My lead character is a black woman but will that mean that my book will end up hidden past the front aisles of a bookstore? Why are all books featuring someone other than a white protagonist stuck on the “Ethnic” shelves? Who decides what goes there?
I for one don’t want my books in the ethnic section. Maya Angelou and Walter Mosley get to be on the common shelves, but most others aren’t. I don’t get it. I don’t like the ethnic shelves. I say we protest. Ask your bookstore why that segregation is necessary. Who are they trying to kid?
M. L. Doyle has served in the U.S. Army at home and abroad for more than two decades as both a soldier and civilian. Mary is the author of The Desert Goddess series, an urban fantasy romp consisting of The Bonding Spell and The Bonding Blade. She has also penned The Master Sergeant Harper mystery series which has earned numerous awards including an IPPY, a Lyra Award and the Carrie McCray Literary Award. Mary is the co-author of two memoirs; A Promise Fulfilled; the story of a Wife and Mother, Soldier and General Officer (Jan. 201) and the memoir, I’m Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen—My Journey Home (Touchstone, 2010), which was nominated for an NAACP Image award. Mary's work has been published by The Goodman Project, The War Horse, The WWrite Blog and The Wrath-Bearing Tree, an online magazine for which she serves as a fiction editor. A Minneapolis, Minnesota native, Mary current lives in Baltimore. You can reach her at her website at mldoyleauthor.com.
