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Interview: Adin Kachisi, author of Keys of Destiny

This is a followup interview I did with Adin Kachisi after reading and reviewing his book Keys of Destiny. The book review can be seen here:

http://joeypinkney.com/criticism/book-review-keys-of-destiny-by-adin-kachisi.php


adin kachisi headshot keys of destiny book cover

(click the pictures to see reviews on Amazon.com)

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Keys of Destiny?

Adin Kachisi: After a nonfiction book I wrote called Beyond the Talented Tenth I felt that I had a lot to say about society especially on issues of culture, history and spirituality. I felt that if I wrote a fiction book, I could probably reach out to a larger audience. I decided to write a fictional book expressing my opinion, experiences, and vision of present and future society. I decided to use the theme of Mayan prophecies and 2012 because I that it was a subject containing elements of truth and fiction with possibilities of being taken in any direction.

JP: Kazra’s wife played a small but powerful role as a person who is not equally in tune with Kazra’s perception of the world. Why did you decide to give her that type of character instead of one who could fully empathize with Kazra’s dilemmas and yearnings?

AK: Besides my intension to put Kazra in an environment of struggle and bring domestic conflict, which is good for fiction, I wanted to illustrate a scenario many people can relate to. Many marriages are usually characterized by one partner’s failure to see the other’s vision. Even though in this case, it’s the wife pulling the husband back, sometimes it’s the husband who pulled down the wife.

Here is my subjective opinion on the black family:

On a subconscious level, I was probably expressing my opinion of how I look the typical Black family and community. In my observation the most difficult person to fix or transform is usually the young female about 22 to 35, she is usually more caught up in the drama and illusion of society. She is followed by the male counterpart who is more easily changed by the female partner, unless he has been criminalized.

Then comes the adult male above 40 whose role is usually not too clear. He is basically unavailable. Finally there is the adult female above 40 who is the most enlightened and most powerful of them all, she is the mother and grandmother.

In the book you will notice that I use the elder female as the wise shaman who helps the seeker find the way.

JP: You have 10 books listed in the biography. How did you come across these books?

AK: I basically came across the books in my research. I am a very serious researcher especially on the subjects of alternative history and spirituality.

Judging by the quantity and quality of the information each scholar and shaman covered, do you have an extended biography of sorts that you drew from when writing this book?

AK: Yes, I have a more extended biography of research books, but most of the information is knowledge I accumulated through interactions with people of all sorts over several years.

JP: Your use of English in Keys of Destiny is precise. How did your birth in another country affect your career as an author?

AK: My English writing is probably influenced by my British based education growing up in a British colony. My birth in another country has helped me view every issue with fresh eyes or from a different perspective. I am able to put a different value system in my writing and that makes the work unique when I combine it with my Western experiences.

JP: This is your fourth novel. What did you learn from your experiences with producing the other novels that you applied in the production of Keys of Destiny?

AK: I have grow in style and character as expressed in words. I have learned that there is no feeling better than producing good quality work you can be proud of. Written work has the capacity to influence people, so its better to write meaningful things.

JP: The detail in which you used to write about the different locales was remarkable. Did you travel to these places as part of your research?

AK: Being born in Zimbabwe I was able to write realistic and factual things about that culture and location. I have also traveled to Korea and could also portray a realistic picture about it. As for the other places I had to do serious research on every single detail of the country. Even more, I had to interact with people from those countries. I have also had the luck of living and interacting with many people of different cultures so I have a wide knowledge of world cultures.

JP: What’s next for Adin Kachisi?

AK: I am in the processing of rewriting Keys of Destiny. The revised book will include a few more chapters at the end. The story goes to years between 2024 and 2029. The global elites control the world and are involved in serious genetic engineering projects creating strange creatures and mixing humans with animals. The New Book will be called Tablets of Destiny: Rise of the Anakim and will probably be out beginning of 2009.

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… John McWhorter, author of Our Magnificient Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

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JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
John McWhorter, author of Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
(Gotham)


john mcwhorter headshot Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue book cover

(click on the above picture to see reviews of this book on Amazon.com)

After English was transported by land-seeking Germanic invaders to Britain in the fifth century, A.D., three things happened to make it the vastly different language we speak today. One was that it took on many words from Old Norse, French, and Latin.

The other two things are less known. First, when Welsh and Cornish speakers took on English, they mixed in their own grammatical features, such that today we say “Do you walk?” instead of “Walk you?” Then, when Scandinavian Viking invaders settled among the English speakers, they rendered English like we render Spanish in a first-year class — and children grew up hearing so many people speak English that way that pretty soon, English was that way.

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue describes how all of this happened with observations along the way about whether people make “mistakes” when they speak English, whether English channels the way we think, and whether even Old English was bastardized and beaten up by an earlier language.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English?

John McWhorter: Over the years I have been doing some academic study of how Modern English came to be. I gradually realized that the things I was discovering were not only insufficiently attended to by other academics, but were also things the general public might find interesting. Generally, I have always been slightly bored by the typical account of English’s history that is all about words, since for linguists, grammar is usually more interesting. This book is a way of getting across why linguists care about grammar — or at least why I do.

JP: In terms of ebonics, isn’t ebonics to “American” English as “American” English is to the English that is spoken in England?

JM: Not quite. American and British English differ in terms of accent and words, primarily. Grammatical differences are tiny. Black English is different from both not only in accent and words, but in grammar. “He don’t be tellin’ folks things like dat not more” is a thoroughly “proper” Ebonics sentence. In both American and British English, it would be “He doesn’t tell people things like that anymore.”

JP: How are Barack Obama and John McCain using English differently to effectively run their campaigns?

JM: Barack Obama has a way of spicing his speeches with Black English traits here and there — “dropping his g’s”, using an imprecise but familiar terminology and certain intonation patterns, and so on. It makes his speech style seem approachable, genuine. John McCain, from what I have seen, is not especially comfortable with the presentational spoken word, which has made running against Obama especially difficult as Black English is a kind of American vernacular lingua franca today across race lines, if only in terms of how people hear it.

JP: What’s your take on Urban Fiction and its use of the English language?

JM: It would seem that these books are making it ever more normal for people to see “Ebonics” written on the page, without seeing it as an interesting “technique” as it was when Alice Walker and Toni Morrison first became popular. This is, overall, a good thing. When people without access to good education feel that the only legitimate writing is in a different code than the one they are comfortable in, they are, effectively, barred from participation in written discourse. (I don’t usually write about “discourse” but you got me going!)

JP: What’s next for John McWhorter?

JM: I’m moving into adjunct teaching at Columbia and see no books in the immediate future, depending on what you call a book. I picture myself writing columns, doing academic research, and having the live experience of teaching for the time being. After a while, one has written enough books — and with the internet and such, one wonders how many people are actually reading them. So, we shall see …

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P.S.S. If you want to be feature in a 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… series, email me at joey.pinkney@gmail.com or myspace.com/joeyreviews

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5 Minutes 5 Questions With… Julia Press Simmons, author of Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Julia Press Simmons, author of Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story
(Queen Midas Books)

julia_press_simmons_strawberry_mansion_amazon

Set in a small section of North Philadelphia, in the spring of 1996, “Strawberry Mansion” depicts three teenage girls’ who must rely on their connection to each other to weather tragic storms.

Tabitha, 19, lost her freedom in high school when she hooked up with a boy who would impregnate her and make her his punching bag. Lisa, 17, is deemed “the strong one” by her friends, but her own past of sexual abuse and pregnancy at the hands of her step father keeps her one second from falling apart as the drama builds. Shanice, 14, is a hellion, ready and willing to let any boy have her just to get the affection she believes her mother has withheld.

As their world spirals out of control, they cling fast to one another in the hope that love, friendship and strength will not only keep them together, but will also move them to a better place in their lives.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write “Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story”?

Julia Press Simmons: I was 16 years old when I first became a victim of domestic violence. My innocence was completely shattered, and I watched my girlfriends experience similar pain. I decided that I was going to shed light on what I kept in the dark for so many years. I decided to speak out in the only way I knew how. “Strawberry Mansion” was born.

JP: What sets “Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story” apart from other novels in its genre?

JPS: “Strawberry Mansion” is woman’s fiction. However, it is peppered with urban grit. It tells a story based on a strong, often dismissed notion: the sins of the parents can and often do embed themselves in the children, creating devastating effects.

Told from the perspective of teenage girls, “Strawberry Mansion” highlights their pain and lends a voice to their struggles. Ever wonder who’s hurting your daughter? “Strawberry Mansion” will give you the answer.

JP: Why did you decided to cover rape, incest and promiscuity from a teenager’s perspective?

JPS: Great question! In a survey of over four thousand 9th through 12th graders, approximately 1 in 5 females reported physical and/or sexual abuse by a dating partner. Females between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of domestic violence, and forty percent of teenage girls know of someone who has been beaten by a boyfriend.

Their story needs to be told. This situation needs to be addressed. As a mother, a wife, a former victim, keeping silent was not an option.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish “Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story”?

JPS: The very first attempt of writing this story was burned by my abuser in our backyard. It took me 15 years to gain the courage to finish “Strawberry Mansion”, but after I committed to finishing, I was done in 6 months.

JP: What’s next for Julia Press Simmons?

JPS: Growth, hopefully! I am currently working on my sophomore novel, “Begonia Brown: A Philadelphia Story”. My dream is that I grow as a writer with each book I pen, and that the development is apparent in my work!

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