Coolio. A Ramble from Black Cherry....

We've had a few people offer suggestions for sites to check so you'll notice stories posted tonight that may be new. Don't forget the feedback. These writers love it when they know someone has read their work.

I was going to tell a story about Cal tonight but E bugged a writer for a ramble and she delivered. When you think about it, it's kind of fitting that the site's Author Ramble cherry is being popped by Black Cherry. She wasn't sure what to ramble about and E told her any ol' thing. Please let her know you appreciate her giving this ramble thing a go. Maybe she'll even come back.

I just came in from cleaning some fish. My mom went fishing with her senior citizens group and caught a nice mess of perch. I helped her scale and filet them. We hadn't done that since I was a kid.

I grew up poor in the farmland of Illinois. We grew our foods in a garden, raised chickens, had our own eggs. We had an orchard at one time, and a briar patch. We only bought meat and animal food for the pigs, chickens and dogs. Once in a great while we got some Pepsi. I never knew I was poor.

I value the survival skills I have from a life in a rural area, from being poor, and being from the wrong side of the tracks.

Moving to the city here, in the south, in Houston was a total culture shock to me. I was six. But I grew up here, and I summered there.

Mom sent us to stay with our nana in summer, my brother and me, to keep us away from my dad, who had a violent temper. All of us being home at the same time was a bad thing, and in summer we had nowhere to go.

I grew up hard. It's in my writing. My characters are personal. They are people from my life. The settings are fictional, some of the situations, the archetypes (Uber X and Uber G) are eternal, but the stories are mine. I hope my readers like them, and take something away from them.

Mostly that you shouldn't judge books by the covers, that it is possible to go home again, and truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

I just finished the fifth story in my Skin Deep series: Pushing Ink Hawaiian style. The stories are available online, but soon, the entire series will be published in paperback in one volume.

I love writing, I love uber. Xena is my hero. Battle on!

-BC

"All art is apolitical, except to politicians who try to make it political to suit their own ends. To make art property, tie it to political organizations, to desire for power or influence, to make it fodder for politicians' agendas, is to kill its essence." -Grandmaster Kim Soo, founder Chayon-Ryu

If you're not familiar with Black Cherry's work, go to her web site: home.flash.net/~monsters/the_pit.html. She also has a Yahoo group: tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/bowl_full_of_Cherries/. Enjoy the updates!

Tamara

• Part 2 of Love Eternal by Xena's Girl (Academy of Bards).
  
  
• Memories by Annina (Sandbox 101).
  
  
• Part 3 of Imperfect Past by Bach (Sandbox 101).
  
  
• A Fine Line - A Star Trek Voyager Story (Complete) by Enginerd (her web site).
  
  
• Part 7 of Marjorie Humboldt: A Revelation in Several Parts (Complete) by Creme Brulee (her web site).
  
  
• Skin Deep V: Pushing Ink Hawaiian Style (Complete) by Black Cherry (her web site).
  
  
• Part 1 of The Silence of the Mist by B.S. Raven (her web site).
  
  
• A Thoughtful Gift (Complete) by Kudara (her web site).
  
  
• Nine Months (Complete) by Kudara (her web site).