I’m very excited to interview author Dennis Upkins about his new novel Hollowstone as a part of his virtual book tour.  We had a great chat about Hollowstone, writing and activism and, of course, comics.  Check out Dennis insightful answers and pick up your own copy of Hollowstone.

Q:  Can you tell us briefly what Hollowstone is about?

A:  Life for Noah Scott changes drastically when he is accepted to Hollowstone Academy, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country set in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. Within the hallowed halls of the illustrious school, Noah soon discovers that the world of the privileged is rife with social hierarchies, politics, depravity and corruption. It is also there that Noah meets his roommate and best friend, the charming and enigmatic Caleb Warner.

Tragedy soon strikes when Cal is brutally murdered in a hold-up. But when Noah is haunted by Cal’s ghost, he soon discovers that the random act of violence was in fact a premeditated one. Determined to uncover the truth and find Cal’s killer, Noah soon finds that the school and its patrons have more than their share of secrets. Secrets they are willing to preserve at any cost. Noah also quickly learns that greater supernatural forces are at play. In a race against time, Noah must solve Cal’s murder before he’s the killer’s next victim.

Q: Most of my readers are interested in Palestine and the Middle East. Why should someone with those interests read Hollowstone?

I think good storytelling, engaging characters, a smart plot, a powerful story, all of those things are universal. One of the inspirations for Hollowstone was the Great Gatsby. Now I’m not a white male who lived during the twenties, but I was able to relate to Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby.

And I think the same applies to Hollowstone. It’s about flawed characters trying to function is a broken world. I think their journeys will be relatable to any reader, regardless of their background.

One thing storytelling has taught me time and time again is that while our cultures and customs may vary, ultimately, we as a people have far more in common than most of us realize.

Q:  Do you think that writing can be form of activism? Can storytelling help to build community and social change?

A:  Absolutely. No question about the pen truly being mightier than the sword. Whether it’s Martin Luther’s 95 Theses or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letters From A Birmingham Jail. The Diary of Anne Frank, the Harlem Renaissance, writing can reach hearts and minds in the deepest of ways. And the impact they can make can be more powerful than any weapon.

Q:  Hollowstone is full of the sort of totally awesome, powerful characters who normally aren’t represented in the media. I’m really curious about Neely Daniels, whom you’ve described as “spunky, outspoken, and not afraid to be her own woman” and “a bisexual Wiccan teen in a Southern conservative prep school, Neely is accustomed to being treated as an outcast for being true to herself.” I’ll be honest, I’m pretty excited because off the top of my head, I can’t think of another bisexual character in a YA novel. Can you tell us a little bit more about her? Did you have any trouble convincing your editors and publishers that Neely and your other queer characters were “appropriate” in a YA book?

A:  I’ve gotten so much positive feedback about Neely and I’m excited that she’s gone over well with so many readers.

While she doesn’t appear until the second half of the novel (there’s a reason for that), she’s the main character of Hollowstone, following Cal and Noah. Essentially she arrives at Hollowstone to investigate the murder of her brother. She soon finds herself teaming up with Noah to get answers in a school that would sooner keep their secrets at all cost. One thing that I think makes her appealing is that this a young woman who takes charge. She doesn’t wait on the sidelines or wait to be rescued. She saves herself and does plenty of rescuing on her own as the novel will illustrate. When it comes to stories of characters investigating/avenging the death of a loved one, the role of the investigator/avenger is usually reserved for male characters. It’s rare that female characters take point in storylines like this and it’s even rarer to have a bisexual character in media period, much less in a leading role. Neely is young woman who is force to be reckoned with in her own right. In addition to being an accomplished martial artist (which comes in handy more than once), she possesses limited psychic ability due to a near death experience at a young age. She can see the auras of others, sense supernatural fluctuations and is the only other person aside from Noah who can see Cal’s ghost.

Thankfully no convincing was necessary with my publisher (Parker Publishing) but I know that would’ve been an issue with many other publishers. In fact it was when I was making the submission rounds. Unfortunately the industry is still a very racist and homophobic one and it’s not coincidence that there’s a dearth of POC and LGBTQ-lead stories.

Parker’s tagline is Quality Fiction For Readers Of Distinction. It’s an independent publisher that celebrates black, multicultural, interracial, and multiethnic voices. With their audience, as well as their staff being primarily women of color, they understand intersectionality, just as I do being a queer person of color. They understand the importance of promoting marginalized characters in an honest and positive light.

So thankfully, that was a non-issue with them.

Q:  Hollowstone is a novel, but I know you also love comics. What’s your favorite author or series? Any love for non-fiction comics and graphic novels?

A:  You mean I have to pick just one? LOL!

X-Men will always holds a special place in my heart because it’s based on the Civil Rights movement and today it represents any type of struggle against bigotry and institutional oppression. One of the things that definitely made X-Men unique and I hope they eventually return to is that there was no hierarchy.

Before the comic devolved into The Wolverine Show & His 150 Sidekicks, every character was equally developed and anyone could take center stage with a front-burner storyline at anytime: be it Rogue and her struggles with her powers, Angel and his ongoing battles with Apocalypse, Psylocke, Bishop, etc. The diversity was also one of the key components to X-Men’s initial success in my opinion. This is the series gave us Storm, one of the most iconic characters of all time and the first lady of Marvel comics.

With the X-Men, the characters came from all walks of life and that appealed to a wide demographic of fans. There was a hero and a heroine for everyone and it worked. Excellent conscious stories, compelling characters and respect to diversity is what contributed to X-Men becoming one the best-selling comics of all time.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8. Each time I get a new issue, I’m immensely giddy with excitement because I can’t wait to see where the characters are going to be taken next.

I also love the Reginald Hudlin run of the Black Panther with Shuri as the titular heroine. It’s one of the few titles which celebrates African culture/three-dimensional compelling black characters with respectability. The art is enjoyable and the stories are a perfect blend of action, adventure, fantasy and conscious social political commentary. For 15 minutes I’m taken to a world where being black isn’t a scarlet letter but a badge of honor, one of vibranium even.

Midnighter was another series I adored. And I won’t even go into my love of the Cassandra Cain run of Batgirl, less I be counting the ways for the next 10 years.

In regards to non-fiction comics, I’ve immensely been enjoying the Blue Water biography series which has done comic features on the lives of JK Rowling, Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton.

We at Humanity Together recently got an email asking if we would be willing to raise the money for the 2011 At-Tuwani Summer Camp.   Our answer?   Of course!  The Tuwani Summer Camp is an annual event about which I care deeply.   For the children of the At-Tuwani-area (and, quite honestly, the internationals working in the village as well) summer camp is one of the highlights of the summer.   Summer Camp is two weeks of games, dancing, sports, and lots of laughter and it couldn’t be more important to the kids of the village.  As Keifah, the director of the Women’s Cooperative says, “We want our children to see that live is still beautiful, even under military occupation.”

Below is the fundraising video I put together on Humanity Together’s behalf.  For donation information, visit our facebook page.

In honor of Palestine’s Land Day and as a part of the Global BDS Day of Action, I got to work with some fabulous activists to organize a flash-mob here in Chicago.  This was a tough, but very energizing – and successful – project.  Though I can’t dance to save my life, I enjoyed re-writing the lyrics to the Jackson Five’s “ABC” and organizing our media strategy. Our video got over 2,000 hits in the first 24 hours and has now been watched over 13,000 times.   Enjoy and keep sharing!

Chicago Activists Mark Palestinian Land Day with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Flash-Mob

“BDS” song available for download: http://vocalo.org/blogs/archive/201103/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-jacks…

On March 30th at 5 pm, a group of social justice activists held a “flash-mob” in downtown Chicago. The demonstration was organized as one of hundreds of demonstrations held around the world to mark the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Global Day of Action, an annual event designed to call attention to the movement to boycott the apartheid policies of Israel. Demonstrators performed a choreographed dance to an original song called “BDS,” a parody of “ABC” by the Jackson Five.

“In the lyrics to our song, we sing ‘apartheid and ethnic cleansing go on in Palestine every day, but without the help of you and your money, the occupation will go away.’ While the struggle to end Israel’s apartheid policies is not an easy one, it’s true that we in the United States can support justice and peace by refusing to support companies and institutions that support Israel and its occupation of Palestine,” said Joy Ellison, an activist with Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG-Chicago). “We hope that this flash mob empowers our community to stand up against apartheid and challenges Chicago businesses and institutions that are actively supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Before this performance at “The Bean,” the flash mob was held outside of Chicago Cultural Center, home of the Chicago Sister Cities International office. For the last two years, activists with PSG-Chicago have pressured the city of Chicago to end its relationship with its Israeli sister city, Petach Tikva. Petach Tikva, an officially segregated city, is the first Jewish-only settlement in historic Palestine and the site of the primary detention center where Israeli forces abuse and torture Palestinian political prisoners. Human Rights group Amnesty International dubbed Petach Tikva “Israel’s Guantanamo.”

For more information, go the website of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) at http://www.bdsmovement.net

Today I got some very exciting news.  I won first prize in the Americans for Democratic Action “What would Martin Do?” essay contest.   I’m really thrilled for two reasons.  First, the prize money is going to help to fund costs related to finishing Tuwani: The Graphic Novel.  But second, I would really love to see the ideas in this essay gain a wider audience.  It’s below, if you’d like to take a look.

Beyond Iraq:

Martin and the Revolution in Values

If Martin Luther King, Jr. could visit our country this January, he would see a nation much changed and yet the same. Imagine King catching a bus in downtown Montgomery. Perhaps he would select a seat in the front, next to someone tired from a long day’s work for little pay. Through the bus window, he might see dilapidated schools and foreclosed homes. If he were to open up a newspaper, he would read of another war with no end in sight. If King returned to this country of sweet promise and bitter disappointment, he would once again take up the struggle of the poor. King would organize against the interlocking evils of racism, militarism, and poverty.  And he would invite us to join him.

In the 43 years since King’s death, we have not fulfilled his dream of equality. Poverty is rising. Health care is out of reach for too many Americans while our military budget grows. Ours is a political landscape that King understood all too well.

In his speech Beyond Vietnam, King decried the way the war on poverty was abandoned for the war on communism. Today we still choose fighter jets over unemployment benefits.  The soldiers who fight and die in our army are still overwhelming our nation’s poor. If he were here today, King would say again, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

King cried out for the poor of Vietnam recounting American’s role in their history. “We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village,” he said. “We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon.” Today, King would similarly mourn the poor people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He would point out that we once supported the Taliban, the mujaheddin, and Saddam Hussein – over the protests of Iraqis and Afghanis. We remain the enemy of the poor in Iraq and Afghanistan and everywhere our government supports the rights of corporations over the rights of poor people.

King wrote, “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values…When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” But that world revolution is still alive today and brings hope even to our country.

In Iraq, Afghanistan, America, and around the world, millions of poor people are building a nonviolent movement for a peaceful, just future.  We should not need to Dr. King to entreat us to join the right side of the world revolution. The poor are calling us to join them. Just as King heeded their call, may we see their cause as ours.

 

Thanks to your support, the At-Tuwani Women’s Cooperative tour was a tremendous success!  Over 7 days, Keifah and her husband spoke with approximately 600 people in seven cities and raised over 1,000 euros for the Women’s Cooperative.  Keifah also built connections with members of the Italian peace organization Pax Cristi and several women’s organizations. We are excited to see what new opportunities these relationships bring to At-Tuwani.

Keifah spoke about the development of the At-Tuwani women’s cooperative and its work to support women and children and resist the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.  She described how the women’s cooperative started with 7 women and faced the objections of men in the village. Now, the women’s cooperative has 38 members and supports women’s education and organizes a summer camp.  “We want our children to know that life isn’t just filled with violence, that there are good things in life too.”  Keifah also spoke about how women were able to build the clinic in the day time and face down the Israeli military  in the village’s struggle to get electricity.  She also invited people to become involved in their work – to work together for a world free from oppression.

Keifah’s husband spoke about his experiences as a prisoner inside Israeli jails.  He spoke about how easily Palestinians can be arrested for nothing more than grazing their sheep and his experience of violence in jail.  Nasser also echoed Keifah’s call to work for peace.  He spoke about how the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all had the same message of peace.  It was extremely moving to listen to Keifah and her husband’s stories of resistance and hope.

We want to thank everyone how made this tour trip possible!