Back at the house. Got some clothes. Look cool. Tired.
I promised an entry. I’ll actually make this brief … (as possible). I can best promise not to go into each individual story for 12 Stories High. But I will go into the need and backstory of 12 Stories High.
I say need, because, I believe Black literature is due for a change. Not necessarily a change in topic, but structure and variety. A lot of Black people complain about this. However, I like to take action. I’ll save the preachy commentary for later. For now, let’s talk about 12 Stories High.
This young brotha that I know wanted to make a creative push into the Movie Industry. The brotha had the same vision for Black movies as I had for Black literature. We wanted a change. We felt a need to change the current status. That was May 2000.
It’s eight years later and the conclusion is that we failed miserably.
But the minor success is the publication of 12 Stories High.
My friend and I were not completely delusional to believe that we were going to introduce the new flavor of soda and disrupt Coca-Cola (That’s a metaphor. Keep up). But we would like to have seen some of the stories we came up with on screen.
As it were, I took my stories and created 12 Stories High. I was inspired by the brotha’s enthusiasm. He told me he wanted me to write something deep, metaphysical, spiritual, and something that touched on the sensuality between the Black Man and Black Woman. We decided we would stay simple for the first project. My boy was already in the process of scripting a short film called Who Scent You? He wanted me to add to it. The story would center on a Black bookstore. It would be sculpted like Pulp Fiction—a series of interconnected stories, at least two.
I immediately thought of a story. I called it Locked. But it would take too much to film; it wasn’t simple enough. I realized Locked was a backstory, not a main story. The next day I asked if I could use the female character of his story, adding her to my story, and make her the focal point of the two stories. He was cool with it. But I still had a problem. I still had a female character that my male character was attached to. How could I keep her? Thus the twist to the story was invented. And with the twist came the title Still Remains.
Along with writing and scripting Still Remains, several other ideas were hammered out within the week. These ideas were: In 14 Pieces, Vicariously Alive, the original And Once, Just Walked Us, and The Monk & The Moor. Some were scripted; some were just outlined.
Eventually, when the project fell apart, I took my friend’s character and shaped her into the character that is in the short story, making her mine. (All mine ... muahahaha). Anyway, I turned Still Remains and Vicariously Alive, and Once Just Walked Us into short stories. I then called it a day—that would last for four years.
In those four years, The Ronin Poetz was published, a second epic poem was written (two more planned), and I started doing lectures. The lectures sidetracked me, much like the poetry in college. I wrote a book that was a compilation of my lectures. I was caught up in the outrage of how ancestral ideas, mythology, science, and spirituality were being exploited, abused, misused, and misinterpreted—even by our own people. White folks in Hollywood are making money of off ignorance. All me and a small cadre of cats do is go to the movies and say, “Oh, they took that from (insert ancient Black/or African mythology or concept).”
I had a plan that after I finished my ‘lecture’ book, I would publish a book of short stories called Unfinished Business. The five stories I had scripted and outlined would be included—and the basis of for the book. I felt the stories were unfinished; they were supposed to be short films, not short stories.
Well, to make a long story short—
… Too late …
The lecture circuit fell apart. Grievances escalated to mudslinging, backstabbing, and the eventual collapse of the company I worked for. An ex-friend took advantage of the spotlight he was now in and finally finished and published a book complaining about Hip Hop. It was a terrible mix of pop culture, movie references, and social commentary. On top of that, it was plain to see that he was complaining about the Hip Hop industry simply because it rejected him as an artist. This jarred my senses.
I didn’t want to be seen as a sore loser when I published my ‘lecture’ book(s). I decided the lecture book(s) would be released after or near the end of my creative writing career. Unfinished Business became my main focus.
In April 2005 I started outlining the contents of the book. I started fleshing out the format in the summer of 2005. I was also coming up with more stories, and revitalizing old ones. I felt comfortable with opening the book with the 5-page, newly titled story And Once Just Walked Us. It seemed appropriate that a story about a curious Black child would be story one. I wanted the child to represent the reader and all he/or she thinks they know about Black books. The story also complimented main character’s search for knowledge in Still Remains, which would now be story two. Now the twist in Still Remains hit at an appropriate time for the reader(s). It now grabbed the audience harder and said, “You’re in for something different!” Vicariously Alive would be the third story in the book. Its mysterious tone and twist would now be easily accepted by the reader.
The book features a variety of genres and time periods in Black History. From the Moors, African slaves in America, Black gunmen of the Old West, detectives, Black telepaths, modern Black Revolutionaries with mysterious powers, little Black boys looking for their history, and a showcase of Black love the book amazingly displays a variety of genres from horror, fantasy, science fiction, romance, streams of thought, and action-adventure.
There were twenty stories chosen for the book. Twelve made the cut. I changed the name from Unfinished Business to 12 Stories High. I also figured releasing a book of short stories (well crafted, creative, and a little different than most African-American literature out there) would be like a shotgun blast. There are many genres and themes wrapped in one package. The first story you might suspect. The second has a twist. From there, the book doesn’t look back or apologize. I modeled the book after a Prince album, where every song is different. I also wanted 12 Stories High to reflect my writing career, versatile. My audience won’t be confused when I go from a tale about Hip Hop to an historical novel.
The book caught some attention, to my surprise. People appreciated the breath of fresh air the book offered to Black literature.
All from one mind, just getting warmed up.
Okay, that was a little arrogant.
But, then again, this was suppose to be 'brief'.
