Not shirk and blush and titter behind our hands, 'Tee-hee, N-word.' No, it's time we call things what they truly are. 'Why do we treat that word with such childish deference? If we are ever going to get over the problems of race, we are going to have to start speaking to each other as adults. 'Then come on, we're all adults here,' he prods. Are we talking about nematodes here, Carrie?' 'The word is 'Nigger.' Not the 'N-word.' Unless we're talking about nematodes, or something. They have also taken special umbrage with the supposed ubiquity of the N-word.' That rappers glorify drug use, drug trafficking, and the 'gangsta' lifestyle. They say it is spectacularly degrading toward women-African-American women. 'Anyway, many black leaders have called on you, in particular, to clean up the objectionable lyrics in rap music. 'You didn't bother asking, did you?' Hustle still smiles. 'But not their congregations,' the record exec interjects. 'Recently, you and other record company executives have come under considerable fire from many black pastors around the country-' 'Carrie McCarry from The Post,' she declares. Suddenly, a well-tailored, hip-laden blonde raises her hand and stands.

This excerpt, I think, really captures my reaction to the first part of the book: It was a really stop-and-start reading experience for me, not at all smooth until the last 15% or so. And I'm not sure I was on-board enough to really get any pay-off at the end. Despite knowing that this was satire, it took me until halfway through the book to really get on board and be part of the author's nudge-wink clique for the remainder.

Campbell lives in Washington, DC, where he spends his time with his family and helms Rosarium Publishing.So yeah. In the summer of 2021, Campbell won a Locus Award for his work helping to diversify the field of science fiction. His historical graphic novel with Bizhan Khodabandeh, The Day the Klan Came to Town, was released by PM Press in 2021. His Afrofuturist spaceploitation graphic novel, Baaaad Muthaz (with David Brame and Damian Duffy) was released in 2019. Delany with Nisi Shawl, Future Fiction: New Dimensions in International Science Fiction and Fantasy with Francesco Verso, and APB: Artists against Police Brutality with Jason Rodriguez and John Jennings (for which he won a Pioneer/Lifetime Achievement Glyph Award). He also co-edited Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Along with Edward Austin Hall, he co-edited the groundbreaking anthology, Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond. Bill Campbell is the author of Sunshine Patriots, My Booty Novel, and the anti-racism satire, Koontown Killing Kaper.

Sunshine Patriots by Bill Campbell