What does it mean to be this Caribbean writer? at Tobias Buckell OnlineGot to this post courtesy of Nalo Hopkinson.edit: Back with comments:Tobias Bucknell writes about being a multiracial SF writer, and what response he gets when he identifies as such. For instance:

I jokingly have been called ‘an undercover brother.’ Vin Diesel calls people like me ’shadow people,’ neither one race nor the either due to circumstances and self-identity, and considers himself one, yet another reason for my close attention to his career.Things came to a head a couple days ago with a few emails challenging me to prove that I was actually multi-racial and not just a ‘poser’ who wanted the ‘advantages’ of being hip and multi-racial.For some people, any attempt to identify in ways that they can’t control are troublesome....... I was born on the island of Grenada, West Indies, and is one of the two Caribbean islands that shape what I think of as home. Grenada, with it’s spice and colorful flowers and deep jungles and people, that is my first home. No matter how split my parents are, my cousins and aunts and uncles are all Grenadian and that is the blood that runs through my veins because of my father. I can’t deny or wish to change that, it’s simply who I am. And I’m proud to have been born there and lived there for the first nine years of my life.

Go read it. Some interesting stuff to think about and to discuss.Thanks, Nalo.