AALBC.com eNewsletter - March 15th 2005

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NEW SERVICES FROM AALBC.com

Advertise your book or company on both the Mosaicbooks.com and AALBC.com web sites — one fantastic rate, two leading websites! Our advertising campaigns provide you with real-time reports, a simple pricing structure, and the ability to reach a large, but targeted audience very quickly. Visit http://aalbc.com/adbanner.htm or call 866-603-8394 for more information.

Commission a book review from AALBC.com; not only will your review be featured on the AALBC.com web site, but it will also appear in QBR: The Black Book Review magazine. Visit http://reviews.aalbc.com/reviewer_guidlines.htm for more information.

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AALBC.com BESTSELLING BOOKS JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2005
http://books.aalbc.com/bestsellers.htm

Fiction

1 - Chocolate Flava: The Eroticanoir.com Anthology, Zane (Editor)
2 - Gettin' Buck Wild: Sex Chronicles II, Zane (Editor)
3 - A Hustler's Wife by Turner, Nikki
4 - Some People, Some Other Place by J. California Cooper
5 - A Project Chick by Turner, Nikki

Nonfiction

1 - Hallelujah! The Welcome Table by Maya Angelou
2 - Race Matters by Cornel West
3 - Becoming Dad; Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood by Leonard Pitts
4 - Slavery and the Making of America by James Oliver Horton, Lois E. Horton
5 - Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West

To view the entire of bestsellers list visit http://books.aalbc.com/bestsellers.htm

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RECENT AALBC.COM BOOK REVIEWS, ARTICLES & VIDEOS
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/book_reviews.htm

Remembering Ossie Davis, With Love by Jamie Walker
http://reviews.aalbc.com/remembering_ossie_davis.htm

Harlem, New York—Thousands of mourners packed The Riverside Church in Harlem on Saturday, February 12, 2005 to pay final respects to Ossie Davis—acclaimed actor, writer, producer, director, cultural griot, tireless civil rights activist, righteous warrior, and divine human being—who died of natural causes on Feb. 4 while working on a film called “Retirement” in Miami. Davis was 87 years old when he made his transition.

Watch a video of an AALBC.com Literary Salon featuring Toby Thompkins
mms://media.writersandpoets.com/writersandpoets/AALBC_Salon_Toby_Thompkins.wmv

Thomkins read from and discussed The Real Lives of Strong Black Women: Transcending Myths, Reclaiming Joy. In this warm, sensitive and straightforward self-help guide for African American women, Toby Thompkins explores the triumphs, struggles and lessons necessary to transcend the stereotypes and overcome the consequences of being a "strong black woman." Culled from interviews with both black women and black men from all walks of life, the personal stories Thompkins uses to illustrate his ideas and communicate his healing message illustrate the costs involved in measuring up to this archetypal image, one of the most powerful and enduring in American society.

Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition
http://books.aalbc.com/african_american_art.htm

Ninety years after W.E.B. Du Bois first articulated the need for “the equivalent of a black Encyclopedia Britannica,” Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., realized his vision by publishing Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience in 1999. This new multi-volume edition of the original work expands on the foundation provided by Africana. More than 4,000 articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religion, ethnic groups, organizations and countries on both sides of the Atlantic.

Lackawanna Blues - Reviewed by Brian Egeston
http://reviews.aalbc.com/lackawanna.htm

On February 12th 2005, many television viewers had the opportunity to witness another amazing celebration of the Black women, and a celebration of the extended Black family, during the television debut of Lackawanna Blues presented by HBO Films.

Hitch - Reviewed by Michael Dequina
http://reviews.aalbc.com/hitch.htm

Will Smith has proven to be such an immensely charismatic, easily likable, and effortlessly charming star in a variety of media, I always wondered why no one ever thought to cast him as a romantic lead. Now, after finally seeing him extend these qualities and his impeccable timing in the vastly enjoyable HITCH, it's downright unfathomable that it took so long for someone to use him in such a capacity, as he is as much a natural handling romantic comedy as he is saving the world on Fourth of July weekend.

Handling Your Finances – Lessons from an Author in Transition by Lynnette Khalfani
http://reviews.aalbc.com/handling_your_finances.htm

Little did Parks [Electa Rome Parks] know, though, that her unforeseen downsizing in 2003 would actually serve as a catalyst for her biggest career blessing to date. As it turns out, getting the axe from Bank of America cut Parks off from corporate America, but it jumpstarted her literary career: Six months after receiving a pink slip, Parks went from part-time writer to full-time author, landed a high-profile literary agent, and got a six-figure book deal with a major publishing house.

Read this article to learn the lessons Parks learned from recovering from her lay-off, printing on demand, self-publishing and making the transition to becoming a mainstream author.

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MARCH 2005 RELEASES
http://books.aalbc.com

Playing My Mother's Blues by Valerie Wilson Wesley
http://authors.aalbc.com/valeriewilsonwesley.htm

In her triumphant new novel, bestselling author Valerie Wilson Wesley, one of the most respected and acclaimed voices in contemporary African American fiction, poignantly examines the stubborn bonds of family, passion, and a past that insists on repeating itself.

The Black Woman: An Anthology edited by Toni Cade Bambara
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743476972/ref=nosim/aalbccom-20

When it was first published in 1970, The Black Woman introduced readers to an astonishing new wave of voices that demanded to be heard. In this groundbreaking volume of original essays, poems, and stories, a chorus of outspoken women -- many who would become leaders in their fields: bestselling novelist Alice Walker, poets Audre Lorde and Nikki Giovanni, writer Paule Marshall, activist Grace Lee Boggs, and musician Abbey Lincoln among them -- tackled issues surrounding race and sex, body image, the economy, politics, labor, and much more. Their words still resonate with truth, relevance, and insight today.

Also visit http://books.aalbc.com to view a complete list of books coming out over the next 6 months.

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THUMPER RECOMMENDS

G-Spot: An Urban Erotic Tale by Noire
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345477219/ref=nosim/aalbccom-20

You all can't be as shocked as I am that I read G-Spot: An Urban Erotic Tale by Noire. Well I did and I have to say that I loved it! The novel read like a novel that Gary Hardwicke and Zane would write together. The novel is about a young girl, Juicy, who gets caught up in The Life as the woman of THE gangsta in Harlem named G. G has Juicy on LOCK DOWN on all facets of her life. But, as you all know, alll good things MUST come to an end for G because Juicy starts earning freedom, physically, emotionally, and sexually. Pretty soon she's not able to stop herself, even though she's well aware of the price she could pay, because even her poon poon belongs to G. Juicy busted loose and all sorts of thangs goes to hell in an hand basket.

I was more than impressed with G-Spot because it is one of the first "hip hop" novels that is written well, makes a semblence of sense, and walks down the path that Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines carved out. I've been having Iceberg Slim on my mind lately because I'm still reading Iceberg Slim: The Life as Art, which is deep--truly a fine work of literary criticism on Slim's literary work. While G-Spot doesn't have the same social significance that is in Iceberg Slim's works, its a fine starting point to where "hip hop" fictional literature could go. If you are one of the few who haven't heard of G-Spot, I recommend that you check it out.

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AALBC.com RECOMMENDS

In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience by Howard Dodson and Sylviane A. Dioue
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0792273850/ref=nosim/aalbccom-20

A major work of cultural history, from the world-renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, In Motion traces the movement of African-Americans throughout the United States and documents how migration shaped their culture and the nation as a whole. With specially commissioned maps showing the four major periods of migration, and compelling photographs of African-Americans searching for a new life.

Ma Dear’s Old Green House
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0940975556/ref=nosim/aalbccom-20

Ma Dear’s Old Green House, a picture book written by Denise Lewis Patrick and illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler (published by Just Us Books, Inc.) was awarded the Children’s Book of the Year honor by the African American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Wu-Tang Manual: Enter the 36 Chambers, Volume One
http://hiphopbookclub.com/bookz.htm

Since the release of the revolutionary Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) — over the course of four seminal group albums and a multitude of ambitious side projects — the Wu-Tang Clan has constantly redefined what hip-hop can do and where hip-hop can go. Now, after a decade of dark beats and mysterious lyrics hinting at a larger whole, the RZA, the abbot of the legendary Staten Island hip-hop collective, fully reveals, for the first time, the complex, multilayered Wu-Tang Universe in THE WU-TANG MANUAL.

BlacksandBooks.com
http://www.blacksandbooks.com

Target Market News and Black Issues Book Review form strategic alliance to create news and information source

(February 1, 2005) BlacksandBooks.com, a new information Web site, has been launched to target those who want authoritative business information about African-American authors, publishers and booksellers. The new venture brings together Target Market News and Black Issues Book Review magazine in a strategic alliance.

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THE POWER OF BLOGS - A LIST OF INTERESTING BLOGS

If you are an author, or know of an author, who has published a web log or Blog — let us know (email: troy@aalbc.com). We will continue to provide a list of interesting Blogs on our newsletters. If you don't know what a Blog is; visit AALBC.com's founder's new Blog at http://aalbc.com/blog

Triangle Offense Newsletter - La Caille Nous Publishing
http://www.lcnpub.com/newsletter.htm

Originally a printed newsletter, the Triangle Offense is an online informative and interactive publication, which promotes the writings of graduate students, employees of community-based organizations, and aspiring journalists and creative writers.

The POWER journal
www.thepowerjournal.blogspot.com

What is The POWER journal? The POWER journal blog is an addendum to my website (www.waset.net) and a sanity maintenance tool for me when "the man" and others get to trippin'. The POWER journal is also the name of my book: The POWER journal -Chronicles of a Revolutionary Black Woman in White America. BUY IT!

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AN AUTHOR YOU SHOULD KNOW

Mister Mann Frisby
http://authors.aalbc.com/mister_mann_frisby.htm

Already a proven publishing phenomenon in the exploding category of urban fiction with his debut novel Blinking Red Light, Mister Mann Frisby is back and better than ever with his new novel WIFEBEATER (Riverhead Freestyle Trade Paperback; $13.00; March 2005). Once again, Frisby delivers a gritty story with a cast of unforgettable characters that are as real as they come.

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Interesting Discussion Board Posts (we discuss other things besides books)
http://www.thumperscorner.com/cgi/discus/discus.cgi

Interesting Discussion Board Posts

Their Eyes Were Watching God: The Film
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/1/2096.html?1110210749

"For those of you who were around this spot when news came down that Oprah had bought the movie rights for the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, you may remember that I was ticked, and with good reason. After the terrible job Oprah did with her movie version of The Wedding by Dorothy West by miscasting (thereby ruining the very backbone of the novel); I damn well did not want her hands on Their Eyes Were Watching God."
—Thumper, Discussion Board Moderator

An Article on the Black "Street" novel
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/1/4092.html?1110603766

"My question is who’s reading these books? I’m assuming teenagers and 20-somethings. I can’t imagine 40/50 year old folks reading too much of this stuff. And if it’s mostly youngsters reading it I think it’s too soon to write them off by saying reading Toni Morrison is “too much of a jump” as stated at the end of the article. Maybe it is right now but just give them time. Some say ‘at least they’re reading’ is a cop out but I don’t agree. Reading can become a habit and if young folks get the habit eventually their choices will mature with them."
—Crystal, AALBC.com Platinum Poster

Dishin the Oscar Dirt
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/179/4151.html?1109888825

"...Chris Rock was confident and composed and - not that funny. Ol big-hipped Halle looked better than anyone else. Then there's Oprah. She needs to back off. It's Jamie's moment and she just couldn't resist drawing attention to herself by "taking him under her wing," and sharing his glory. Yes, she did look slim, but she also confessed to just coming off a diet that consisted of ingesting nothing but almonds and water. Almonds and water!? Whassup wid dat, girlfriend?..."
—Cynique, AALBC .com Platinum Poster

New Discussion Boards

Book & Black Cultural Event Information
Post your book or Black cultural event information here. You may upload photographs, link to your web site and include as much detail about your event as necessary -- basically you can build your own web page.

AALBC.com will also use the events board to look for information about interesting to include in our monthly newsletter. Soon, after entering your information, search engines like Google will have your event indexed for easy retrieval by web surfers – that is in addition to the thousands of people who regularly visit the AALBC.com discussion boards.

The Kool Room - Hosted by Kola Boof
The focus is books and current events. The atmosphere is laid back, progressive and anything goes.

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Contests
http://fun.aalbc.com/contest.htm

Recognize Any of These Authors?
February and March contest questions have been posted. A question from 2004 remains unanswered.

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EVENTS
http://events.aalbc.com/

Post your events on our Events Board. Include images, links and all the information you need to promote and inform others of about your event. Also, check out these terrific up coming events.

Third-annual National Book Club Conference - August 5-7, 2005 - Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.nationalbookclubconference.com/

Twice now, the National Book Club Conference has produced two of the most memorable and learning literary conferences ever. That's according to the 212 avid readers in 2003 and the 322 in 2004 -- and the more than 75 authors who have participated in the pair of events. So, why stop there? Plans are underway to assure that the third-annual National Book Club Conference is another bonanza that is bigger, but still intimate, fun and memorable. We provide the most exposure to your favorite authors than any other literary occasion.

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Peace,
Troy Johnson,
Founder AALBC.com

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Harlem, NY 10026

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