NUMBER 71
I know, I know, I have not submitted anything since May 30 and my ding dong but got to get back on track. I have been overwhelmed, nervous, jittery, bored and just damn tired. Not from telling all of you about books, no way, I just got back from Houston, Texas attending and volunteering at the National Black Book Festival (NBBF). I was just getting more and more excited to go, but the job and my life was just getting on my last damn nerve and I was beginning to get more tired as each day went by before my trip.
Have you noticed that when you are getting ready to go on a vacation, everything goes wrong at the last minute. You start to wonder if you will have enough money, will you have problems getting on the plane and if the plane or airline will have any issues. Will the hotel stink to high heaven or at least be cleaner than some hotels you have stayed in. Will you really meet some of your favorite authors or just the same ones you have seen before. How come it’s so hard to get your friends to go with you? They always have some excuse, whether it’s valid or not.
Then you realize, “I need this vacation, very, very badly. I was on vacation for two weeks in May, but that was to take care of the kid graduating from college, hanging out with her, taking her to DC to start work and graduate school and having one day to rest before returning to work.
This time this vacation was all about me!!! ME!!! and I was tired and pissed at the job, my life, everything!!! I was just tired and getting close to being depressed. I got to the airport at 4:30 in morning, said a pray for me and others on the plane to arrive safely and it was on. No turning back. I’m getting my but on that plane and not looking back or feeling negative. Got Damn it!!! it worked. I had the greatest, most exciting, high spirit, thrilling, action-packed, intoxicating and invigorating time of my life in Houston. I did not want to come back!!! For the next few weeks, and I’m sure much longer, I am going to tell you about my trip, some new and old authors who don’t just write good books, but with heart, soul and a bonhomie nature with some urban exploration. It’s on, baby!, It’s on!!
MOSES MILLER - THE TRIFLING TIMES OF NATHAN JONES (NAN) - $9.99 - - - I met Mr. Miller at the NBBF and became friends with him and not just on facebook. If you remember the Coca-Cola commercial with Tyrese Gibson, before he became a star, you saw a kid with a huge and beautiful smile, good teeth too!, and a face filled with a beautiful softness and soul, that’s Moses Miller. He is very self-effacing and humble. He was standing there very quiet behind his table of books and if you did not walk up to him and ask him about his books, he would not move around much, but his friend, author, Tina Brooks McKinney, who I became very fast friends with and I will discuss her and her books as well, was leaving Houston the next day and asked me to help him sell his books at the fair. She told me he is a good writer, but he is not a big pushy promoter of his books because he is so unassuming with a big heart. I noticed that about him the first minute. It was the first time I have every met him. As a matter of fact, I brought three of his series of books on Nan for three of my book club friends, The Literary Divas of the Lowcountry, as well as assisted him in selling his books. With my strong and happy attitude, we managed to get a lot sold and I enjoyed working and talking with him. He was just so handsome and exciting to work with. My heart would not stop skipping beats. The man is good looking, especially with that smile.
This book is about two young black boys who lost their parents from a freak car accident caused by a PCP druggie nut case driving away from the police. Nathan and his friend Joseph, who he met in an orphanage after the accident, find out that the same nut case is the one who killed both of their parents. Their lives growing up faces many complications and road blocks. Changes do come their way, sometimes good and sometimes bad. It is an action pack book and you will not put it down until you are finished.
MOSES MILLER - NAN: THE GAME OF TRIFE - $9.99 - - - Nathan Nan Jones, a young man that never slept, just survived a vicious assassination attempt on his life. On the same cold streets of Brooklyn, Jada Dupri, a Black girl lost, desperately searches for some meaning to her tortuous life. Nan’s execution was sanctioned by the criminal underworld, in an elaborate plot to be carried out by a corrupt group of bloodthirsty NYPDTrife. A Black girl lost, a young man’s pain, a grandmother s guilt, a fugitive on the run, Choose your Chess piece or roll the dice and let the games begin.
MOSES MILLER - NAN: THE TRIFECTA - $9.99 - - - For some sins, even repentance and heartfelt prayer won't guarantee forgiveness. And for some cold hearted sinners, there is no desire to be forgiven for their misdeeds at all. Jada Dupri has survived many trifling times in her life, which would have easily consumed weaker individuals with a lot less resolve. However, for some reason she was still living, at least for the moment. From murder to mayhem, her young eyes had been exposed to many things. But, little does she know, death is looming ever so closely, with no plans of sparing her life ever again.
Nathan "Nan" Jones has finally been reunited with his family, but sanctity and salvation will be short lived. His weakness has always been his willingness to jeopardize himself for the sake of others. So, when a friend calls upon him in a desperate plea for help, he will be forced to return to the battlegrounds of Brooklyn to face his nemesis one final time. For every ending there must be a beginning. And for every beginning there will most assuredly be an end. Old enemies will reemerge, friends will be betrayed and many more lives will be lost.
These three books I have not read yet, but believe me when I sat down and really talked to Moses, I believed him when he said, he writes to help others understand that “urban” books are not what they appear, all ghetto. Give it a try, you will be surprised.
On my last blog, I posted a few books on interracial relationship, so another author I met at the book fair had some books on the table that made me stop and look at the covers. I stepped back to be sure I saw what I saw, white man and black woman. Of course I got one and will now buy the others. I like getting on a plane with a bunch of white folks, (You know not enough of us fly and I know, I know, gas and plane tickets are expensive, but you got to get out of your comfort zone and fly the hell somewhere!!), and they see the book cover. It scares them. Oh! Lord, there’s another black woman taking our “white men” away from us! I just laugh and say to myself, Oh!! too bad, suckers!!!
STEPHANIE MORRIS - STAKING HIS CLAIM - $5.99 - - - Ms. Morris was another author at the book fair and her mother was with her. Beautiful looking women and very pleasant. She was another author I had the honor to meet and talk to. She has been a romance writer for many years with very elegant and simple writing descriptions that gets to the point. She talks the way she writes, damn good.
Here’s a recap - Leslie’s life is not the way she wanted it, so, she goes home to family to get it together. You know the story, she meets older white guy, Blake Eaton and it’s on. This was a quick read (My flight was only 2 hours and the second flight was about 45 minutes), but I finished it and it was sooooo! gooood!!! I’m ordering the rest.
GOT TO GET ONE IN FOR BLACK HISTORY - - - -
AUDREY B. CHAPMAN - MAN SHARING: DILEMMA OF CHOICE, A RADICAL NEW WAY OF RELATING TO THE MEN IN YOUR LIFE - $4.00 used hardback - - - I’m not sure if any of you remember Ms. Chapman’s show on WHUR in DC. It was many years ago when she started talking about sharing men. Of course, many woman did not go for that, but here it is, 2011 and, you know what, isn’t that what is going on? I, myself, is not into it, I still believe there is that one person for you, but everything ain’t equal as it should be. You will probably get pissed and won’t buy the book because of the title, so go to you local library and see if they have it. Maybe you and your girlfriends can tear the book apart. Who knows!!!
Thank you for your kind words Valinda! I am so glad that you enjoyed Leslie and Blake's story. It was a pleasure meeting you! I look forward to seeing you again soon!
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