Rainbow Con in Tampa

Hello,

It has been a little over a week since I last posted a blog. Before that, I posted on Feb 4th. Wow, *said unenthusiastically* I really haven't talked to you all much this month. Why? I guess I'mm too blah and I have nothing interesting to say. Although, at any given time, I probably would consider myself boring anyway. So… what to talk about now? RAINBOW CON!!!

Although I will be at other conventions this year, I want to start by talking about this one. Why? Because I got an e-mail this morning about which panels I will be on and when I will do Q&A and READ from my books. What a cool thing to wake up to. I am sure I will do something at Rainbow Book Fair, but I don't know the schedule and I don't know what I will be doing. (Probably a reading since I have a table there.)

During RAINBOW CON!!! I will be there April 17-20th. Check out the link, I am ON the author list. It is a good feeling being on a let somewhere! Believe me! As far as the schedule goes at the moment, I will be at the following "sessions":

1. Author Q&A on Thursday afternoon. Where? IDK.
2. Author reading Friday afternoon. Where? IDK. What am I reading? IDK.
3. Panel topic "Handeling Criticism" on Saturday at 5pm. … LOL. I think I picked this because I probably do NOT handle it well.
4. Panel topic "Religion and Genre Fiction" on Sunday morning at 10 am. HAHA. Oh my! What a topic.

If you are there and are interesting in hearing anything I have to say, please stop by. I don't like to be the only one in the room listening to myself talk, although that happens every day.

#4 is an interesting one especially given the post Dennis Niekro posted on Facebook this morning about  the eruption of anti-gay legislation nationwide. It is a scary time we are in my friends. The article is very interesting and I encourage your o read it. What I commented on his post was, "Thank you for sharing Dennis. This is very messy indeed. Many of the examples on the article can come across as outrageous, but they are well founded arguments. It is scary to consider what people COULD and will throw back as a way of fighting against change. (At this point, gay-rights change.) It's fighting the level of evil int he world." Perhaps these people are int he dark ages (as someone pointed out) but the dark ages got lots of people killed. There is a saying "never underestimate the power of stupid people in droves". (Or something like that.) If you have a large enough group of anyone, things can happen. OR, if you have the right tyrannical leader. Don't dismiss the "radical right" because they are backward and "in the dark ages", but instead listen and be aware of their stance. You have to know what you are up against in a war, correct? It is a war for freedom, but freedom doesn't come easily.

In the article it gives bullet points:

Here’s a few scenarios for you:

• Don’t feel like paying women a wage equal to men? Or hiring women at all because in your religious opinion, all women should be housewives? No problem.
• Hate people of color? You don’t have to hire them or rent to them or anything. If you own a store, you can dust off that old “No Coloreds” sign and put it back in the window. Go ahead and add “No Gays” if you like. And according to the law, you can also re-add “No Chinese, Jews or Irish either” like they used to have in the olden days. Just have an asterisk — “* = The Lord My God Commands It“.
• Let’s say you’re an EMT. And you come across a gay person bleeding out after a traffic accident. You don’t have to treat them if you think they should die. Same thing if you object to people being Jewish or Romani or ginger.
• Or let’s say you’re a cop answering a domestic abuse call. You see a husband beating his wife. You’re free to say, “Fine — it’s there in the Bible, men are allowed to beat their wives. Sweetheart, you need to submit to him. Call me if he uses a stick larger in diameter than his thumb.”
• Or a state-employed poll worker who believes that only white men should be allowed to vote, for people of color bear the Mark of Cain…

Although I would consider myself "religious" as far as the term goes, I would also not see myself siding with these views or arbitrarily throwing around the phrase "IN JESUS NAME". These are radical extremists to me, but the thought that these examples COULD happen is valid. People do scary, awful things int he world. Beware this is NOT a happy world we live in much of the time. There is always going to be people fighting for freedom, and always people sneaking up when you look away to try and steal that freedom away!

Ukraine is in turmoil right now for the same reason: FREEDOM. The people have a leader that will not listen to their cries. It is basically war. (and this changes often since the goings-on change by moments) War is real and isn't going away just because some individuals have won a petition for same-sex marriage. (Note: I am not implying that Ukraine is in turmoil over gay-marraige) Other countries are killing and jailing homosexuals. Americans can be very comfortable across the ocean and forget that war is all around.

Do not close your eyes, liberal-left or religious-right, I do not see an "agreement to disagree" an easy compromise that either will shake hands over. FREEDOM TO LOVE and marry whom you wish is not going to remain on the table if the "happily married" forget the insanity UNDER the table who is willing to shake it at any cost. Stand firm. Stand strong. Stand aware.

And now I don't need to talk about anything at RAINBOW CON!!!… LOL! (Kidding) Thank you Dennis for posting this article. Ryan Field is normally the one I see posting current events and articles on everything pertinent to life and liberty. (He seems to know a lot.)

So… where are YOU going to be? Will I see you in Tampa? Will I see you in a couple weeks in New York at the Rainbow Book Fair????? Please come up and say hi! I have ordered some swag to take to these events. I will have books for you to buy. I will do a drawing for a free audio book. I will give out free hugs ;)

Ciao for Now,

Wade

xoxoxox