I’m sitting in a space that seems to float before me and feels all shimmer and blue. 
Over 1,500 copies of my book The Slaves Have Names downloaded in one day.
I can barely breath that number in. I do not know what I expected . . . a dribble of interest . . . a little peak of uptick on the sales. But not this.
Maybe I underestimated the brutal, steely heft of the word FREE.
I do not get paid for this number, of course, and of course, some part of me wishes that over 1,500 people had wanted to pay to know the amazing men and women from Bremo.
But that’s a tiny, glinty, ugly part of me. And I want to celebrate that blue shimmer. I want to dance in the joy that Moses and James, both Lettys, Aggy, Gruff, Nelson . . . that they will be known by thousands.
So thank you all for wanting to hear of Malvina and Anaky, thank you for wanting to understand a bit more about Isham and Ned, thank you for wanting to know Cato and Dilcey.
I’m not sure Primus was a dancing man, but even a reserved, quiet man might smile and do a soft shuffle to know this many people care about him.
The book is still free for download today, so please, get your copy and share the word with your friends. Imagine what it would mean if these people were lauded on a list with Donna Tartt and John Grisham – that’s what will happen if we break the Top 100 Free Kindle books. Enslaved, African American people getting the same recognitions as free, white people – now, there’s just a bit of justice in that. Download it here – http://www.amazon.com/Slaves-Have-Names-Ancestors-Home-ebook/dp/B00GUYNQDI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389795061&sr=8-1&keywords=slaves+have+names. . . and if you don’t have a Kindle, just get a free Kindle reader here. Thank you all.