The Godbolt Book Series by Michael Zinetti

[michaelzinetti]

Godbolt, the first book from The Godbolt Series, is now available! You can find it in hard copy at https://www.createspace.com/3893744 or ebook http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LOLGT6 .

Here is the official introduction as well as the note to reader explaining my use of the N word in this book(s).

Description:

Godbolt is the first book in The Godbolt Series. It introduces the main character of the series, Chris Bontey or Godbolt, as well as the two secondary main characters, Kevin Sarcy or The Mindwriter and Blastus Legend or the Anti-Nigger Machine.
Chris Bontey or Godbolt is a 23-year-old Chinese food delivery driver and lackluster college student who misses his medication and as a result seems to develop super powers. This first book shows Bontey dealing with this discovery and the realization he must quit his meds altogether. Also, Bontey realizes he needs to find a teacher to help him learn to concentrate and cultivate his powers.

Unbeknownst to Bontey, there is a secret government organization, aptly and simply titled, The Organization led by an extremely determined man named Horace Danbury. The purpose of the Organization is unclear, but seems to be to find mutants and either get them to join the Organization or terminate them.

The book begins with the Organization attempting to recruit Kevin Sarcy or The Mindwriter. Danbury’s plan is to recruit the Mindwriter and then recruit Blastus Legend or the Anti-Nigger Machine (ANM), who appears powerful enough to eventually recruit Bontey or Godbolt, who is, to Danbury the grand prize of all mutants.

The book is written in first person from the three main characters’ points of view, with Godbolt taking the lion’s share of the book, followed by The Mindwriter, and lastly the ANM.

Kevin Sarcy or The Mindwriter is an ambition mind reader and writer with immense powers and promise, who, apart from ambition, has a very sadistic and egotistical streak. He is a downright bastard.

Blastus Legend or The Anti-Nigger Machine, named after the Public Enemy song of the same title, is an ex-college basketball star who injured his knee and thus ending his hopes of NBA stardom. To make matters worse, Legend loses his scholarship and is forced to leave school. These events leave Legend a deeply bitter man. He sees much of his fate as a result of his color. He is extremely depressed and moves to the inner-city and becomes a drug dealer and pimp. However, when he develops special powers, Legend’s life takes a completely different turn.

Note to reader:

This may be unnecessary, but I thought I would speak a bit about some of the subject matter in this book, as I’m predicting there may be some backlash. In this book, much to Spike Lee’s probable chagrin and disapproval, one of the main characters is black. From what I’ve seen and read about Lee, he doesn’t take too kindly to white guys writing black guys. Worse yet, he definitely doesn’t take too kindly to white guys using the N word in their writing. Well, this has been cause for much deliberation and concern on my part. And to Lee and whoever else who might be offended, I am deeply and truly sorry. This is not my intention. I myself am repelled by the N word and NEVER use it, as I believe it’s a word white people have lost all privileges to. And yet something strange occurs when we trespass into the world of art and creative writing and freedom takes precedence.

When I write, I usually go wherever the character wants to go. I decided fairly early on to make one of my main characters in this book, The Anti-Nigger Machine (Taken from the Public Enemy song of the same title), black. To make matters worse, ANM is very angry (as are the other main characters, Godbolt and The Mindwriter) and highly sensitive to racial slights, as well he should be. There is a catch, though. He is black, but was raised by white people, giving me a little bit more of a handle on him. In a way, ANM is somewhat new to the black culture, as he expresses in his parts, and as a result, comes off a little heavy handed and a bit stereotypical, as he attempts to compensate for lack of exposure to the black community and culture. He is generous with his F words, and sometimes, N words, as you will see. Like Tropic Thunder, I’m a white guy writing a black guy, who was raised by white people, but now wants to be black again.

The thing that Lee might be over-looking is all creative writing, whenever it’s not autobiographical, involves some supposition when walking in the character’s shoes, ie. Harper Lee was never a man named Boo Radley and Sylvester Stallone was never a black man, when he wrote Apollo Creed. A creative writer plays with supposition, because how could he truly know? So, yeah, I’ve never been a black man. But I’ve been a human. And I’ve been hurt. And I’ve been left out. And I’ve been mistreated. I can’t tell you how it feels, specifically, to be a black man and experience racism firsthand. I’m writing in supposition. And I hope I did okay.

After all this, I hope you enjoy Godbolt and the Godbolt series.

If you're curious about other stuff I've done, please feel free to check out my website/blog at http://www.michaelzinetti.com/

[writerjohnb]

I'm also a white man who has written about blacks, specifically a slave who left a narrative in 1843. For six years, I researched the history of this man to find out about the culture, religion, politics, economics in this country before the civel war. I used the n-word, but purely for historical accuracy and only occasionally. I hate the word and never use it and have even castigated other whites for using the word.

I think you're taking a big chance of being labeled a racist and would advise against it. Yes, as a writer, you want to get into your character's thoughts, but I don't think you can really know how it is to be black and be called that term, which is rooted in hate.