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Liberation is Lit Podcast
Welcome to the Liberation is Lit podcast, where the power of storytelling meets the force of social change! In this podcast, we believe in the profound impact of stories – stories that amplify voices, challenge norms, and foster understanding.
Whether you're a literature enthusiast, an advocate for social justice, or simply someone who believes in the transformative power of stories, you're in the right place. Tune in, and let's embark on a journey together – one where every story has the potential to change the world.
Liberation is Lit Podcast
We Are Our Own Superheroes (with Eddie Dee Williams)
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In this episode, we talk with author Eddie Dee Williams about his journey into storytelling, focusing on his superhero book series, the Affinity Saga. Eddie shares his inspirations from childhood heroes, the importance of representation in superhero narratives, and the profound impact of telling stories that resonate with and reflect the Black community. We discuss the intricacies of Eddie's literary process, his support system, and the universal human experiences that ground his fantasy works. Eddie also offers insights into his upcoming third book, Sankofa, detailing how it builds upon the series' themes of love, power, and rebellion.
00:00 Introduction to the Liberation is Lit Podcast
00:46 Meet Author Eddie Dee Williams
02:21 Eddie's Journey into Storytelling
04:32 The Inspiration Behind Affinity Saga
07:31 Exploring the World of Affinity Saga
12:09 The Role of Black Science Fiction in Liberation
19:00 Upcoming Book: Sankofa
21:59 Advice for Aspiring Writers and Community Impact
25:05 Where to Find Eddie Dee Williams and His Work
27:11 Closing Remarks and Podcast Outro
Eddie Dee’s Books
Where to find Eddie Dee
Thank you for being part of the Liberation is Lit podcast! If you have stories to share, want to suggest topics, or just want to connect, find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @liberationislit or visit our website at liberationislit.com. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider leaving a review! Remember, your voice matters, and together, through the lens of stories, we're making a difference in the world.
Hey y'all. Welcome to the Liberation is Lit Podcast, where the power of storytelling means force of social change. I'm your host Tayler Simon, and in this podcast we believe in the profound impact of stories. And I'm so excited to be here with author Eddie Dee Williams to talk about some really dope superhero today. And just processes as writers. So, hey, Eddie Dee how are you? I can't complain. I can't complain. It's an honor and pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Awesome. Thank you so much for being here. So to kick us off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself as an author and a storyteller? Absolutely. So born and raised in Augusta, Georgia. Been a power ranger since I was five years old when they first came out. And so I've always loved. Being able to go in the backyard with my. Brothers, sisters, cousins, and we all just pretend to be the power Rangers X men in American gladiators, you know, all the, all the heroes of of our, of our TV days and just go out and pretend to be beaten up on the bad guys. Growing up, also my grandmother who ran a daycare center, in order for us to stay awake, we had to watch the stories and so young, the restless, guiding light, bold, and beautiful, all and on and on and so forth. And so, just really got immersed into storytelling and how to, you know, tell a story in long form. And so then you could couple that with all of the, you know, stories of, of the cartoons we used to watch, the TV shows we used to watch. I used to love and still love to this day cop shows. And you know, good Guys again versus Bad Guys Law and order and all that type of stuff. But my actual passion for storytelling. It well before that, before that I'm also a pastor. And so ministry has always been a part of my DNA, dad's a pastor. Granddad's a pastor. And so having to be able to tell a story and keep people engaged for half an hour has always been something we've gotta learn how to master. You know?'cause we don't want people falling asleep on us. And so and so all those things were kind of been a part of my life for a while, but. My desire to tell stories didn't actually happen until about 22 2021, where my best friend and I were buddy watching Titans on Max. And we couldn't stay in Max. We couldn't stay in Titans. Titans getting on the nerves every week. They get molly wopped, they get beat down. Soft fire, never star fired. You know, doggone night wing needed therapy. Raven's supposed to be the strongest person on the board and she get beat down every week. I'm just like, why? What is happening to my heroes. And so my best friend was like, well, do you think you can do better? Why don't you write your own story? And so for three weeks, I'm, she's bothering me about this. Have you started writing yet? Have you started writing yet? Have you started writing yet? And so, just to get her to leave me alone, I thought I'd take a stab at this. And and so I thought about, again, all the things I loved, heroes cop shows, good dramas you know, relationships, all the things. And that's how my, my my storytelling journey began. Yes. I love that. And it often starts with fa, our favorite books. We love to read our favorite shows. We wanted to watch the things we were interested in, and I feel like it's just a universal experience of watching the stories growing up and. Just that is a whole other, like, how do you write so many stories for things to come out every single day for so many years? So. Right. No, listen, there was this one show called Passions, like they spent a whole year on one day. How do you do that? Like all the seasons were passing, but they were still stuck on this one day, I feel like January 3rd of that year, and they never got off that day. It made no sense to me whatsoever. So, you know the show 24, I think they stole that concept from them because they took it 365. I'm like, well, guy. So, so, yeah, no, they, they were able to, you know, in a way keep that story going and be able to to weave all these little elements together. And that just became, again, just something in the subconscious that at the time of starting to try to write, the Affinity Saga started to dredge those things to the surface. Yes. And speaking of Affinity Saga, let's talk about that and what inspired you to well, what kept you going after your friend was like, all right, can you do better? What was that like, driving force and why superheroes specifically? Yeah, so again, going back to X-Men and and, and Power Rangers and things like that, I really wanted to tell a story that represented us. We are superheroes, man, like, you know, from the, from the baristas to, you know, the, the councilmen from the greatest to the least. We are all superheroes in our own, in our own right. Regardless of what anybody says about what they think our blackness is about or what they feel like we ought to be, we are heroes. We out here doing the damn thing every single day. I think back to my mom, I think back to my dad, I think back to, you know, my wife and my kids and how we're all doing, you know, what we need to do throughout the day. I think about my friends, I think about the people at my church, like we're all out here just trying to make it from day to day. Especially in the year 2026 where they just keep tell, trying to tell us over and over again, you ain't worth nothing. You ain't worth this, you ain't worth that. Here we are out here, you know, boots on the ground, our whole world's burning, burning down. We still got boots on the ground handling our business, and I wanted to write a story that was a representation of not just us as you know, gods among mortals. I wanted it to be a story of when you have powers, what do you do with them? The good guys got powers, the bad guys got powers. The leaders have powers. The baristas have powers. Everybody in the world that I built has powers. So it's not about being powerful. That's the, that's the that makes you heroic. It's what you choose to do with your powers that makes you heroic. And so I wanted to, again, write a story that was a representation of us as our, you know, greatest selves. But also being able to tell the full scope of our humanity. Because, yeah, we may have these powers and have these gifts, but at the same time, we still gotta pay bills. We still gotta, you know, fall in love, fall outta love. We still gotta, you know, got spouses that we gotta deal with. We still gotta eat, you know, we still gotta live daily lives. And so I wanted, again, to write a story that even though it's, it's based in fantasy and everybody's got superpowers. They are still very much human and grounded in a reality that when you reading the story, you can see yourself in it. Like, that's me. So many people will tell me, man, you know this character here, that man that's me, that like, I feel like you wrote me in. It's like, you know, well, you know, I, you know, just make it do what it do. But I wanted that for everyone because we are heroes. And I again wanted to represent that in the best way that I knew how, and that was how. Again, the Affinity Soccer came to be. Yes. So tell us about this world you build in Affinity Saga, and what message? Aside from. How can we use our powers responsibly? And just seeing the everyday heroes. What are some of the messages that are included in Affinity Saga and tell us about that world you built. Absolutely. Absolutely. So with the Affinity theory, I really wanted to focus on the main characters, Malcolm and Simone, and their love for each other, and how their love for each other has the power to change the world. And so. While they're going through their whole trying to, you know, figure out their relationship and things like that, you have all these dark forces that are, you know, coming around them trying to take over the city. And so we still gotta go to work, we still gotta, we gotta put in this work and beat these folk down. But at the same time, the relationship that they have with each other is such to where it's changing the dynamic of their lives, whether they realize it or not. And so I really wanted to, you know hone in on, you know, all it takes is one decision. All it takes is one choice that can change the entire trajectory of your entire life. And are you willing to lean into that choice or will you be resistant to it or will there be some ambivalence between the two? And so I really wanted to. Express that, you know, once you find that person or that theme or that idea, it literally has the power to change your entire trajectory. And again, being able to lean into that while at the same time still having to deal with the day-to-day in echoes. I wanted to expand on that on that on the concept of the city in so much that you have your haves and your have nots. The powerful and the not powerful. And one of the things that I really wanted to focus on was that we have a lot of conversations in our, in our global context today that they're having in this world. And so I've made every character in my book Black to take the race element out of the story so that we're still having the same race conversation.'cause it's not about whether it's black or white, it's do you have powers or don't you? And the ones who don't have powers are just as powerful, just as angry, just as frustrated, and just as conniving as we see in our world today when it comes to the haves and the have nots. And so I'll have a lot of people that'll come up and be like, man, you only got black characters in your story, da da, da. I'm like, well, if you really pay attention, we all up in there. You just gotta read it to find out. Because, just because our, all of our skin tones are relatively the same, doesn't mean you don't have the same problems. If people who are afraid that you're gonna do something to them, they're gonna try to write the codes or write the systems or write the laws to make sure you stay in your place.'cause they know, if you ever realize just how powerful you are, you might try to do something. And when in reality we just wanna be left alone, I just, I just wanna go to work. I wanna pay my bills. I just wanna do what I wanna do. I don't wanna bother nobody, but because you are threatened by the fact that I have these powers or have these gifts or skills or abilities or whatever, you're trying to create systems that keep me in place. And so what happens then when you make those, when the people, you make the ones who have the powers upset. Enough to where they're now trying to guide you into doing something so that way they can reclaim control. And so that, so those elements are the major driving forces behind behind echoes. And all the while, all the individual characters have their own storylines. And so you're dealing with, again, relationships, you're dealing with secrecy, you're dealing with deception, you're dealing with, you know, past issues you're dealing with trying to figure out who I am, identity issues and all those things. And all of those are interwoven in such a way to where you're getting a seamless story while at the same time getting to follow your favorite characters along to determine you know, who you know, who you identify with, and whose story you wanna see. Keep going. And I love how, even though. The book is fantasy it's very grounded in real human universal experiences. And even though all the characters are black, there's still universal experiences that we all, and fact that taking that one element out, which most people think, oh, making it universal is making all the characters white, but challenging that it was just the essence of humanity. And so I wanted to touch on that aspect a little bit. About what role do you see just science fiction in general, but specifically black science fiction or fantasy stories playing in the struggle for liberation. I think that for us it gives us an opportunity to help people see us as hu as human beings, you know, because a lot of times our humanity is stripped down to its basis level. I mean, you see what happened with Donald Trump and video in this video, you know, that he put out last week, you know, Bad Bunny and his super old halftime show yesterday. Stripping down of humanity. Stripping down of humanity. On repeat, we see that, you know, bad Bunny's halftime show was a celebration of humanity. Like, we're human. You know, we like to party, we like to have weddings, we like to live, we work, play all the things. And so again, we as as black science fiction authors and any black author really, we want people to remember that we are more than just what the mainstream media might say or what some, you know, angry person in power might say. We are so much more than that. We've always been so much more than that. But we are rarely given an opportunity to, on a large scale, rarely given an opportunity to showcase that in a way that isn't offensive to somebody's agenda. And so again, it gives us the opportunity to break through that mold and say, Hey, no, we are human. You know, we, we, again, we like to party. We like to have fun. We like to have friends. We like to get married and have kids. We want families. We want an education. We want to help. We wanna be there just like anybody else. And, you know, we're not trying to, for, for the most part, we're not out here trying to outshine anybody. There's so much sky out here, man. I ain't gotta outshine you to shine. Like there's too much sky out here for us. And so we really just want an opportunity to be able to showcase and highlight, you know, the best of who we are. And so I feel like that's what, you know, a lot of us have that opportunity in the literary space to be able to do, is to showcase and highlight that. Whether it's, you know, in a in a book about love or a book about heroes or a book about powers or whatever, that we're all human and we all have so many different facets to ourselves that if just given an opportunity, a real opportunity to showcase and highlight that people will realize that we're actually a lot more alike than we are different. I really like what you said about There's so much sky that everybody can shine, but use that. I'm gonna use that with credit. Can have it. You can have it. You can have it. Yeah. And It's the truth. like Like it's, there's just so much out here, man. Right. And sometimes, well, for me it's very comforting to know that we don't have to be the biggest, I don't have to be the sun because we can all shine in our own ways. And I know it can be overwhelming being an independently published author do all of the things to make sure, your important perspective and your voice is out there and shining and illuminating the things for people that they need to see. So what keeps you grounded in this work? How do you take care of yourself this labor of love? First off I'm always telling myself and reminding myself that I'm writing these stories for me. While I'm grateful. Everybody who reads it, and I want you to keep buying them, keep getting the books, please, go get the books, go get them. At the same time, I don't want to get bogged down in a numbers game to where if people don't buy X amount of books, or if I don't sell X amount in a week or month, that the story doesn't get finished. I tell everybody when the affinity song is done, it's gonna be nine books. So I got, I still got six books to go, so I can't stop writing the story because the story's not done. And so I can't afford to get bogged down with worrying about, you know, how the book is going to perform yet. Emphasis on their word yet, so we'll get there one day, but not right now because I gotta get these books done. That's number one. Number two that's what my my support system is here for. I've got a set of alpha readers and beta readers who if, if af after me, the books are being written for. So I got my wife, I got my best friends. And I've made some incredible friends in the literary world who, you know, we bounce work off of each other. And those are the people who, you know, you see their, you'll see their fingerprints all over the books. You know how they help me to figure out this section or figure out this issue, or that sort of thing. And so I always keep them around just to keep me encouraged to, to continue to keep writing, keep doing my work, keep, keep, you know, mastering the craft and all those things. And then, and then just watching my kids man, like I didn't know.'cause my kids are not readers like that. But them, you know, saying to me, you know, daddy, can we read your book? No, no, you can't read. That's one. But then, you know, going and making an edited version for them. And then I have soundtracks that I, that I've curated for the book, so that it's basically my mood music. And so to have them be like, Hey daddy, you ought to put this on the, on the, on the playlist. Daddy, you should listen to this song. You think this go good for this playlist? I'm like, and so to have, again, the support that I have from my daughters, from my wife, and from everyone who's been such a, instrumental part of making this a saga a success is what has helped to keep me going. Because they all want to know how does this story end and the fact that they want to know, I can't wait to share it with 'em. So I'll just keep all writing it until I get this all done. Yes, because people always think writing is such a isolating experience and you have to do it in a dark room, and I'm just like, no. The most beautiful writing comes from community. From being out in the world and taking your experiences, but also the support that comes along the way for you to get the project done. So I love how you talk about your support system and how you write for yourself first, but for readers second, because a lot of the things that we preach to other people are the messages we need to hear for ourselves. So yes. So I know you mentioned you need, you have six more books left to write there's two published. So are, do you have any details about the third book coming out? I do. Oh, I do. Oh, I do. So Affinity theory and Echoes are, are current, are currently out there right now. And not to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read them yet, but echoes ends on a massive cliffhanger. And that cliffhanger is setting the stage for something really big to happen in book three. Book three is the, is entitled Sankofa. And in the book, the Elite Defenders Unit are now having to hunt down one of their own while the one who they're hunting after is trying to, trying to find answers to questions that he didn't even know were out there. In his pursuit of these questions, it may force him to unleash a superpower in the world that has like world ending implications. And so the question will be, how far will you go to get the truth? And I can't wait. Till y'all find out how far it goes. Because, man, when I tell you it is setting the stage for the next three books, I'm just, I, I just, I'm sitting on GI can't wait for y'all to read this book. One of my Alpha readers finished reading it last week and she literally said, and I'm quoting her, it's damn near perfect. So I'm excited. I'm excited. Fall 2026, we'll have a specific date sometime in April after I get. All the edits done from from the Alpha Readers. Once I get all those done, I'll have a specific date in the fall for when book three will come out. But I'm excited for Sankofa. I can't wait for y'all to get your hands on. It's gonna be such a good time. Oh, it's gonna be such a good time. Yes, I'm excited for it too. Anything with like sankofa. A title I am expecting, perfection. Not to put pressure, but Oh no. Listen, the pressure's already been set. Yes. The pressure's already been set. I mean, again, the way that, the way that book two ends I had one of my Alpha readers who, who said to me when she got to chapter one, she was like. Oh yeah, that's right. Book two did end on a cliff hanger. Wait a minute. And so that's how I know we are in the bag every time because it's like, it's, it's gonna be a turn, it's gonna be a page turner. It's flipping everything upside down. There's so many things that are gonna be happening all at once. It's an absolute roller coaster, and that's my intention. My intention is to make you feel through the way the book is written, the way the characters feel. You're gonna be like WTF. Through the book because that's exactly what the characters are feeling all through the book, WT, and I can't wait for y'all to, in my DM saying wt. Yes.'cause I, the best books are like that for me, where I'm just like, and then this happens. Okay. Okay. my last question for you today is, what advice would you offer listeners who wanna make a positive impact in their communities? I would tell anyone, you know, write, just write your stories, man. Somebody needs it. Somebody needs it. I didn't know. That the book that I'm writing would be so inspirational to so many people. When I first wrote the Affinity theory, I, I just want to tell some super story, some superhero stories. I just wanted to beat down Titans. I was mad at 'em. Mad. I was mad as titans. I was so, I didn't realize how inspirational this story was going to be. But then start going through the dms, going through the reviews. Oh my God, black superheroes. Oh my gosh, I see myself in this book. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to give this to my kids. I realize that this story is already bigger than me. And that I have an obligation to my community while simultaneously, again, writing for myself. But I have an obligation to the community to see this through because they see themselves in this. And so I tell anybody, whether you're writing, when you're reading, whatever you're doing in the community, know that somebody's got their eyes on you, they're watching you, and they are inspired by you. That's why I keep saying to anybody who will listen, we are heroes. Nobody's coming to save us for the most part. We are, we have to be our own heroes and we are, whatever, wherever we are, whatever sphere of influence that we're in, we have the power in some capacity to make change, even if the change is us revolting against the machine. And so whatever you are, whatever you're doing, keep doing what you're doing.'cause you are meant to be where you are. I would've never in a million years thought that I would be writing superhero stories, but now that I understand the call i, I got a responsibility to finish this thing and I'm excited to do it. And so wherever you find yourself at, be inspired to keep doing what you're doing. And if you don't feel inspired, maybe that's a call for you to pivot to where you will be, because maybe that's the, the Lord or whatever spirit spiritual de you believe in that's trying to nudge you in the direction you're meant to go. And so sometimes we gotta cut something off in order to finally be set free. So, yeah, man, be inspired, be led to do what you're called to do and to stick with it. It, it may not produce the, the multi-billion dollar, you know mega bucks that we want it to, but I promise you somebody needs whatever it is that you're doing, so keep doing it. Even if you just reach one more person, it's all worth it. Yes. And even if that person is yourself too. Yes. I love it and I'm definitely going to link in the show notes where you can get your hands on the first two books in preparation for the third one coming out in fall. But other than that, where can people find you in your work and DM you all of the WTF moments they experience while reading? Absolutely listen, so all the books are located on the Affinity saga.com, the affinity saga.com. All the books and all the merch are located. There. We run sales all the time. So right now during Black History Month, we have all books, half priced. Just yesterday for the Super Bowl, we had all the eBooks that were priced for $2. And so you definitely wanna stay connected, subscribe, so that way you can have first access to all of the the, the sales that we have. Because we be running stuff all the time. Like, come get these books, man. Come get these books off my shelf, man. It's how it is. Get these books off my shelf. But if you, you know, are, you know more your, your mega retailers, Amazon thrift books. Barnes and Noble Walmart and bookshop.org. You can find all my books there as well. And so and if you didn't, if you're on TikTok, we have the TikTok shop that's open also. And so so there's no reason that you can't get your hands on a copy of my book. You can find me on all the social medias under the same umbrella of Eddie Dee Writes. That's Eddie. D-E-E-W-R-I-T-E-S. And so threads Instagram. YouTube TikTok and Facebook. You can find me on those on those sites under that that banner. And again, I am team you know, DM back. So if you DM me something about this book, best believe I'm being in there, chat and we can talk about where you, at, what chapter, what, what scene, because I wanna talk about it. So feel free to DM me. I'm not afraid or ashamed of the dms. Again, just keep it classic'cause you know, you get in here in these streets, then. Might have a hit a block or two, but but yeah, but again come and find me, man. I'm, I'm accessible. I'm, I'm touchable and ev even if you have questions about your own book journey, we're more than willing and able, I'm not a gatekeeper. I'll give you any advice that I can to help you along your journey. And I will link all of the social media also in the show notes, in the description. So thank you again for being a part of the podcast, y'all make sure to check out these books. And thank you listeners also for being a part of the Liberation and Lit Podcast. If you have stories you wanna share, wanna suggest any topics or just wanna connect, you can find us on Instagram. Facebook and TikTok at Liberation is Lit, or you can visit our website, liberation is lit.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. And remember, your voice matters and together through the lens of stories, we're gonna make a difference in the world. Until next time.