Dee Savoy

I didn’t realize it until I was about to post today that Robert Fleming is our first male Vibrant Voice. Maybe I should stop with the flaming spear jokes (Nah!!!)

I’ve been sitting here trying to come up with some introduction for Robert, but nothing I say can speak louder than his own credentials. But I will add that Robert is one of the few true sweethearts in this business, who was very kind to me at the beginning of my career. So, without further ado, here’s Robert.

VOICES OF THE ANCESTORS HIGH ON INK

As I sit here typing away, the music of two jazz CDs are playing in the background: Kenny Garrett’s “Beyond The Wall” and Roy Hargrove’s “Nothing Serious,” the perfect soundtrack for a dialogue on writing and publishing. I’ve been writing since 1972. Recently, I came across some spiral notebooks with sketches for stories and poetry. That was prehistoric. The date was back when I was in junior high school where I was an associate editor for the school newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.

What was my first books? My great-grandmother, Ida Hollingshead, then in her 80s, gave me my first books when I was a mere kid. I remember them well: Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House,” Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” Langston Hughes’ “Big Sea” and Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” Sometimes I would read to her since her sight was failing. Sometimes we would take a story and give it an alternate ending. That was very good for creating plots and stretching the imagination.

Since I am a journalist first and foremost, I took to reporting in the 1970s. Working with Paula Giddings, Patrice Johnson, Ivan Webster, Henry Jackson and Nikki Giovanni, I was in writing heaven, traveling around doing stories. Writing national news. Working with no pay, I learned writing and journalism the hard way. That paved the way for me to go to Columbia University’s School of Journalism. But before that, I worked at Oui, the French skin mag with Peter Wolf and Dian Hanson (who is now at Taschen), writing copy, x-rated reviews and screening fantasies for the mag. I learned a lot there too with the Mob-run publication. At some point, I’ll write more about my experiences there.

Also, I worked with the legendary CBS News chief Fred Friendly (from the George Clooney movie), who trained folks like Edward R. Morrow, Douglas Edwards, Charles Collinsworth, and Walter Cronkite, as a writer-consultant on the PBS show, “Media and Society.”

Then on to the New Daily News. As a general reporter, I covered crime, business, the courts, the UN, and politics. The racism was grueling and the pressure to fail was tremendous. I succeeded. I won several awards for my work, including the New York Press Club award, the UFW award and the prestigious Revson Fellowship. Ten years. And after I retired, I went to work with Cheryl Woodruff at Random House as a editor, book doctor and reader. She was tough, exacting, but it was a pleasure to work for her. She is a genius and founded the first black imprint at Ballantine Books.

During the 1990s and into the first decade of this century, I have worked both on non-fiction and fiction books, including books on the Bed-Stuy’s Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the Caroline Jones Ad agency, a bio on Alvin Ailey, Wisdom of the Elders, a publishing book, and two anthologies of short erotic fiction by black men. Also, I penned two horror books, “Havoc After Dark” and “Fever In The Blood.” I’m working on a crime noir novel, “Yesterday Was A Lie” for Hardcase and another collection of short horror fiction, “Evil Never Sleeps.”

But the joy of my day is a non-fiction book, a untitled book about the care and feeding of Iraqi vets returning stateside. It’s grisly, jarring, and an indictment of what the government has done to our boys and girls after they put them through the mill. I think this will be one of my crowning highlights. Bad medical care, high doctors fees, and miserable follow-up care.

And also I’ve been working as a ghostwriter on a memoir of the son of one of the Mafia Cops. Keeping busy. Writing is my life. Although I’ve had some challenges of late, writing is my salvation and my joy. The ancestors speak through me and show me guidance and wisdom. Bless us, writers and readers.

Best,

Robert Fleming

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