Sonia Sanchez @ Medger Evers College

Medgar Evers College, CUNY Presents Sonia Sanchez

Poet, Activist, Scholar
Thursday, Dec. 02, 2010
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Reading & Booking Signing


Founders Auditorium
Medgar Evers College, CUNY
1650 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225
www.mec.cuny.edu

This event is FREE and open to the public.

About Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez—poet, activist, scholar—was the Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Temple University. She is the recipient of both the Robert Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime service to American poetry and the Langston Hughes Poetry Award. One of the most important writers of the Black Arts Movement, Sanchez is the author of sixteen books. From: http://soniasanchez.net/

About “I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't and Other Plays”

Like her poetry, Sanchez’s plays voice her critique of the racism and sexism that she encountered as a young female writer in the black militant community in the late 1960s and early 1970s, her ongoing concern with the well-being of the black community, and her commitment to social justice. This collection includes the never-before-published dramas I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t (1982) and 2 X 2 (2009), as well as three essays in which Sanchez reflects on her art and activism. Jacqueline Wood’s introduction illuminates Sanchez’s stagecraft in relation to her poetry and advocacy for social change, and the feminist dramatic voice in black revolutionary art.


Contact the Center for Black Literature
www.centerforblackliterature.org
718.804.8883

Sabor A Mi

Niambi Davis one of InnerVision Books talented authors has written a sexy, intelligent, romantic novel that is the perfect fit for the holidays and the best thing is, you don't have to run out to a bookstore or order it and wait for it to come in the mail. This e-book is ready for immediately satisfaction at Innervisionbooks.com

Sabor A Mi (A Taste of Me)
by Niambi Davis

Love is the last thing on ballroom instructor Melody Walker’s mind, and for good reason. The storybook marriage of her loving parents has been torn apart by her father’s one-time act of infidelity. Her brother, a talking head for the conservative/Tea Party movement, nearly ran his own marriage off the rails with a woman known unaffectionately as “Nazi Barbie.” And when her boyfriend’s indiscretion shows up to deliver the bad news in person, Melody has had enough.

When an unexpected chance to perform drops into her lap, mambo is the only thing on Melody’s mind. It’s just as well, since she and the sexy Latin pro she’s paired with hate each other on sight. When resistance turns to romance, Melody has a choice to make – should she follow her heart or her head? Can she deal with the consequences of her decision? She’s not the only one grappling with matters of the heart, and when danger shows up out of the blue, will the threat make their decisions clear or even more complicated?

To learn more about Niambi and her other works, please visit her at NIAMBI DAVIS

My Interview about What Mother Never Told Me

Not too long ago, I sat down with Eisa Ulen, author and literary advocate to discuss my novel What Mother Never Told Me.

Bestselling author Donna Hill has published a delicious new page-turner, What Mother Never Told Me, a novel that honors the literary tradition of Black women writers who sought to challenge the “Tragic Mulatto” stereotype in their work. Like Harriet Jacobs, Pauline Hopkins and Nella Larsen before her, Hill examines the generational impact of sex across race and class lines in America. Set in Harlem, New York; Amboise, France; and Rudell, Mississippi, this contemporary novel explores family secrets rooted in the past. Upon the death of the grandmother who raised her, main character Parris McKay discovers “her dead mother was alive.”

This stunning revelation launches the young woman’s search for the mother who abandoned her, her truth, and, ultimately, her own identity. With an exciting new love interest and two solid best girlfriends by her side, Parris is anchored well enough to sail a bit into the unknown and perilous waters of time before she was even born: Why did her mother abandon her? Why did her mother want her to think she was dead? Who is her father? These questions compel Parris to travel halfway around the world – but the only people who know the answers may not be willing to tell her the things Mother never did.

While she tries to piece her mysterious past back together to make herself whole, Parris enters a new relationship with Nick, the jazz musician she met while singing onstage at a downtown New York club. Nick has big plans to open a new place Uptown, in Harlem, but will he have time for Parris’ journey to discover her past and the fulfillment of his own professional aspirations?
Hill has crafted a novel very much in the tradition of 19th century Black woman writer Pauline Hopkins, who wrote novels in serialized form for Colored American Magazine in the early 1900s. Hopkins was writing against the backdrop of mob violence and the emerging Anti-Lynching Campaign, which Ida B Wells Barnett would spearhead. According to Yale Professor of African American Studies Hazel V. Carby, Hopkins believed fiction to be “of great value to any people as a preserver of manners and customs – religious, political, and social” and a “record of growth and development from generation to generation.” Similarly, with her elegant, educated, eclectic African American characters, Hill has created a world very familiar to her legions of fans, many of whom look to her to render today’s authentic, middle-class Black life.

Hill, who explores themes from gentrification to mother-daughter relationships, has recorded a turn-of-the-21st century generation, the inheritors of the experiences of women and men in our shared past. With What Mother Never Told Me, Hill also celebrates the growth we’ve experienced so far, and the emotional and psychic development surely yet to come.

Q.With its page-turning storyline featuring a mixed-race heroine yearning to know her true parental / racial origins, your novel is written in the tradition of Black woman writer Pauline Hopkins’ serialized magazine novels (published from 1901 to 1903). What Mother Never Told Me also expresses 19th century writer Pauline Hopkins’ desire to “raise the stigma of degradation from my race.” Did you intend to write a contemporary narrative in the tradition of work like Hopkins’?

A. When I began thinking about WHAT MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME and deciding on which direction to take my characters and how I was going to shape the story, my motives and inspiration came from several sources: wanting it, in a subtle way, to address the issues of race—or more accurately—the color complex of blacks. And yes, the stigma that has been attached to color, our inner hatred of ourselves that on some levels has been fed and nurtured on the institutional racism that is part and parcel of this country. And although race and the color complex are central to the story, I always wanted to strongly address the dynamics of the mother/daughter relationships in a poor black family, a middle income black family and a white family and explore the similarities and the differences which help us as women shape views of ourselves and the world.

Q. You retained so many themes and symbols of this 19th century literary tradition, with big money, the myth of pure American whiteness, and an indictment of the men who have historically run this country. These themes are consistent in your work and in, for example, Harriet Jacobs’ slave narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Like Jacobs, you examine the effect of the rape of Black women in white men’s homes – and even tie that rape to American capitalism and American politics. Was that a conscious decision on your part? Did you at any point in the writing process consider making the interracial sex in your novel consensual?

A.The rape was central to the story. The rape recast the entire life of Cora Harvey. Her dreams were destroyed, her innocence ruined, her hopes were crushed. The rape not only ruined her physically, but mentally and emotionally—forever. As with all rape victims, there is a high level of shame. For the kind of character that I constructed in Cora, and the time period (the late 1920’s) her demoralization was even greater. That one act was the catalyst that redefined three generations, initiated a lie that destroyed lives, marriages and relationships. However, what I also sought to do was to put the rape in some sort of context and not to specifically dehumanize the white man who raped Cora, not to excuse him either but rather set up the historical events that precipitated this vile act: The Stock Market Crash and The Great Depression, to show the connection between money and power and how the rape was his outrage at having lost both. This rape was about a reclaiming of power and without the historical backdrop I don’t think the impact would have been as strong. Much later in the novel the reader will come upon the diametric opposite: consensual sex between black and white for very different reasons, but again class comes into play.

Q The Tragic Mulatto stereotype, that of a confused young woman often motivated by money and a yearning to pass, is a character that generally collapses, passes out, or literally dies when the story ends. You reference just such a narrative in What Mother Never Told Me when Parris and Nick watch the film Imitation of Life on television. In your novel, however, Parris experiences a significantly different conclusion. Was your intention to usurp, or flip, the Tragic Mulatto stereotype? Did you attempt to vindicate the countless mixed-race American women who never received their fair share of the pie, so to speak? Did you attempt to do in your fiction what rarely happened in real life and achieve a kind of literary justice for Black women?

A. I wish that I could say that I sat down with all of these altruistic intentions. Looking back at the story, I would think that Emma, Parris’s mother, would fall into The Tragic Mulatto stereotype to a point and would have remained there, had I let her. What I worked hard at with Emma (who is actually my favorite character) was to try to help the reader to understand the complexity of this woman, feel her desperation and her unrelenting need to be cared about and loved by someone and in understanding that, the reader could then grapple with the difficult decisions that she made about her life—specifically as it related to her daughter, Parris. Emma could have easily become and remained tragic, walked off alone into the sunset, having lost everything. That would have been the easy way out. She needed to come to terms with the choices that she’d made. She needed to look at herself and how her decisions affected her daughter Parris and make amends. As for Parris, although she too is of mixed race, she never suffered with issues of her duality because from early in her life she had the unwavering love of her grandparents who nurtured her and believed in her. It wasn’t until she found out that her mother, whom she thought was dead all of her life, was very much alive that she began to question her own value and sense of self—and not as a mixed race woman but as a human being.

Q. This book was published 2 years after the election of the first biracial president. What impact, if any, did Obama’s campaign and personal narrative have on your work?
In the aftermath of his run and election, the issues of race and identity are still hot topics. The racism that exists within this country remains rampant, which certainly opens the door of discussion to the issues raised in WHAT MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME.

A. Much like the President, Emma and Parris both struggled to find their identity: Emma who could pass for white and Parris who struggled to uncover the real reason why her mother wanted her to believe that she was dead all of her life. The President never grew up with his father and neither did Emma. And Parris was raised by her grandparents. However, despite adversities, they were all able to rise above them and make a life for themselves. I didn’t consciously take into account the President’s life, but his certainly can serve as validation for the points that are raised in my novel.

Q. Parris and Nick are jazz artists, but they could just as easily have been Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, or Soul artists. Why is jazz such an important theme in your work?

A. This question made me smile. In all of the novels that I have written throughout the years, there are similar elements that crop up. One, my characters invariably live in a brownstone or have friends that do and they all love jazz. It wasn’t until well into my twenty year career that I realized that I was doing this or why. The question came up in my MFA class workshop last year. My advisor asked us to write about something that we treasure. And my short piece was about brownstones. It was in that writing that I realized how much I loved them because so much of my life, who I am, my friends and some of my fondest memories are tied to the brownstone that I grew up in, in Brooklyn. And as I arrived at that happy conclusion I also realized that many of my characters have a talent for music or a love of it and it was generally jazz. My father loved jazz and in the background of my life, jazz was always playing on his stereo: Dizzy, Coltrane, Miles, Ella, Billie, Betty, Nancy all the greats. And although I grew up with R&B, jazz was being imbued into my veins. I’m sure that my sharing of this great American musical tradition is in tribute to my dad.

Q. In what way(s) is What Mother Never Told Me related to another novel of yours, Rhythms?

A. WHAT MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME, is the very long-awaited sequel to RHYTHMS, which was published ten years ago. In Rhythms, the reader begins the story in the Mississippi Delta in 1927, shortly after the Great Flood and follows the generations of the Harvey family from Pearl, to her daughter Cora, to her daughter Emma, to her daughter Parris and the incredible, strong black men who loved them. Although What Mother Never Told Me is a sequel, it is definitely a stand alone book. However, to truly enjoy the full flavor of these characters and to get a deeper look at all of the whys, I would certainly recommend reading RHYTHMS.

Q. While most of your female characters have healthy relationships with men, women’s friendships are key in What Mother Never Told Me. Why? Are your girlfriends as important to you as women – old friends, new friends, and even strangers – are to Parris and the other female characters in your work?

A. Yes, the complex and powerful relationships of women to each other, both inside and outside of the confines of family was central to this novel. It is the support of “the sisterhood” so to speak that shores up these women in their trying times. Women friendships are so very important—important beyond Sunday brunch and ‘girl let me tell you’—our women friends provide an inexplicable source of reaffirmation. By this I mean, when we are in the company of our sisters, we not only see them, we see ourselves reflected in them. We are strengthened by their strength, lightened by their laughter, engaged by their conversation in a way that does not happen with men. In the company of our sisters we can be ourselves. There is a need that is fulfilled in sisterly friendships. Very often I don’t realize how much I need or have missed it until I spend an evening with my friends. It is invigorating, and stimulating and empowering in a way that you don’t have with your significant male other or male friends. The dynamics are not the same. So I wanted to incorporate into WHAT MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME the importance and value of female friendships and more importantly that those friendships can cross racial and economic and demographic lines.

Q. Despite these great friendships and healthy romantic love interests, nearly all of the female characters have lousy relationships with their mothers. Again, thinking about the Black female literary tradition, reading your book is like reading about what might have happened to the daughter of the main character named Claire in Nella Larsen’s book Passing. Did you intend to challenge the matriarchal prototype in African American life? Do you think the image of the self-sacrificing, all-loving, traditional Black mother is another stereotype that can be just as dangerous as the Tragic Mulatto?

A The dysfunctional relationship between the women and their mothers is the centerpiece of the novel. In doing this follow-up to RHYTHMS, I wanted to address these very important relationships, how the connection between mother and daughter is integral in defining who we are as women, what we think of ourselves and our capacity to love others. In each of the women’s lives we have these mother’s whose actions have in some way crippled their daughters. Certainly the black woman in general is a prototype in society at large. The media would have us believe that most black mothers are unmarried, on welfare with kids by several fathers, poor and will remain that way. Anything other than that is the exception i.e.: Michelle Obama. But the reality is that the vast majority of black women do not fall into either category and those are the forgotten women—the women that I attempted to address in my novel.

Q. Gentrification is an interesting theme in your novel. Has there been much displacement as a result of gentrification in your Brooklyn neighborhood? What has been the impact of the real estate bubble on people where you live?

A. I live in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, which has over the past five to ten years seen a dramatic change in the composition of our neighborhoods. Bedford-Stuyvesant was historically one of the last “strongholds” of middle-class home-owning black folks. However, because of the soaring prices of housing in Manhattan, the young white folk with money have crossed the bridge into Brooklyn, moving first into the Downtown area and slowly encroached into Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Williamsburg and now Bedford-Stuyvesant, being better able to afford the rising rents. With them came bike paths and quarter-million dollar condos on once drug-invested streets, more police patrols, little bistros, over-priced boutiques, and a myriad of outdoor cafes, not to mention the continually expanding “healthy organic” section of the supermarket, all of which come with a price. Although the neighborhood has certainly experienced a makeover, with streets being somewhat safer and many more amenities, we really must question: where did the people go who have been replaced, and why is it now prudent to revitalize the neighborhood but at the same time making it unaffordable for the very people who made it so tempting to come here?

Q. What are you working on now?

A. Right now I am working on my MFA in Creative Writing. For my thesis I am working on a novel written in the form of vignettes, entitled Witness, which at its foundation is about gentrification of not only a neighborhood but a family in transition. In addition to my mainstream fiction I also write romances—nothing can compare to black love! I am currently finishing up a romance that is part of a series that is based on a powerful political family in Louisiana—The Lawsons of Louisiana. The first book of the series, Spend My Life With You will be available in February 2011, and the second book later in the Spring. For my next mainstream, tentatively titled Someplace Else, it again tackles the complexity of family.

Harlequin hosted a fab contest for Halloween in partnership with Diesel E-books. The Mashup was to select a book and re-write it with a halloween, vampire, twist. One of the winners was Yvette Hines on her rendition of SCANDALOUS!! Enjoy.



MASHUP TITLE: Scandalous
Finalist: Yvette Hines
Adapted from: SCANDALOUS by Donna Hill

Vaughn Hamilton is only a heartbeat away from her eternal dream of being selected as the leader of her coven. Yet few know the desperate secret that has haunted her from life into death...a secret that the fierce and powerful clan will do anything to keep hidden forever. Even kill.
While out selecting strong recruits and converts Vaughn comes in contact with Justin Montgomery. A man she believes to be a rogue vampire, a sexy rebel with no connections. An intense desire ignites between them and she finds herself swept into a passionate and reckless affair as she has never known. However, the tryst ends abruptly, at headquarters and she discovers Justin is linked to a rival clan and plans to be chosen as head of their coven. When Justin shifts from the role of her lover to her competitor, Vaughn is shattered by his betrayal. She vows never to let a man get close again. What she doesn't know is that Justin unwittingly holds the key to her past, and to the love that binds them together.

Diesel Books

ringShout Literary Salon SAVE THE DATE

I am thrilled to be a participant of ringShout and to be in the company of Bernice and Lori. The salon replicates those great literary salons of Harlem Renaissance. Mark your calendar and join us. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.

ringShout: A Place for Black Literature
Invites You to a Salon

Contemporary Popular Fiction and the Black Woman Writer:
Honoring the Tradition While Building Audience

Featuring
Bernice McFadden, Glorious
Donna Hill, What Mother Never Told Me
and
Lori Tharps, Substitute Me

Sunday, October 24th
3:00 to 6:00

At the Home of Martha Southgate
532 Carlton Avenue Between Dean and Pacific
Brooklyn, New York

The authors will join us for the second half of our salon.
Please join us for light fare, good folk, and great talk, including some of this recent online buzz:

Behind the Franzenfreude

and

Black Writers in a Ghetto of the Publishing Industry's Making

RSVP: ringShout@Gmail.com

PEN American Center - Conversation: Eisa Ulen, Bridgett Davis, Martha Southgate, and Chris Jackson

PEN American Center - Conversation: Eisa Ulen, Bridgett Davis, Martha Southgate, and Chris Jackson
A great discussion on books by black female authors. Glorious by Bernice McFadden, What Mother Never Told Me by Donna Hill and other great books. Check out this informative discussion and please share with your friends.

Hello Cole. Thanks for taking time to chat with me. I know you just had a national cyber-chat with your book, Making The Hook-Up, and there was a large ad featured in Essence Online. We want to hear all about that and more. So let's get this party started!

Q. You must have been surprised when the legendary writer Ishmael Reed mentioned you, Cole Riley,in his latest book, Mixing It Up, as one of the influences in the work of Richard Price and George
Pelacanos, one of the writers for the HBO series, The Wire.

I was so honored because Ish Reed is one of my inspirations. I've read him from my younger days as a poet.As a writer, you never know how many people are following your work. For example, there is a master writer and journalist, Maxim Jabowski, who is a fan of mine in England. He used some of my work in one of his internationally known collections. When I issued the call for the Cleis collection, Making The Hook-up, Iwas surprised at how many writers had heard of my work abroad. I had several submissions from writers internationally.

Q. Tell me about the book, Making The Hook-Up. How did the project come about?

I took the idea from a conversation with Calvin Herndon, a noted writer from the 1960s and the author of the hugely popular book, Sex And Racism. He also wrote a controversial novel, Scarecrow, which cause a stir among the critics in the literary world. However, his work and theories were really well known in his day.
When I was going through one of my notebooks, I found several quotes from him during a day I spent with him years ago. He said: "When Black people are allowed to indulge the usual sins, the customary fetishes, and all the regular vices humans are permitted, then they will have achieved total sexual citizenship. Otherwise, they will remain trapped in the usual stale stereotypes and labels the world have assigned to us."

I built the collection of short stories around this concept. For me, I knew exactly what he was saying. Black people have internalized so much of the crap that has been said about them. We have enslaved ourselves sexually and emotionally. With my collection, I wanted to broaden the psychological and sexual
terrain of the Black community.

Q. How did you want to accomplish this mission through your collection?

In the stories of this collection, I wanted to show our people as sexual beings reflecting joy, pleasure, and other positive emotions. I wanted to show them as masters of sexual and emotional choices, and not slaves of urges and impulses. A wonderful friend from Canada, who is originally from Chicago,came in possession of a box of letters from one of her beloved aunts. The letters were a treasure trove.
They were from the Depression, during the time of the reign of FDR. The letters spoke of her love for her devoted husband, her family, her children, her elders. The emotions were genuine and authentic.She shared some of the letters with me. It floored me to see how proud of her family, her race, and community she was. None of the bitterness or anger. She was also proud of her womanhood and sexuality. We don't see that anymore.

There is an ongoing battle between our sexes in our race. Something in terms of positive emotions is lacking. There is no romance there. No emotional support exists as in our elders from days past. And it's not just affecting our men and women but it is impacting our children as well. It's reflected in our culture, our arts, our life, our music, this anger, this distrust,this division, this rage.

A Jamaican writer friend said we as Black Americans must forgive ourselves and others who have participated in our emotional and psychological decline. Otherwise we will continue to kill, rape, and downgrade each other. We're doing ourselves in. I agree. Look at the other communities and cultures, some of which have just come to our shores. They are thriving. So I wanted to start to reverse some of this trend and it has put some issues on the table to be discussed.

Q: How was your relationship with Cleis Press?

I have nothing but good things to say about them. They were open to all of my suggestions and ideas. They are very good business people. Their books are known around the world. One of the writers, who was in Thailand, saw my book. We are in talks to do another collection.


Q: I've known you for some time but introduce yourself to the readers.

I'm the literary alter-ego to an award-winning journalist and editor, who made his mark in the New York newspapers. But in another life, I assumed my pen name of Cole Riley back in the late 1970s. I used to run the streets, hang out with the bad guys, and do thug foolishness. I was a lost soul. I had been physically and emotionally abused as a kid. I would use some of the stories from that life in my early books. Then I got my life straight and saw the light.

I guess I always wanted to be a writer. I always found time to read. When I was young, I read books by Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O' Connor, Frank Yerby, and Ann Petry. When I started writing,I used all of the things I read in those books.

Q: Tell us about your publishing journey.

I was very young. I was very broke and needed money. My landlord told me that I would be evicted if I didn't get his rent. At that time, before Terri McMillian's splash, Holloway House was the only place that published people like me, unschooled and untrained. I remember I got a note from Iceberg Slim, aka Robert Beck, the author of the classic novel, Pimp, when I sent him part of my novel. I loved it. Once I published Hot Snake Nights, I was off and running.

My books provided me with the imagination, passion and an outlet for my rage and turmoil. I saw some ugly things. I had lived a screwed-up early life. My folks divorced when I was in my teens. I left home very early on, just wandering. I was shell-shocked during my twenties. Those early Cole Riley novels gave me confidence to do everything in my legit writing life. All of them are still in print both here and abroad. That is so pleasing to me.


Q: Social networking is the thing now. What are you doing in regard to that?

Keeping an online presence is vital. Cleis has provided me with access to many readers through the internet. In a few weeks, I will have a presence with a blog, Facebook, Twitter, and a My Space page. Also, Eden Fantasy, where I've just become a contributor, has allowed me to reach "friends" and "followers." For example, it has been a trip to answer some of the questions from the fan base that I'm building. All races, all classes, all stripes of the sexual realm. Sure, you're hoping to move product but it's about wanting them to see that you are worth their time, that you have something to say. They're tired of this reality show crap. They want real life and you want to provide them with that. It's fun. I have a wholly new crossover audience. And I love it.


Q: How do you keep your writing identities separate?

By keeping busy on all fronts, I work under both names. I have projects under both names. I am a workaholic as you know. We're in talks for several future projects. I work on several projects at one time like yourself. I'm addicted to writing. I'm addicted to writing in various genres. I keep several notebooks with ideas. I never get writer's block.


Q: What about digital publishing? The whole e-book format.

I've been approached by different publishers to do strictly e-books. I've not bought a Kindle but I know a friend who has one. They are cool, but I love the feel of books. Call me old fashioned. However, digital publishing is the wave of the future. My Cleis collection is available in e-book form. I'd like to get into it.


Q: What are your morning rituals?

In the morning, I read and revise. I try to work until I get it right. I usually do my serious writing during the afternoon and at night. No cars, no trucks, the city at an uneasy rest. Sometimes I work on a project until I fall asleep.

Q: What are some of your favorite books?

Recently, I've been reading a lot of non-fiction books, autobiographies and biographies, and political essays. The present state of the world interests me to no end. I've been terribly disappointed in our leaders. But the fiction relaxes me. I love the biting satire of Ish Reed, the protest of James Baldwin, the righteousness of Steinbeck, the dark desires of Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell, and the economy of Hemingway. Every now and then, I re-read Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, and was very disappointed in the movie. I love crime and mystery novels, new and old. Currently, I'm reading Steig Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Damn, that man could write.

Q: Do you have encouraging words for aspiring authors?

I think aspiring writers have an obligation to push the literary envelope. Don't play it safe. Take risks and take chances. Timeis going fast. We have a duty to encourage our readers to challenge themselves in every way. Don't waste time. If you want to write, write like your life depends on it.

Q: What's on the horizon?

The initial response to Making The Hook-Up has been very positive. My next project for them will be a collection spotlighting romances of risk and consequence. Sex is a part of everyone's life. There is a difference between erotica and porn. Henry Miller, Anais Nin, D.H. Lawrence
and James Baldwin wrote erotica. Also, I'm editing a collection of short stories of the blues for a Scottish publisher. And we're in talks to do another Cole Riley mystery, Night Beat, for Hard Case.

Thank you "Cole" for sharing your story with us. Continued success. We'll see you on the shelves!

The Best of From Cover to Cover

Show Archives

PuNanny Diaries - trailer

Have you all checked out the hilarious internet series the PuNanny Diaries... the story of Not getting any? Here is the trailer to give you a hint.

The Secret of Newberry

THE SECRET OF NEWBERRY BY VICTOR MCGLOTHIN. For your viewing pleasure

African American Literary Awards Show

The 2010 African American Literary Awards is rapidly approaching. The nominations are up. And just like American Idol, its up to you who wins. So CAST YOUR VOTE TODAY. It only takes a minute.

A small peek at a novel that I'm working on for my Master's thesis. It will be a collection of vignettes that paint the picture of a family in strife and a neighborhood that is changing right out from under them. This is an excerpt entitled LENA.

Lena

Jane Austen for the 21st Century

I'd been hearing about this video for a little while, and since I was surfing around, I decided to check it out. It's quite funny and gave me some ideas which I'm going to have to figure out how to pull off. I actually have Jane Austen's Emma on my list of books to read before the year is out. Anyway, enjoy.

Summer Sizzlers & More

Readers Survey

I want to take the pulse of my readers. I want to know what you think, what you want and don't want. I've created a short survey to help me be a better writer for you. Your anonymous input is important. So, please take a moment and let me know what you think.

Readers Survey

Own Your Own Power Conference

If you are ready to step up your game, personally and professionally, if you need direction, resources and support and inspiration that OWN YOUR OWN POWER CONFERENCE is the place to be. Columbia University, New York, NY.

The keynote speaker is Randall Pinkston, the first AA to win the Apprentice. I will be doing a guest appearance as well on getting into and staying in the publishing game.

Check out the link here for information, how to register and how to be a vendor to get your name and product out there.

SAVE THE DATE. SEPTEMBER 18, 2010

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

"Hot Fun in the Summertime," is one of my all-time favorite songs by Sly Stone. And I have to admit it totally applies right now. I've been so bogged down in writing and working and school work that while my head was down in the sand, the publishing world kept on moving and is putting out two original titles of mine to help keep the summer sizzle going.!

First up is HEARTS REWARD. The final book in the "Millionaire Matchmaker" series. (check Celeste Norfleet and Adrienne Byrd. They kicked off the series) My story wraps it up and features the owner of the Platinum Society Melonie Harte. She's smart, sexy, business savvy and believes she is content. Her job is to bring the elite together with others like themselves in a perfect match. Her business makes mega-cash and its run with the help of her nephew and two nieces. Melonie's life is all that and then some until her FINE brother Alan introduces her to Claude Montgomery. Ooooh la la. To compound matters, Senator Lawson wants Melonie's help in finding someone for his playboy son, Rafe Lawson. Needless to say you wouldn't kick either of these brothers out of bed. The problem is, mixing business with pleasure is a "no-no." What's a matchmaker to do?? Fun, sexy, with a little love triangle thrown in. I know you will enjoy it and you will get a glimpse of the Lawson family that will debut in the Spring with "Spend My Life With You."

And right on the heels of Heart's Reward is PRIVATE LESSONS. Straight-laced Naomi Clarke a tenured college professor at Atlanta University goes on vacation to the island of Antigua (yes, I love Antigua and I want my characters to love it too). But her conventional mindset is put to the test when she meets Brice Lawrence, whose Adonis body and brilliant mind are the ultimate turn-on. A little island fling. No big deal. She'd go home and never see him again. Not!!! Is that Brice sitting in the back of her classroom on the first day? OMG. Now what?

What's a reader to do? Well, I hope you will get your copies, pop them in your beachbag, tote or back pocket and enjoy. And do let me know what you think! Happy reading.

A New Series Has Begun Along with Concerns

On Monday, after pulling an all-nighter ( I am much too old for that--and paid for it), I turned in my manuscript to my Harlequin editor, which is the first book in my brand new series The Lawsons of Louisiana.  This first book, I entitled FOR YOU I WILL.  Because that's what I wanted it to say. It is what the book meant to me.

However, in a back room somewhere, folks sat around and figured they knew my story better than I did and of course they knew what the public wanted. (of course). Alas, they changed my title to Spend My Life With You--which to me sounds weak and ordinary, not a clear, no nonsense declaration--like my original title.

Anyway, that's the new, damn title. But by the time I finished having a professional hissy, fit, I was assured that would not happen again.

The point of my story is, behind the title is a kicking story about a wealthly, black, political family based in Louisiana, complete with sexy characters, political drama, love triangles, scandals and did I mention hot sex?

This is the first of what we hope will be a continuing series that readers with latch onto and love.  So far the series is slated for four books.

For those who read or will read very soon my current summer release HEART'S REWARD, (available wherever books are sold)you will get to meet the edible Rafe Lawson, oldest son and heir apparant to Branford Lawson the patriarch of the Lawson clan.

I really enjoyed putting the first book together and look forward to writing the rest of the series.

In the meantime, check out the short reading excerpt from Heart's Reward. I'm sure you will love it.

I'll be posting little excerpts from my summer releases ( Private Lessons--coming soon, Scandalous and A Scandalous Affair (re-issues) throughout the summer. So come back often.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the change of title.  What do you think?  How much do titles matter?

hearts-reward

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