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Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3793
Registered: 03-2004
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 01:03 pm: | 
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CECIL WASHINGTON INTERVIEW
CECIL WASHINGTON is a man who needs no introduction. But I'm going to introduce him anyway.
Born in 1970, a one-time rap MC, he graduated from Bowie State U in 1993 with a degree in Business Administration with minors in Marketing, Music, Communications and Economics and currently works as a QA Test Analyst in the private sector.
Married he resides in Maryland with his wife and two children (who are not allowed to read what he writes).
He is a Stalwart of Speculative Fiction, author of several short stories, some of which are collected in the story collection Alien Erotica, author of the novels Badlands, Dwoor, Soul of Paris, Walkware and his latest, Void, the publisher of Creative Brothers Sci Fi Magazine the only magazine on and offline that is totally dedicated to African American Speculative Fiction and is the owner and moderator of the Yahoo discussion group, Black SciFiHorrorFantasy club
Q: Talk about your latest novel, VOID.
A: In most sci-fi stories, we assume that all humans will be totally vulnerable to alien powers. Well, I wondered what would happen if there were humans who were immune to alien powers, specifically telepathy? The story of Void came from there; a human, immune to telepathy, is the key to battling a global corporation that is controlled by telepaths. I am also about to begin a story where a person immune to vampirism has to battle a world of blood suckers.
Q: You are not only a fan, and an author, but also publisher, discussion group moderator; you are more of a force or a leader in Black SF and SF in particular. How did all this come about?
A: I have heard people complain about the lack of black in speculative fiction. I decided to do something about it. So, I created a magazine so that those stories could be read and a club where those writers and artists could communicate without fear of racism.
Q: What do you think is the future of
Written SF
SF Publishing
SF Fandom
Black SF
A: I don’t know. You would think that with the advent of print-on-demand that writing would become more decentralized. But the truth is, readers tend to trust whatever books are stamped by the establishment. I do think though that with the success of the late Octavia Butler, and writers like Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, we will see a few more black voices in a mostly white science fiction genre.
Q: What book or books and stories that were published recently have you enjoyed? What do you think of Minister Faust? Have you read the new Minister Faust Novel, FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN?
A: I have not read any of the Minister Faust novels so I can’t comment on them. Also, I spent most of last year reading poetry. It’s been over a year since I’ve read a new novel. Sorry! But, Great Sky Woman: A Novel, by Steven Barnes, which came out last year, is next on my reading list.
Q: In your opinion what does it take to be a for real SF fan—to be down with the S and the F?
A: I have no qualifications for what it takes to be a real fan. To me, either you like it or you don’t. Particularly with the rate of change in today’s technology, yesterday’s fantasy is today’s reality. I try to stay away from the elitism around the genre as much as possible.
Q: Fans seem to be divided into many nations: you have casual fans and hardcore, devotees of hard or soft SF, those who prefer Science Fiction as opposed to Fantasy and Horror, those who like their SF on TV or film or dvd, those who like comics and anime, and so it goes. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
A: It is a good thing for marketers, but a bad thing for fans themselves. You may have people who feel uncomfortable talking to you about their particular taste in SF because of the elitism. I talked to one guy about SF at work and he flinched when he told me he was into Star Trek, perhaps expecting me to browbeat him about how that’s not “real” since I’m a novelist. I did no such thing. Personally, I like to go to a convention and see it all.
Q: What got you into SF?
A: I love a good story. I was always a fan of the Narnia series and Watership Down. Logan’s Run was one of my favorite movies as a kid, as was Escape from New York and Star Wars.
Q: Who are your favorite authors? Filmmakers? Artists?
A: My favorite authors: John Faucette, Octavia Butler, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Steven King and Robert Heinlein. Filmakers: John Carpenter. Artists: Gregory B. Banks. Banks donated a wonder cover for the 8th issue of my magazine.
Q: Why Black SF? Is that inherently racist?
A: I think it is counter-racist, meaning that it is a way of countering the racism that already exists. For it to be racist, I would have to exclude any participation from white writers and white characters. I’ve stated in my submission guidelines for the magazine that a “Slim Shady” or other type of white character who is influenced by black culture would be welcomed in the magazine. I’m still waiting for someone to submit it. But this is an interesting question. Sometimes I think it is white people who need to write a few Black SF stories so that they can get used to imagining black people as something besides The Other. And, Black people need to write some Black SF in order to counter the negative images of themselves they’ve inherited from society.
Q: Do Fans of Black SF want Black SF or SF with Blacks in it?
A: I think fans of Black SF want SF in general in addition to Black SF in particular. However, I wonder if black people who happen to be fans of SF only want SF that is written by or approved of by white people. It looks that way to me. Why? I think if there were truly a hunger for Black SF we would not worry so much about whether or not a Black SF story is self-published or published by a New York publisher. If someone really thinks that there could be some racism behind what we get to read, why exclude authors who are not a part of mainstream publishers. Personally, I take the time to read whatever I think is interesting. A writer does not get an automatic read or rejection from me just because of whom the publisher is. I’ve found that small and large, black and white stories can be equally good or equally BORING.
Sometimes I wonder, though. Maybe people want Black SF like they want Positive Hip Hop: they pay it lip service but rarely want to pay for it. Or, maybe there are blacks in SF who are only upset because they feel white people won’t include them in white stories. Who was that that said “write yourself in”? Wasn’t that Octavia Butler? Well, write yourself in!
Q: At one time you referred to Black SF as a "cause". Elaborate.
A: I’d say the “cause” is for black people to be seen as multi-dimensional, even in film, fantasy and fiction. Can you name one magazine besides Creative Brother’s Sci Fi that prints black science fiction? How often are there Sci-Fi movies that have black males as leads? I love what Will Smith did in I Robot, but you know what would have been even better----if Jada, his wife, had co-starred in it. Oh, how about if the black female doctor in Blade had made it to the second and third movies?
Q: Where would you like Creative Brother's Sci Fi Magazine to be in five years?
A: I’d like for it to have a steady stream of two thousand plus subscribers in five years, 4,000 plus in ten years.
Q: Comment on the importance of John Faucette to SF and Black SF in particular.
A: John Faucette was a black science fiction author who wrote in that genre before the idea of black science fiction was even remotely cool. The said thing is that there are black people writing in speculative fiction who have never heard of him. Now before he died, he put together a very politically incorrect---and very MASCULINE, if not even sexist at times----collection of short stories called “Black Science Fiction”. Which, does not bother me because I’ve read some SF written by feminists. The thing I like about the collection is that he did a variety of writings---plays on fairy tales, historical fiction, dystopia and even some Fantasy and Horror. I think if more of us black authors and black fans read his work, we’d be able to see a good standard of how to approaching writing in general.
Q: I wrote an essay about SF titled, "If it Ain't Science and It Ain't Fiction Need Black Folks Read Science Fiction?" Why should black people read Science Fiction?
A: I think black people should read Science Fiction in order to expand their imaginations. Problem is, most people period either see SF as something for juveniles or something that is irrelevant to literature.
Q: If a new SF writer came to you for advice, what would you tell her or him?
A: I’d tell him what I was told by one of my idols: I don’t know. And you know what, I respect her to this day for telling me that. She didn’t b.s. me with illusions of grandeur and platitudes about how hard work always pays out, she told me the flat out truth. Granted, the truth was scary because if someone who writes like her says that then you know you are really on your own when it comes to writing. But, another thing she told me: money should flow TO the author, not AWAY from the author. So beware of paying to publish. One concrete thing I can suggest is this: write! Get some how-to books on writing in general and science fiction particular. Also, don’t be surprised if you can’t quit your day job in five years. I’ve had people who have “made it” ask me about job applications.
Q: Is Black SF important to Black literature in general, and how?
A: Yes. It adds another dimension to Black literature. In fact, I think Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents and Kindred are outstanding works of literature. Especially Kindred.
Q: Since the death of Octavia Butler, would you consider Steve Barnes the dean of live practicing black SF writers? Talk about his importance to you.
A: He is out there DOING IT. And I mean he’s doing it full time, all the time. He’s definitely a master of writing. Check out his darkush.blogspot.com site and try his Life Write course. He’s set out a good example to follow.
Q: Can you see divisions in the Black SF community, between a hard, male, Delaney/Faucette/Barnes branch and a soft, feminist, ecofriendly Butler Hopkinson wings?
A: I think the Black SF community is heavily influenced by feminism, so they may see some harder/male stories, particularly the works of Faucette, as being a patriarchal extension. To be honest, I think Delaney probably gets more love from black and white gay people than from black heterosexual SF fans. I remember one Black SF reader told me she did not want to even try to read my “Badlands” novel because it sounded “too male”. Therefore, she missed out on the female anti-hero who takes up half of the book. I suspect that there may be Black SF fans who think that Black SF stand s for Black Speculative Feminism.
Q: Some wag once said if you turn a black kid on to science and mathematics you get a nerd who is in your face with it.
A: So what. We need more nerds. And, I hope those nerds take martial arts lessons too.
Q: Once I was in a Chinese restaurant reading a copy of Bruce Sterling's Schizmatrix and there was this big SF convention in time. Three kids were in there discussing it and one of them said, "An SF convention. A bunch of geeks at their sole social event of the year!" Do you think only nerds or geeks are SF fans?
A: No. But only nerds and geeks are “out” about it. Non-nerds, particularly Black and Puerto Rican ones, only reveal their nerdly interests to me when no one else is around.
Q: An implication arises among some black SF fans that those blacks that do not like it are not intelligent. Do you think this is the case?
A: No, I don’t think that’s the case. People are entitled to their preferences. Not everyone likes SF, just like not everyone likes milk. Or chocolate milk. Or strawberry. Or other milks of color.
Q: Once when you posted some info about the mag somebody posted that it sounded like we were trying to do "Homeboys in Outer space or something". What do you think of that comment?
A: I think that it’s sad that the only Black SF people can think of is “Homeboys”. Now granted, I thought “Homeboys” was funny, but wouldn’t it be great if that were not the only story people knew?
Q: Do you think Blacks who like SF are trying to be white?
A: I don’t think that is true of all, but probably of some. Because after all, if we assume that racism/white supremacy exists then some of the victims of racism may be self hating enough to try to emulate white people. I don’t think that SF would be the only way a person would do this. You will probably find black people seeking to emulate white people in all areas of people activity. So let’s not pick on any SF fans that may be unfortunate enough to lack a love of self.
Q: How useful do you think the Internet or the Web is in propagating SF? Do you think it leads to greater isolation of people who might form groups that met face to face or go to conventions or form clubs?
A: It can help and hinder. For me, it’s allowed me to for a group of fans, artists and writers that I could have never met off-line unless I had already made it as a writer.
Q: Do you go to conventions? If you do, why? If not, why not?
A: I rarely go to conventions because I’m married with children and I study martial arts. There have been times when a tournament or promotional goes on the same weekend as a convention. My kids study martial arts also and have their own activities, plus my wife wants my time. Not to mention family and friends. So, my weekends are pretty full. But, now that my children getting, I will start dragging them to conventions.
Q: Do you have any further comments or anything to add?
A: As I said before, is the sad reality that people want Black SF as much as people want Positive Rap? If so, let me know now so that I don’t frustrate myself and set some unrealistic expectations. It’s up to you, dear fans and readers. Even if you can’t stand the writings of Cecil Washington, at least take a peek at Creative Brother’s Sci-Fi magazine. Right now, it’s the only Black SF magazine I know of. So if it’s Black SF you want, it’s there.
Creative Brother’s Sci Fi Magazine
http://www.lulu.com/cecilwashington
You can buy his novels online at:
www.cecilwashington.com.
Contact Cecil Washington at
Cecilwashington@yahoo.com
Interviewed by Chris Hayden
belsidus2000@yahoo.com
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