 Well, thank you all so much for having me. It's really it's really a huge honor to be here I used to live in this city The city has a very special place in my heart even before I lived here. I was in love with it I was here in 98. I used to work at Mel's Drive in our lumbar and I was a bike messenger Which is really a cliche I realized at this point to be a bike messenger in San Francisco But that was me. I was 18 years old and I didn't give a fuck. So it's great to be here What a time to be alive and what a time to be a writer of color in this weird weird world We are gonna talk a little bit after I read so please do have questions. Don't be shy. Please don't be shy It's so weird when people are shy like or not. We're I'm shy, but you know like don't feel like you can't ask me stuff Okay, I like talking about writing and I like talking about the world and everything else. So just don't don't be shy And yeah, I'm just gonna jump in and read a little section. Maybe two sections. We'll see how we're doing on time But again, thank you for coming. It's just really wonderful to see your faces out there How many people have read Shadow Shaper already? Oh, shit. All right. Well, that's wonderful. Thank you And it um before I forget I do do the audio books for the adult stuff that I write the Bonsui Roomba so it's on audible and There is a novella follow-up to Shadow Shaper. It's already out called Ghost Girl in the Corner. It's on e-book It's like a dollar. So yeah, those are the things I forget to say We're gonna jump right into the middle of the story basically Shadow Shaping is a magical ability that Sierra Santiago the protagonist finds out that she not only has but is part of a huge family legacy of having and It involves bringing art to life with spirit So being the actual living conduit between the spirit and the art and then the art comes to life boom So Sierra is a shadow shaper But she's only just understanding what that means when we when we meet her in this section But it also turns out that fortunately besides all these random old people and just like folks around Brooklyn Who apparently are shadow shapers that she never knew about there's also this one dude Robbie who happens to be this hot Haitian Dude that she thinks is kind of cute So, you know when it turns out that you have you share a magical art with a hot Haitian dude What you do you have to go to Prospect Park and and practice. That's how that's what Prospect Park is for Here you would go to Golden Gate Park, but In Brooklyn we go to Prospect Park to practice our magical arts And so that's where we find our two heroes He's just showed her the basic rudimentary stuff So they have chalk and they draw a little something and then the spirit comes along and then they touch the chalk and the spirit Goes into the chalk and now Robbie's like, all right. Now you got the basics down It's time to learn how to combat shadow shape and Sierra's like what and then Robbie's basically like catch me If you can and just dips which he's like really good at doing So we meet Sierra all by herself in the middle of the woods at night in Brooklyn chapter 21 Sierra swallowed a wave of panic and squinted at the dark trees around her this dude just loves disappearing She muttered crouching she placed the green chalk against the pavement took a deep breath and drew three sets of eyes Then she looked up the road was empty. Come on spirits. I know you're out here She squinted and for a few seconds all she saw was the muted starshine of the night lanterns Then three small plump shadows emerged from the darkness and swayed toward her. There you go She studied her trembling hand raised it to the air and gulped as the figures launched into a run The icy swirl poured through her Sierra slapped her right hand against the eyes and they sprang to life Each set swerving across the pavement into the night Sierra smiled Find Robbie she whispered all three pairs of eyes swung off the path into the forest She rolled her own eyes really dude. You just had to go right into the creepy forest, huh? She steeled herself and stepped into the woods Sierra had never known such total darkness She put her hands forward and moved quickly between the trees trying to ignore her thundering heartbeat a flash of green Glinted across a tree stump a few feet ahead and she made her way toward it I'm seriously gonna have a talk of Robbie when I find him she grounds seriously when Sierra first heard the humming It wasn't because it had just started then it sounded as though it had been going on for a while It was like when she'd be sitting in class for 45 minutes and finally gets so bored She would notice the stupid heater had been clacking and smashing away the whole time The voices grew around her in a cloud of sound It sounded like the choir at Benny's church both beautiful and haunting the voices range from low and mournful to high and exalted They blended together and rising and falling harmonies that filled the night Sierra stopped walking and glanced to either side, but the forest darkness was Unyielding she wanted to yell out who's there, but that was too much like what the chicks and harm movies did right before they got eight so She kept quiet and stayed perfectly still as the hum rose and fell in harmonious waves It was too late to turn back and the noise was all around her seemed to well up from inside of her nice Sierra said got myself lured out to this stupid forest She took a step back toward where she hoped the wide open field was in the middle of this stupid stupid situation Another step the humming kept getting louder after this stupid week full of stupid weirdo things happening She couldn't take it anymore. The drone seemed to be covering her bursting through her Sierra ran she didn't care about what she might run into what direction she was going all she wanted was to get away from that noise But the sound kept with her it burned and sesling through her ears Trailed her like a stalker around every turn branches slapped against her face and arms biting into her skin She saw a log up ahead planted one foot hard on the ground and threw her body into the air It was only after she'd sailed over the log and landed several feet past it that she realized something was different First of all, she had seen the log lying there right across her path It wasn't just her eyes and just into the darkness. She could see everything around her in crisp detail And then there was the jump she'd been airborne for five or six seconds easily She had basically glided along until she felt ready to land for a flickering moment Sierra saw herself as if from above bounding through the forest and long strides nailing each leap it was terrific and Terrifying at the same time like she was some kind of superhero and then she was back without having lost a step She hadn't escaped the voices in fact They were louder and now she could make out dark shapes moving along the edges of her vision She turned her suddenly spectacular eyesight capturing every nook and nub of each tree and she realized that there were indeed tall shadows Rushing along on either side of her they emitted a slight Pulsing glow a single illuminated heart beating through each one a jolt of terror Of course from her throat to her stomach and sent tremors up and down her arms and legs the humming once a deep baritone was becoming higher pitched She bounced from rock to rock up a steep hill grabbed a hanging branch and hurled herself toward the top Everything seemed to slow as she burst through the night air the shadows flitted and swarmed around her reaching out Sierra saw a cement walking path ahead aimed for it and came down running Something about those spirits buffered her kept her afloat. She was protected She could feel it all over her body like the same faint glow the spirits emitted radiated from her too She shot forward barely conscious of her feet moving at all the path led to a clearing and beyond that would be the Long meadow and then Grand Army Plaza. She pumped harder the trees became a blur on either side of her Where was Robbie as if in answer to her silent question a pair of green eyes Flashed past her along the tree trunks and then whizzed off toward the meadow Sierra kept her course along the edge of the woods the shadows swirling and dancing around her He had said combat shaping and he would be ready for her wherever he was out there She couldn't just roll out empty-handed or with a bunch of unformed shadows without losing stride Sierra pulled out her chalk now only a stub and dragged it along the trees as she passed when she tagged more than a dozen chunks She doubled back the spirit still storming along with her in long strides She raised one arm and then retraced her steps tapping each chalk mark as she passed The shards of green burst to life as spirits danced through her Now Sierra thought and she felt her small battalion of green projectiles fall into formation around her once again The night seemed to hold its breath a blessed moment of silence then Sierra pivoted off a stone and burst out of the woods Shadows and green spikes unfurled around her like a crashing wave She landed in an open field and raised her head just in time to see a splash of bright red Flush across the dark grass toward her Sierra leapt toward the nearest tree caught a branch and swung up into it as Robbie's red tide Swoove to pass. Where is he? The three pairs of green eyes flew out of the field and converged at a darkened area at the far end of the park Go Sierra commanded her shards. She leapt out of her tree and hit the ground running flashes of green flitting along in her side Go they burst ahead racing across the field Robbie's red tide swept out again But this time Sierra was ready She leapt up into the night sky surrounded by the pulsing lights of the shadows and landed far outside of the tides reach Whoa, Robbie yelled from his hiding place Sierra smiled and dashed into a dark grove of trees as another red tide swept past She crept through the underbrush finished off her chalk on a nearby tree trunk and shaped four more spirits into the jagged lines Eyes she called silently the six eyes appeared on the ground before her lead the way they sped off Shards when the eyes find him strike. She walked briskly through the woods as the shards dashed ahead puppy gentle Sierra strode out into the field toward the darkness watching the bursts of light as her spirit soldiers converged on Robbie Something red flashed, but then vanished. Oh Robbie yelled. What happened Sierra called out cold them off. Dang Sierra You won. I get it back. Sierra thought fall back. Sorry. I'm I'm still getting the hang of it Oh, you give up. Yes, geez Robbie stumbled out of the darkness his face smudged with green streaks Where did you learn to do all that? He was smiling in spite of himself Sierra Cattel was one of those smiles that couldn't be held back a tempered. She shrugged. I mean Just kind of seem natural. I guess She wasn't really sure what had happened had all that flying through the air been her excitement at being part of this magical New world or was something else at play either way. She felt amazing. Let's do it again Thank you