As much as I enjoy true bood, I so long for an epic vampire story in an urban Enviornment?
Posts Tagged ‘Night Biters
28
Aug
09
You belong in the City
If you’re in town stop by
Night Biters Book Signing
Shot in the Favelas of Brazil, this little seen video showcases the talent and the beauty of a segment in Brazil that’s rarely seen in a positive light. The media in Brazil take great care in only highlighting an image of blonde blue eye-ness and the dark skinned poor living outside the city is something that the government wish would just go away
I believe the video was shot by Spike Lee and it is a thing of great beauty, clearly handled with great care.
22
Apr
09
Night Ride
NIGHT BITERS is the first in a series of fast paced horror novels targeted toward readers who enjoyed Harry Potter and the Twilight series, but yearn to read about characters that reflect their own rich diversity.
NIGHT BITERS tells the story of 16-year-old Jamilah and her 14-year old brother Omari when the two arrive in the city of Oakland, CA. A mysterious stranger gives Omari a magical compact disc and crucifix. Upon listening to the CD the siblings learn that the lyrics and the crucifix can aide them against the danger of vampires, but danger has never been as attractive as the handsome and charismatic heartbreaker Tyrone, or as beautiful and deadly as the vengeful Jennifer. Soon the siblings find themselves in twined with rival gangs, the Crimsons and the Cobalt’s. Their leaders transformed into vampires whose hatred for another threatens to destroy the city.
24
Mar
09
Dayo
In my search for the Pinoy Were Wolf, I have come across some facisnating Filipino mythical beast
Dayo is an animated film that features Filipino mythological characters such as manananggal and tikbalang. It is a story about the adventure of a little boy named Bubuy and her friend Anna in the world of Elementalia to find and save his captured Lolo and Lola. The film showcases Filipino values and tradition in the modern times plus the mythical creatures and fantasies that we Filipinos know. Bravo! Dayo was the second animated movie created by the Filipino. It is another masterpiece we should be proud of. I’d never expect that much onto the animation but when I saw the whole film I’m really stunned. The quality of the animation was superb and can compete with the other country.
Source Jethres Blog
19
Mar
09
The First Pinoy Werewolf?
The true star of my Tales of Urban Horror series is the Bay Area and its rich cultural diversity, which is why in Night Biters you have Latino, African American and Vietnames vampires.
In Were Wolves the Mix Tape, my soon to be release second novel, I introduce Joseph Babay a Filipino werewolf.
I was asked is this the first Pinoy werewolf in print?
To which I answered, I don’t know
Are there any other Pinoy werewolves out there?
Here’s a link to Chinese werewolves
here Werewolf in Bangkok
More (and Better) Books for Black Teens
by Felicia Pride and Calvin Reid — Publishers Weekly, 12/8/2008
Talk to a YA editor or take a stroll through that section at your local bookstore and it’s evident that there’s a growing number of books aimed at the young adult market—and those numbers include more titles geared specifically to African-American teens. As publishers are addressing the lack of material aimed at this market—many African-American teens have turned to popular adult authors because of this dearth—there has clearly been some improvement.
These days publishers are offering black teens books that deal with serious issues, such as drug addiction and pregnancy, as well as pure entertainment; they’re looking to introduce new authors and experiment with graphic novels and even historical fiction for teens, all while looking for creative ways to make sure parents, teachers and librarians—as well as the kids themselves—know what’s on their lists specifically for black teens.
Publishers Weekly talked with a number of editors and category buyers as well as an agent specializing in titles for African-American teens in order to get a better view of the past, present and future of titles aimed at black teenagers.
There is also a selected listing of adult and children’s African American titles online.
Supply Versus Demand
Although black teens read plenty of books that feature no prominent black characters—Stephenie Meyer’s titles, for example—the emergence of more young adult publishing programs geared toward African-Americans is in many ways a response to demand. Most editors contacted by PW agree that the publishing industry is starting to understand that black teens not only want to read about themselves but are also an economically viable readership. “The aha! moment is unfolding slowly,” says Andrea Pinkney, v-p and executive editor at Scholastic, “but it is happening.” “I didn’t see enough books out there for the constituency that I was teaching,” says Stacey Barney, a former educator and now an editor at Penguin. Barney acquired the first titles in Kensington Publishing’s Drama High series during her tenure at the publishing house. “When I would ask my male students why they weren’t reading,” she adds, “they would reply they didn’t see anything worth reading.” This need for more relatable titles aimed at African-American teenagers is also being spurred by parents, according to Cheryl Hudson, cofounder of Just Us Books, an African-American house focused on children’s titles that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It was feedback from parents that motivated the publisher to start releasing young adult titles in addition to the picture books it is known for. “It’s important that young people have books to read that resonate and are age-appropriate,” says Selena James, who helped to launch Pocket Books’ YA African-American program in 2006 before landing her current job as executive editor at Kensington’s Dafina imprint. “So many young people are reading [adult authors] like Zane and Eric Jerome Dickey. We need to provide young people with stories that are toned down but still resemble them and their experiences.”
What’s Available
Hands down, Walter Dean Myers continues to be a leading author in the YA market. Edited by Pinkney at Scholastic, the prolific author is published by a number of houses. One of his most recent books, Sunrise over Fallujah, about an African-American young male who goes to fight in Iraq, was a 2008 PW Best Book of the Year.
“Most of Walter Dean Myers’s books are on school reading lists, so he’s a given in our stores,” says Sandra Wilson, kids’ and teen buyer at Books-a-Million. But while there are some major African-American young adult authors, like Myers, Sharon Draper and Sharon Flake, most publishing professionals agree that there’s still a need for new, diverse and sometimes even younger voices.
Hudson believes that publishers must honestly engage young adult readers, who often are more knowledgeable and more interested in adult writers, if they expect to attract and hold them. Just Us Books recently released 12 Brown Boys, the first foray into YA literature by commercial fiction author Omar Tyree, generally considered a pioneer in the street fiction genre.
Launched as an African-American teen imprint at BET Books before being acquired by Harlequin in 2005, Kimani Tru was just what the romance publisher was looking for, according to editor Evette Porter. “The YA category was booming, Harlequin was looking to get into it and we started to look for multicultural titles,” Porter says. “But what we saw were black kids reading street lit.” She says the challenge for teen imprints like Kimani Tru is to offer young readers a “bridge”—quality titles that address “the mature stuff that kids today have to deal with. Books that are realistic but offer reasonable answers to serious issues.”
The house offers a mix of stand-alone titles and series, which serve to bring readers back for more.
Inspirational Titles and more: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6620241.html
Yesterday I featured an article that look at Hipster Rap from a West Coast perspective I found this article that shares an East Coast view
Mickey Factz
I live in Bushwick, Brooklyn which is virtually a hop, skip and a jump from the notorious neighborhood of Williamsburg in New York. Notorious, not in the sense that it’s likely to get your ass lit up like Grandma’s glaucoma “medicine”, but in the sense that you come across perhaps the most universally despised people in all of New York city, the hipsters. Now seeing that I’m best friends with many a “hipster” myself (and some would probably argue that my ass is a hipster but I would literally scream and beg to differ to my bloody torture chamber death but I digress), I don’t really personally have anything against them (other than say their choice in ironic haberdashery) but they do seem to spring up in various different neighborhoods in the city like cockroaches; bringing the wonders of gentrification and retro ‘80s t-shirts. Once, they’re there, they’re there to stay. The definition of a hipster is pretty nebulous as what qualifies one as a hipster is broad and sweeping but there is one unifying theme that unites all hipsters: No hipster considers themselves, in fact, a hipster. It’s a dirty word signifying pretension and a tragic taste in culture. Nobody voluntarily wants to be thought of as a hipster. It’s actually a pretty good determiner if you have to defend yourself as not a hipster, your tight jeans wearing ass is probably a hipster. Sorry, to break it you, folks. We all deal.
The Cool Kids
Bronx rapper, Mickey Factz, recently caught major feelings from Nah Right’s Eskay when he was classified as a hipster rapper. He went to great pains to categorically reject the notion as did the Kidz In The Hall when confronted with that same notion. Lord knows an aspiring rapper wouldn’t want to be associated with white upper middle class douche bags in thick black framed glasses (Full Disclosure: I wear black framed glasses quite regularly, myself) even though they are often fond of those same thick black framed glasses himself. Hipster rap has become short-hand in recent times for a retro aesthetic that leans on a late ‘80s/early ‘90s sound and culture. The Cool Kids, Wale, The Knux, Jay Electronica, Lupe Fiasco, MickeyFactz and the Kidz In The Hall all have an aesthetic and style that leans heavily on what is being dubbed as “hipster rap.” Pretty much all of them hate it. I’m not necessarily sure that’s a good thing. I think they should embrace it.
The notion of hipster rap is actually pretty damn awesome. It uses the old school aesthetic of 80’s rap and culture and updates it for a modern audience. In a sense, as an audience we are getting the best of both worlds. It’s swaggerific enough for fans of shitty LCD rap to be conned into listening to but purposely old school enough to keep geezer’s like myself (all of my 24 years and counting) to get behind. If anything is gonna save hip hop, at least, artistically, this genre could be it.
Chicago’s unfortunately named, the Cool Kids are perhaps the biggest “stars” of the burgeoning sub-genre, perhaps are the most dogged in their adherence to their retro dogma. Their Totally Flossed Out LP is full of RickRubin-esque minimal but booming 808 production and Run-DMC tandem rhyming but it updates it with “chopped and screwed” hooks and use of dark, menacing synths. “Black Mags” is a stunning, dystopian ode to the pleasures of BMX-biking and “88” is a banger that sounds as if something that would come out of Oakland circa…well, 1988. The Cool Kids’ craft, a consciously retro look as well, rocking colorful t-shirts, vintage Jordans and enough dookie rope chains to make even Raekwon admit they were only built for the finest of Cuban links.
Another group that is making major noise, The Kidz In The Hall, are prepped to release their sophomore release, The In Crowd, are a group that met in college when emcees Naledge and Double-0 competed against each other at 
a University of Pennsylvania talent show. The group is heavily informed by the sounds of the Native Tongues and other early 90s artists. The stunning single for their second album, “Driving Down the Block (Low End Theory)”, samples Masta Ace’s classic “Jeep Ass Niguh” for a chopped and screwed hook but sounds like the artistic cousin of the menacing minimalist thump of “Grindin’.” The drums and break beat informs a Too Short-esque production but the plinkin’ synths add a modern edge to the song. The song just plain bangs. The Kidz In The Hall are also able to bridge a social conscious with dark bangers that seem destined for the club if given a chance by the radio to break through the Southern monotony. It’s truly a modern sound.
Perhaps, the group that I’m most excited about are New Orleans’ own, The Knux. The Knux are in the tradition of 3 Feet High and Rising De La Souland the mighty Outkast. The duo compromised of brothers, Krispy Kreamand Rah Al Millio, sound as if they were cloned from Big Boi’s lyrical DNA and transported back to the time of high-top fades and gazelle shades. “Cappuccino”, the brilliant funky new single off their upcoming album,Remind In 3 Days, is THE best 
song released all year. The song is funky, fresh and sounds like it’s channeling M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” by way of the Pharcyde It’s an ode to sexual frustration and the pleasures of being fresh. The group displays humor about their own vulnerabilities that is almost completely absent in modern hip hop. It’s a triumph of the genre and if this does not get major airplay on both pop and hip hop radio than the notion of a benevolent deity goes completely out the window. It’s too good to be languishing in backpack rap circle purgatory.
The aspect that I like the most about the burgeoning genre of hipster rap is that it’s not informed of the sermonizing of pandering socially conscious rap of modern backpack rap. It’s not trapped in antiquated notions of what real hip hop should be about. It’s simply just damn fun to listen to. It’s become the most rank of clichés to hail alternative hip hop groups as a “breath of fresh air” against the sordid ignorance of modern mainstream hip hop. Hipster rap isn’t a “breath of fresh air” but rather the vengeful but fun-loving wrath of yesteryear manifesting itself against the forces of cliché in modern hip hop. You can’t help but nod your head, smile or scowl when posed in your b-boy stance when listening to this shit. The hipsters may have completely ruined indie rock, haircuits, and fashion with their dreaded irony but they might as well save hip hop. Who the fuck knew?
Tell me what you think
