The Wildest April Yet
A photo of Karen A. Parker, grinning from ear-to-ear at the Oaklandia Cafe x Bakery, as they attend the inaugural Sistah Scifi Author Expo in Oakland and man their first booth, full of business cards, bookmarks, acrylic stands, and accoutrement. Circa April 29, 2023 BCE.
On March 30, 2023, I was moving toward the end of my rope.
Granted, I had (and have) a wonderful support system of family and friends that would do anything for me, but the numbers didn’t lie. My freelance income was barely keeping me afloat, and I doubled-down on business expenses and spending on my hobbies because I didn’t want money to dictate my life. Even then, I was starting to stare at the hole that I was digging myself in, and I needed to get myself out it.
So, I started applying to local bookstore and retail jobs in my neighborhood. Most Barnes and Noble stores said no, and I still haven’t heard from some others. Once the rejections all came back, I started sending job inquiry emails, sending them my resume and recent accomplishments in the hope of turning heads.
And then, Isis Asare, founder and CEO of Sistah Scifi in Oakland, reached out to me about their inaugural Author Expo in Oakland.
Karen A. Parker (left) with Isis Asare (right) at the Sistah Scifi Author Expo in Oakland, circa April 29, 2023
Sistah Scifi is the first Black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy in the United States, as validated by the American Booksellers Association, and it is one of my newest favorite bookstores.
Championing authors like Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, Tomi Adeyemi, Nalo Hopkinson, Nisi Shawl, and N. K. Jemisin, I would love to work here if I could, but getting to support them at their first author expo, getting to sell my books to new fans, and getting to meet wonderful new people was a dream come true. Having my family there to support me was an even greater gift, and it makes me look forward to all the future conventions and expos that I hope to attend.
But that’s not all that happened in April, y’all.
In fact, I got a new job.
Karen A. Parker (left) and Ashley Jean Granillo (right) at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, circa April 23, 2023 BCE
I’m one of the newest customer service and sales representatives for Malik Books, another Black-owned independent bookstore in California.
In this photo with me is fellow Palm Desert attendee and author, Ashley Granillo, whose short story “Besitos,” is in the wonderful YA Latinx anthology, Where Monsters Lurk and Magic Hides, published by Bee Infinite Publishing—a Los-Angeles-based, woman-owned, Black-owned, independent press.
Can you imagine the absolute thrill it was to ring up copies of the anthology that my former classmate’s story is in at the register?
And that all happened a week before the author expo.
Wild. Absolutely wild. And humbling.
Karen A. Parker standing at the entrance of Marcus Books in Oakland, circa April 28, 2023
While up in Oakland for the expo, I got to squeeze in a visit to Marcus Books, the oldest Black-owned (you see the running theme here?) independent bookstore in the United States. It’s a beautiful, family owned bookstore and a lovely reminder that Black people and books just go together. I now see my place within the literary diaspora and the Black diaspora in the book industry. I’m not only studying it from the outside while in graduate school, but I’m studying it on the inside as a bookselling professional and independent author.
To think, a few years ago, my anxiety might have crippled me and told me that I shouldn’t have done any of this. It’s too soon. You’re not ready. Those thoughts might have plagued my mind and ended me.
This wildest April yet of my life proved all of that anxiety wrong. This wildest April yet is a testament to not giving up, to knocking on doors, and to taking one’s shot.
It’s not perfect. Far from anything is, but it’s in service of something more. And I know I’ve got what it takes to get there.
Watch this space.