Win a copy of The Devil in Silver

Hat tip to Twitter and author @matjohnson for the news that Victor LaValle is giving away a copy of his upcoming novel The Devil in Silver. I loved Big Machine, which was a little scary. This new one sounds really scary! (Devils are big this summer Devil's Wake, Tananarive Due's and Steven Barnes' zombie novel is out soon too!)

Guest review of FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE

One of my favorite book bloggers is the Happy Nappy Bookseller. She usually writes about children's & YA books, but she also reads adult fiction. She sent in this review of From Cape Town With Love by Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due & Blair Underwood. I'm reading an advanced copy now and getting a kick out of it.

Please check out the Happy Nappy Bookseller's blog and do check out the Tennyson Hardwick books (watch for upcoming webisodes too!). Everything below is from the Happy Nappy Bookseller:

This is the third Tennyson Hardwick mystery. In the first one, Cassanegra, published in 2007,Tennyson (Ten) is the prime suspect in the murder of a close friend. To clear his name Ten must find the real killer. Prior to that acquisition Ten was getting his life back together. He stopped having sex with women for money and was looking to become a sort after LA actor once again After Ten realizes he has what it takes to be a detective. Tennyson Hardwick is smart, handsome, trained in martial arts and has inherited some his dad's, a retired police captain ability. 

In From Cape Town With Love - Ten goes to South Africa to win back his girlfriend's heart back. The two take a trip to Cape Town. The writing places the reader firmly in South Africa and Cape Town. While in Cape Town, Ten accepts a job to bodyguard, Sofia Maitlin, a famous actress while she visits an orphanage to adopt a child. Sofia calls hire Ten again to be work, Nandi. her daughter's A list L.A birthday party. 

When Nandi is kidnapped, Ten is the only one who has the skills and connections to get her back. He gets to showcase some of his martial art skills. It's obvious a lot of research went into discussing various martial styles from around the world. 

From Cape Town With Love is exciting, sexy and intense. Two best selling authors and an award winning actor have come together to create a series with quality writing and great action. I could definitely see Tennyson Hardwick on the big screen. This is no accident, do check out what Underwood, Due and Barnes have to say about this wonderful series and the roll they play.

Read an excerpt via Tananarive Due's site. From Cape Town With Love will be released May 18. I highly recommend reading the Tennyson Hardwick novels in order. Cassanegra and In the Night of the Heat are both out in paper back.

News & a give-away!

Glorious is in the current issue of O Magazine! Congrats Bernice!

Mari Walker's new one Not Quite What it Seems is out today. Happy Pub Day Mari!

Pearl Cleage's Till You Hear From Me comes out a week from today!

Tananarive Due is blogging at a new site about writing. Prospective writers check it out.

If you like connecting with authors online, Reads for Pleasure has a link to lots of black authors who are online.

Here's a great trailer for the YA fantasy The Marvelous World by Troy CLE.

And if you like fantasy, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin looks good!

This blog was shortlisted for the Author Blog Awards. Voting ends Thursday. Blog, Facebook or Tweet your friends to vote for me and leave me a comment here to let me know you did. I'll do a random drawing of commenters for an advance copy of Red Hats by Damon Wayans (who knew he was a novelist?) or From Cape Town with Love by Due, Steven Barnes & Blair Underwood!

Who can write about whom?

Novelist and screenwriter Steven Barnes has a website called Lifewrite.com. I signed up for free emails from him (which are great for writers), and this one seemed an interesting topic for blog discussion. He gave me permission to post it below:

"For years, at Science Fiction conventions a panel with the title: 'Can Human Beings Write About Aliens' has been popular. I've been a speaker on several of them, and enjoyed the debate. Inevitably, in time I also participated in 'Can Men Write About Women?' and 'Can Americans Write About Foreigners?' and 'Can Christians Write About Moslems?' etc.

A couple of years ago, I attended a play ('Permanent Collection') with my wife Tananarive. The play dealt with the stresses of a black curator taking over an art collection in a white suburb, and insisting on African pieces taking a more prominent position. After the play, we found ourselves wondering if the writer was white or black. Recently in the L.A. Times (January 15th) the author of the play, Thomas Gibbons, wrote of his struggles and conflicts, being a white playwright who has often written black characters. Well. Mystery solved, controversy begun. Can Whites Write About Blacks? The real question hidden beneath all of this is: can one person ever write about another? Gay and Straight? Conservative and Liberal? Southerner and Northerner?

Ultimately, it becomes ridiculous. Taken far enough, we can only conclude that no human being can write about anyone but himself. But wait...how many people really know themselves? The entire premise of Lifewriting is that one can most accurately determine one's hidden values and beliefs by actively engaging in three things: a healthy intimate relationship, a satisfying career, and a dynamic physical body. Let's be honest--what percentage of the human race has ever had all three simultaneously? That suggests, then, that we usually can't even know ourselves. In that case, no one should write about anything at all. Absurd. We have an obligation to write about the world we see, about people other than ourselves, and about the deepest reaches of the human heart...the basic premise is: extend to others the same basic motivations and needs that you yourself feel, your own humanity, your own fears and loves, and you will be right more often than wrong."

The best writers, Barnes and Due among them, do this. Which is why their books are applicable to all, no matter who the characters are.

Blurbs in black and white

Blurbs are on my mind, as we are seeking them for my next novel. I'm thrilled to report we have a great one so far. I'm grateful for any author of any race who takes the time to read my work and lend their name to help out. But the process has got me thinking. This blurb is from a white author. My first novel also had blurbs from black and white authors. A quick look on my bookshelves finds Stephen King blurb My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due; Dorothy Allison blurb The Untelling by Tayari Jones; Jill McCorkle blurb Ugly Ways by Tina McElroy Ansa. First question it raises is: Does it matter to white readers to have a white author say, "hey this is a good book"? Second question is: Why? Third question is: Are there white authors who have blurbs from black writers? Maybe Walter Mosley, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison. Anybody know?