AALBC.com eNewsletter - Jan 25th 2005

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Fiction

1 - Let that Be the Reason by Vickie M. Stringer
2 - A Hustler's Wife by Turner, Nikki
3 - Chocolate Flava: The Eroticanoir.com Anthology by Zane (Editor)
4 - The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth by Zane
5 - A Project Chick by Turner, Nikki

1 - Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from His Native Land by Randall Robinson
2 - The Billion Dollar Bet: Robert Johnson and the inside Story of Black Entertainment Television by Brett Pulley
3 - On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of "Straight" Black Men Who Sleep With Men by James L. King
4 - Donald Writes No More: A Biography of Donald Goines by Eddie Stone
5 - The MIS-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson

Sonia Sanchez Performs �Full Moon� Concert in NYC by Jamie Walker
http://reviews.aalbc.com/fullmoon.htm

Poet Sonia Sanchez celebrated the release of her new CD called The Full Moon of Sonia (V.I.A. Recording Artists 2004) at The Tribeca Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan, New York on Friday December 17, 2004. Countless Sanchez supporters and followers from around the country came out to hear Sanchez perform with a live jazz band, a host of beautiful dancers, renowned guest artists, and phenomenal back-up singers, who strummed their sweet music around Sanchez�s words of peace, love, and freedom.

Flesh and the Devil: A Novel by Kola Boof Translated from the Arabic by Said Musa
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0971201978/aalbccom-20

Billed by the publisher as: "essentially the story of the Black Americans"...the novel unfolds like an tempestuous, languid snake dance, both in Africa and the United States..."abruptly" spanning several thousand years in the passionate, uncontrollable longing between one black man (Prince Shango Ogun) and one black woman (Princess Ife Ife). Encompassing everything from slavery to ancient homosexuality to women being raped by the Moon...the novel begins during West Africa's Story of Creation and from there shows off the thriving kingdoms of West Africa before moving on to the Atlantic Slave Trade and finally...to modern day Black Americans in Washington, D.C. and Sag Harbor--at which point the dark skinned African Prince and Princess have now become "light skinned" Americans named Shane Roberts and RooAmber Childress--both married to white people. It's a sensuous, melodramatic, brutally VIOLENT novel made high pitch by showy characters like the glamorous Queen Ambi, the heroic King Katanga, Shane's modern day "white wife" Rosaria and RooAmber's tender homosexual protector in both ancient and modern times--Dinari--who has a romance of his own.
 

Ride or Die by Solomon Jones

Seventeen-year-old Keisha is the beautiful, sheltered daughter of an activist pastor with a checkered past. Handsome, ambitious Jamal-a street-savvy crack dealer-is the son of North Philly's most notorious drug kingpin. A history of violence and betrayal lies between their fathers, who are now bitter enemies. After one of his church members is gunned down-with a bullet he is sure is meant for him-Pastor Anderson goes after Frank Nichols, determined to drive him from the neighborhood for good. There's just one problem: Keisha and Jamal are in love.

When the families face off on opposite sides of an anti-drug demonstration, a high-ranking police official is killed in the crossfire, and Jamal becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Keisha is left with a choice. Will she stay with her father, in the confines of the sheltered world she's known, or will she venture into the unknown in order to help Jamal clear his name? She chooses Jamal, and in a whirlwind flight across the seamy underside of Philadelphia, Keisha will risk everything for love. Even her life.
 

The Last King: A Maceo Redfield Novel  by Nichelle Tramble
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375758828/aalbccom-20

Tramble follows The Dying Ground (2001) with another Maceo Redfield mystery. After two years, Maceo returns to Oakland at the urging of his aunt Cissy. Basketball star and childhood friend Cotton has been arrested for murder after a dead woman was found in his hotel room. Maceo agrees to investigate in order to help his best friend and Cissy's former lover, Jonathon "Holly" Ford. Drugs, violence, and the world of professional sports all come together in this high-energy account of what happens when the kings and queens of the streets put their cards on the table. Maceo quickly discovers that he can't trust the people he knows, and he has to trust those he doesn't know. In true Donald Goines fashion, Tramble tells her own story about loyalty and betrayal in the urban streets.
�Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved
 

Schooling Carmen by Kathleen Cross

Carmen DuPr� knows she's one fine-looking woman -- and any man who insists on making a fool of himself over her deserves the heartless treatment she's so good at dishing out. As far as Carmen's concerned, being gorgeous entitles her to anything she wants: an undeserved promotion, expensive gifts, courtside Lakers tickets, and more. But the results of a routine medical exam threaten to knock this beauty off her pedestal -- she might have to trade her looks for her life. Is a life without beauty worth living? Carmen's not so sure -- which is why she's risking hers by ignoring her doctor's advice. Then one day a very sexy stranger walks into her world, insisting there's a whole lot more to Carmen Dupr� than what's on the surface -- and he's dishing out some serious schooling in a few subjects Carmen knows little about -- like faith and hope ... and love.
 

Last Bad Decision by Paula Edwards
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0975563009/aalbccom-20

Meet Chancey. From the good looks and a charm that would make even a Christian girl fall to her knees, to the flamboyant lifestyle, thanks to his boy Rondell, one of the most successful drug dealers the Jordan Down Projects has ever seen, Chancey�s got it going on.

He�s young and promiscuous with an "I don�t care" attitude, so, many seem to think. But in actuality, Chancey has his head on straight and cares about more than one could ever imagine, starting with his baby sister Setchi. He takes on the responsibility of raising her, and goes through hell to keep her on the right track. He appreciates his best friend Kaylin, and promises to build a better future for the two of them one day. And Tia, he�s in love with her; she�s the only girl he�s willing to change for until Rondell steps in with a vengeance, on a mission to get rid of her, whatever the cost!
 

In this sequel to his acclaimed "urban masterpiece" (The Philadelphia Inquirer), the national bestseller Dead Above Ground, Jervey Tervalon's unforgettable heroine, Lita Du Champ, is at loose ends, trying to hold house and home together. Ten years after she, her husband, their children, and her twin sisters moved to Los Angeles, the past comes back to haunt her. An unwelcome phone call reveals that Lita's estranged father is on his deathbed and that her aunt has seen Lita's beloved mother -- never mind that the woman has been dead for a decade. Overwhelmed by long-suppressed memories, Lita realizes that she must return to New Orleans to come to terms with her history, but as she makes the journey a growing sense of dread takes root in her soul. She's certain there will be no simple return to the life she led in Los Angeles.
 

A Job Ain't Nothing but Work: Confessions of a Corporate Negro by Emanuel Carpenter

This office based book documents the stupidity that people endure when going through the process of finding, working, and losing a job. Carpenter discusses creative ways of dealing with a range of topics such as receiving rejection letters, using the bathroom at work, understanding the psychos you call co-workers, getting sentenced to a cubicle, the consequences of not being a "team player," getting fired, plotting your revenge, and many other side splitting topics that are sure to keep you bent over with laughter.
 

Althea by Linda Watkins

The story of a thin lipped, freckled face, light skinned little girl who struggles to understand what it means to be any shade of black.

In 1962, Aunt Darnella was one of the few colored people who lived in Clifton Heights, the white gaslight district of Cincinnati. Perhaps that is why, one Friday night, two blocks from her apartment, she was murdered. They found her blood-soaked body under a lamp post. Since, I was only five years old at the time, it took Mama all Saturday night, to make me understand, though, that my Aunt Darnella was gone with the angels--"Gone up to heaven."�Excerpted from Chapter One
 

Barbara A. Robinson
http://authors.aalbc.com/barbararobinson.htm

Barbara is the author of three books.  "Eyes of the Beholder"  is about ten women who have gone through many trials, experienced many obstacles and overcame many hurdles such as racism, child abuse, domestic violence, drug abuse, criminal activity including murder, broken hearts, infidelity and many more society ills.   "Yes You Can" is a  book on entrepreneurship.  "And Still, I Cry" is an autobiography of the author�s life.  It�s the story of a troubled childhood and young adulthood. The book talks about a rocky road of sex and drugs.

Tino Adognravi
http://authors.aalbc.com/tino.htm

Author of The Way It Was Coming to America: the Real Story; Tino describes how he made the transition from a small village in Africa to founding a successful  corporation, Global Market Sales Corporation, here in America. Tino Adognravi shares his experience from his poverty stricken homeland country of Togo (W. Africa) to circumstances that led to his coming to America.