Banned Book Week and Persisting Beyond Margins

For the second year, I'm participating in a special charity event for ALSO, a local charity that supports adult literacy programs.  On September 22nd, me and several other local authors will crawl out of our comfort zone to be in public to talk about our favourite topics: books.

I've never quite understood why there are so many calls to ban books.  And it's been even more of a mystery why such a wide variety of books get attacked in this way.  I love books.  They're a way to expand my awareness by exposing me to ideas and lives different from my own.  Not to mention, they're fun!  So why do so many people get themselves tied into a knot.

This year, my curiosity was too much.  I decided to start looking into it and what I found was depressingly bleak.  There seem to be a few specific reasons for banning that keep coming up over and over in the lists: the book features queer characters, diverse characters, encourages people to question authority, or deals with alternate realities.  To me, those are a check list of things I want to read but for some, it strikes them with terror.

Most requests to ban books seem to come from various fundamentalist Christian groups who see these books as an attack on themselves and their faith.  (And just to be clear, these groups are a minority of Christians and I'm sure that many Christians would have a problem with the version of their faith as portrayed by these groups).  In the view of these groups, anything that might encourage anything other than blind faith and obedience is a threat.

And as a result, they will never know the vicarious thrill of tessering across the universe, or flying in a spaceship, or riding a unicorn, or any of the other wonderful and exciting adventures that books have opened up to me.  They will never learn to see the world through someone else's eyes and thus increase their compassion for those who are different or who have lived different experiences.  And to a point, if they don't want to do that, if they would rather stay in their narrow world bounded by fear, that's their choice.

What they don't have is the right to make that choice for anyone else.  They don't have the right to look at a book and say "This scares me" and insist it be destroyed or locked away.  They don't have the right to deny people the chance to experience stories of others like them and others who are completely different.  

So I am proud to be part of Banned Book Week and part of the ALSO fundraiser.  And if you'd like to support freedom of expression and helping adult literacy, or even if you'd just like to enjoy an evening of books, food, wine and conversation, please join me on Saturday for Persisting Beyond Margins.  And if you'd like to know more about my chosen banned book, A Wrinkle In Time, and why I feel it's a great story, please check out my Heroine Fix on Margaret Murray and the value of an angry heroine.

Previous blogpost: Heroine Fix: the lovely, lethal and loyal Dutch from Killjoys

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And if you'd like to check out my own fantastical stories about a secret society of superheroes living among us, the first book in my lalassu series, Revelations, is currently on sale for 99 cents US on all platforms.

Finding New Authors In Today's Market

I'm a lifelong voracious reader and I know I'm not alone when I say that there is nothing more frustrating than not having something new to read.  There are times that I look around at my shelves and I'm up to date in all the series I'm following and I've already read everything a half dozen times, and my brain is craving new characters, new stories and new approaches.

The challenge is finding new stories that I will enjoy.  There are a few techniques that I use.  I have friends who are also voracious readers and they give me recommendations.  I sometimes try random authors and books (usually through the library or by browsing sales).  But it can be disheartening, weeding through the stuff I don't enjoy to find the real gems among the ordinary stones.

I read quickly and a "bad" story will likely only cost me a few days.  For those who don't read quickly, it can be a huge deal to have the next two or three weeks (or months) devoted to a story they aren't sure they'd enjoy.  But everything seems to be so crowded these days, and authors can end up drowning each other out in their efforts to catch readers' attention.  And readers can get overwhelmed and tune out in self-preservation.

I've decided to start up a new monthly feature: Hidden Diamonds.  There are some amazing authors out there and each month, I'll share one of them with readers.  I'm hoping that readers will be willing to give these authors a chance and that authors will have an opportunity to connect with readers.  I'll be looking for great authors in speculative fiction and romance who write amazing characters and stories.

Hidden Diamonds will be on the last Thursday of every month.  If you know an author who you think would be a great diamond to share with the world, then please let me know at jclewis@pastthemirror.com.  

Happy reading!