Five Yea Hurricane Katrina Anniversary

Hard to believe it's the five-year anniversary of Katrina.  The storm that took 1,835 lives and caused an estimated $81 billion in property damage. The city lost New Orleans lost 595,205 people prior to and shortly after Katrina. While much has been done in New Orleans, thanks to the strong spirit of the city and it's inhabitants, there's still so much to be done.  The parishes which were leveled, such as The Lower 9th Ward and even Lakeview, where some of my novel, Shaman Circus, takes place still have a long way to go.  For every house that's been built since the hurricane, thanks to people like Habitat for Humanity and Brad Pitt's Make it Right foundation, five houses are either demolished or left standing  in lots full of six foot weeds.  Thee are few local businesses in the area, no food stores, no restaurants.  The idea of a community is gone, although those who loved their neighborhood and had the courage to return hang in there. 
A lot of grassroots councils have been established as well to rebuild areas such as one near Lake Pontchartrain, where recovery has come a long way due to survivor's efforts.
Treme has seen some improvement, thanks to its musical heritage, but even there, houses still remain abandoned, the markings left behind by search and rescue faded, but still there to tell the story every time someone walks by.
The schools are fewer but better - same with the hospitals.  And while New Orleans resilience is amazing, the fact that we haven't come much further in the government's role of handling such tragedies, is unacceptable.  No one has been held accountable for the lack of support and mismanagement of funds and equipment, necessary for survival, which never reached the Gulf Coast.  Two years after Katrina, I saw for myself in Lumberton, Miss., thousands and thousands of FEMA purchased trailers which were just dumped on acres of land, never reaching those needing homes, even though they were only an hour and a half away.  People were still living in tents in their drive ways.  I'll never get over my anger at that sight, knowing how people were suffering, let alone the waste of taxpayer's money where what we paid for some trailers would have been enough to rebuild a small house.
So it, was with a heavy heart, and tears that I watched some of the newscasts this weekend.  Wishing we had wised up on a national level. Especially since the area is being hit with another massive blow form the oil spill, when recovery form the first tragedy isn't anywhere near complete. For tourists, life is good in New Orleans.  The French Quarter is intact, the Saints are bringing hope to the city, but for many families, it's still a nightmare to get beyond.  I give credit to the people of the area - they have pushed on through the miles of red tape and the years of struggling.  I hope they can continue on setting an example for the rest of the country, teaching us, we can't take anything for granted.  Everyday is a pivotal day we should cherish, a day which could change in a matter of hours - as it did for them.  

Shaman Circus released!

I recevied word from my publisher on January 29, 2010 that Shaman Circus has now been released.  You can read more about it at the ATTM Press website.  I'm very excited!  Due to being iced in here in south Carolina, I haven't had a chance to  celebrate this yet. It's  been a hectic weekend with family birthdays, new job, lots of sledding, cookies and cocoa.  There's an ice storm in the book, so I guess this is appropriate.  

Now there's much work to do and fun things to  plan. I'm building my schedule with plans to attend the World Horror Con in May 2011.
 The World Fantasy Con is under consideration, but since its backed up to two nearby cons, I'm not sure. The SCWW Conference in South Carolina and Dragon Con in Atlanta,GA are within 2-4 hours drive.

About Shaman Circus:
In New Orleans following Katrina all bets are off; all masks dissolved. "Don't forget the sham in shaman," Jacob Laguerre lies to his new apprentice, Alex Hampton. When Alex, a twenty-eight year-old anthropology professor goes on field-study to post-Katrina New Orleans, he enters a chaotic and altered landscape where he's psychologically, physically and spiritually challenged by the sarcastic mentoring of the mulatto, Laguerre, a current day voudou shaman.



Both Laquerre's and Alex's psyches struggle through stages of transition and rebirth as their lives are enmeshed with a group of quirky fringe-dwellers, as colorful and eccentric as New Orleans itself. Lily Hampton, a sculptor, torn between her love for both men; Mavis, an artist who spent nights in her attic, but survived the floods; Perry Laguerre, Jacob's hermaphroditic twin, and Bad Jacqui, lesbian owner of a French Quarter bar: are pulled together to form the cynical but ultimately idealistic team who vow to stay in post-Katrina New Orleans.
They all follow a taut path between madness and redemption in the no man's land of Refrigerator Town as they assist in the aftermath and healing of both the city and those who remain.

I'll start planning some regional readings and book signings as well, at various venues: bookstores, art galleries, coffee shops.  I'm pretty bummed out that The Open Book, one of our longest running locally owned book stores will be closing. The Open Book supported indie small presses, local authors and sponsored SCWW writer's meetings.They often hosted frequent signings, and served the book lovers of Greenville for over 40 years. It's a cruel blow to our community to lose another local bookstore where we knew the owners by name. The Open Book now joins another favorite bookstore, Bentley's, in closing its doors. Sad tidings for sure.  Many of book lovers in Greenville are grieving. That leaves only three locally owned bookstores in  Greenville and those aren't quite the same as The Open Book. 

But on a brighter note, I've been overhwelmed with the support and community of the ATTM Press and its authors.We have a very active online group and the consistent efforts of Phill Harris at ATTM to support authors as their books go to market.  I've met a wide range of authors online through the press who offer tips and ideas it would take me many months to research. What a serendipitous gift I never expected when I first found ATTM and knew they were the right home for Shaman Circus. I was fortunate enough they thought so too.