Black Author Spotlight: PYIF

 

Happy Friday!

It is the first Friday of SEPTEMBER, and we can freak out about that later. It is time for another Black Author Spotlight! The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.

Today, I am highlighting Allen "PYIF" (Push Your Imagination Further) Greene.

This author is actually very near and dear to me: he's one of my cousins! We come from a very artistic family, from music to illustrating to writing, we are very right-brained.

PYIF is a sci-fi light novelist who is finally actively pursuing his dream toward publishing. I've had the pleasure of reading his first few draft pages, and I think readers will be in for a treat!

PYIF has created a GoFundMe to help with art commissions and copyright buyouts. Please support if you can! He's almost halfway there!

Follow PYIF on Instagram!

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If you are a Black author who would like to be in the spotlight, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com

Name or Pen Name

Genre

Website/Blog

Social Media handles

Book (if any) and where to buy

Permission to use photos

Wednesday Words: What I Write

I forgot I created a logo for this day.

Happy Hump Day! Can you believe next week is THANKSGIVING? This year has flown by with a vengeance.

On another note, this blog is late because I woke up late and got to work 45 minutes behind schedule. Oy.

Anyway, while I said I would set aside 2-5th Wednesdays for what I'm reading, I thought I would use this post to share what I write for those who don't know.

I have been a speculative fiction writer for most of my writing life. Unlike many writers, I wasn't initially influenced by books I read, but by X-Men: The Animated Series and later (if you don't yet know) the Final Fantasy game franchise. It wasn't until my teen years that I started writing based on what I was reading, but I've also written fan fictions and poems based on music videos, songs, and another TV show from New Zealand called The Tribe (post-apocalyptic, parents are dead, kids rule the world. You can imagine).

While I dabble with contemporary pieces every now and then, I always return to speculative fiction: fantasy, sci-fi, horror. Those are my first loves. I have yet to finish a sci-fi (well, no actually, just one, but I lost it to an old computer) and haven't written horror in a long time, but I infused a little of it in my current work-in-progress. As a writer, I've always leaned more towards the dark side of fiction and am not at all turned off by disturbia. There is death in my stories, and there is almost always blood, but I would like to think there is also heart and light through it all. I never want to drag a reader down into the pits without pulling them back out into the sun.

So one day, when I'm finally published, I hope to have gained at least a few fans through this blog, and I thank you who have already followed this new incarnation.

More about my current WIP can be found up in my tabs under "Fractured Princess," and my last two Tuesday Tales directly link to the story.

Writers, what do you like to write? Readers, what do you like to read?