeffrey Ford, Octavia Butler). Collections can be a kind of sampler platter to illustrate what all an author does. With over 50 short stories published from which to draw, what I wanted to do with The Voices of Martyrs was look at the African American experience through the lens of history. That’s the overarching idea behind the collection, though I do have five things in particular that helped inspire some of the stories.
1. Imaro. For some people, the sword and sorcery genre begins with Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. Though I’m a fan, for me, sword and sorcery begins with Charles Saunders’ Imaro (sword and soul!). His work set in ancient Africa inspired the opening tale of the collection, “Warrior of the Sunrise.”
Image: Rosarium Publishing
2. Unknown Painting. I was walking the aisles at the Indiana Black Expo when I ran across a painting. It juxtaposed two images: a group of African American men in a slave ship hold and the same group of men in a modern prison cell. I don’t know who painted it and I’ve never seen it since, but the images haunted me and went on to inspire two of the stories in the collection, “Rite of Passage” and “The Ave.”
3. Parliament-Funkadelic. No one brings the funk like George Clinton. Not only did I get to see him in concert last year, but I also visited the baby mothership which is in the Museum of Psychophonics in Indianapolis–the version of Parliament’s Mothership that flew above audiences just prior to them taking the stage. I stepped into their mythology with The Electric Spanking of the War Babies and it was also the soundtrack that I wrote “Pimp My Airship” (steamfunk!) to. Let’s just say that tales of the mothership pop up in a lot of my stories.
4. HBO. I went through a phase where I seemed to be writing stories set in worlds similar to what I was watching on HBO. Oz (“The Ave”), The Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Band of Brothers (“The Valkyrie”). With “The Valkyrie” I was definitely going for a World War II/Miracle at St. Anna vibe except set in the future.
5. Martha Washington. Inspired by a little-known Frank Miller comic, I created Lt. Macia Branson. In “The Valkyrie,” I dropped her into a dangerous world where the church and the military are one and “the army of the Lord” is on the move. In the follow-up story, “The Voice of the Martyrs,” she helps protect an interplanetary mission/colonizing trip. Plus I needed an excuse to write biomech fight scenes.
Publishers Weekly says that “the lush, descriptive prose tantalizes all the senses, drawing the reader into a rich world spanning both miles and centuries. Hints of magic in both the past and present, as well as the science fiction elements of the future stories, make this an exciting exploration of genre as well as culture.” I hope you enjoy the stories.
About The Voices of Martyrs:
We are a collection of voices, the assembled history of the many voices that have spoken into our lives and shaped us. Voices of the past, voices of the present, and voices of the future. There is an African proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates as “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” This is why we continue to remember the tales of struggle and tales of perseverance, even as we look to tales of hope. What a people choose to remember about its past, the stories they pass down, informs who they are and sets the boundaries of their identity. We remember the pain of our past to mourn, to heal, and to learn. Only in that way can we ensure the same mistakes are not repeated. The voices make up our stories. The stories make up who we are. A collected voice.
Photo by Chandra Lynch of ANKH Photography
About Maurice Broaddus:
Maurice Broaddus is an exotic dancer, trained in several forms of martial arts–often referred to as “the ghetto ninja”–and was voted the Indianapolis Dalai Lama. He’s an award-winning haberdasher and coined the word “acerbic.” He graduated college at age 14 and high school at age 16. Not only is he credited with inventing the question mark, he unsuccessfully tried to launch a new number between seven and eight.
When not editing or writing, he is a champion curler and often impersonates Jack Bauer, but only in a French accent. He raises free range jackalopes with his wife and two sons… when they are not solving murder mysteries.
He really likes to make up stories. A lot. Especially about himself.
Coming closer to the truth, he was originally born in London, England, but has lived in Indianapolis, Indiana for most of his life. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Purdue University in Biology (with an undeclared major in English) and spends the bulk of his time doing community development work.
A community organizer and teacher, his work has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Apex Magazine, Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Black Static, and many more. Some of his stories have been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. He is the author of the urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court trilogy. He co-authored the play Finding Home: Indiana at 200. His novellas include Buffalo Soldier, I Can Transform You, Orgy of Souls, Bleed with Me, and Devil’s Marionette. He is the co-editor of Dark Faith, Dark Faith: Invocations, Streets of Shadows, and People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror. Learn more about him at MauriceBroaddus.com.
Spread the word
QUOTED: "My first love is short stories, but what draws me to the novella length is the best of both worlds quality: I have the novel-ish room to allow a story to breathe more, but keep the power/punch of a short story. That said, invariably, people tell me that my novellas should be fleshed out into novels."
Q & A with Maurice Broaddus
Write on: Thu, 09 Mar 2017 by Nathan inBlog 3 comments Read 2388
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While Tor.com has a very full and impressive lineup of novellas coming out in the near future the one that stood out the most to me was Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus. A secret agent escorting a mysterious young boy through a North America completely different from our own? What is not to want? After reading the tale, and enjoying it very much, I asked if the author would be willing to answer a few questions. Thankfully he agreed! But first, some information on the upcoming tale!
Having stumbled onto a plot within his homeland of Jamaica, former espionage agent, Desmond Coke, finds himself caught between warring religious and political factions, all vying for control of a mysterious boy named Lij Tafari.
Wanting the boy to have a chance to live a free life, Desmond assumes responsibility for him and they flee. But a dogged enemy agent remains ever on their heels, desperate to obtain the secrets held within Lij for her employer alone.
Assassins, intrigue, and steammen stand between Desmond and Lij as they search for a place to call home in a North America that could have been.
Publication Date: April 25 - Available for pre-order NOW
First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to a Q & A. I loved Buffalo Soldier and have a major fascination with GOOD alternative history and just had to ask a few questions.
I'll start with a variant of what is often my opening question. Which came first, Desmond Coke and Lij or the alternative world they live in?
MB: The world came first. I created this world for a short story I wrote called "Pimp My Airship." Though the story was well received, there was this recurring criticism that readers wanted me to unpack this world a bit more. One of the plot points in "Pimp My Airship" references “the Star Child” (who will be Lij) and “the Five Civilized Tribes,” the idea of that nation gets fleshed out in Buffalo Soldier.
Alternative history is tough to do right; how much research is required to make sure it is realistic despite the fantastical aspects?
MB: I’m not going to lie: researching and worldbuilding are my favorite parts of writing. I spend a lot of time researching and building so that the world not only feels lived in, but the reader can walk around, kick the tires, and it hold up. It’s one of the reasons “Pimp My Airship” was criticized: I spent so much time building that world that even without showing it all to the reader, there was a sense that it was dense and complicated. And I was perfectly happy to do all of that just for that short story.
To flesh things out for Buffalo Soldier, I began with researching the Seminoles, the “Black Indians,” as a starting point for my First Nations world. Not just to have a thorough knowledge of tribal life and culture, but also to create a history that would allow them to be where they are in the story. After that came researching what their technology might look like and its impact on their architecture.
And anytime I work on a steampunk story, my office turns into part fashion design studio as I figure out outfits for people to wear.
Garrison Hearst shows up all over in fiction; I loved the portrayal of him in Deadwood for instance. Leaving the question of if we actually saw Garrison Hearst to the side I gotta ask what it is about the man that sparked your interest or made him a must have character in your own story?
MB: In the story, all of my steampunk stories, there’s this tension between the government and the business interests that run it. I needed a powerful, shadowy business figure, one with ties to the media, because with business, money, and the media, that person call pull the strings of any politician. In this day and age, that’s true power. Invoking the Hearst name brings all of that to mind in a subtle way before I’ve even started one line of description. Of course, with that name I also run the risk of people thinking football players not business moguls...
Buffalo Soldier was a story full of stories and Coke is obviously a great story teller. Were the stories all original or is Coke telling some old tales in a reader could look up? If so do you have any resources a curious reader can go to find your inspirations for the stories Coke comforted Lij with?
MB: You can blame my mother for that. When we were children, she would often regale me and my siblings with all manner of “duppy” (ghost) stories, including a variation on the one that Desmond tells. She’d spin these tales so often, we tuned her out. Or at least I thought I did. Twenty years later, they start creeping into my stories.
One of the things my mother used to impress on me was how their stories were an oral tradition. That they didn’t have television or the internet growing up (this would also be where she’d mention that they had to talk five miles in the morning to collect their water for the day before they went to school), but they did have stories. Her lament was that with technology, some of these stories would be lost. But I was happy to find them being preserved online. The River Mumma. The Rollin’ Calf. Br’er’Nansi. Ole Higue.
With all the detail that went into this alternative North America it would be a shame to hear we have hit the end of the story. Will Buffalo Soldier be part of a series; either continuing Coke and Lij's stories or at least keeping the setting?
MB: We haven’t hit the end of the story. There are now nearly a dozen stories set in this world (“Steppin’ Razor,” “Know the Ledge,” “I Used to Love HER,” etc.). By the time “Pimp My Airship” takes place, the Star Child is in prison which is a whole other story to tell. Plus, I’m working on a full novelization of “Pimp My Airship” because, well, it turns out there was A LOT more to this world and story.
I know you have a trilogy of full length novels under your belt but Buffalo Soldier is not your first foray into novellas. What does the shorter length allow an author to do with a story vs a full length novel. What are the limitations? And finally, do you find one more rewarding than the other to write?
MB: Buffalo Soldier is my fifth novella length work. My first love is short stories, but what draws me to the novella length is the best of both worlds quality: I have the novel-ish room to allow a story to breathe more, but keep the power/punch of a short story. That said, invariably, people tell me that my novellas should be fleshed out into novels.
And of course the typical final question to any author Q & A. What are you working on and what can we look forward to in the future from you?
MB: My short story collection, The Voices of Martyrs, is out now. I am the guest editor for Apex Magazine’s April issue. I have a stories coming out in the next issue of FIYAH Magazine and in the Mixed Up: Cocktail Recipes (and Flash Fiction) for the Discerning Drinker (and Reader), Steampunk Universe, Straight Outta Tombstone, and Monster Hunter Files anthologies. Well, while I’m waiting to see where three novel length projects land, I am furiously writing short stories and another novel.
Thank you again for giving me some of your time.
QUOTED: "The Knights of Breton Court had its origins in a local ministry called Outreach Inc. They work with homeless teenagers. We were working on various art/writing projects and I was trying to get the kids to imagine themselves in different contexts. What struck me was how they couldn’t imagine their lives past next week."
"So I started imagining some of them caught up in a larger story. What started out as a lark, eventually became a full blown novel. Basically, the book is a re-telling of the legend of King Arthur except set in modern day Indianapolis, told through the eyes of homeless teenagers. I call it The Wire meets Excalibur."
Interview with Author and Editor Maurice Broaddus
By Iulian Ionescu
Published on December 2015 in Issue #10 | Author Interviews, Editor Interviews, Interviews, Non-Fiction
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Maurice Broaddus is a fantasy and horror author best known for his short fiction and his Knights of Breton Court novel trilogy. He has published dozens of stories in magazines and book anthologies, including in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Black Static, and Weird Tales. Maurice is also the editor of the acclaimed Dark Faith anthology, nominated for multiple awards. He was originally born in London, England, but has lived in America most of his life. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Purdue University in Biology (with an undeclared major in English) and comes from a family that includes several practicing obeah (think: Jamaican Voodoo) people. You can learn more about Maurice on his website, http://mauricebroaddus.com/, or on Twitter @MauriceBroaddus.
Q&A
Iulian: Maurice, thank you so for chatting with us today. Please tell us a few words about non-writer Maurice Broaddus. How was your life growing up? Have you had any particular influences in your life? What jobs did you have you had before becoming a full-time writer? Since writing, have you ever considered any other careers?
Maurice: I was born in London, England. My mother is Jamaican and my dad is African American. I can’t begin to tell you how many discussions around the dinner table began with “The problem with you people is . . .”. I never knew which side of the “you” I was supposed to be on. This was compounded by the fact that other than my home, I was raised in a mostly white environment: special school program and the strict fundamentalist church my parents sent me to, which formed the bulk of my social life. I was over being the “token” in any given social situation pretty early on. That being said, it left me with a sense of always being the outsider in any given circumstance. Even if I were among my own people. This set up a lot of the themes that you commonly see in my stories: The Other/The Outsider, issues of faith, issues of race, etc.
I have a B.S. in Biology and was an environmental toxicologist for twenty years before doing the writing thing full time. I ran a homeless ministry for a few years and when my wife tires of the irregularity of freelance checks, I have taken on a 9-5 gig just for the sake of stability. But writing is what I do (since the 9-5 gigs seem to fire me when I’m on extreme deadline and do nothing but write, on the job and off).
You started strong in mid-90s with an Honorable Mention in Asimov’s Undergraduate award for Kali’s Danse Macabre. How did you get involved with writing? What was (if any) your big epiphany?
I am one of those cliché writers who have to say that “I’ve always written.” When we first arrived in the U.S., I was placed in second grade. But I was obviously bored in the class and they didn’t want to skip me another grade. So the teacher LITERALLY placed me in the corner of the room, put a stack of blank paper on my desk, and told me to just create stuff. In fifth grade I won an essay question (I believe it was on the importance of environmentalism).
During my junior year of high school, my teacher (Mr. Combs!) really encouraged me to take my writing seriously. He started giving me books to read (Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, etc.) to continue to push me.
In college I gave up writing. My mother wanted me to pursue something “practical” and we compromised on a Biology degree. So for two whole years, I gave up writing. This led to two epiphanies: 1) I realized I was miserable when I wasn’t writing, so I began pursuing an undeclared English degree, taking as many creative writing classes as I could; 2) I was randomly assigned an independent studies professor who, as it turned out, did his thesis on Stephen King and Clive Barker. He’s the one who insisted I enter for the Asimov award.
You write mostly horror and fantasy, especially dark fantasy. What draws you to these genres and have you written or considered writing in other genres as well?
Honestly, I think my fourth grade Sunday School teacher had a lot to do with it. He was teaching on Noah’s Ark and the flood one day. I put a bunch of floating bodies on the flannel-graph next to the boat because I figured a world-wide flood meant lots of bodies. He and I immediately bonded. We had a mutual love of comic books and he introduced me to Dr. Who and later Stephen King.
I have written a variety of genres. I’ve done science fiction, crime, and most recently, a lot of steampunk. Basically I will write either what gets me a check or wherever the writing challenge may lie.
What are some of the best works (stories or novels) you’ve ever read?
The Gift by Patrick O’Leary, Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and Beloved (heck, anything) by Toni Morrison.
You are the co-editor of the Dark Faith anthologies. How did you get involved in this project and how cool is it to work on an anthology?
author-editor-maurice-broaddus-2
For ten years, I hosted an annual convention called Mo*Con. Each year I invited a few horror, science fiction, and fantasy writers in, and held the convention in a church. We discussed topics related to genre and faith. You tell people you’re having a convention in a church, all they hear is “church” and, again, there are preconceptions to what goes on there. But with the great line up of writers that we had regularly attending Mo*Con, we talked with Jason Sizemore, of Apex Books, about doing a Mo*Con anthology. That project evolved into Dark Faith. I guess you could say that I’ve always been fascinated with hearing people’s stories about faith, no matter where that story takes them.
I think every writer should take a turn behind the slush pile to see what an editor faces every day. From the lack of professionalism, the inability to follow guidelines, to the ideas/stories they see all the time. That was my first major take away lesson. The second was that after we put together the original Dark Faith, we had a better idea of what kind of stories we were looking for. Our writers did also, which was reflected in the (much better) slush pile.
I’m not going to lie: any time you get to work with close friends like I got to with Jerry, it’s a win-win-win. It means a lot of hanging out playing Magic: the Gathering, gossiping, drinking Riesling all without our wives complaining because we’re “working.” If we didn’t have Dark Faith: Invocations as an excuse to do it all again, we’d have had to invent a new project to work on.
What are your thoughts about the future of the anthology? Will there be more in this series? Are you considering editing other anthologies?
We keep debating whether to do a third in the Dark Faith series. Jerry and I did get the band back together and did the urban fantasy meets crime Streets of Shadows anthology for Alliteration Ink.
Let’s talk a little bit about The Knights of Breton Court. How did the idea shape up? Can you give our readers a quick introduction into the story’s world?
The Knights of Breton Court had its origins in a local ministry called Outreach Inc. They work with homeless teenagers. We were working on various art/writing projects and I was trying to get the kids to imagine themselves in different contexts. What struck me was how they couldn’t imagine their lives past next week. So I started imagining some of them caught up in a larger story. What started out as a lark, eventually became a full blown novel. Basically, the book is a re-telling of the legend of King Arthur except set in modern day Indianapolis, told through the eyes of homeless teenagers. I call it “The Wire” meets “Excalibur”.
Here’s the other thing—I love crime fiction. George Pelecanos. Elmore Leonard. David Simon (who, technically, writes non-fiction). With the setting of my take on the Arthurian legends revolving around the lives of homeless teens and gang members in Indianapolis, the series has the pacing of a crime novel rather than a fantasy novel.
When all is said and done, acknowledging my love of horror, the scariest part of the series was the lives of the kids. In the series, magic becomes a metaphor for homelessness: it’s all around us if we choose to see it.
Which character in the series was the most fun to write and which was the hardest?
author-editor-maurice-broaddus-3
Green, who was the Green Knight and an elemental in the first book of the series, King Maker, was my favorite character to write. He was responsible for what I called the page 100 test: if a person read his scene on page 100 and could keep going, they were going to be fine with the rest of the book. Otherwise, they would decide that maybe the book wasn’t for them (by way of throwing it across the room or, in another case, calling me up to demand that Green die).
Merle was the runaway favorite of the series. There’s something about a crazy old wizard in a constant argument with a squirrel that people loved.
The hardest character to write was Lott in the third book, King’s War. He was going through a lot: wrestling with his betrayal of King via his fling with Lady G; the team broke apart; the mission on the verge of collapse and he blamed himself. It was emotionally tough for me to write.
For people who might not be aware of your work, which stories do you consider your best? Give everyone a place to start discovering your world.
My best stories might be Cerulean Memories (from the Book of the Dead anthology), Family Business (Weird Tales), or A House is not a Home (Legends of the Mountain State 2). When folks want to jump into what I do, I typically steer them towards the novelette Steppin’ Razor (Asimov’s SF) or the novella I Can Transform You (Apex Books).
What do you do when you’re not writing? Is there anything crazy about your life that you’d like to share?
I am trying to minimize the crazy going on in my life. I’m getting older, plus I’m trying to raise two bi-racial teenage boys. So it’s the quiet life of being a black geek: binge watching (A LOT of) television between games of Magic: the Gathering and Clash of Clans.
What is next for you? Are there any upcoming works we can expect? Is there anything else you’d like to add?
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I have a novel coming out in 2016 (Black Son Rising, co-written with Steve Shrewsbury) and a short story collection coming out from Rosarium Publishing. I’m working on three more novel collaborations, two novels of my own, and putting together another collection, if that tells you what my writing schedule is like these days.
Maurice, I really appreciate you taking the time for this interview!
A Chat With Author-Editor Maurice Broaddus
Nov 10th, 2011 by Bryan Thomas Schmidt.
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Maurice Broaddus’ goal is admirable: to become so famous he can snub people at cons. He’ll also clean your clock at Scrabble. His novels include Devil’s Marionette, Orgy Of Souls co-written with Wrath James Wright, and The Knights Of Breton Court Trilogy from Angry Robot Books. He’s coedited the anthologies Dark Faith and Dark Faith 2 (forthcoming) from Apex Book Company and works for Apex Book Company now as Vice President of Acquisitions and Operations. He runs his own Con, MO Con, the one Con where he can’t snub you and is competing presently for the Guiness World Record for most falsehoods told in self-written bios. He can be found online at www.mauricebroaddus.com, as @mauricebroaddus on Twitter and on Facebook. He lives in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and two sons and cases of Reisling.
SFFWRTCHT: Let’s start with the basics: How do you define urban fantasy? And what are its key elements in your mind?
Maurice Broaddus: To my mind, urban fantasy is when the city is as much a character in the story as anyone else – plus the fantastic. The odd thing is that I didn’t know I was an urban fantasy author until I was told that I was one with King Maker. Honestly, I was doing NaNoWriMo as an exercise with some kids I was working with through Outreach, Inc., trying to re-imagine their lives in a fantasy world, but I also couldn’t get away from my horror roots.
SFFWRTCHT: So Outreach, Inc. is a real organization?
MB: Yeah, I cleared it with them for me to use them in the book. They said sure as long as I didn’t have the house floating down the street or something.
SFFWRTCHT: So instead you have monsters.
MB: Just about every scene I have featuring Outreach Inc. happened to me in real life. Minus the occasional fight with monsters by staff members. Working with Outreach Inc. became a new way to see the city, which was a theme I wanted to explore in the book. Actually, some of the “monsters” Outreach Inc. has to battle are far scarier than the occasional cannibal troll.
SFFWRTCHT: For those who have not read the book, Outreach Inc. does ministry to the urban poor, delivering water, food or even socks and more.
MB: Yeah. Outreach Inc. works with homeless teens in exactly the way I depict them in the book.
SFFWRTCHT: Where did your interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy come from?
MB: I had a Sunday School teacher early on who was a closet Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror fan. He introduced me to comics, Dr. Who, and Science Fiction.
SFFWRTCHT: Who were some of the authors whose work most thrilled and inspired you?
MB: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Michael Chabon, Toni Morrison, Amy Hempel. They’ve all made me want to be a better writer.
SFFWRTCHT: When did you start writing and how long until your first sale?
MB: I made my first sale in 1999. I’d been writing seriously for six years by then.
SFFWRTCHT: Did you study creative writing in school? How’d you learn your craft?
MB: I was encouraged starting in high school to think about writing seriously. A teacher noticed I had some talent. Since my mom wanted me to major in something “practical,” I took creative writing on the sly, including taking the same creative writing class three times. Drove my guidance counselor nuts. Another reason it took me nearly six years to graduate college. I was using the class to give me deadlines to produce, which, in retrospect, made college the most expensive workshop ever! I have since sold every story written in them.
SFFWRTCHT: I think we had the same parents. I started out similarly with a teacher’s encouragement and then creative writing in school.
MB: Yup, other than some emotional poetry I did in high school. Laws have since been passed banning me from poetry. Once checks and real notoriety started happening for me, my mom reversed her stance on the value of writing. Now she’s bragging about her son the writer. I just wrote a children’s fantasy story about my mom and sent it to her for mother’s day.
SFFWRTCHT: Where did the idea for The Knights Of Breton Court come from?
MB: It definitely sprang from working with the kids through Outreach Inc. I once called them kings and queens of the streets…
SFFWRTCHT: The books are fantasy but very realistic in feel–gritty language, violence & characters. How much did you research?
MB: A lot. But that “research” was mostly living my life. Breton Court is actually Gateway Court, where I lived.
SFFWRTCHT: So it was a rough neighborhood?
MB: I didn’t think it was rough at the time. My wife disagreed. Then I read the first draft of King Maker and was like “damn, I’m glad we moved.”
SFFWRTCHT: Had you conceived of it as a trilogy or are there more?
MB: Strictly a trilogy. Though now that the world is built, I can easily go back and explore more characters. It evolved. I had originally penned it as a stand alone, but it was pointed out to me that there was a whole lot of story left in those characters. And there are an awful lot of Arthurian mythos to play with.
SFFWRTCHT: Were you a big Arthur Legend fan?
MB: I was a huge fan of Excalibur. And The Wire, for that matter. I’ve always thought Arthur was a bit of a tool, honestly. Part of that was his burden of being king though.
SFFWRTCHT: How long did it take you to write the first book?
MB: I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo. Took another three months for a second draft. I wrote the third draft (when I thought it a YA) and took two months. I sold it to Angry Robot Books and was told it was not a YA and I needed to add 30K words. So another three months. I wrote all of King’s Justice in just under six months. I just jumped right in and ran, which led to huge writer’s block for book three, King’s War, because I had to somehow wrap up all of those character arcs/legend somehow. Keep in mind, I was thinking of it as a writing exercise at the time. I don’t know if I’d sit down and do that today.
SFFWRTCHT: Were you a full time writer at the time?
MB: No, I became a full time writer because of it.
SFFWRTCHT: Plus you workshopped parts with a writer’s group you said, right?
MB: That was interesting. One lady (white) was an Arthurian expert. One gentleman (black) was a “hood” expert. They had totally different reactions to King Maker. She loved playing “who’s that?” with the book. He loved the characters. “I swear we lived in the same neighborhood” was my favorite compliment from him.
SFFWRTCHT: Does King’s War just pick up where King’s Justice left off?
MB: King’s War picks up right after King’s Justice, well into the repercussions of the betrayal from within the community. Their merry band of friends has exploded and is forever changed, yet they have to figure out some way to come together because Dred has gathered his forces and is making his final move.
SFFWRTCHT: How has your writing of these stories and characters evolved over the course of three books or has it?
MB: I think I especially got a handle of the characters in books two and three. By then, I was comfortable with them and with the story I wanted to tell. Some characters are always fun to write (Merle, Naptown Red) and some characters were much richer than I first imagined them (Percy, Lott).
SFFWRTCHT: Was there a full outline for all three books or did you create it as you went?
MB: There was a very general outline for books two and three from the beginning. That being said, every time I sat
SFFWRTCHT: Do you start with characters sketches or outlines or just let it unfold as it comes? down to write each of the subsequent books, I had to thoroughly outline. If for no other reason than I was juggling sooooo many characters and overlapping storylines.
MB: I am all character sketches and outlines. I feel like more engineer than writer sometimes. But with that prep, by mid story, my characters have wandered off and done their own thing so I end up having to re-plot from the mid-way point after I’ve lost track of everyone. Keep in mind that the extra 30K was due in August, all of Book 2 in December, and Dark Faith was due that December also! I don’t remember the last half of 2009. It was a blur of words.
SFFWRTCHT: Any future plans to return to the world and characters of this trilogy?
MB: There are no immediate plans. King’s story has ran its course, but there are still a lot of stories to tell. I loved writing about Tristan and Iz all day long. And Omarosa. The universe itself is fun. I already dipped into it once already with the limited edition hardcover novella, Bleed With Me. So if fans demand it, I can easily pick up any of their stories.
SFFWRTCHT: What was editing Dark Faith like given your Christian beliefs?
MB: The church’s stance on horror has always puzzled me. I get variations on “It’s of the Devil” and “you’re supporting witchcraft/evil/the occult.” The best part about editing those was the friendship it forged between myself, Jason Sizemore at Apex and Jerry Gordon, my co-editor. I pitched the idea after Riesling at MoCon III to Jason. Jerry came over to the house every week, Riesling in hand, while we read and talked. I mostly dealt with the stories/writers I solicited. Jerry banned me from the slush pile after a while, when I shortlisted a fifth story I’d discovered there. Editors aren’t out to “get” writers. We want to find those gems. I want to be that gem! I’ve only felt that “gem” feeling a couple of times. “Pimp My Airship” was one. The children’s fantasy was another time. And a story I wrote called “Shadow Boxing”. With novels, I’m more insecure/neurotic than usual so I never get to the possibility of a gem.
SFFWRTCHT: Which denomination do you belong to?
MB: I’ve been mostly conservative, non-demoninational most of my life. Fundamentalist background. As you can imagine, I always fit in well at church. They especially loved me pointing out all of the horror and occult stuff in the Bible. Now I go to a church with a bunch of foodies who love wine.
SFFWRTCHT: Well, your stories’ grittiness does defy the bounds of the typical Christian writing industry.
MB: There is that, but that’s life in the streets. Few of my stories are (Christian) by some people’s tastes. But Christian is my worldview, not my “writing style.” Many are ready to get upset, until they realize that Outreach Inc. is a real Christian organization, and, minus the monsters, this is the lives kids live. And they need to be loved and ministered to. So King Maker and Dark Faith even more so, stretches a lot of folks of faith.
SFFWRTCHT: What projects are you working on for the future that we can look forward to?
MB: I have a Science Fiction noir novella coming out from Apex in August called I Can Transform You. I have a horror novella called Bleed With Me from Delirium Books in October. King’s War just came out this month, plus, a dozen short stories in various magazines and anthologies to come.
SFFWRTCHT: Tell us a little about Mo*Con before you go please.
MB: I wanted a safe place where writers could talk about spiritual issues and be loved on by the church and a successful Mo*Con is measured in how well people felt loved. Mo*Con VI was the best and most controversial yet. Keep the first weekend in May open next year. We’ll be updating the Mo*Con site soon.
SFFWRTCHT: Readers should be sure and check out the Maurice Broaddus page at Amazon, especially the funny bio: http://amzn.to/r5h0SL.
MB: Yep. Allow me to leave you with this image: http://www.briankeene.com/?p=7701
Interviewer Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, the collection The North Star Serial, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. His second novel, The Returning, is forthcoming from Diminished Media Group in 2012. He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chatevery Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog.
3 5-star & 8 4-star reviews THE WORKER PRINCE $3.99 Kindlehttp://amzn.to/pnxaNm or Nook http://bit.ly/ni9OFh $14.99 tpb http://bit.ly/qIJCkS.
Maurice Broaddus
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Author, Consultant at The Learning Tree, teacher at The Oaks Academy
The Learning Tree Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana 500+ 500+ connections
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As both a creative and critical thinker, I solve problems and anticipate needs. I bring significant skills in the
areas writing, editing and proofreading. After 20 years as an environmental toxicologist, my background includes writing SOPs and other procedural documentation for laboratory settings, and technical documentation. I have nearly 100 dozen short stories published. My writing background includes grant writing, editing anthologies and newsletters, and writing business content, newspaper columns, book and movie reviews. As a storyteller, I specialize in finding the best story to be told and communicate it to a broad audience. Specialties: technical writing, creative writing, copywriting, grant writing, nonprofits, project management, administration, branding and identity, social media
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YOU'RE INVITED! RSVP to: CLD40@cldinc.org Join CLD as we launch an exciting new book titled "40 Years of Intentional Excellence: The History of the Center for Leadership Development" this Friday at CLD (2425 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, 46208). The event runs from 4:30 to 6:30 with a brief program at 5:00. Copies of the book will be available for purchase onsite, or may be pre-ordered and shipped by following this link: https://lnkd.in/dUnXiw8
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It's gonna be like an adult prom, just for a couple of good causes! 2 for 1 VIP tickets are included in the special which gets you chef plating, bottle service, designated seating, and a goodie bag! *** End of the week special *** 2 for 1 presale tickets to RED - the Official Fundraising Gala for GRoE, Inc. and Open Bite Night Until tonight, Friday October 27th at 11:59pm! https://lnkd.in/gCkw8gV
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Experience
The Learning Tree
Consultant
Company NameThe Learning Tree
Dates EmployedAug 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 4 mos
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana Area
Consults on Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD), conducting seminars on the subject. Participates in community organizing, bringing neighbors and institutions together. Collects stories and writes profiles on neighbors. Produces copy for articles. Gathers the necessary documentation,wrote grant applications, and submitted them for approval. Drafts content for mass media and company web site. Manages internal communication. Performs managerial duties and mentors artists. Facilitates event planning and coordination.
Self Employed
Freelance Writer
Company NameSelf Employed
Dates Employed1999 – Present Employment Duration18 yrs
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana
Authored and implemented SOPs and provided technical writing for laboratories
Authored promotional pieces and press releases, articles, columns, and other materials.
Consulted on videogame scripts
Wrote numerous grants for various non-profit organizations.
Editor for several published projects in both non-fiction and genre fiction.
Several novels, multiple essays, and more than 50 short stories published to date.
Provided content, including articles and photo essays, for FunCityFinder.com and other websites.
Wrote numerous columns on movies, comic books, and television shows for HollywoodJesus.com.
Previous life and culture columnist for Indianapolis newspaper Intake Weekly.
The Oaks Academy
Teacher
Company NameThe Oaks Academy
Dates EmployedMar 2010 – Present Employment Duration7 yrs 9 mos
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana Area
Currently, I teach the Logic class as well as provide support to teachers and administration. Previously, I managed classrooms from Kindergarten through 8th grade. I was responsible for providing help and support to teachers and pupils. I was responsible for working in reading, writing, crafts and arts to children. I helped with teaching preparations. I gave support to children with special educational needs. I maintained records. I helped supervise children in the classroom activities, meals etc. I also provided instructional and clerical support for classroom teachers. I was also responsible for other duties as assigned.
ASI
Publishing/Marketing Consultant
Company NameASI
Dates EmployedOct 2013 – Jun 2016 Employment Duration2 yrs 9 mos
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana Area
Converted leads into paying clients via phone and email sales support. Sold our clients on additional, commission based services to help them improve their publication efforts. Helped our clients navigate the initial portions of the pre-production process and pass them successfully to the production team. Assessed the client’s goals and consulted with them on their marketing endeavors to best reach those goals.
Cities of Refuge Ministries
Executive Director
Company NameCities of Refuge Ministries
Dates EmployedFeb 2012 – Feb 2014 Employment Duration2 yrs 1 mo
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana Area
Co-founder of Cities of Refuge Ministries which provides transitional housing and employment opportunities for people coming out of addiction, reentry, or homelessness. We utilize a holistic approach to direct services and outcome accountability. Provide leadership and vision to the organization by assisting the Board and staff with the development of long range and annual plans with the evaluation and reporting of progress on plans. Research and write grants and proposals as needed to assist the organization in determining and meeting its long and short term goals.
Specialties:
Program development and implementation, vision casting, strategic planing, grant writing, and collaborations.
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Education
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
Degree NameBachelor of Science (BS) Field Of StudyBiology, General
Dates attended or expected graduation 1987 – 1993
Master’s level courses in virology, immunology, and genetics completed.
Undeclared minor in English.
Northwest High School
Northwest High School
Field Of StudyEnglish Language and Literature/Letters
Dates attended or expected graduation 1983 – 1987
Activities and Societies: Science Club, Brain Game Team
Volunteer Experience
Stop the Violence
Volunteer
Company NameStop the Violence
Cause Children
Worked with homeless and at-risk youth. Assisted in grant writing. Served on their board.
Outreach Inc
Volunteer
Company NameOutreach Inc
Cause Children
Worked with homeless and at-risk youth. Assisted in grant writing. Led writing workshops with the youth..
Second Story
Board Member
Company NameSecond Story
Cause Education
Second Story is a community-based and volunteer-driven educational organization that helps young people in Indianapolis form positive attitudes about writing and improve their skills as writers—thus increasing their chances of success in academics and in life.
Second Story’s mission is to help kids 6 to 18 find joy in writing as they discover their voices, explore their world, and embrace a life of curiosity and self-expression.
Evoke Arts + Media
Board Member
Company NameEvoke Arts + Media
Cause Arts and Culture
Hosting events in Broad Ripple, Mass. Ave, and various other locations; Evoke Arts and Media works facilitates a gathering place for art, music, film, and conversation.
QUOTED: "There are enough provocative scenarios here to provide hours of faith-challenging entertainment."
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Print Marked Items
Dark Faith
Carl Hays
Booklist.
106.17 (May 1, 2010): p73.
COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association
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Full Text:
Dark Faith.
Ed. by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon.
May 2010. 320p. Apex, $19.95 (9780982159682).
What questions would you ask Jesus if he returned on the eve of an apocalypse and granted every surviving human a
personal audience? If a Zen Buddhist were consigned to hell, would he suffer the torments of the damned or remain
blissfully serene? These are some of the questions explored in this distinctive collection focusing on philosophical
conundrums presented by religious faith. Thirty-one tales and poems from some of the horror genre's most talented
writers cover quite a spectrum of inquiry. Jennifer Pelland's "Ghosts of New York" finds the World Trade Center
jumpers on 9/11 endlessly reliving their terrifying plummets to earth. An autistic girl who becomes miraculously lucid
in Chesya Burke's "The Unremembered" spurns the priest who mistakes her miracle for a Christian one. A saintly boy
found murdered in Ekatarina Sedia's "You Dream" haunts a woman's nightmares. While the overall quality is mixed,
and the selections lean heavily on shock value rather than subtlety, there are enough provocative scenarios here to
provide hours of faith-challenging entertainment.--Carl Hays
Hays, Carl
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Hays, Carl. "Dark Faith." Booklist, 1 May 2010, p. 73. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA226161114&it=r&asid=c7c50cc478df12c39f2fda2e8c066624.
Accessed 19 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A226161114
QUOTED: "Hints of magic in both the past and present, as well as the science fiction elements of the future stories, make this an exciting exploration of genre as well as culture."
10/19/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508471906436 2/2
The Voices of Martyrs
Publishers Weekly.
264.1 (Jan. 2, 2017): p42.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Voices of Martyrs
Maurice Broaddus. Rosarium, $16.95 trade paper (220p) ISBN 978-0-9967692-5-9
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
This evocative and moving collection from Broaddus (the Knights of Breton Court series) spans the extremes of
African and diasporic experiences, from hunting villages and slaver ships to interstellar religious warfare in the near
future. The collection moves smoothly among past, present, and future. Broaddus portrays the horrors of slavery and
the Jim Crow era unflinchingly, with standout entries such as "Rite of Passage" and "A Soldier's Story" providing
agency to those who have often been denied it. The Jamaican mythology of obeah and a correctional facility known as
"the Ave" weave through the present and link into the future. Some stories intersect; the volunteer from "The
Volunteer" returns in "Pimp My Airship," which has a neo-disco vibe that's strikingly different from the rest of the
collection without clashing or being overly disconcerting. The solid emotional core established in the beginning carries
through "Cerulean Memories," which explores grief, and the title story, which delves deeper into how religious belief
affects action and interactions. The lush, descriptive prose tantalizes all the senses, drawing the reader into a rich world
spanning both miles and centuries. Hints of magic in both the past and present, as well as the science fiction elements
of the future stories, make this an exciting exploration of genre as well as culture. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Voices of Martyrs." Publishers Weekly, 2 Jan. 2017, p. 42. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA478696504&it=r&asid=f6472bb10a2bf7c359e7028a97514811.
Accessed 19 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A478696504
Dark Faith
Maurice Broaddus, Editor, Jerry Gordon, Editor Apex Publications $19.95 (375p) ISBN 978-0-9821596-8-2
Although the horror genre naturally lends itself to up close and personal examination of good and very nasty evil, little writing in that genre is faith inflected. This anthology addresses that gap. ""Faith"" is used loosely and expansively in this collection of short tales that offers something for lots of different tastes-slasher, fairy tale, end times, ghost story-as well as religion. ""Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation,"" by Douglas F. Warrick, is a meditation on enlightenment as cagey as any Zen master's teaching. ""Different from Other Nights"" by Eliyanna Kaiser offers a knife twist on the Passover celebration. Although the anthology is uneven, as collections often can be, the very best, like Gary A. Braunbeck's ""For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer,"" resonate in the mind long afterward, with no guts or gore. And while Cathrynne M. Valente's ""The Days of Flaming Motorcycles"" is a wicked clever zombie tale set in Augusta, Maine, readers may wonder where zombie Jesus is when we need him.
QUOTED: "Dark Faith is a gutsy anthology of a type that you will rarely have to opportunity to peruse. Regardless of your own faith, it will be tested within these pages and you will not leave unscathed."
Book Review: Dark Faith – Editors: Maurice Broaddus | Jerry Gordon
Anton Cancre 10/09/2017 Book Reviews
DARK FAITH
Edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon
Published by: Apex Publications
Publication Date: 2010
Format: Black / White – 360 pages
Price: $19.95
Many people believe that faith and horror do not mix, but I would be among the first to argue that point. The experience of terror is an intensely spiritual one and spiritual experiences can often be quite terrifying.
Dark Faith is an anthology that focuses on that experience of terror in the spiritual realm, an exploration of faith through horror. If anyone is qualified to put something like this together, then the sinister minister, Maurice Broaddus, certainly has to be that man. The result is something that resembles a conversation, in allegorical terms, that is at turns harrowing, hilarious, thought provoking and confounding.
Something that specifically impressed me with this collection was the variety of faiths represented. There is the rage fueled, self-directed atheist manifesto, “He Who Would Not Bow” by Wrath James White rubbing elbows with Douglas Warrick’s bhuddist lesson for a Christian God, “Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch’s Damnation.” Later on you’ll get to see a story of old gods of the Americas (“Mother Urban’s Booke of Dayes”, by Jay Lake) bumping uglies with self-determinism of Levy/Randian proportions via arrogant birds (Richard Dansky’s “The Mad Eyes of the Heron King”). Mary Kowal’s “Ring Road” even features Baldur.
The inclusion of poetry (scarce as it is), further expands this sense of variety. The wondrous Linda D. Addison sets the tone of complexity and confounding intricacy for the book with “The Story of Belief-Non”. Meanwhile, Jennifer Baungartner managed to fit possession, murder and a total loss of the self into 4 stanzas with “C{her}ry Carvings” and Kurt Dinan serves up a tasty platter of “Paranoia” that’ll have you looking over your shoulder for weeks.
Similarly, the tone is just as varied between stories. From the unmitigated rage of Brian Keene’s “I Sing a New Psalm” and Lucy Snyder’s “Miz Ruthie Pays Her Respects” to the inner strength found in the lost past of “The Unremembered” (Chesya Burke) and the unexpected hope of “The Ghosts of New York” (Jennifer Pelland). There is not an emotional palette left undappled here.
But, without a doubt, my favorite tale here is Piccirilli the almighty’s “Scrawl”. A not so simple story of a nondescript middle aged man getting some strange. Maybe I’m a moron, but I have no idea what the hell this has to do with faith. Perhaps it is about a renewed faith in oneself? A power hidden in weak folds of pudgy flesh? Whatever the hell it is, it certainly isn’t horror! But you know what? I don’t care. It left me tittering in my cubicle like a little schoolgirl, but I wanted to howl. Also, to another pudgy, middle aged nondescript guy, it was quite empowering. Fuckin Pic, man. Fuckin Pic.
That said, devil his due and all…While there wasn’t anything particularly bad on display, there was a fair share of meh. “The Crater” and “Hush” are great examples of stories I forgot immediately after reading. They just didn’t have the emotional or psychological oomph I need. Then there is “For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer” by Gary Braunbeck, which was basically a lesson in the essential mythos to his Cedar Creek Cycle wrapped in a paper thin afterthought of a story. I’m a huge fan of the big B, but this was a rare disappointment. Richard Wright’s “Sandboys” accomplished the same thing this one seemed to be reaching for with much more grace.
Dark Faith is a gutsy anthology of a type that you will rarely have to opportunity to peruse. Regardless of your own faith, it will be tested within these pages and you will not leave unscathed.
Available at Amazon
Available at Apex Publications
QUOTED: "Broaddus’s text doesn’t always flow perfectly, but the voices of his characters ... both the main focus and the strength of the collection. Most refreshing is that nowhere in The Voices of Martyrs does Broaddus present a stereotype or predictable trope."
THE VOICES OF MARTYRS
Maurice Broaddus
Rosarium Publishing (Feb 7, 2017)
Softcover $16.95 (250pp)
978-0-9967692-5-9
Broaddus’s stories are a roller-coaster of imaginativeness, both speculative and unique.
A fertile imagination, combined with elements of the black experience, makes Maurice Broaddus’s story collection The Voices of Martyrs a memorable one.
Broaddus, a writer whose work has appeared in publications from Asimov’s Science Fiction to Apex Magazine, brings a less-heard perspective to speculative fiction, infusing his stories with African words and concepts, Jamaican obeah (Cabibbean folk magic), and other rich cultural sources.
The Voices of Martyrs is separated into three sections, “Past,” “Present,” and “Futures”; the first includes settings such as a 1651 slave ship and 1895 Indiana, amid a period of high racial tension. Much of Broaddus’s writing skirts the boundaries of genres—science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, and horror—and some stories, like “Pimp My Airship,” combine so many disparate elements—steampunk and alternate history, mixed with social commentary and music references—that they can’t but stand out as unique.
“The Volunteer” is a collection highlight. It is the story of a church volunteer who meets a group of vampires. Here, the details and social significance of clothing play a central role, as does the importance of a sense of belonging, as illuminated when the protagonist speaks with the female vampire who leads the group:
For him, family meant more people to eat the things he bought and put in the refrigerator. And more people to turn the heat up too high in the house. And more people to argue about what to watch on television. Which she agreed with, but made it sound like those were exactly the things to be treasured.
Broaddus’s text doesn’t always flow perfectly, but the voices of his characters—martyrs or otherwise—are both the main focus and the strength of the collection. Most refreshing is that nowhere in The Voices of Martyrs does Broaddus present a stereotype or predictable trope; there’s a clear sense that he’s having fun writing what he wants to, and that readers are just hitching a ride on the roller-coaster of his imagination until the ride stops, or they fall off.
Reviewed by Peter Dabbene
March/April 2017
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The author of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the author for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
QUOTED: "His characters are very distinctive, and his words paint vivid imagery of setting and mood."
The Voices of Martyrs
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
I received a free e-book of this title from Rosarium Publishing through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. It is a short story collection, with several stronger than others of course. There were a few problems with formatting issues, which has happened with files from other publishers too. In one instance I am sure the last page or so of one story was out of order, coming at the end of another. There were also places where quite a few words were mashed together, withnospacesinbetweenthem. [PLEASE NOTE: Bill Campbell of Rosarium assures me that is a problem with the way NetGalley converts the PDF file to Kindle (.mobi) format.] I am interested in purchasing this due to the strength of the stories, but will probably wait for the paperback. All the stories but one were compelling and worth reading. Several have a fantasy or science fiction element, but not all.
Dealing with a full range of Black experiences, the stories are divided into three sections; Past, Present, and Futures. The first is one of my favorites. The "Warrior of the Sunrise" is a strong female fighter exiled from her tribe (and her son) because she will not identify the father. Two different time periods are covered, and I might have had a difficult time keeping them separate except the flashback sequences were in italics. It has a slight fantasy feel to it, with a shaman who tells the warrior about her future, as well as an evil warlord who creates grotesque creatures by way of torture and vivisection of captives. The next three deal with slavery and its aftermath. "Rite of Passage" is set in 1651 on a slave ship, and concerns the struggle of a White man trying to reconcile his actions with his Christian faith. He fails. "A Soldier's Story" jumps to Parsons, Indiana in 1895. One character might be a vampire, or a werewolf-like creature, whose killing of a man is blamed on a Black man in nearby Scott Settlement. That community of former slaves is burned, with several of the men lynched. "Ah Been Buked" has a Black woman in 1935 telling the story of how she killed her master when she was a teenager. All of these feature brutal imagery which might upset some readers, but they are stories of events that should never be forgotten. The final story of the past is "Shadow Boxing," about a Black fighter trying to break into the big time against White boxers. At first I thought the shadow that Stagger Jackson saw in the crowd was a good omen for him, but later events seemed to indicate it might be the opposite, merely taunting him. He does win several bouts, but promoters want him to take a fall in his final match. He refuses, but the Shadow is now his nemesis and proves too strong to defeat. He had bet on himself in previous fights, but against himself in the last one, so maybe things worked out for him anyway.
The first story in the Present section is "The Ave," which is a nickname for the Allisonville Correctional Facility. Prisoner #935579 is Ashanti Tannehill, whose cellmate is lifer Wintabi Freeman. Tannehill's dreams are filled with images which might have been experienced by one of his ancestors, captured in Africa and sold into slavery. "Family Business" sees Nathan Bratton return to the family home in Jamaica after his grandfather dies. He suspects his aunt's new husband is an obeah, a sorcerer who may have killed his grandfather in order to take over the family's sugar cane farm. "Read Me Up" also deals with Jamaican obeah myths, but with characters now living in America. Earl and Von are a couple in an uneasy relationship, under even more strain when her mother comes for a surprise visit with her new husband. Isabelle tells the story of when she was younger and an obeah cast her fortune, telling her she would be cursed unto the third generation. Von has not yet told Earl she is pregnant, and worries her child will be the cursed third generation. "Cerulean Memories" is about a man who starts a collection of objects connected to death, beginning with the sofa on which his father died. Another in his collection is his wife, whom he tries to preserve as much like a mummy as possible. The final Past story is "The Volunteer", but it probably should be in the Futures section. It's about a vampire named N'Kya, handicapped before she was turned, and still in a wheelchair. She is of one group of vampires, but there are other species, and it appears they have integrated into human society. The "volunteer" is a young human male whom she recruits.
"Pimp My Airship" is set in either a future dystopia or an alternate steampunk universe. In either case, the United States is now part of the Albion Empire, but no details are given as to whether that was the result of a home-grown coup, an invasion from another country, or possibly by aliens. The airship of the title, called the Bop Gun, has been commandeered by anarchist revolutionaries Knowledge Allah and Deaconess Blues, who have recruited Hubert "Sleepy" Nixon to help in rescuing The Star Child from The Ave, the prison from the earlier story. That is a fictitious institution, but identified in this story as being in or near Indianapolis. The next story, "The Electric Spanking of the War Babies" was co-written with Kyle Johnson. It's the only one I didn't care for, mainly because I couldn't figure out what was happening, where it was occuring, or why. It's possible it's only part of a drug induced hallucination. The Star Child is mentioned again, as another off-screen character, as well as a bop gun, but in this case it is an actual weapon. Or maybe it's all a dream, I don't know. The final two stories seem to be set in the same milieu, although "The Valkyrie" is set on Earth, while "Voice of the Martyrs" is on another planet. Both involve members of a military unit from the Evangelical States of America, which has control of most of the Western Hemisphere as well as parts of Africa and Asia. By the time of the last story they may have been successful in conquering all of Earth, and are now colonizing and spreading their gospel to other planets. It is set on a moon of a gas giant, which has a very primitive indigenous population. Later it is discovered that a virus entity from the gas giant has infected the natives in order to spark rapid mutations.
Other than the one story I've already said I didn't like, the only complaint I have is they are all too short, ending when it feels there is a lot more story to tell. That includes the one I think was a mixup in the Kindle file I received. At the end of "Pimp My Airship" there is a page or two I feel belonged with "The Volunteer," because all of a sudden N'Kya appears, as well as Kwame, who was a member of one of the other vampire species. Even then, that segment didn't seem to complete that story, and I'm convinced parts of "Pimp My Airship" were missing. I'm writing this on Monday, February 6, and the Kindle version should be available from Amazon tomorrow, and that might be the case for the Nook, or Kobo, or other e-readers. If the info at Amazon is correct, the paperback won't be out until the end of the month, the 28th. I liked this enough I will eventually buy one of those, and if so I will return to this page to add comments concerning these seeming errors.
I'll admit there were some turns of phrase, colloquialisms, with which I wasn't familiar. I had to search for the terms obeah and griot (pronounced gree-oh, meaning a traveling storyteller or musician), both of which are from the Caribbean. Broaddus was born in London, his mother from Jamaica, where many of his relatives still live, and raised in Indianapolis, so he has had many influences for story ideas and style. His characters are very distinctive, and his words paint vivid imagery of setting and mood. I'm looking forward to reading this again, and will be on the lookout for more of his work. Recommended.
QUOTED: "Even with the bright spots of a rich setting and occasional humor, King Maker doesn't quite hang together as a novel. Though it's only the first book in a planned trilogy, it reads the way middle volumes of trilogies sometimes do: perhaps it provides background information that will make the sequel clearer, but the story doesn't stand on its own."
REVIEWS SIZE / / /
KING MAKER BY MAURICE BROADDUS
SARA POLSKY
ISSUE: 22 NOVEMBER 2010
King Maker cover
King Maker, the first of a planned trilogy by Maurice Broaddus, relocates the Arthurian legends to inner city Indianapolis, where the Arthur character, King James White, must claim his birthright amid gang fighting and drug wars. But the mythic elements are more of a hindrance than a selling point for the book, which mixes realism and magic, past and present, and the viewpoints of what often feels like too large a cast of characters to confusing effect.
Broaddus does an excellent job with his chosen setting. He brings to life the rundown Breton Court housing complex where King lives and where much of the story's action takes place; the long-running fight over drugs between Dred and Night and their respective crews; and the way the secondary characters' options for their futures gradually close off, leading them to work for one of the two crime lords.
Unfortunately, the scene-setting often crowds out the plot, which has little sense of direction for the first two-thirds of the book. Partisans of Dred and Night encounter each other, fight, threaten each other, do drugs and sometimes commit violence against random bystanders for the book's first two hundred pages or so, with the majority of the characters not appearing to work toward any particular goals. The action doesn't fall into an obvious Arthurian template until the last hundred pages, when King starts to gather his band—Lott, the mage Merle, Lady G, and an outreach worker named Wayne—to fight a still-amorphous enemy. Such back-loading makes most of King Maker feel like a very long prologue to some other story (or perhaps to the rest of the trilogy), and the lack of momentum leaves the reader very little incentive to keep turning pages.
Nor does the mash-up of realism and magic lend much sense of logic to the plot. Broaddus nails the grit, violence, and language of the story, which starts off in a firmly realistic landscape. But as the book progresses, hints of magic appear irregularly. With the exception of Merle, who's identified early on as a mage, it sometimes takes a while to figure out whether a particular character has magical abilities or not, and whether the "magic" of the streets the characters sometimes refer to is literal or metaphorical. Broaddus doesn't establish any principles for the use of magic within the universe of the book, and the range of fantastical elements—trolls, fey, mystical rituals, tendrils of mist that flow around and into people—is so wide that it only adds to the arbitrary, meandering feel of the narrative.
Frequent shifts between not particularly distinctive viewpoints generate more confusion. Broaddus jumps between characters' heads within chapters and sometimes even within scenes, and the characters' voices aren't particularly distinctive, so that I sometimes had to reread sections to figure out whose head I was in. (Switches between past and present in some scenes jumbled things further.) Broaddus spends some time in even the most minor characters' minds, and while their individual stories can be quite moving, when every character gets a turn as narrator, it quickly becomes difficult to tell which characters are the most important ones.
There are some aspects of characterization Broaddus handles well. King and Merle, the two characters with the strongest senses of humor and perspective, demonstrate those traits with a few enjoyably nerdy references, to Star Wars and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There are also a few memorable moments of description, as when Broaddus notes that one character, Marshall, had "a set of chops which looked like he glued two hedgehogs to either side of his face" (p. 158). Broaddus also neatly differentiates Dred and Night, explaining Dred's transformation into a drug-selling folk hero through community service and Night's failure to achieve the same status.
But even with the bright spots of a rich setting and occasional humor, King Maker doesn't quite hang together as a novel. Though it's only the first book in a planned trilogy, it reads the way middle volumes of trilogies sometimes do: perhaps it provides background information that will make the sequel clearer, but the story doesn't stand on its own. Most of all, I came away from the book feeling that Broaddus had not done some of the author's most important work: making the choices about scenes, character, point of view, and plot that end up guiding the reader through the story the author wants him or her to be reading.
Sara Polsky has written for The Forward, The Hartford Courant, The Writer, and other publications. Her fiction has appeared in Fictitious Force and Behind the Wainscot.
QUOTED: "Although the dialogue is very effectively written, it is also hard to understand at times."
"The characters are difficult to like, and, due to the nature of the gang warfare, all of them are written in shades of grey."
King Maker: Read by a white girl in the UK
Readers’ average rating:
fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsMaurice Broaddus Knights of Breton Court 1. King Maker 2. King's JusticeKing Maker by Maurice Broaddus
The premise of King Maker is simply awesome, and I wanted to love the book based on that alone. I’m a big fan of the King Arthur mythology, and the idea of such a unique slant on the story had me extremely excited. I found myself bewildered, however, as I worked my way through the book.
I want to deal with the strengths of the novel first. Maurice Broaddus’ writing creates a dangerous and authentic mood. The language is fierce and evokes the gritty realism of life on the streets. When the supernatural elements are introduced, they drift through the novel like smoke, leaving the reader gradually horrified as the end game is reached. Broaddus’ horror background is evident; some of the events in King Maker sent chills down my spine.
With all that said, I didn’t enjoy King Maker, for a number of reasons.
It is a relatively slight novel (the first in a trilogy being published by Angry Robot books), and yet I found it took me almost a week to plough through. Part of this was thanks to the stop-start nature of the plot, and the bouncing around of timelines. I found it extremely easy to put the book down, rarely wanting to read on at the end of a chapter. I became confused at times by the fact that one of the characters was alive when I had read a couple of chapters ago that they had died.
Although the dialogue is very effectively written, it is also hard to understand at times. As a white gal who lives in comfort a million miles away from the types of events being described, I felt like I needed a dictionary. Although I list this as a fault, I do greatly admire Broaddus for delving so well into the psyche of inner city America and not making compromises for the ease of his readers.
The characters are difficult to like, and, due to the nature of the gang warfare, all of them are written in shades of grey. I do like ambiguous characters, but sometimes you just want to root for a hero. Here even King (Broaddus’ version of King Arthur) acts reprehensibly at times.
Lastly, there are some extremely gruesome scenes that I found distasteful to read. They fit the nature of the book, but it should be mentioned that if books received ratings, King Maker would have been stamped an “18.”
Yet I have the sneaking suspicion that other readers will love this book. Sometimes you just don’t “fit” with a book, and find yourself confused by the overwhelming praise other reviewers shower upon it. I have a feeling that, when King Maker is released, many will adore it for the bravery and uniqueness of the writing. I am left comparing the book to a worthy film generating Oscar buzz: something you feel you should watch, but know you won’t enjoy as much as an explosion-ridden summer blockbuster.
In conclusion, although I did not like this book, I firmly believe that readers will have to make up their own minds. For some, King Maker is going to be the best read of 2010.
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February 26th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 2 | Maurice Broaddus | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
AMANDA RUTTER, one of our guest reviewers, used to be an accountant in the UK but she escaped the world of numbers and is now living in a fantasy world she creates. She runs Angry Robot's YA imprint, Strange Chemistry. And we knew her when....
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QUOTED: "While the pacing can drag a bit, the plot which drives the book is rock-solid, with enough action, suspense and intrigue to keep the ball rolling."
"Any fan of true, gritty crime mixed with urban fantasy will definitely appreciate this book."
King Maker — A Dark Arthurian Retelling
King MakerIt seems like everyone is re-imagining classical legends these days, from Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters to Disney’s Cinderella. It’s no surprise that the Arthurian legends get such a treatment as well, but it is quite refreshing to see such a dark and urban spin put on them by author Maurice Broaddus in the first book in his Knights of Breton Court series, King Maker.
The novel begins with the fall of Luther, a street hustler ruling over the inner streets of Indianapolis. A determined and ambitious man, Luther is one not to be trifled with. However, after “sending a message” to his rival Green, he lays eyes upon a captivating woman of indistinct heritage. Momentarily forgetting the mother of his child, King, he soon heads for her house to visit. She reminds him that she can’t live the life he lives, and he promises to redeem himself so that they can be together and bring their baby up properly. However, after he leaves her, he rediscovers the strange Asiatic woman. His drive to possess the woman outweighs his desire and edge to rule the streets or follow his own promise of redemption, and after he hooks up with her briefly, Luther is gunned down. The mysterious woman, pregnant with Luther’s child, seems to be preparing to war against Luther’s other progeny, King.
Fast forward about twenty years. Merle, a crazy homeless man who had befriended Luther long before, becomes a companion to King. King, a strange juxtaposition of stupidity and wisdom, is told by the homeless crazy man that he needs to reclaim his destiny. Unsure by what he means, King begins to follow the path that can help him save Breton Court — the ghetto apartment complex he resides in — from both the streets and other dark things that seek to destroy his world.
Part of the allure of this book is piecing together the Arthurian legends with Broaddus’ reimagining of it. Green, the street hustler responsible for Luther’s murder, is fairly easy to work out who he is. Others, like the Samoan siblings who come to Breton Court to kill Arthur, is a bit harder. Background characters like CashMoney, Lady G, Wayne and Lott Carey round out a terrific ensemble which makes King more human — and more believable. With Merle spouting off bits of wisdom and insanity at the same time, King is set to become the one true king of the streets.
One of the more brilliant things in this book is the author’s ability to bring the streets to the pages. It’s hard for a lot of authors to capture the beauty of running the gamer while the hustlers are unknowingly trapped within the own circle of Hell, but Broaddus does it to perfection. The mean streets of downtown Indianapolis are alive in the pages, with a splendid mixing of urban fantasy and hard, gritty true crime bringing the characters to life.
While the pacing can drag a bit, the plot which drives the book is rock-solid, with enough action, suspense and intrigue to keep the ball rolling. Since it’s also the first book of a trilogy, part of the time is spent introducing the reader to the world, which can slow things down at times. I have high, high hopes for the sequel, King’s Justice.
Any fan of true, gritty crime mixed with urban fantasy will definitely appreciate this book. Be warned, however, as the author holds nothing back in his portrayal of just how bad the streets can be.
—Reviewed by Jason
QUOTED: "Urban fantasy fans will find these works palatable but not entirely satisfying."
Streets of Shadows
Edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon. Alliteration Ink (alliterationink.com), $14.99 trade paper (377p) ISBN 978-1-939840-21-9
MORE BY AND ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Too few of the 21 entries in this urban fantasy anthology hit the mark. The high point is Seanan McGuire's "Best Served Cold," which opens with a classic PI first sentence: "The temperature dropped six degrees when she walked into the office, going from balmy evening to the first breath of winter in the time it took for one silk-wrapped leg to step across my threshold." Gary Kloster's "Shooting Aphrodite" also grabs the reader by the labels with its opening, "I found Marrow in Gehenna's back room, sitting with Peter Lorre and a bottle of dead god's blood," and doesn't let go. Damien Angelica Walters makes the most of her conceit of human chameleons who can only be detected by others of their kind in "Such Faces We Wear, Such Masks We Hide." But even these quality works are unlikely to become classics. Urban fantasy fans will find these works palatable but not entirely satisfying. (Oct.)
QUOTED: "engaging tale of urban renewal and vigilante justice."
King's Justice: The Knights of Breton Court II
Marcus Broaddus, Angry Robot (www.angryrobotbooks.com), $7.99 mass market (416p) ISBN 978-0-85766-082-4
MORE BY AND ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
King Arthur and his court are reimagined as a motley but courageous group of young men and women trying to make the Breton Court housing project a better place to live in this refreshing urban fantasy, the sequel to 2010's King Maker. King James White is the son of deceased and morally ambiguous neighborhood boss Luther. His right-hand man, Lott Carey, is an idealistic FedEx driver. Merlin and Morgana are genuine sorcerers, but are generally held to be crazy. Lady G. is particularly sympathetic: she's young, scared, ambitious, and still not sure what or who she really wants. Notably, Tristan and Isolde cameo as Tristan and Isabel, a pair of star-crossed lesbians. New readers will find it easy to break into the series with this engaging tale of urban renewal and vigilante justice. (Mar.)
DETAILS
Reviewed on: 01/31/2011
Release date: 03/01/2011
Open Ebook - 164 pages - 978-0-85766-083-1
Paperback - 370 pages - 978-0-85766-081-7
Paperback - 416 pages - 978-0-00-734330-0
MP3 CD - 978-1-5226-6670-7
QUOTED: "King’s Justice performs the impossible feat of improving on it's predecessor. It's simply an incredible work of compelling fiction and the closest most of us will ever get (if we are lucky) to living in a getto, pure genius."
King’s Justice by Maurice Broaddus
The Knights of Breton Court
a review by Ant, in the genre(s) Fantasy, Urban Fantasy . Book published by Angry Robot Books in February 2011
King’s Justice is the second novel in the Knights of Breton Court series and the sequel to the phenomenal novel King maker by Maurice Broaddus.
From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise.
Spurred on with ever more urgent visions by his mystic advisor Merle, King attempts to unite the warring gangs. But the knights of Breton Court are assailed on all sides by greed, temptation and some very real monsters. But worse, there is betrayal from within King’s innermost circle.
To say i've been looking forward to this novel would be a distinct understatement, King Maker left a perspicuous and long lasting impression and despite the hundred or more books I have read since then I still recall the novel with a degree of clarity. To be able to take such a well established folklore as King Arthur and blend the elements and quintessential essence into a unique modern story without it sounding contrived or plagurised takes a consumate amount of skill.
To recap on the story so far, in King Maker we were introduced to the colourful cast that frequent the area around Breton Court, an suburb of Indianapolis (the capital city of the state of Indiana). Most of the principle characters have a name that allows the reader to see who they bear resemblance to in the original aurthorian legend. So we have King, Lady G, Merle, Lott and Percy (amongst others).
The streets of Breton Court are practically owned by the locals, full of gangs, drugs and most crimes you could imagine (and probably some you couldn't too),it's a very run down area where survival is never guaranteed and death is cheap. King is the son of Luther and has a destiny to unite the factions that run the streets. Within this chaotic environment walk the enigmatic fey, remnants of a magical past who still hold on to a great deal of power.
The book doesn't hold back from descriptions of sex, violence, bad language and drugs but to be fair it wouldn't really be a tale of life on the streets if it did, there is no gratuitous use though and as a result such language has all the more power. Somehow King’s Justice has a more comfortable feel than it's predecesor, partly a result of already knowing many of the characters but the author himself seems more comfortable too. The book also moves faster, as we have already been given a intro into this dark world the book just get's right on with story.
The plot is both involved and very intelligent, spending time with each of the characters like mini story arcs all heading in the same general direction, this is handled very well and at no point did I feel lost or disoriented, it's is very much an episode of life on the streets. In this manner we get to know a lot more about the characters and my favorite still has to be Merle and Sir Rupert (even though we only get brief glimpses of them) - for me they just make the book. Percy also holds a soft spot, a real innocent soul and in many ways more complex a character than most.
So how good is the book? well, if I say 18 pages - that's how much time it took me to be hooked, and that's just reading the prologue before chapter one even started. I can count on one hand how many authors have the power to do that (one being my favorite PKD). Within those 18 pages Maurice Broaddus managed to evoke an attachment to those kid's which made what happens on pages 17 to 18 really tug at the old heart strings. More importantly you get to understand why Rellik became the person he is, and even relate to the choices he makes. It's almost like Maurice Broaddus is reliving real memories rather than creating a fictional story, the suspension of disbelief is both immediate and faultless.
King’s Justice performs the impossible feat of improving on it's predecessor, it's simply an incredible work of compelling fiction and the closest most of us will ever get (if we are lucky) to living in a getto, pure genius.
Written on Saturday 29th January 2011 by Antony.