Loads of love

I'm reading Black Water Rising by Attica Locke. (It's good y'all!) The opening scene includes the protagonist Jay remembering the black church ladies that came to court daily when he was on trial for being a young revolutionary. He remembers them looking at him like "We got you, son. We're not gon' let you fall."

It reminds me of the way black readers often are with black authors. One of the great joys of being a writer is having readers who prop you up when you feel like you're falling. I know we authors yell a lot over here about attracting other readers, but let me say for the record, we love, love, love us some black readers! And wouldn't make it at all without you!

I recently was blessed enough to receive an award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. The way those black librarians talked about books and writers! Oh my, it was balm for the soul! My brother-in-law attended and he said "the waves of love crashing over the podium" spilled out into the audience over to him and left him feeling warm inside.

So I offer a heartfelt thanks to all the readers who don't let us fall. And here are some links about some other authors that we (no matter our race) can share some love with:

E. Lynn Harris, who recently passed, gets a tribute from other writers at The Root.

Karen Simpson, friend o' the blog, recently announced the sale of her first novel! Read her story of deciding to go with Plenary Publishing after many rejections from mainstream (read mostly white editors/publishers) because they felt that black readers only wanted urban or romance and white readers won't read black authors. Oy. Act of Grace (speculative fiction) will be published in spring 2011 and we will definitely host a chat with Karen and/or review to celebrate!

Victor LaValle's 3rd novel Big Machine, to be released August 11, could be his big breakout. This Wall Street Journal article about the support he's getting is exciting. Here's a link to an excerpt from the book.

Yellow Moon Jewell Parker Rhodes' African vampire story comes out in paperback next month.

Cornered, Brandon Massey's latest thriller hits also stores next month.

Eisa Ulen lovingly reviews Paule Marshall's memoir of the writer's life, Triangular Road.

The Bottom of Heaven gives some geek love to Samuel R. Delaney's fantasy Nevèrÿon series.

Publishers Weekly showers the upcoming The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi Durrow with some pre-pub love.

Color Online is looking for love for authors of color. They're looking for reviewers for August who will read brown.

USA Today ran an interesting profile of author Stephen Carter, who is able to do something pretty amazing in his latest, Jericho's Fall: not identify the protagonist's race. I'm not sure less successful authors could pull this off. Publishers and marketers usually want to know the characters' race so they know how to position the book. So I'm willing to give Carter some love for breaking out of that box.

Speaking of publishers identifying race, by now you've probably heard of the YA book Liar with the black protagonist and the white author that has a photo of a white girl on the cover. But in case you haven't, I'll include a few links. First though my question: Does this mean the publisher believes that white readers will read a book by a white author about non-white characters, but only if a white person is on the cover? From the author of the book. Publisher's Weekly. Young, Black, A Reader responds. Another blogger asks white readers to respond to the publisher. I would suggest lovingly telling them that they're full of shit.

Now some love for a bookseller, a white bookseller who takes up the "White Readers Meet Black Authors" cause. The Inkwell Bookstore blog challenges readers to step outside their comfort zone: "I see this a lot at our bookstore. More often than not, White customers buy books by White authors. While this in no way makes them racist, their unwillingness to explore something outside their comfort zone does make them dull. What makes these FUBU buying habits even more frustrating is the fact that the majority of these White readers consider themselves to be highly liberal thinkers. They listen to world music, they donate money to Darfur, and they campaigned en masse to make Barack Obama the President of the United States. Still, I dare you to try and push Chester Himes' If He Hollers Let Him Go on a fan of Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays."

Everybody wins!

Between here and Facebook I got 15 comments and had 15 books for giveaway. If you left a comment, I will be in touch and congratulations!

The recommended Summer Reads included (check the comments; some folks here left multiple suggestions):

The Untelling by Tayari Jones

The Bishop's Daughter by Tiffany Warren

The List by Sherri Lewis

The Hand I Fan With by Tina McElroy Ansa

A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown

Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns by J. California Cooper

Passport Diaries by Tamara Gregory

The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate

Too Little Too Late by Victoria Christopher Murray

Sex Murder and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis

Anything written by E. Lynn Harris

Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler

When Death Comes Stealing by Valerie Wilson Wesley

Mama Day by Gloria Naylor

Hotlanta by Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller

RIP E. Lynn Harris

In his honor I'm re-running my brief post from when E. Lynn Harris was in town to promote his novel Basketball Jones. One of the things he said struck me. Paraphrasing him, he said, While I'm proud of all the adjectives used to describe me, I don't want to be limited to any kind of story. I want to write whatever kind of story God puts in my heart.

Girlfriends Cyber Circuit

I try not to talk about myself too much (or at least too, too much) on this blog, but this blog happens to be the perfect place to share this. I'm doing a blog tour of the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit. 20+ non-black authors hosting a black author and her book on their blogs (I've also hosted them on my personal blog.). As much as I acknowledge the bad over here, have to also shine light on what's working. Thanks Girlfriends!

Keep reading for beach reads and giveaways.

Beach reads and FREE books!

Our last collaborative effort worked so well, let's do it again. Let's make a list of books great to read in a hammock, lying on a beach, on a towel at the pool (you know, as you're "changing the complexion" of the place) or on a blanket under a tree.

Some of mine:

Seen It All and Done the Rest by Pearl Cleage

Waiting in Vain by Colin Channer

Rhythms of Grace by Marilynn Griffith

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due

Kiss the Sky by Farai Chideya

Seduction by Geneva Holliday

That Devil's No Friend of Mine by J.D. Mason

Taking After Mudear by Tina McElroy Ansa

The Sunday List by Stacy Hawkins Adams

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

Soul City by Toure

Kinky Gazpacho by Lori Tharps

Meeting of the Waters by Kim McLarin

The Interruption of Everything by Terry McMillan

Going Down South by Bonnie Glover

Third Girl From the Left by Martha Southgate

A New Kind of Bliss by Bettye Griffin

Sisters and Husbands by Connie Briscoe

This Side of the Sky by Elyse Singleton

Casanegra by Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes

Nappily Ever After by Trisha R. Thomas

Leave me a comment with one of your favorite beach reads and you'll be entered for a drawing of a signed copy of Children of the Waters or Orange Mint and Honey or unsigned copy of books that I like, but will part with to make room on my shelves and hopefully make some new readers very happy. Leave your email address and the book(s) you would prefer. On Monday, July 27 at 5 p.m. Mountain Time, I'll draw names at random and do my best to match you with your preferred book, but first pick goes in order of names picked. I'll announce winners on Tuesday, July 28. Spread the word!

Giveaways:

Children of the Waters

Orange Mint and Honey

Seen It All and Done the Rest

Rhythms of Grace

My Soul to Keep

Kinky Gazpacho

Worth a Thousand Words by Stacy Hawkins Adams

Unsigned Hype by Booker T. Mattison

Wicked Ways by Donna Hill

If These Walls Could Talk by Bettye Griffin

Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant

Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy

Trading Dreams at Midnight by Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Gods and Soldiers: Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing

R.L.'s Dream by Walter Mosely

Diverse group of novelists

Hey y'all, check out Novel Spaces. Authors of different colors (!), gender (!) and genres (!) and their guests blog about writing and publishing. Most group blogs are monochromatic, literally and figuratively. Hurray for this group for shaking things up!

Guest blogger Lauren Fitata reviews Unsigned Hype

We have a guest blogger today: Lauren Fitata, a young lady with a book review. Please leave Lauren a comment to let her know if you found her review informative. She gives Unsigned Hype 3.5 stars and has this to say:

Unsigned Hype

By Booker T. Mattison

I would say that this is an average book, it was great in some parts and sometimes it was just went down a little. It's not really the type of book I would have chosen for recreational reading but I'm not lying, it was an interesting story. In some parts of the book I liked when Tory was deejaying at the block parties. Sometimes interesting things happened. Like when they heard gun shots and he bent down to protect Precious (His friend).

The book made me feel...happy, in some ways, and kinda scared and anxious when bad things happened. The book made me think about the things that happens in the hood, like when Tory's dad died before he was born because of a gang who beat him to death.

The story is about a 15 year old DJ that produces music and mixes up beats with old school music from waaaay before he was born. His partner is Fat mike who takes credit of all the music since Tory is to young to do this. When they win the first challenge in the contest of the Unsigned Hype, they get to meet Mixmastermagic, which is the host of the contest and host of the famous radio station Power 97. In the last round, Tory's opponent, BANGUPBLACK wins the first round of the contest, and they end up being partners for the last show together. Bangup is the rapper, and Tory is the producer of the music. In the end they all get to be what they've wanted to do all their life, Be A Famous Music Star!

Let me tell you a little about the main characters: Tory, BangupBlack, Mixmastermagic, Precious Lord, and her father, Mr. Lord.

Tory, the main character in the story, is a fifteen year old, goin' on sixteen, with a dream of becoming a famous producer of music. BangupBlack is a rapper who won the Unsigned Hype contest. Mixmastermagic, is the host of the Unsigned Hype, and he's also host of his show on Power 97. Precious Lord is Tory's friend from church, she is very polite with Tory, and He falls in love the moment he lays his eyes on her.Mr. Lord, Preciou's father, is technically Tory's ticket to being able to go to the Unsigned Hype, and his teacher.I think this would be good for readers who like recreational books, since it has somthing to do with music. The grade level should be around, middle school, I guess, from 5-8th grade, I would say, so you can understand it. Well that was all I could think of, and again, I really liked most of it! I give it three and a half stars!