Hello everyone. I’m Alessandra Ebulu; author of ‘Of Anime and the Baeci’ which is part of Less Than Three Press’s Geek Out Anthology.

 

When I first saw the ‘Geek Out’ anthology call, I screamed, and I mean that quite literarily (A couple of my colleagues at work thought I’d gone cuckoo). Luckily enough, I work in the creative department of an advertising agency, so they just shrugged and thought it was the brief that got to me; thank goodness! Anyway, back to the point, I screamed, and then I took some time to really think about it. You see a call to write about something my character, and ultimately I, geek about was not so easy. I love TV series (everything by Shonda Rhimes is a big hit for me, as is all my Marvel series, my love for Sam and Dean of Supernatural, Sherlock in Sherlock, Glee, etc), books, coffee, music, movies, stage performances… I could go on for days. So, to choose something out of everything on my list was incredibly hard and incredibly simple as well. Because there was one thing out of all my favourite things that I’ve always geeked about and learnt so much from; and that is Anime.

 

I’ve been a huge fan of Anime since I was seven (Ruronin Kenshin broke me in). And I got into the LGTBQ community through Anime. My first try at writing for the community was via SasuNaru fanfiction. Having Naruto being able to do the sexy no Jutsu (a ninja technique where he can transform into a woman at will) and in both cases (whether he’s being Naruto or Naruko; the term given to his female self) to be seen as still being himself; helped me begin my journey of understanding a bit of what it meant when a person said he/she is trans* or genderqueer.

 

Anime, although a lot of people disregard them and think they’re merely ‘cartoons’ have taught me so much. They’ve helped me grow as a person, they’ve helped me realize that everyone, be they good or bad, has a story and when you take that trip to see it; when you live from that person’s perspective, then you might begin to understand some of what it is that drives them and inspires them.

 

I live in a country where people really do not accept anyone who’s different; a country where being of a different sexual orientation from what society deems ‘acceptable’ or choosing to be at a different end of the gender spectrum from the one you were ‘born’ with even comes with a jail sentence; a country that likes to wave away what it doesn’t understand, or isn’t willing to understand. And it is that utter disregard that led me to write the story. My character does not subscribe to any end of the gender spectrum and Cata (my character’s name) has a total love for anime; and both are things the people around have a problem understanding. But Cata owns the essence of who Cata with regards to sexuality, gender identity and a love for anime, and it is my hope that soon, in Nigeria, we would have more people owning that, and less people who would use their prejudice, their ignorance and their hatred to prevent that from happening.

 

I’m starting to ramble, but before I leave, I want to mention who was my inspiration for Cata Nanuq. As might be expected, I took my geeking out to a whole new level because Cata was inspired by another character from another favourite anime of mine: Kuroshitsuji.

Source: http://wallpapersinhq.com

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Gruel Sutcliff; the first redhead to steal my heart :).

 

 

And I hope that if you do decide to read ‘Of Anime and the Baeci’ you find something in there, that you will come to love as well.

 

 

Blurb:

 

All Ray wants is peace and quiet—something he is never going to get with his idiotic neighbor blasting anime and crazy music at all hours. When he finally breaks down and asks Cata to knock it off, he doesn’t expect a friendship to develop. And he definitely does not anticipate a romance.

 

A romance he fears won’t last, given that Ray is much more than he seems and only in the apartment building because he’s desperately searching for a serial killer—and trying to keep Cata from becoming the next victim.

 

Purchase Links:

Less Than Three Press

Amazon

Smashwords

 

 

 

For as long as she can remember, Alessandra Ebulu has always had her noise buried in a book. The characters appeal to her and it is not uncommon to find her talking to the various characters in her head—both the ones she created and the ones she has read about (of course she does this while walking down the street, but she’s not crazy or anything).

When not reading or writing, Alessandra can be found watching movies, sitting in front of her laptop (watching animes, reading mangas or surfing the Internet), and listening to all the genres of music that make her life complete.

You can find Alessandra Ebulu on her blog (http://alessandraebulu.wordpress.com/), livejournal (http://cassie821.livejournal.com), or twitter (http://www.twitter.com/chocowithcurves), or email her at siteno.ebulu@gmail.com.