Those who die with regret become ghosts, and ghosts cannot pass on—no matter what.
At heart, Slixx is a young ghost who loves jokes and pranks, but in reality, Slixx is a ghost bound to a realm living amongst humans. She is linked to a student and must follow her around everywhere she goes, which means mostly parties and school, until one day her boring and purposeless life turns into a nightmare. A massacre occurs as a crazy shooter and his ghost set out on a mission to “free” humans and ghosts. They kill many—one of which being Slixx’s human—and once a human dies, their ghost dies, too. This happens to everyone … except Slixx. Her human dies, but she doesn’t. Purposeless and confused, it is then that she starts to ponder the notion of paradise. Maybe it does exist. Like humans, maybe ghosts can pass on, too. Thus she begins her journey to paradise, meeting friends along the way. Together, they encounter mysterious riddles, vicious demons, giant centipedes, an enslaving ice queen, a villain with a heart of sin, and more. Will they make it to paradise or die trying?
BLACK GHOSTS explores life after death from all perspectives, love, friendship, and faith. It also touches on dark touchy subjects that are not often discussed within the black community: death, gun violence, suicide, conformity, etc. These “taboo” topics are usually either brushed under the rug or silenced, but let’s talk about it.
Lastly, I grew up on Naruto, so strong bonds play an important role in BLACK GHOSTS. The story embodies an epic journey much greater than ourselves, influenced by The Promised Neverland, Wolf’s Rain, Angel Beats, Death Parade, and Inuyasha.
Uh simple … because we need them. Quite frankly, although publishing has become more diverse in recent years, it still has a long way to go. We need more diverse stories out there for all the young boys and girls and even adults who have never been able to see themselves in books. I was one of those kids growing up, and let me tell you, that white default syndrome is real. None of the characters implicitly or explicitly looked like me which affected the way that I grew to negatively perceive myself. But now that I’m older, I’m writing diverse stories with black protagonists for my younger self (that little girl who adored reading but felt left out) and for the young and old who desperately wish to see themselves in stories, too. Let there be color! I owe a big thank you to Tyler Perry for all this new inspiration welling inside me because I am now writing diverse stories and building my own table.
DNKris is a young African American writer whose dream has always been to become an author ever since elementary school. Teachers and professors praised her work all throughout her academic career, and she received her BA in English (Magna Cum Laude). But after writing and querying three diverse novels and receiving the same rejections from white publishers saying that they were unable to “relate” to the voice or characters, she’d had enough. DNKris—a.k.a. me—I decided to stop waiting on others to make my dreams come true and do it my damn self!
Now that we’ve exceeded our goal, it’s time for more rewards! Let’s start with these goodies below!
Help us unlock more stretch goals by sharing the project! Here’s where you can find the author, DNKris, on social media. Follow her to keep updated on BLACK GHOSTS.
@deathnotekris | https://www.facebook.com/deathnotekris/ | https://twitter.com/DeathNoteKris | https://www.instagram.com/DEATHNOTEKRIS/
The money from this campaign will be used to pay for:
BLACK GHOSTS will be my debut novel, so the biggest challenge would be tackling this self-publishing beast alone where I will be both the creator and business operator. I will have to find editors, cover designers, purchase an ISBN, register copyright, ship all rewards in a timely fashion, and more. I know I can do it because this is my dream—BLACK GHOSTS will be legendary! However, it will take a lot of work which I will tackle head-on. I also plan to triumph through this journey with all of you, so all backers will be kept up-to-date and notified every step of the way. Also, the official release date of BLACK GHOSTS will be announced soon along with the official title.