Where Stories Remember: The Birth of The Shifting Ground Chronicles

Peace and Blessings Readers

Octavia E. Butler changed how I saw storytelling. She revealed that science fiction could be more than escape. It could be a reflection. It could hold our shared history and our deepest fears while offering pathways toward transformation. Through her words, I saw how magic, ancestry, and the human condition could blend seamlessly. Her vision of America through the lens of time travel, genetic memory, and social struggle made me realize that every story carries its own truth.

That realization became the seed of The Shifting Ground. I wanted to write a world that felt both ancient and near. A place that honored the real histories of our people and explored what might have been if ancestral power had never been silenced. The Africas became the root of that world. The beginning. The origin. From there, I imagined the crossing of the Triangle Trade and the rise of the Americas.

In this universe, the Americas consist of twenty-six states east of the Mississippi River. West of that great current lies the Wastelands. Travelers from the East gave it that name because few could survive the journey. Yet those who endured found life there. They built communities grounded in faith, resilience, and knowledge of the land. The people of the Wastelands live by the rhythm of the earth. They honor the old ways while adapting to new realities. They are inventive, wise, and connected. Their world is not broken. It is raw and alive.

Through these stories, I weave truth, myth, and memory. The Shifting Ground is more than a series. It is a conversation between past and present. It asks who we were before history was rewritten and who we can become when we remember. It is about lineage and loyalty. About spirit and survival. It explores how the same blood that carried us through the Middle Passage still carries the power to transform.

Here in the Shifting Ground Chronicles, I will share insights from that world. You will meet Guardians bound by prophecy. You will walk beside those who remember what the earth once sounded like before silence fell. You will learn of the Mother’s Womb and its promise to heal generations.

I write these chronicles to honor imagination as an act of remembrance. To celebrate our capacity to dream beyond the boundaries we were given. Each blog entry will open another door into this world. Some will unveil history. Some will follow a character’s journey. Some will explore the deeper questions that inspired their creation.

If you love layered worlds and stories that speak to the soul, you are in the right place. I invite you to journey with me through the shifting ground. May these stories awaken something ancient in you.

Peace and Blessings until we meet again in the next Chronicle.