Important Announcement
"There’s a saying in Egypt: MMD, or 'My Mohammad Is Different.' It’s what western women say when they’re blinded by their Egyptian scammer. The men of Luxor are the most notorious scammers of all."
I won’t be publishing any essays this week! And I found out something crazy last night!
Since Saturday, I’ve been working 8 hours a day on my book, The Seduction of Islam. I intend to keep it up for the remainder of the week, lost in the world of Luxor.
Organizing this book and researching to make sure it’s accurate has been more work than I anticipated. I don’t have a research assistant, it’s just me. And I sure don’t want an AI one!
So, I hope you’ll bear with me and send prayers and if you don’t pray, send your best thoughts.
I found out something crazy last night. In 2023, the Sunita book series that I illustrated back in the 1980s while living in London was republished by the publishing company that originally published it in the UK. You will find them HERE. It’s also been republished by a multi-cultural publishing company in California. Both places, in more than 20 languages!
Sunita Makes Friends, Sunita Goes to the Zoo, Sunita’s Special Day.
These books were among some of the first multicultural books published in the UK and they received high praise. In those days, Mantra Publishing was two very nice East Indian women who had a dream to start a children’s book publishing company featuring kids of color, and they built it out of one of their kitchens. Now it’s a big, successful company (the photos are a little fuzzy)
No one told me that my books were being republished. I was astounded to see that they are in Urdu, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Armenian, Cantonese, Ukrainian, you name it.
I have the rights to my illustrations, so I now have to see what’s going on. This is what happens with writers and artists.
I had only just finished my last year of university at St. John’s College in York, graduating with a degree in art from Cal State, Northridge. These two women (I don’t remember their names) gave me a chance at illustrating my first books. I went on to write and/or illustrate 19 children’s books.
But those were my very first books and they meant a lot to me. At the time, I was in an abusive marriage. It was so bad I couldn’t even speak. But I could draw. Illustrating those books let me know that I had value, that people believed in me, that my art brought joy to children. This contributed to giving me the strength to eventually leave that marriage with my young daughter.
Anyway, I will let you know what I discover.
Dear readers, I hope you will consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a labor of love that has become a full-time job. Supporting my work is the price of a coffee once a month. For me, it means I can continue publishing my essays free of a paywall, except for the Break Free Mondays, which are for paid subscribers only.
God bless you all and I will be back next week!
Karen, do what you must. You should always be the most important person to you. Your loyal Substack fans will be here when you return.
G-d bless you, keep you healthy and safe.
Karen,you have been in my prayers since the first time i read your brave witness stance! You have such strong Spiritual support from your followers you may be guarded by 10,000 angels. We aren't going anywhere else. I wish you well and stand with you here in the light of Christ.