Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
I still LOVE President Obama!!
President Obama is the United States President. That means he has to look out for ALL Americans not just African Americans because he happens to be African American. Do you want him to only address the problems in AA community? Do you want him to address the problems in ALL communities? He has to help everyone not just a special population. I am tired of all these "so called scholars" talking about he is not doing enough for AA? What are you doing? What are they doing to help themselves? Who is he doing enough for? Did you think 8 years of disaster can be cleaned up in 4 years? He is doing the best he can with the hand he was dealt!!
Can you answer my questions?
Always,
B. LaShera GLAZE
Always,
B. LaShera GLAZE
Monday, September 12, 2011
Why Can't Literary Fiction Sell a Million in a Week Like Lil Wayne?
Bernice L. McFadden is a literary fiction author of many novels. However, the first book I read by her was Glorious . Shame on me! I know. The book changed my life. This woman is a master story teller. I locked myself in my room and read the book in hours. Not because it was so easy that a 4th grader could do it. But because I was totally engaged and held captive by her writing style and the story's plot. The main character, Easter is a fictionalized character parallel to the literary genius Zora Neale Hurston. After reading that book, I have been on a mission to read everything Ms. Bernice has written. EVERYTHING!! She has become one of my favorite authors.
Now, if you follow me on twitter you know leading up to Lil Wayne's release of Da Carter 4, I tweeted for months and on the day of I tweeted all day about the CD. I also told everyone I came in contact with about the CD. I even had a Lil Wayne Party. Got a T-shirt. Fan? Yes, I am. Well, I plan to support the new release of Ms. Bernice L. McFadden's new book, Gathering of Waters , like I did for Da Carter 4. Gathering of Waters will be released on January 31, 2012. It is available for pre-order NOW on AMAZON.
Do you want writers to disappear? Let me rephrase. Do you want GOOD writers to disappear? NO! WE DON'T! So, we as readers need to take a STAND for writers. They have to eat good just like rappers and singers. I am in full support of this novel. I know and stand firmly on my security that this book will be also a MASTERPIECE!!
Before I tell you about the book, I want to know: Why can't literary fiction sell 1 million in a week like Lil Wayne? Thoughts? Will we rush to the stores in mass numbers to purchase books, especially literary fiction?
I know, I was at Best Buy before it opened to buy Da Carter 4. But, I do the same for books that I am expecting or I pre-order them. Do you? Will you?
Here is a little about the book:
GATHERING OF WATERS is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi--a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families.
TASS HILSON AND EMMETT TILL were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit.FORTY YEARS LATER, AFTER THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till's spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River.
The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion. GATHERING OF WATERS mines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the town's families, and threads their history over decades. The bare-bones realism--both disturbing and riveting--combined with a magical realm in which ghosts have the final say, is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Beloved.
"In her new novel, Gathering of Waters, Bernice McFadden brings her own special vision to the unfortunate story of Emmett Till and his murder in Money, Mississippi. This moving and magical novel, which traces the generations leading up to and away from that horrible night in 1955, drew me in immediately and swept me along through its richly imagined world. I couldn't stop reading, caught up as I was in that enticing place between truth and fantasy, the here-and-now and the what-was, the living and the dead, the ugliness and the beauty, the hatred and the love. What a rich chorus of voices Bernice McFadden has fashioned from this place called Money."--Lee Martin, author of Break the Skin and The Bright Forever
You may be aware that recently Emmett Till has been brought back to the forefront of the American consciousness with the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. In addition, a marker was placed on the Mississippi Freedom Trail in memory of Emmett Till and Emmett Till's casket was put on public display at the Smithsonian.
OH & THERE IS MORE!!
This book, also by Ms. Bernice will be reissued, The Warmest December (with forward by James Frey of A Million Little Pieces)
"Now and then I forget things.... One day last week I forgot that I hated my father... " McFadden's graphic, poignant second novel charts the resonating legacy that alcoholic parents pass on to their children through the cycle of addiction and domestic violence. Narrator Kenzie Lowe, an African-American woman in her 30s on welfare, has used alcohol to repress the memories of abuse she suffered growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, caught in the physical and emotional grip of her whiskey-swilling father, Hyman Lowe. Seamless transitions between Kenzie's past and her present life anchored by AA sessions imbue this difficult tale with dramatic suspense. Its cathartic message of forgiveness and recovery will elicit tears.
"Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes."— Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate author of Beloved
Gathering of Waters and The Warmest December will be released in USA, Canada and the UK on January 31st, 2012.
PLEASE SUPPORT THE GREAT WRITERS.
Always,
B. LaShera GLAZE
Now, if you follow me on twitter you know leading up to Lil Wayne's release of Da Carter 4, I tweeted for months and on the day of I tweeted all day about the CD. I also told everyone I came in contact with about the CD. I even had a Lil Wayne Party. Got a T-shirt. Fan? Yes, I am. Well, I plan to support the new release of Ms. Bernice L. McFadden's new book, Gathering of Waters , like I did for Da Carter 4. Gathering of Waters will be released on January 31, 2012. It is available for pre-order NOW on AMAZON.
Do you want writers to disappear? Let me rephrase. Do you want GOOD writers to disappear? NO! WE DON'T! So, we as readers need to take a STAND for writers. They have to eat good just like rappers and singers. I am in full support of this novel. I know and stand firmly on my security that this book will be also a MASTERPIECE!!
Before I tell you about the book, I want to know: Why can't literary fiction sell 1 million in a week like Lil Wayne? Thoughts? Will we rush to the stores in mass numbers to purchase books, especially literary fiction?
I know, I was at Best Buy before it opened to buy Da Carter 4. But, I do the same for books that I am expecting or I pre-order them. Do you? Will you?
Here is a little about the book:
GATHERING OF WATERS is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi--a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families.
TASS HILSON AND EMMETT TILL were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit.FORTY YEARS LATER, AFTER THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till's spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River.
The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion. GATHERING OF WATERS mines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the town's families, and threads their history over decades. The bare-bones realism--both disturbing and riveting--combined with a magical realm in which ghosts have the final say, is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Beloved.
"In her new novel, Gathering of Waters, Bernice McFadden brings her own special vision to the unfortunate story of Emmett Till and his murder in Money, Mississippi. This moving and magical novel, which traces the generations leading up to and away from that horrible night in 1955, drew me in immediately and swept me along through its richly imagined world. I couldn't stop reading, caught up as I was in that enticing place between truth and fantasy, the here-and-now and the what-was, the living and the dead, the ugliness and the beauty, the hatred and the love. What a rich chorus of voices Bernice McFadden has fashioned from this place called Money."--Lee Martin, author of Break the Skin and The Bright Forever
You may be aware that recently Emmett Till has been brought back to the forefront of the American consciousness with the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. In addition, a marker was placed on the Mississippi Freedom Trail in memory of Emmett Till and Emmett Till's casket was put on public display at the Smithsonian.
OH & THERE IS MORE!!
This book, also by Ms. Bernice will be reissued, The Warmest December (with forward by James Frey of A Million Little Pieces)
"Now and then I forget things.... One day last week I forgot that I hated my father... " McFadden's graphic, poignant second novel charts the resonating legacy that alcoholic parents pass on to their children through the cycle of addiction and domestic violence. Narrator Kenzie Lowe, an African-American woman in her 30s on welfare, has used alcohol to repress the memories of abuse she suffered growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, caught in the physical and emotional grip of her whiskey-swilling father, Hyman Lowe. Seamless transitions between Kenzie's past and her present life anchored by AA sessions imbue this difficult tale with dramatic suspense. Its cathartic message of forgiveness and recovery will elicit tears.
"Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes."— Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate author of Beloved
Gathering of Waters and The Warmest December will be released in USA, Canada and the UK on January 31st, 2012.
PLEASE SUPPORT THE GREAT WRITERS.
Always,
B. LaShera GLAZE
Why is Carleen Brice Going to the ebook?
I read Carleen Brice's first novel, Orange Mint & Honey . This book was a very good read. I usually give the author a 30 page trial. If I can feel engaged in 30 pages, I'm in 'till the end. It caught my attention within the first few pages.
You don't need me to tell you that the ground is shifting under writers' feet. You can feel it yourself. So I'll leave off the primer about how publishing is changing due to technology and the economy and who knows what else.
I do want to point out, however, that while the changes can be scary or confusing, there's also plenty of exciting things going on in publishing now. Developments that present big opportunities for writers. One of them is the growth in ebook sales.
My first two novels were bought in a two-book deal and published by One World/Ballantine, an imprint of Random House. My first novel Orange Mint and Honey did well--won awards, got made into a TV movie and had respectable sales. My second novel Children of the Waters suffered from the sophomore novel jinx. I don't know what happened, but it didn't find its readers. Was it the cover? The lousy review PW gave it? (I must note that it got plenty of good reviews) Bad timing? Bad luck? Who knows?
Either way, Random House and I had a parting of the ways. I was already working on another novel and had an editor at a different house ready to buy it based on reading an excerpt and proposal. Then she had a parting of the ways with that house (as did my former editor at RH). Rather than go out to other houses with a proposal, I decided to finish the book first. So I've been writing it (am hoping to ship it off to my agent in the next month or 2).
In the meantime, readers were asking me for a sequel to Orange Mint and Honey. I figured with an ebook I could write it and get it to loyal fans quickly and inexpensively. So I wrote a bunch of it--about half--and a really detailed 35-page single spaced outline.
That's where I was in the process when Victoria Christopher Murray invited me to participate in her new online publishing venture called A Chapter a Month. Victoria is a New York Times bestselling author with a heckuva mailing list and promotional machine. That sounded great. On top of that, she's giving authors a very fair share of royalties, and she sends royalty statements monthly. That's right: monthly.
I talked to my agent about it and she called the model "brilliant." That was enough for me. So now I'm in the ebook business. The first chapter of IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING, the sequel to ORANGE MINT AND HONEY is now exclusively available at A Chapter a Month for .99. I hope you'll check it out. (Click here to buy.)
One of the benefits of the shifting ground is that the book biz isn't so either/or anymore. These days the same author might e-pub, self-pub a paperback, and traditionally pub, depending upon the type of books she's writing and the goals she has for them. This makes me optimistic. And so does the belief that no matter how the medium of delivery changes, people will always be interested in stories. After all, we've been telling one another stories since the beginning of time.
I'm curious--how many other SheWriters are publishing ebooks? How's it going? What tips do you have for someone like me who's an ebook newbie?
What do you think? Will you buy? Will you read?
You don't need me to tell you that the ground is shifting under writers' feet. You can feel it yourself. So I'll leave off the primer about how publishing is changing due to technology and the economy and who knows what else.
I do want to point out, however, that while the changes can be scary or confusing, there's also plenty of exciting things going on in publishing now. Developments that present big opportunities for writers. One of them is the growth in ebook sales.
My first two novels were bought in a two-book deal and published by One World/Ballantine, an imprint of Random House. My first novel Orange Mint and Honey did well--won awards, got made into a TV movie and had respectable sales. My second novel Children of the Waters suffered from the sophomore novel jinx. I don't know what happened, but it didn't find its readers. Was it the cover? The lousy review PW gave it? (I must note that it got plenty of good reviews) Bad timing? Bad luck? Who knows?
Either way, Random House and I had a parting of the ways. I was already working on another novel and had an editor at a different house ready to buy it based on reading an excerpt and proposal. Then she had a parting of the ways with that house (as did my former editor at RH). Rather than go out to other houses with a proposal, I decided to finish the book first. So I've been writing it (am hoping to ship it off to my agent in the next month or 2).
In the meantime, readers were asking me for a sequel to Orange Mint and Honey. I figured with an ebook I could write it and get it to loyal fans quickly and inexpensively. So I wrote a bunch of it--about half--and a really detailed 35-page single spaced outline.
That's where I was in the process when Victoria Christopher Murray invited me to participate in her new online publishing venture called A Chapter a Month. Victoria is a New York Times bestselling author with a heckuva mailing list and promotional machine. That sounded great. On top of that, she's giving authors a very fair share of royalties, and she sends royalty statements monthly. That's right: monthly.
I talked to my agent about it and she called the model "brilliant." That was enough for me. So now I'm in the ebook business. The first chapter of IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING, the sequel to ORANGE MINT AND HONEY is now exclusively available at A Chapter a Month for .99. I hope you'll check it out. (Click here to buy.)
One of the benefits of the shifting ground is that the book biz isn't so either/or anymore. These days the same author might e-pub, self-pub a paperback, and traditionally pub, depending upon the type of books she's writing and the goals she has for them. This makes me optimistic. And so does the belief that no matter how the medium of delivery changes, people will always be interested in stories. After all, we've been telling one another stories since the beginning of time.
I'm curious--how many other SheWriters are publishing ebooks? How's it going? What tips do you have for someone like me who's an ebook newbie?
What do you think? Will you buy? Will you read?
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