Welcome to my new author website. I can't have a new site and not post a sample of my writing. Right? So I think the main question many will ask is, Why fictional books?
I'm already a very busy engineering professor with technical papers, articles, a robotics
textbook, editing a Machine Learning text, research, teaching, service, consulting business, social media influencer, scicommer, and on and on. So why add something else to your overflowing plate? Well simply put, because this mission is just that important to me. It is about so much more than me. Engineering and actually all of STEM have a severe marketing problem. Although there have been years of research and interventions there is still a significant absence of women, Black and Brown people in STEM careers. I like to say, if we keep doing what we always did, we will keep getting what we always got. So writing #BlackWomenSTEM #AfricanAmericanRomance #AfricanAmericanFiction genre of books is part of my mission to diversify STEM by filling in where I see gaps.
For example, fictional books about Black women in STEM living their everyday lives experiencing love and loss, success and failure are almost nonexistent. It is my hope that this genre takes off and normalizes seeing people of color in these spaces and that it transforms into more books, web series, television series, movies, and the sky is the limit.
So, the answer to the question, why fictional books? Is, why not? Write the vision, make it plain. It is my hope that through my writing, readers are able to see my vision, see my heart, embrace my mission and aspire to help it become a reality for more people.
My first book "Elevated Inferno" is coming soon and set to be released around July 2022, published through Rebellion Lit. This is exactly one year from the launch of my consulting business and that growth of my mission is not lost on me, #MySTEMIsForTheStreets, "Bring STEM to diverse communities to bring diverse communities to STEM, meeting people where they are." This book features computer science graduate student, Monet, who studies social robotics and human-robot interfaces to design a system to help children with autism learn, play, and engage. Her life is right where she wants it to be until she has an unexpected encounter in an elevator...
Stay Tuned.
Peace and Blessings.