This Summer Sizzles With the Launch Of Kimani
Romance™! Bestselling Authors Pen Sophisticated and Sexy Novels for the
World’s Only African-American Romance Series.
NEW YORK, NY (August 2006) KIMANI PRESS, the
new home of the highly acclaimed ARABESQUE, SEPIA, and NEW SPIRIT imprints
at Harlequin Enterprises Limited brings audiences four new passion-filled
novels each month with the launch of KIMANI ROMANCE™, a series destined to
win the hearts and minds of romance readers around the world.
Conspiracy theorists disappointed with formerly
iconoclastic filmmaker Oliver Stone for failing to explore any of the
controversies surrounding 9/11 in World Trade Center might have a new
hero in director
Spike Lee. For Spike, in his HBO documentary, When the Levees Broke,
gives vent to a panoply of paranoid notions about who’s to blame for the
flooding of New Orleans and the subsequent abandoning of its citizens
for days on end.
Early on in part one of this incendiary, four-hour
documentary, interviewees from the lower Ninth Ward repeatedly refer to
hearing a loud explosion during the storm, the implication being that a
levee was deliberately detonated. Unfortunately, the film fails to
supplement this anecdotal evidence with any tangible proof of tampering,
leaving the discerning viewer believing that the breach was likely
caused by the category-five hurricane after all.
As
John A. Williams, that black titan of letters, often says “there can
never be enough political novels written by our community,” the number
of fiction devoted to this topic has dwindled but other international
communities have kept steps. One of the most accomplished, remarkable
fictional works, Beasts of No Nation, comes from a first time
author, Uzodinma Iweala, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate who lives on
these shores and Lagos, Nigeria. While the writer notes that he was
inspired by a Newsweek feature about child soldiers and their
frequently violent warrior zeal, Iweala delves into the cultural and
psychological complexities of the young boys and girls forced into
battle and bloodshed.
Rather than play favorites by picking which
remembrance affected me most deeply, suffice to say that I found my eyes
welling up on more than one occasion. For, again and again, I recognized
some aspect of my own experience in these distinctly African-American
tableaus, and couldn’t help but acknowledge my own debt of gratitude to
my recently-departed father who had overcome considerable adversity to
put all five of us kids through college on a blue-collar salary, while
remaining married to my mother for over 50 years till the day he died.
In sum, without any pretense, Color Him Father serves
up an encouraging diversity of authentic anecdotes about some humble
souls men just being the nurturers and providers that they naturally
are. A long overdue tribute to the fading memory of the men of the Best
Black Generation.
Enough:
The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are
Undermining Black America — and What We Can Do About It by Juan
Williams - Reviewed by Kam Williams
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/enough.htm
Williams, a columnist at the Washington Post for 21 years
and a frequent guest on National Public Radio as a senior correspondent,
is currently best known for his appearances as a panelist on the Fox
News Channel. While he ostensibly serves as a counterbalance to the
right-wing network's parade of neo-cons, any casual observer of his
deferential demeanor on Fox can easily infer that his true leanings tend
to be more middle-of-the-road than liberal. Plus, his son, Antonio, is
an up-and-coming Republican in the District of Columbia.
So, it comes as no surprise, that the political pundit
would now hijack Cosby's theme to use it as the cornerstone of a
diatribe which basically blames African-Americans themselves and their
Democratic leaders for the assortment of ills which still beset the
community. Williams has rather harsh words for everyone from Reverend
Jesse Jackson to Julian Bond to reparations advocate
Randall Robinson to former mayors Sharpe James (Newark) and Marion
Barry (Washington, DC). But he reserves perhaps his cruelest criticism
for Reverend Al Sharpton whom Juan alleges to be an opportunist financed
by Republicans, an FBI informant, a con artist with a cocaine problem, a
self-serving charlatan, a front man for predatory lenders, and more.
Jessamy Harrison is an eight year-old, Afro-British girl,
who writes haiku, reads Shakespeare, and just skipped a grade in school.
Jess' parents -- a Nigerian writer mother and a British accountant
father -- willingly live in a comfortable, hazy world of their own
creation. But can their two disparate worlds exist in serene unity?
Somewhere in this raggedy mix there is a combustible element that
ignites struggles between white and black, light and dark, ancient and
modern, technology and primitivism. One partner in these dances must
die.
The Icarus Girl is almost transcendent, seamlessly
weaving the perspectives of Greek myth, Yoruba folklore and the
cosmopolitan sensibility of modern day London, into a suave, satisfying,
well-crafted psychological thriller. The Icarus Girl is an impressive
debut novel for any writer, but especially for 18 year-old Afro-British
author Helen Oyeyemi.
Blackface and minstrelsy have always been equal
opportunity employers and offenders. Sammy Davis Jr. did the blackface
thing along with Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and most famously, Al
Jolson. The tradition is carried on today by entertainers like
Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and the entire Wayans family. Author
John Strausbaugh explores why this fascinating and repulsive phenomenon
continues to resonate in Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult &
Imitation in American Popular Culture. He states, "Blackface is still
alive. Its impact and derivations -- including Black performers in
"whiteface" can be seen all around us".
Once upon a time, prominent African-American athletes were inclined to
leverage their fame as a means of confronting racism. From Paul Robeson
to Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali to Jim Brown to Arthur Ashe to
Olympic medal-winners Tommie Smith and John Carlos, there is an abundant
legacy of commitment to the black community.
But judging by today’s socially-unenlightened crop of sports icons, one
might suspect that rich history of activism and advocating for the
underclass to be more fairy tale than fact. For the once-widespread
dedication to hard-fought, collective advancement has been all but
abandoned by the current generation of superstars, at least according to
William C. Rhoden, author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise,
Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete.
Born in Washington, DC on December 21, 1948, Samuel
Leroy Jackson made his film debut in 1972 in “Together for Days” while
still a student at Morehouse College. Jackson went on to receive
critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for his performance as
Jules, the philosophizing hitman in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
Here, Jackson talks about his current release, Snakes
on a Plane, where he’s an FBI Agent escorting an eyewitness to court
when all hell breaks loose after a ruthless assassin releases hundreds
of poisonous snakes at 30,000 feet over the Pacific. Even before the
flick hit theaters, the Internet was abuzz over one of his character’s
lines delivered with Sam’s trademark intensity, namely, "I’ve had it
with these motherf*cking snakes on this motherf*cking plane!"
Tautly edited, these grisly killings are
well-concealed and arrive accompanied by a well-synchronized, thunderous
burst from the score designed to elicit screams as you jump out of your
skin. Thus, although the film is filled with humorous asides and
targeted at teenagers, be forewarned that it easily earns its
well-deserved R rating, due to all the gratuitous gore, nudity, sex and
eroticized-violence.
I've been a documentary television producer for twenty years. Ten years
ago, I did an Emmy-winning documentary called "Secret Daughter"
which aired on PBS' FRONTLINE. It told the story of a little girl whose
father was a black entertainer and whose white mother was an aspiring
actress. The couple parted soon after the little girl was born, and when
the child grew too dark for the mother to pass her off as "white", she
left her to be raised by a black family in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
For the rest of her life, the child was shuttled between her "Aunt Peggy
and Uncle Paul" in Atlantic City; and to Los Angeles, where her mother
lived with her new stepfather, an actor who starred in a comedy series.
When the child visited her biological mother and stepfather, she was
introduced as their adopted daughter. Most people found it an
unbelievable story. I didn't, for the simple fact that the story is my
own.
In his latest novel,
Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure
That Are Undermining Black America — and What We Can Do About It,
inspired by Bill Cosby's now famous speech at the
NAACP gala celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Brown decision
integrating schools; Williams makes the case that while there is still
racism, it is way past time for black Americans to open their eyes to
the "culture of failure" that exists within their community. He raises
the banner of proud black traditional values-self-help, strong families,
and belief in God-that sustained black people through generations of
oppression and flowered in the exhilarating promise of the modern civil
rights movement. Williams asks what happened to keeping our eyes on the
prize by proving the case for equality with black excellence and
achievement.
Elaine Meryl Brown, author of the critically
acclaimed debut novel Lemon City and the recently published
Playing by the Rules, is Vice President, Special Markets in Creative
Services at HBO, where her many responsibilities include On-Air
Promotion for HBO Family and HBO Latino, Off-Channel Subscriber
Acquisitions Campaigns, Segment Marketing and Brand Promotion for
Satellite Cable, and Content Creation for new media platforms. Prior to
HBO, Elaine was a Creative Director in Creative Services at Showtime
Networks. While at Showtime, Elaine also directed promotional campaigns
with stars, including Sidney Poitier, Angelica Huston and Louis Gossett,
Jr. She executive produced added value shows for Showtime Original
Pictures as well.
Mary B. Morrison, in 1999, decided to step out on faith
and quit her near six-figure government job with the Department of
Housing and Urban Development to become a writer saying, "I'd rather die
a failure, than to have lived and never known whether I would become a
success."
Today, Mary has also written, a non-fiction
self-help book entitled Who’s Making Love, a poetry book
entitled Justice Just Us Just Me, and several fiction novels,
Never Again Once More, He’s Just a Friend,
Somebody’s Gotta Be on Top, When Somebody Loves you Back,
Nothing Has Ever Felt like This (released August 1, 2006) and
is co-authoring a novel with New York Times best-selling author,
Carl Weber
Daniel B. Henderson Sr., a.k.a. Smokey “D”, comes to you
with his second book of poetry, Reflection of Love, Looking Deep Into
the Soul of You, after releasing his first book, The Heart of
Alkebulan (Africa), Sweet Drop of Honey in 1996. Daniel
continues to reside in Ashdown, AR. As he releases his second book of
poetical love expressions, he introduces poetic expressions and art
illustrations by his son, Daniel B. Henderson Jr., art illustrations by
his nephew Michael A. Starks Jr., Jimmie Hopkins and graphics work by
his brother Alvin L. Henderson a.k.a. Stone.
Daniel has a Bachelor’s and an Associate degree in
Business Administration, obtained from the East Texas State University
and Texarkana Community College at Texarkana, Texas and an Associate
degree in Health Care Management obtained from the Community College of
the Air Force.
I asked them to show me a really good book. I was told
that Daniel Black's book was enjoyed by everyone who read it. In fact,
one of the Brothers in the store said it was a really good book.
I was also told that older customers, on fixed income, that read the
galley -- still purchased the book to keep." —Troy, AALBC.com Founder
Nate was selected as a winner of the twenty-seventh
annual American Book Awards for 2006.
The American Book Awards, established in 1978 by the Before
Columbus Foundation, recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary
American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre.
The purpose of the awards is to acknowledge the excellence and multicultural
diversity of American writing.
"...her daring novel has the fire-breathing sass of Terry
McMillan's Waiting to Exhale and the soul-searching depth of Toni Morrison's
Beloved...honest and surprising and provocative...refreshing on a hot summer
day." —USA Today
The award-winning author of Dark Corner,
Thunderland, and Within the Shadows, Brandon Massey delivers a
chilling supernatural thriller of the ties that bind—-and dark secrets
written in the blood . . .
Good fortune has smiled upon Gabriel Reid
since the day he was born. Blessed with a loving family, educated in the
finest schools, he holds a senior position in his father’s successful
construction business in Atlanta. Engaged to a smart, beautiful woman and
standing to inherit the CEO mantle, Gabriel’s got it all. But he’s about to
meet someone who could change everything...
Raised on the mean streets of Chicago, Isaiah
Battle refused to succumb to the violence that claimed others in his
neighborhood. He’s forged his own identity from various influences, relying
on his strength of character in the face of adversity. He also relies on
another kind of strength-—and few who have witnessed Isaiah wield his dark
power have survived to tell the tale. . .
Now Isaiah has come to Atlanta to claim his
birthright—-as Gabriel’s half-brother from their father’s extramarital
affair. The news threatens to tear the Reid family apart as they struggle to
accept the stranger among them. But Isaiah, talented in ways no one ever
imagined, wants much more than acceptance. He wants what he believes is
rightfully his: everything Gabriel has. And he’ll let nothing stand in his
way. . .
The first 10 people to email
contest@aalbc.com, with their name
and mailing address, will win an autographed copy of The Other Brother,
courtesy of the author Brandon Massey.
2nd
Annual Capital BookFest
Saturday, October 7, 2006 from 10 am to 7 pm at
BLVD at the Cap Centre in Largo, MD
http://capitalbookfest.com
After a stellar inaugural Capital BookFest, attended
by over 1500 adults and children, The Washington Post presents the
Second Annual Capital BookFest.
This one day multi-cultural book festival will feature
author readings, panels, writing and publishing workshops, poetry
performances, live music, children's storytelling, and exhibitors from
the Washington Metropolitan area, celebrating the literary arts and
promoting literacy in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
Authors to appear include Marie Arana, Immaculee
Ilibagiza, Yaba Baker, Michelle Singletary, Juan Williams, Marita
Golden, Jabari Asim, Victoria Christopher Murray, Omar Tyree, Jason
Johnson, Deborah Owens, Victor McGlothin, Nina Foxx, Troy Johnson, Karyn
Langhorne, Delilah Winder, elena Patrice, Reuben Jackson, Kevin Wayne
Johnson, Pat Sluby, Dr. Charles Phillips, and many, many more.
RAWSISTAZ Literary Group was established in September 2000
and is committed to the support and promotion of books by, for and about
African-Americans. We currently have an online book club, a literary
hang-out for readers and writers with approximately 450 members across the
country, a review team called The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers with a repository of
over 3500 reviews, and local chapters in eight major cities. In addition are
our various newsletters with several thousand subscribers and our free site
services for authors. RAWSISTAZ is making an impact on the literary world
and continues to promote literature in a positive, uplifting way.
The RAWSISTAZ Affair is our annual face-to-face reunion/gathering with our
online and offline groups, authors, and literary friends. This year we will
celebrate 6 years of literary excellence and will hold our event in
Charlotte, NC., the "Queen City" of the South.
This year's theme is "Hanging With Our RAW Brothaz." We will be paying
special tribute to our male authors. With so many negative depictions of
black men in the media, we just want to show our Brothaz a little love, by
letting them know that we are proud of them, support them and appreciate
their contributions to the literary industry and in our communities.
ThumpersCorner.com, home to AALBC.com's The Coffee Will Make You Black
Online Reading Group, is being Revamped. Please visit
http://thumperscorner.com check out recommendations by Thumper and be
sure to visit our discussion board while you are there. Author
Kathleen
Cross describes Thumper's Corner one of our oldest and most popular
discussion boards:
Some real crabs
A few large oysters (the aphrodesiatic kind)
A couple of large, hot sausages (or so it is rumored)
A dash of sass-a-frass
A generous dusting of fresh black pepper
A cup or two of white rice
and several thin skinned chicken (you lurkers know who u r) heh heh
All fun aside, the daily conversation at Thumper's Corner offers generous
portions of entertainment and education. Sometimes it's one big hot food
fight, but even then it's delicious.
AALBC.com's
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Celebrating Our Literary Legacy! 
KIMANI
PRESS launches KIMANI ROMANCE™ Imprint
When
the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts
Beasts
of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala - Reviewed by
Robert Fleming
Color
Him Father: Stories of Love and Rediscovery of Black Men 
Enough:
The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are
Undermining Black America — and What We Can Do About It by Juan
Williams - Reviewed by Kam Williams
The
Icarus Girl By Helen Oyeyemi - Reviewed by Paige Turner
Black
Like You by John Strausbaugh, Foreword by Darius James - Reviewed by
Paige Turner
Forty
Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black
Athlete by William C. Rhoden - Reviewed by Kam Williams
Snakes
on the Plane (2006) Interview with Samuel L. Jackson
Snakes
on the Plane (2006) - Film Review
June
Cross
Juan
Williams
Elaine
Meryl Brown
Mary
B. Morrison
Daniel
Henderson
The
Legend Of Quito Road by Dwight Fryer
They
Tell Me of a Home by Daniel Black
Nate
by P. Lewis
Jump
at the Sun by Kim McLarin
The
Other Brother by
Brandon Massey
2nd
Annual Capital BookFest
The
RAWSISTAZ Affair - Hanging With Our RAW Brothaz
Peace, 