Ogoun on Michigan Avenue

Hello Readers,

I'm contemplating the sequel to "The Summer of Pomba Gira" (SOPG) which will be "Ogoun on Michigan Avenue." It's set in Chicago again, several years in the future from the end of SOPG.

This is going to be an edgier book. Ogoun is an Afro-Caribbean Condomble deity who comes to Chicago looking for one of the characters from SOPG. Somebody is causing trouble for all of the world, and he's sent to set things straight.

This book will be addressing racism head on. In SOPG, I worked on themes of internalized racism and internalized sexism. In the sequel, we see it through the eyes of Ogoun as he's on his search to find one of the characters. We'll see the evolution of Evaline, Jonah, Maria and Thomas.

In the beginning of SOPG, I share a short snippet of a Cherokee story of the contest set forth by the Creator, one that results in unique gifts given to the mountain lion and the owl. In SOPG we're introduced to the mountain lion. In the sequel, it will be the owl that comes.

I've got half the storyline firmly planted in my head, insofar as it relates to Evaline and her mother. As was the case with the first book, I find myself struggling with Jonah's plotline. I think this is because I most closely relate to Jonah's character and therefore I'm as clueless about what he'd be likely to do as I am about what I myself might do at times. However, I trust myself and my characters to lead me to exactly where we need to be.

So I'll be busy writing, as I'd like to get the first draft done by the end of the year.

Wish me luck!

Oleander