My New Website!

OK, this is the project I've been working on ever since I made the mistake of asking for referrals to good science fiction and fantasy for Teens of Color.

Oh my goodness! There was some not-nice comments and one person even accused me of wanting NO White characters at all.

Wahhhht?

Are you kidding me? Are people really that threatened, that they can't share the future with Teens of Color? That all protagonists must be the traditional, stereotypical, White male hero? Really? REALLY?

So amid encouraging private messages and referrals from fellow writers, educators and parents, I took the info and started a website featuring short book reviews of science fiction and fantasy books with protagonists of Color. It's going to take a lot of work, but I've gotten a lot done already and went live because, well, I could work on it forever and it'll never be finished.

Alien Star Books, www.alienstarbooks.com, is all about reading!! I'm reading and reviewing as fast as I can so I can get short reviews of the books up ASAP. Next to the reviews, I have the book cover images that are also links to Amazon. (In the interests of disclosure, I DO get a couple of nickels if you order using my links.)

And before anyone goes off about the focus of the website, yes, there is an "Everybody Else" page that features good sci-fi/fantasy with protagonists that might be a clone, disabled, female, genderless, Gay or Lesbian or White. Why? Because my purpose is to INCLUDE, not exclude good books that are appropriate for teens and young adults, featuring characters that they can relate to. So yes, that includes Tolkien and Asimov and Bradley and Norton and all the other classic works.

I'd like to invite you to submit referrals to science fiction and fantasy books, including your own published works. But be warned, I will review the book and I reserve the right to speak my mind...

Children Keep You Young

Yes, that is so, so true.

Children do keep you young.

But then...

But then...

But then they grow into teenagers -- who will age you beyond your years.

I LOVE my kids dearly, but omgosh, when they're teens, I don't always LIKE them very much.

Fortunately, they do eventually grow up.

I want to give some hope to all the other mothers (and fathers) of teens. Yes, they will grow up to be fine young people. Those little flashes that you see bursting out, every now and then, past the drama, attitude, and rotten rude behavior, are the signs of what your teen will become.

Just stay on track. Keep being the bad guy. There is still time to be your teen's friend -- in about 10 more years.

Children keep you young.

Teenagers remind us why animals eat their young.

Thank God, we're not animals!

FYI: A teenager's brain does eventually connect to the body and then the teen will turn into a human being. Sometime between 18 and 22 or so.

Oh, yes, there will still be much growing and learning, but you'll see them growing into themselves, becoming the man or woman they're supposed to be.

And just so you know, no matter how stupid your teen thinks you are today, when he/she has kids, you'll become the all-knowing mom and grandma (or dad and grandpa) that he/she turns to for advice in raising his/her own kids.

So hang in there!

The teen years, they too shall pass, like all the other storms in your life.

Dang it's going to seem quiet...

Oh, The Drama!

Oh me, oh my!

Oh, the drama! My darling girl dropped her cell phone at the doctor's yesterday evening, in the bathroom. She didn't realize until we were leaving, so she RAN back and omgosh, it was gone!

The doctor felt bad too, she was just leaving when we were. So she checked with housekeeping, daughter checked with Security.

No phone.

And Mom is broke as a joke this week. Double oh no!

Now, we do have insurance on the cell phone, so off we go to Verizon. Sigh, a $50 deductible AND you have to file the claim with the 800 number, so the phone is shipped to you.

Another oh no!

So, Mom starts thinking outside the box. Wait, Dad used to have Verizon, does he still have his old phone? Call him, quick!

Yayyy, Dad has his phone and is willing to give it to her. So off we go, the mad dash to pick up the phone and get to the other store (closer to his house). We made it in plenty of time. So the nice lady who's going to transfer the number to the old phone starts the process.

Oh no! That old phone is not 911 compliant, so it can't be done. At this point, my head is throbbing and I'm grateful she's scheduled to spend the night at her friend's house.

Sigh. OK, Mom has done all she can do.

Daughter is dropped off at her friend's and I head for home, kinda bummed out for daughter and also because there was this surplus sale with some GREAT old chairs that I missed out on. (Darn it all, they went for only $16 each, and I wanted these for my own house, not for resale on http://www.craigslist.org/. That's Mom's little hustle for extra cash. But daughter is more important than chairs, I can always buy more...)

So now I'm driving home and talking to my sister. She offered to mail us her old phone and we're talking about it. I'm nearly halfway home. The phone beeps. I switch over and it's a young man's voice "Did your daughter lose her cell phone?"

Oh me, oh my! This sweet young man found the phone and forgot to turn it in to Security on his way out! So he remembered and called me. I made a U-turn and headed back. Got lost on the way to his house, but did find it and picked up the phone.

You should have seen that girl's face when I showed up on the doorstep with her phone in hand. She was so darn happy!

"I knew it, I knew it was that white boy with his mom in the lobby!"

LOL, I had to gently correct her. No, it was the cutie pie with dreads. Ooh, she was hoping he'd left his number then, but of course he hadn't, he'd called me on her phone. (Girls!)

My point of this is that you can't tell me that kids today are bad kids, my experience is that today's kids are WAY honest. Probably a little too honest and definitely lacking in tact. But I really believe that the next generation are good kids that will grow up to be great adults.

Last night just completely reaffirmed my faith in God and our teens. I prayed a short one for her and it took a few more minutes, but as always He came through for us. The one kid that was most likely to return the phone is the one that found it.

Smile.

Thank you, young cutie pie, and thank you God for the lesson!!

Ayyyy, Teenagers!

Oh, man, what is it with teens?

Mine went and downloaded a program the other day. Does she ask? No. Is it her computer? No.

But oh my, did I get the attitude just now when I was removing the program. She acts like I did something wrong by taking her program off the computer. And, on top of that, when I told her for the upteenth time, "DO NOT load programs on my computer," she's trying to tell me that I've never told her that. Huh.

Sigh.

Teens! Really, they're not deaf, they just have selective hearing.

Now she's invited her friend, a boy, to go to Oregon with us. Ayyyyy! And she's saying his mom said yes, he could go.

I didn't say yes, but I didn't say no either, so apparently there's an implied OK in this scenario. Well, guess what, the boy is NOT going with us on my tiny bit of a vacation! I'm not going to be responsible for someone else's son while I'm trying to have 3-4 days off. It's bad enough that I can't even stay the full week because of the plumbing disaster earlier this year, so I don't have enough vacation time to take a proper vacation. But to have to be responsible for another teen? One that I just met today? No, I think NOT.

The girl is totally a DIVA too. OMG, the drama that never ends. Once her cousin said, "When she comes into the room, it's like a light switch is turned on." That is so true of my beautiful girl.

And you know, when she does finally grow up and leave home, I will miss her terribly...