Black Sci-fi’s Hottest writers unite to create The CITY!

Atlanta September 25, 2015 MV Media is proud to announce the release of The City the first Cyberfunk anthology edited by Milton Davis. The City anthology is a unique creation. It’s a concept anthology, a collection of stories where eighteen different authors share their vision of a single idea. It’s Cyberfunk, stories that play with future concepts from an Afrocentric perspective. Most of all it’s engaging, exciting, thought provoking and fun.

“Began, as a random idea in the middle of the day. I’m sure there are underlying concepts that sparked these words, and a closer examination of those concepts would bring forth a deeper discussion but at the time it was just a statement. Soon afterwards I posted these words on the State of Black Science Fiction, a group dedicated to the creation, support and distribution of science fiction and fantasy by and about people of African descent. The response was immediate and amazing. Other writers added their own ideas and linked them with images that helped convey their thoughts. Soon we had a continuous thread of ideas and concepts orbiting the central theme. Balogun Ojetade combined these ideas then created a City Manifesto, a guideline for stories based on this new creation. The next step was inevitable; the creation of an anthology,” Milton Davis.

The authors who are the Cityzens of the City are as follows.

The Cityzens

(in alphabetical order)

Jeff Carroll is a writer and a filmmaker. He is pioneering what he calls Hip Hop horror, Sci/fi and fantasy. His stories always have lots of action and a social edge. He has written and produced 2 films, Holla If I Kill You and Gold Digger Killer which won BEST Picture at the International Hip Hop film festival. He has published 3 books the novelization to Gold Digger Killer, Thug angel Rebirth of a Gargoyle and It Happened on Negro Mountain. His short stories have appeared in both The Black Science Fiction Society’s anthology and their magazine. He writes out of South Florida where he lives with his wife and youngest son. Jeff Carroll is also the author of the non-fiction book The Hip Hop Dating Guide. When he is not writing Sci-fi stories he enjoys speaking on Healthy Dating to college and high school students everywhere and goes by Yo Jeff. Please connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and his blog http://hhcnf.blogspot.com/

Gerald L. Coleman is a Philosopher, Theologian, Poet, and Author residing in Atlanta. Born in Lexington, he did his undergraduate work in Philosophy and English at the University of Kentucky before completing a Master's degree in Theology at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. His most recent work appears in, Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture Issue 9, Drawn To Marvel: Poems From The Comic Books, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Vol. 18 and he is the author of the scifi/fantasy novel When Night Falls: Book One of The Three Gifts. He is a co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets. You can find him at http://www.geraldlcoleman.co or follow him on Twitter @Iconiclast.

Milton Davis is a research and development chemist, speculative fiction writer and owner of MVmedia, LLC, a micro publishing company specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Sword and Soul. MVmedia’s mission is to provide speculative fiction books that represent people of color in a positive manner. Milton is the author of Changa’s Safari Volumes One, Two and Three. His most recent releases are Woman of the Woods and Amber and the Hidden City. He is co-editor of four anthologies; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology with Balogun Ojetade and the Steamfunk! Anthology, also with Balogun Ojetade. Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade recently received the Best Screenplay Award for 2014 from the Urban Action Showcase for their African martial arts script, Ngolo. His current projects include The City, a cyberfunk anthology, Dark Universe, a space opera anthology based on a galactic empire ruled by people of African American descent, and From Here to Timbuktu, a steamfunk novel.

Ray Dean was born and raised in Hawaii where she spent many a quiet hour reading and writing stories. Performing in theater and working backstage lead her into the delights of Living History, creating her own worlds through writing seemed the next logical step. Historical settings are her first love, but there is something heady about twisting the threads of time into little knots and creating new timelines to explore. There are endless possibilities that she is just beginning to discover.

Malon Edwards was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, but now lives in the Greater Toronto Area, where he was lured by his beautiful Canadian wife. Many of his short stories are set in an alternate Chicago and feature people of color.

Ashtyn Foster has had a deep love of literature since she was two and has been writing since she was six years old. She loves telling stories, whether they be her own through words or others via the stage. SF was engrained in her at an early age while watching the Star Trek tv shows and Batman movies with her parents. She thanks them for their gift of aliens, space/time travel and superheros and to her best friend for teaching her the true meaning of deadlines, as well their love and support.

Otis Galloway has an insatiable wanderlust. He started out in Bermuda, then subsequently left there for Worcester, Massachusetts. After that, a move to Boston, then after collecting ex-wife#1, a move to the West Coast, with stints throughout California, in San Francisco, Albany, Berkeley, Palm Springs, Los Angeles and San Diego. After collecting ex-wife #2, he decided to stop collecting ex-wives (because they’re expensive) and instead returned to his first love, collecting music.

Otis currently lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. He is working on his first book, which is nonfiction and very sweary. Occasionally he is known to put together quite a decent DJ set.

Keith Gaston was born in Detroit, Michigan. After earning a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and two Masters degrees, he decided to pursue his passion of writing. D K Gaston is known for writing books in different genres that are filled with action and adventure. He writes mysteries, crime, thrillers, and speculative fiction. He has written over a dozen novels since 2007 and shows no signs of slowing down. D K Gaston is a devoted husband and father residing in Michigan. He is currently working on his next novel.

Chanel Harry is an up and coming science fiction, fantasy and horror writer that hails from The Bronx New York. “The Score” is her first work that will be published in the anthology. However, she is in the process of working on her debut novel “Fire Lady: Tales of the Soucouyants.

Natiq Jalil is a self-taught, emerging visual artist who specializes in watercolor, acrylics, oils, and digital media. He focuses his work on human form and emotion, and often includes organic shapes and written words in pieces. Though originally from Montgomery, AL, he has lived all over the US, including Denver, Pittsburgh, and most recently New York City. He has sold work to many businesses and private collectors throughout the world, including Italy, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Japan, UK, and various states in the US. There is also a documentary in production centering around the paintings he completes on the subway trains of New York City.  Though he is finding success in visual arts, Natiq also considers himself a storyteller. Much of his success in visual arts is due to the fact that he easily recants the individual stories of each of his visual works. He is a lifelong fan of sci-fi, fantasy, manga, and anime, not to mention an avid reader. He writes short stories of urban speculative fiction in his spare time, and hopes to pursue his writing in addition to fine art as a career. His short story in The City is his first published written work.

Valjeanne Jeffers is a graduate of Spelman College, and a member of the Carolina African American Writer’s Collective. She is the author of Voyage of Dreams; Immortal; Immortal II: The Time of Legend; Immortal III: Stealer of Souls; The Switch II: Clockwork; Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds; Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective; and Colony: Ascension.  Her fiction has been published in Pembroke Magazine; Steamfunk!; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology; Genesis Science Fiction Magazine; PurpleMag; LuneWing; Griots II: Sisters of the Spear; Possibilities, and The City (in press). Book I of The Switch II: Clockwork was also nominated for the best ebook novella of 2013 by the eFestival of Words; and her short story Awakening (from Griots I) was published as a podcast by Far Fetched Fables. Valjeanne is co-owner of Q&V Affordable Editing. Preview or publish her novels at: www.vjeffersandqveal.com

Alan Jones Born and raised in Atlanta, GA. Alan attended Georgia Tech and Ga. State, obtaining his MBA from the latter. In addition to writing on the student newspapers at these institutions, Alan worked as a columnist for The Atlanta Tribune. Alan continues to write and his latest work, Sacrifices, is available on Amazon.  When not writing, Alan, a former Wall Street Consultant, currently works as an Oracle Business Software Consultant.

Brandee Laird is a warrior-poet from Seattle, WA, USA. She is a dedicated parkour athlete, one of the founders of the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Parkour Visions, and acts as the Coaching and Curriculum Director of their Seattle facility. She lives her life exuberantly and with the intent to write it down, constantly collecting experiences and ideas from the world around her. In the daytime you can generally find her in the parkour gym or in the trees, or frequenting the urban shadows at night.

Kai Leakes Born in Iowa, but later relocating and raised in Alton, IL and St. Louis, MO, Kai Leakes was a multifaceted Midwestern child, who gained an addiction to books at an early age. The art of imagination was the very start of Kai’s path of writing which lead her to creating the Sin Eaters: Devotion Books Series. Since a young child, her love for creating, vibrant romance and fantasy driven mystical tales, continues to be a major part of her very DNA. With the goal of sharing tales that entertain and add color to a gray literary world, Kai Leakes hopes to continue to reach out to those who love the same fantasy, paranormal, romantic, sci/fi, and soon, steampunk driven worlds that shaped her unique vision.

You can find Kai Leakes at her website: www.kwhp5f.wix.com/kai-leakes

Edison Moody AKA B. Sharise Moore

Published author, poet, certified educator, and budding screenwriter B. Sharise Moore is a New Jersey native and graduate of Rutgers University. At present, B. Sharise is working on the completion of a short film based on her collection of short stories, Djinn and Tonics, to be published later this year.

Howard Night

Author of "The Serpent Cult" and Head Writer of Dark Universe: Interregnum Speculative Fiction Books, Howard Night loves setting his characters in warped versions of his hometown of Philadelphia and neighborhood; Mt. Airy. His next novel, King's Bounty, set in the DARK UNIVERSE will be available summer 2015.

Balogun Ojetade is an author, master-level martial artist in indigenous, Afrikan combative arts and sciences, a survival and preparedness consultant, a former Communications and Asst. Operations Sergeant in the U.S. 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and a priest in several Afrikan spiritual traditions.  Balogun is Master Instructor and Technical Director of the Afrikan Martial Arts Institute, which has branches in the Unites States, England and Ghana, West Afrika and Co-Chair of the Urban Survival Preparedness Institute.  He is the author of the bestselling non-fiction books Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within and The Afrikan Warriors’ Bible and eight novels, including the Steamfunk bestseller, MOSES: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Books 1 & 2); the Urban Science Fiction saga, Redeemer; the Sword & Soul epic, Once Upon A Time In Afrika; a Fight Fiction, New Pulp novella, Fist of Afrika; the gritty, Urban Superhero series, A Single Link and Wrath of the Siafu; the two-fisted Dieselfunk tale, The Scythe and the “Choose-Your-Own-Destiny”-style Young Adult novel, The Keys. Balogun is also contributing co-editor of two anthologies: Ki: Khanga: The Anthology and Steamfunk.  Finally, Balogun is the Director and Fight Choreographer of the Steamfunk feature film, Rite of Passage and co-author of the award winning screenplay, Ngolo.

Ced Pharaoh was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. A lifelong bookworm; his earliest favorites were comic books/graphic novels, mysteries (Encyclopedia Brown, Sherlock Holmes etc), thrillers, poetry, non-fiction biographies and sci-fi/fantasy! Ced has a blog, 360BEYOND where he highlights indie artists and other creative ideas. Also, he has written several comic book scripts for indie publishing companies that are slated for release.  Ced is working on his series, The Legacy Chronicles and in 2012, he published the collection of dark fantasy poetry, Watch The Shadows: The Legacy Chronicles Book 1. He is busy working on the novel, Urban Mage | The Legacy Chronicles Book 2 slated for 2015.

K. Ceres Wright is the author of the cyberpunk book, Cog. Her short stories, articles, and poetry have appeared in Hazard Yet Forward; Genesis: An Anthology of Black Science Fiction; Many Genres, One Craft; 2008 Rhysling Anthology; Diner Stories: Off the Menu; and Far Worlds. Contact her on Twitter: @KCeresWright

The City is available at http://www.mvmediaatl.com