I want to apologize to my past readers. I had no idea you existed. That’s completely on me. Because I didn’t think the past version of me would even be remembered.
I also wanted to get a handle on this in case it blows up in my face and takes off. Because I’ve already been approached by a few confused people. Again, this is my fault, no one else’s.
You see, sometime between 2009/2013 and 2019 I debuted/presented myself as Jeanne Marcella. And for boring reasons I won’t detail, I am Bennu Bright now. Under the J.M. moniker, I wrote three fantasy novels that languished due to complex, out-of-the-box ideas and heavy world-building. They were Through Rain and Missing Mantaurs, a planned trilogy about Pony, a bipedal half-centaur mail courier. The Phoenix Embryo, about Acanthus, a young phoenix god whose heritage was kept from him, and The Demon Lord of California, featuring Cal and Gus.
Back then, with my inexperience in marketing, and my even worse inability to make connections and true friends in the community, I closed up shop, unpublished my novels, and worked to reorganize my genre, and self-reflected. I re-emerged back in December of 2021 as Bennu Bright.
Today, now, because of the confusion I’m causing, I’ve reactivated my J.M. url/website address, and set it up to point to the updated website. I still need to update this on my About Me pages. As of now there are no plans or even wish to revive the discarded J.M. pen name, but that doesn’t mean it won’t ever come back. Because you never know. And unfortunately that was the name that landed on Writers on the Moon. But oh well.
The Demon Lord of California has been revised and republished under my new name. The other novels will follow and be re-published under Bennu Bright when they are streamlined. But the internet never forgets. There will always be listings for the above mentioned books under the J.M. name. That’s just a fact of our world and I’m fine with it. And my past association with the J.M. name was never meant to be something that was hush-hush. Again, I just assumed that no one would remember, or care.
But with the rise of scammers and plagiarizers, the behavior of certain authors making the news, and publishing getting even more increasingly difficult, readers and authors are fighting back against those who are deliberately harming our community. And like I said, the internet doesn’t forget.
Please remember to be kind to folks who make innocent mistakes. Because that can be you too, someday down the road. Always research if something doesn’t seem right to you. If you can’t find the answer, seek out others and ask questions before jumping to conclusions. Asking questions is so important. Because sometimes, assumptions can harm the very person you think you’re protecting. 💕 Let’s stay strong as a community, together. The world needs more kindness.
And again, this is my fault for not being candid with this major switch of identities from the start. Especially with the huge time gap. I’m sorry. 💕
Bennu Bright 