Bill McSciFi's Blog

This will be brief. If you are interested in cosplaying any of my characters, and it seems some of you are, just CLICK HERE for all the rules and regulations. You have a lot of choices and freedom, but there are still some guardrails. While I have several tutorials in that link, if you need more help with your costume, check out Laura Jansen at Lightning Cosplay for a busload of helpful ideas. I’m referring to stuff she has already posted. She’s not a McSciFi consultant or anything like that.

On March 17, Purple Toga Publications will be releasing Rainbows aren’t just for Leprechauns: A speculative anthology, Reimaging colors. My contribution, SUCCESSFUL COLORS HAVE THEIR COSTS, is a whimsical look at how the LGBTQIA+ community could take over the world by creatively mixing colors. But, instead of opening work camps for the tragically cis and the such, they make everyone FABU!

The very next day, that’s March 18, for the calendar challenged, Protected Books will release 2025 SciFi Anthology: The Science Fiction Novelists (The Science Fiction Novelists SciFi Anthology Series Book 5). My humble scribbling, HER LAST, BEST, DAY is unlike any McSciFi you may be familiar with. There’s no sex, no violence, and no copious amounts of booze. It does have a ham sandwich and a robot that slightly resembles Marvin the Martian. Not really salient to the plot, but still there. As to the plot, I can best summarize it thusly, I had the story beta-read by a theology student. He called me a blasphemer and blocked me on all social media. In writer’s parlance, that’s called a win.

Finally, Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Teen is done. The nice people at Azoth Khem Publishing are putting a few final touches on the manuscript, and it should be live by April. Hopefully, there will be a preorder link I can share soon. As to how it all ends, I can give you this clue. The nice military lady who has been giving me advice on battles and life in combat asked for a copy of the final book of Goptri. After reminding her it was unedited, I sent it on. Just now, she sent me this; “That ending. You’re fucking me, right? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO You! Can’t! Do! That! FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!! Next time you’re in DC drinks are on me.”

As I always say, if you’re going to end a hexalogy, end it with a bang.

You are, as always, wonderful. Talk to you soon.

Hi there. I know it’s been a bit, but I have been a busy little McSciFi. First off, I finally finished the last book of the Goptri of the Mists series. I’m currently going through it with a fine tooth comb and making sure it is worthy of my publisher’s time. So far, so good. I truly believe this will send off The Brittle Riders’ universe off in style. To those couple of maniacs who’ve asked, no, there will not be any more stories in this universe. At least, not written by me. I’ve poured over 600,000 words into the hopper, and I am proud of each and every one. But I don’t see me adding anymore.

Lest you think I am chained to a comfy chair in front of a keyboard, forced to slave away day after painful day, vomiting up words for my publishing overlords, I can assure you I have a life. My Church, FCC, recently held a chili cookoff. Two members of our communion ushering crew, myself, on the far right placing third for my 850,000 Scoville “Zesty Chili,” and John Yapp in the center winning with his “Sweet and Sassy” chili are joined by Joe Nordman, on the left, who placed second with his “White Lightning” chili. As you can tell, my church brings the heat. It was a lot of fun and raised money for a good cause. Our church will be helping a small town in Kentucky rebuild after years of neglect. I have no idea if my church would be a good fit for you. All I can say is that I have been made welcome ever since I walked through the door with Kim that first time almost nine years ago.

Next up for you McManiacs, on March 17, Purple Toga Publications will be releasing Rainbows aren’t just for Leprechauns: A speculative anthology, Reimaging colors. My contribution, SUCCESSFUIL COLORS HAVE THEIR COSTS, is a whimsical look at how the LGBTQIA+ community could take over the world by creatively mixing colors. But, instead of opening work camps for the tragically cis and the such, they make everyone FABU!

The very next day, that’s March 18, for the calendar challenged, Protected Books will release 2025 SciFi Anthology: The Science Fiction Novelists (The Science Fiction Novelists SciFi Anthology Series Book 5). My humble scribbling, HER LAST, BEST, DAY is unlike any McSciFi you may be familiar with. There’s no sex, no violence, and no copious amounts of booze. It does have a ham sandwich and a robot that slightly resembles Marvin the Martian. Not really salient to the plot, but still there. As to the plot, I can best summarize it thusly, I had the story beta-read by a theology student. He called me a blasphemer and blocked me on all social media. In writer’s parlance, that’s called a win.

I have a few more shorts sitting on the desks of unsuspecting publishers, so I’ll let you know what happens, if anything.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I am joined in both anthologies by Margret Trebeir, who recently joined the merry band of miscreants at Azoth Khem Publishing and has just released a masterpiece called Japanese Robots Love to Dance.

Thanks for hanging out with me. I have some new stuff burbling up in the tar pit of joy, but it’s not ready to be expunged just yet. Until next time, stay safe, sane, and healthy.

With The Brittle Riders being developed into a cinematic property by Perspective Film House, we, Azoth Khem Publishing and the McSciFi crew, thought now would be a fun time for people to hop on board the hype train. Everything at this point is volunteer only. That may change in the future, but after three years of shopping and all its related costs, we’re farting dust.

If you’re not completely immersed in this universe Freddy Noriega of Fredits.net created a tone reel that gives a great overview. A tone reel is a collection of existing footage from other films reassembled to give investors and others and clearer idea of what’s coming.

While many of the characters in The Brittle Riders and Goptri of the Mists are scantily clad in the beginning of the books, and there are good reasons for that, it does not mean you need to be nude to cosplay them. They sell bras and bikini tops and other nipple-concealing devices at Walmart and Target, as well as at many local clothing stores.

In simple terms, if your friends and family would be shocked at seeing your perky nips, cover-up. I am not a family counselor and don’t want to be.

That being said, if you identify as female and feel that the only way the world can be saved from itself is by letting everyone see your pretty nips, flash away. Just plan on proving that you’re 18 years or older.

Speaking of age, you don’t need to be some young hardbody for these cosplays. In the book the characters live around 200 years and all of the title characters are over 40. They look younger due to genetic meddling. But many of the characters in the book are ancient. As long you’re as willing as your flesh is, feel free to join the party.

To you few brave souls who asked for more specific info on how to cosplay these characters, I am here to help. To learn how to create bat wings so you can be a super cool succubus, just CLICK HERE for a great tutorial. If you want to go all in, match the wings to your skin color and get some sheer plastic slippers so you can attach a talon to each heel. If your heart’s desire is to be a mutant centaur, like the Llamia in the book, just CICK HERE for a fun tutorial on how to make that happen. You will need to be a little crafty to pull it together. Also, remember to add armadillo armor to the flanks to complete the ensemble. If you wish to be a wolfen or a badgebeth, use THIS COSTUME as your base, and you should be fine. Should you truly wish to throw caution into the flames, then dressing like a Pearl (a/k/a squid woman) from Goptri of the Mists is for you. Just CLICK HERE to get a cute Disney costume you can alter until you are the stuff of legends.

Sadly, I have not found a good minotaur base for anyone to use. Keep in mind, in the book, they have hooves and not feet.

Here are the basic rules for anyone wishing to participate.

(1) Yes, you can be under 18 and send me pics of you cosplaying. Just cover up your pretty bits so Mr. McSciFi doesn’t go to jail.

(2) If you’re over 18, you don’t have to wear nipple covers if you don’t want to. We have custom digital ones we can use as needed (HI! FACEBOOK!). However, I may ask for proof of age, so be prepared.

(3) If you’re already a hairy dude, the wolfen and badgebeth are both excellent and easy choices for you. I have others that I don’t have drawings of but you can ask if you’re interested. If you’re a dudine who wishes to cosplay as a wolfen or badgebeth, that costume will work for you too. Just remember to add some facial hair.

(4) Except for the Pearls from Goptri of the Mists, who are clones of an Indian female serial killer coupled with the body of a Cephalopod (a bindi is a must), it is impossible to “race swap” any character. All my chimeras are built on a wide variety of human DNA. As long as you’re human, you’re halfway there.

(5) You can send all the pics you want. I will not use any without your express written permission. Just submitting them doesn’t grant me any rights. Years of experience have taught me that what seemed like a good idea at the time might not work so well in retrospect.

All images approved by you will be used to promote these two titles only. All promotions related to these books will be placed on multiple social media sites and in emails sent by me or Azoth Khem Publishing. You will be credited however you wish. Any additional usages will be subject to your approval and/or negotiations if money is involved.

If you scroll down, you’ll see the lovely, and talented, Phystee Nicole Brown cosplaying as a Haliaeetus (mutant eagle) or feathery succubus. She was the body model for Oshun in Legends Parallel comic book series and has been a McSciFi supporter for a long time. If you need a model in the Memphis area, she and her crew are top notch.

Just send whatever you’ve got to info@mcscifibooks.com so they don’t get lost in my personal email.

Originally released in 2013 on World News Center.

Today is the day we celebrate love. Love is one of those things that comes with some expectations. Honesty, openness, sharing and so on. Well, that’s what it says in the press release. And, for the most part, it’s all true. Valentine’s day is widely attributed to a celebration of the selfless death of St. Valentine. The problem arises when you try to figure out which one. Here’s what the Catholic church, the people who authorize saints, has to say; “At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury’s time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine. The name seems to have been taken from a small church dedicated to the saint which was in the immediate neighborhood. Of both these St. Valentines some sort of Acta are preserved but they are of relatively late date and of no historical value. Of the third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing further is known.”

But whether it was the fate of the 3rd century inmate who allegedly cured the jailer’s daughter’s blindness just before he was executed or one of the other guys, we do know that by the late 1400’s Chaucer was writing about the holiday in his Parliament of Foules.

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

What’s missing from the story thus far?

Some might say that I am missing the connection to the Lupercalia. They would be right. I have not discussed how Valentine’s day got connected to a pagan holiday. Nor did I mention how early Lupercalia lotteries were truly a prize worth winning. If you were an unmarried man and you won, you won a virgin. That beats the living hell out of a TV.

Yeah, the church had problems with that and the whole thing got watered down.

Okay, what else is missing?

If you said “Vikings” you’re one of the people who have been blowing up my email this week.

Let’s trace this back to its source. Tru-TV, like the History channel it’s not all that accurately named, put up a blog called “Valentine’s Day Conspiracy Theories.” Most of it is harmless fluff but then they tossed up this nugget.

The Vikings

Valentine’s Day might have absolutely nothing to do with any of the three saints or the Romans at all. Instead, it could have started with the Norse — yes, the Vikings. After centuries of burning and pillaging and helmets with horns, many Vikings settled in northern France and became Normans. There they venerated a saint called Galantin which they pronounced “Vah-lantin” and which translates to “lover of women.”

How wrong is this? Let me count the ways.

First, St. Galantin is not a saint. That’s easy to prove. Catholics love their saints and they have a web site dedicated to all some kazillion of them. They even have St.s Sergius and Bacchus, the two gay saints, so it isn’t like they’re trying to hide anything. They downplay it, but they don’t hide it.”

Second, the word “galantine,” widely cited on the internet as being a French word for “a gallant lover” actually refers to a French dish of stuffed meats. It’s a very good meal if you get the chance to try it. The word has no meaning in French other than that.

Quick side note, there was not a Normanic person on the planet in those days who would have pronounced the letter “G” as a “V.”

Third of all, the Vikings didn’t lay siege, and later move, to France until 896. Well after the death of all three saints noted above and long after the Church’s early attempts to blend the holiday with the Lupercalia.

Lastly, the Vikings didn’t have any saints in the first place. They had gods by the basket full but no saints. If you click on the list of saints above you will note that the only saints even remotely associated with the Normans or the Vikings are the ones attributed to people who were killed, excuse me – I mean martyred, trying to convert them.

Simply put, the story is horse manure.

So, there you have it. Valentine’s Day has its share of odd traditions, especially in Japan, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Vikings. Never has, never should.

I can’t say “Never will” since I refuse to underestimate the stupidity of some people.

Whelp, I’m 0 for 3 so far, but I got some great stories to tell.

Contestant #1 sent me five pics. They were professionally shot and gorgeous to look at. She was cosplaying as a succubus. To maximize the realism, she was topless. She also looked quite a lot like a lady from my church. So that took a minute to get past. That said, she asked me to wait until her “Boo” came back from the Middle East. Two weeks later, he returned, and we talked. He was a genuinely nice guy. We agreed his wife was beautiful. We agreed the photographer had done an excellent job. However, as a recently promoted officer in our nation’s military, he didn’t want hundreds of enlisted service members fapping to pictures of his wife. She had not thought about that, and we agreed that I would delete the pics. Although I noted I hoped she’d keep them to show her grandkids how cool she was back in the day.

Contestant #2 sent me three pics of her as a Llamia. If you haven’t read The Brittle Riders, that’s a mutant centaur with armadillo armor on its flanks. I selected one I wanted to use and sent it to her to get permission. Her husband saw that email and reached out to me. Also a nice guy, clearly concerned about the scandal his wife’s nipples would cause in the Hamptons. They decided their niece would print out one pic and add the Brittle Riders’ logo so he could frame it and hang it in their bedroom.

Contestant #3 sent me several cell phone pics of her cosplaying a succubus. They were crude but fun. I picked two and sent them to her to get formal permission. Her wife saw them and accused me of being the cause of everything from childhood obesity to pre-Super Bowl Kendrick Lamar. She claimed I’d used my “electric penis” to seduce her wife. Short story shorter, I deleted the pics.

While the characters are scantily clad in the beginning of the books, and there are good reasons for that, it does not mean you need to be nude to cosplay them. They sell bras and bikini tops and other nipple-concealing items at Walmart and Target as well as at many local clothing stores. It would be nice if the ladies mentioned above would reshoot their attempts, but I don’t have my hopes up.

In simple terms, if your friends and family would be shocked, cover-up. I am not a marriage counselor and don’t want to be.

To you few brave souls who asked for more info on how to cosplay characters from The Brittle Riders and/or Goptri of the Mists, I am here to help. To learn how to create bat wings so you can be a super cool succubus, just CLICK HERE for a great tutorial. If you want to go all in, get some sheer plastic slippers and attach a talon to each heel. If your heart’s desire is to be a mutant centaur, like the Llamia in the book, just CICK HERE for a fun tutorial on how to make that happen. You will need to be a little crafty to pull it together. Also, remember to add armadillo armor to the flanks to complete the ensemble. If you wish to be a wolfen or a badgebeth, use THIS COSTUME as your base, and you should be fine. Should you truly wish to throw caution into the flames, then dressing like a Pearl (a/k/a squid woman) from Goptri of the Mists is for you. Just CLICK HERE to get a cute Disney costume you can alter until you are the stuff of legends.

Here are the basic rules for anyone wishing to participate.

(1) Yes, you can be under 18 and send me pics of you cosplaying. Just cover up your pretty bits so Mr. Bill doesn’t go to jail.

(2) If you’re over 18, you don’t have to wear pasties if you don’t want to. We have custom digital ones we can use as needed. However, I may ask for proof of age, so be prepared.

(3) If you’re already hairy, R’yune and Sland are both excellent and easy choices for you. I have others that I don’t have drawings of so ask if you’re interested.

(4) Except for the Pearls from Goptri of the Mists, who are clones of an Indian female serial killer coupled with the body of a Cephalopod, it is impossible to “race swap” any character. All my chimeras are built on a wide variety of human DNA. As long as you’re human, you’re halfway there.

(5) You can send all the pics you want. I will not use any without your permission. Just submitting them doesn’t grant me any rights. Years of experience have taught me that what seemed like a good idea at the time might not work so well in retrospect.

If you scroll down, you’ll see the lovely, and talented, Phystee Nicole Brown cosplaying as a succubus. She was the body model for Oshun in Legends Parallel comic book series and has been a McSciFi supporter for a long time. If you need a model in the Memphis area, she and her crew are top notch.

Just send whatever you’ve got to info@mcscifibooks.com so they don’t get lost in my personal email.

I think that’s enough excitement for one day. I thank you all for following along and look forward to chatting again.

One of the parting gifts I got from our recent jaunt to Mexico was COVID. While I’ve had it before, not a fan, this time, it seems to have embedded itself into every organ and is going to be here a while. Of the many fun things I have encountered in my life, this is not one of them.

One thing that was fun, and entertaining and informative, was my interview on the Perfect Soulmates podcast. For lots of good reasons, I was the last fiction author they were going to interview. As such, they decided to send fiction writers off with a bang. It was, by far, one of the best interviews I’ve ever done. It’s short, around ten minutes, covers a lot of new ground, and let me off my leash so I could get a little political as well as talk about the joys and dangers of sex without consequences. I promise, it’s ten minutes you won’t regret. For a podcast named Perfect Soulmates, you get some of what you might expect, but you also get me. Give it a listen and a like. You’ll feel better when you do.

To those of you who keep badgering me for updates on the movie, please stop. We’re making a multi-million-dollar science fiction flick, not a local cat food commercial. Anything I could legally say, I said in my January 7th blog. Now, all the work is happening behind the scenes. When we can announce cast, crew, and so on, we will. But, for now, there are a fuckton, using the traditional Greek unit of measurement, of details that must be addressed first. For example, Azoth Khem is lurching through flaming hoops to devise ways to increase our audience, a/k/a readers. While being a cult phenom is cool, I mean, I married my biggest groupie, having more people aboard this dystopian train will only benefit all of us down the road.

To you few brave souls who asked for more info on how to cosplay characters from The Brittle Riders and/or Goptri of the Mists, I am here to help. To learn how to create bat wings so you can be a super cool succubus, just CLICK HERE for a great tutorial. If you want to go all in, get some sheer plastic slippers and attach a talon to each heel. If your heart’s desire is to be a mutant centaur, like the Llamia in the book, just CICK HERE for a fun tutorial on how to make that happen. You will need to be a little crafty to pull it together. Also, remember to add armadillo armor to the flanks to complete the ensemble. If you wish to be a wolfen or a badgebeth, use THIS COSTUME as your base, and you should be fine. Should you truly wish to throw caution into the flames, then dressing like a Pearl (a/k/a squid woman) from Goptri of the Mists is for you. Just CLICK HERE to get a cute Disney costume you can alter until you are the stuff of legends.

Here are the basic rules for anyone wishing to participate.

(1) Yes, you can be under 18 and send me pics of you cosplaying. Just cover up your pretty bits so Mr. Bill doesn’t go to jail.

(2) If you’re over 18, you don’t have to wear pasties if you don’t want to. We have custom digital ones we can use as needed. However, I may ask for proof of age, so be prepared.

(3) If you’re already hairy, R’yune and Sland are both excellent and easy choices for you. I have others that I don’t have drawings of so ask if you’re interested.

(4) Except for the Pearls from Goptri of the Mists, who are clones of an Indian female serial killer coupled with the body of a Cephalopod, it is impossible to “race swap” any character. All my chimeras are built on a wide variety of human DNA. As long as you’re human, you’re halfway there.

(5) You can send all the pics you want. I will not use any without your permission. Just submitting them doesn’t grant me any rights. Years of experience have taught me that what seemed like a good idea at the time might not work so well in retrospect.

Yeah, you whimsical medical professional, I’m looking at you.Just send whatever you’ve got to info@mcscifibooks.com so they don’t get lost in my personal email.

I think that’s enough excitement for one day. I thank you all for following along and look forward to chatting again. 

Actually, we got back Saturday afternoon. While my sinuses hate many forms of air conditioning, any discomfort was worth it to see my lady love so freaking happy, We stayed at the Wyndham Altra in Playa del Carmen. My wife and I agreed they have the best staff we’ve ever encountered. They were kind, nonjudgmental, and beyond helpful. When my arthritis rendered me unable to use the ladder to get out of the pool, the staff worked on solutions without once cracking a smile or a joke. Simply put, we had a wonderful time and hope to do it again.

Big ups to Meg Langley Sakka of MEGnificent Travel for putting it all together and saving us a ton of money. Since I recently totaled our car when a pickup truck dropped its load in front of me on the highway, those savings went to a good cause. Specifically, a 2025 Hyundai Elantra that we purchased at Happy Hyundai. They worked with us and never tried to upsell us. So, while we don’t need the expense right now, we can’t complain about our electric blue love machine.

Okay, enough chit-chat, let’s get back to the Wonderful World of McSciFi!

While I have had a TikTok channel for a few years, I didn’t really do much with it. A couple weeks ago, before the performative ban that lasted about an hour, I started cleaning things up and loading new stuff. TikTok has a sixty-second limit on music usage. That means all those wonderful, high definition files on my Vimeo page won’t work on TikTok. You should still go watch them with good sound. You just can’t do that on TikTok.

This meant we had to get creative. Now there are a bunch of new, sixty-second or so videos promoting books, authors, Azoth Khem, and celebrating all the little people who ride unicycles.

One of those things may not be true.

One thing that is true is that you and your daring friends can Cosplay McSciFi. If you want to take things to the next level, hit me up and I’ll send you links for DIY kits that allow you to match your bat wing colors to your flesh tone. That makes you a more realistic succubus. I also have links on how to make a working centaur costume. You need to be a little crafty, but it’s doable and cost-effective. Werewolf costumes can be altered to make wonderful Wolfen or Badgebeths and I even found a tentacle costume for the ladies. Granted, it’s for a Disney character, but a glance at the image below should give you ideas on how to make it work for this.

As always, tasteful bralets or pasties are welcome for the more modest feminine types among you. No matter what, if you’re under eighteen years of age, those accouterments are mandatory. Uncle McSciFi doesn’t want to go back to jail.

Also, while all the work to make The Brittle Riders a movie continues apace behind the scenes, we have set up new info pages for The Brittle Riders and Goptri of the Mists. They contain videos, graphics, reviews, pics of people clutching their favorite books, and links to purchase every single thing related to these titles.

For those of you who would rather just dip a toe into the ocean of McSciFi, keep in mind that Stuff About Things is out and looking for love. As noted online, “The squishy brain of Bill “McSciFi” McCormick has been responsible for many words. Some of them coherent. What you are looking at is a compendium of short stories, fun looks at history, and the greatest rejection letter ever penned. It was so great it started his career.”

Lastly, because you know the universe needs a chuckle now and then, I will be interviewed by Perfect Soulmates on Wednesday about romance and politics in The Brittle Riders. Yes, romance. There are several underlying love stories, and my wife thinks they’re sweet and fun. Obviously, any book that starts with the death of every man, woman, and child on the planet can also be sweet and fun.

Stay safe, sane, and I’ll see you soon.

Originally published on World News Center on January 17, 2011.

Today is the day set aside to celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A day when people can reflect on the fact that, no, we’re not there yet. Even so, I’ve always been more of a Malcolm X kind of guy. When I first stumbled across his autobiography when I was 17, I was stunned. While everyone was aware of the good works of Dr. King, the majority of white America either ignored, or was ignorant of, Malcolm X. I fell into the latter category. His life story of a man who went from street hustling loser to scion of racial divisionism to finally finding out that Allah (God) truly is love and holds no man above another resonated with me deeply. It was the modern version of the story of Saul who became Paul. And while my personal faith may have taken many strange turns through the years, my admiration for him remained constant.

Nevertheless, today is about Dr. King.

Much of the media focus today will be on three short snippets from his life; the bus boycott, the “I have a dream” speech and his assassination, but there was much more to him than that.

If Malcolm X was the modern allegory of the Apostle Paul, then Dr. King was the modern messiah illuminating the road to Damascus. His biography shows that he too suffered at the hands of the world. His family home was bombed, he was arrested numerous times and his followers were endlessly harassed. Yet he held himself above the fray once famously saying to an angry mob, “We must learn to meet hate with love.”

I’m not sure I have that level of self control, but it’s nice to know that it can be attained.

Another thing many people forget about Dr. King is that he was a practical man who espoused real world virtues, not just visionary hopes, to his followers. One speech of his, often relegated to history’s dust bin, is called The Drum Major Instinct. I’m only going to post an excerpt here, but I hope you will take the time to read it all. It clearly shows a man who had a grasp of the world around him as well as the world he wished to be.

Now the presence of the drum major instinct is why so many people are “joiners.” You know, there are some people who just join everything. And it’s really a quest for attention and recognition and importance. And they get names that give them that impression. So you get your groups, and they become the “Grand Patron,” and the little fellow who is henpecked at home needs a chance to be the “Most Worthy of the Most Worthy” of something. It is the drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut of human life. And so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join things, overjoin really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. (Make it plain) In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you’re just buying that stuff. (Yes) That’s the way the advertisers do it.

I got a letter the other day, and it was a new magazine coming out. And it opened up, “Dear Dr. King: As you know, you are on many mailing lists. And you are categorized as highly intelligent, progressive, a lover of the arts and the sciences, and I know you will want to read what I have to say.” Of course I did. After you said all of that and explained me so exactly, of course I wanted to read it. [laughter]

But very seriously, it goes through life; the drum major instinct is real. (Yes) And you know what else it causes to happen? It often causes us to live above our means. (Make it plain) It’s nothing but the drum major instinct. Do you ever see people buy cars that they can’t even begin to buy in terms of their income? (Amen) [laughter] You’ve seen people riding around in Cadillacs and Chryslers who don’t earn enough to have a good T-Model Ford. (Make it plain) But it feeds a repressed ego.

You know, economists tell us that your automobile should not cost more than half of your annual income. So if you make an income of five thousand dollars, your car shouldn’t cost more than about twenty-five hundred. That’s just good economics. And if it’s a family of two, and both members of the family make ten thousand dollars, they would have to make out with one car. That would be good economics, although it’s often inconvenient. But so often, haven’t you seen people making five thousand dollars a year and driving a car that costs six thousand? And they wonder why their ends never meet. [laughter] That’s a fact.

Now the economists also say that your house shouldn’t cost—if you’re buying a house, it shouldn’t cost more than twice your income. That’s based on the economy and how you would make ends meet. So, if you have an income of five thousand dollars, it’s kind of difficult in this society. But say it’s a family with an income of ten thousand dollars, the house shouldn’t cost much more than twenty thousand. Well, I’ve seen folk making ten thousand dollars, living in a forty- and fifty-thousand-dollar house. And you know they just barely make it. They get a check every month somewhere, and they owe all of that out before it comes in. Never have anything to put away for rainy days.

But now the problem is, it is the drum major instinct. And you know, you see people over and over again with the drum major instinct taking them over. And they just live their lives trying to outdo the Joneses. (Amen) They got to get this coat because this particular coat is a little better and a little better-looking than Mary’s coat. And I got to drive this car because it’s something about this car that makes my car a little better than my neighbor’s car. (Amen) I know a man who used to live in a thirty-five-thousand-dollar house. And other people started building thirty-five-thousand-dollar houses, so he built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house. And then somebody else built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house, and he built a hundred-thousand-dollar house. And I don’t know where he’s going to end up if he’s going to live his life trying to keep up with the Joneses.

There comes a time that the drum major instinct can become destructive. (Make it plain) And that’s where I want to move now. I want to move to the point of saying that if this instinct is not harnessed, it becomes a very dangerous, pernicious instinct. For instance, if it isn’t harnessed, it causes one’s personality to become distorted. I guess that’s the most damaging aspect of it: what it does to the personality. If it isn’t harnessed, you will end up day in and day out trying to deal with your ego problem by boasting. Have you ever heard people that—you know, and I’m sure you’ve met them—that really become sickening because they just sit up all the time talking about themselves. (Amen) And they just boast and boast and boast, and that’s the person who has not harnessed the drum major instinct.

There’s nothing I can add to that so I’ll leave you to your thoughts.

Let today be a day where you look back lest ye forget, and look forward so you may see hope.