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AALBC.com eNewsletter - June 28th 2006

Celebrating Our Literary Legacy! 

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AALBC.com's BESTSELLING BOOKS FOR MAY & JUNE 2006
http://books.aalbc.com/bestsellers.htm

 
Fiction
#1 - Crystelle Mourning by Eisa Nefertari Ulen
#2 - The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth by Zane
#3 - Chasing Destiny by Eric Jerome Dickey
#4 - Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel by Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin, Kyle Baker (Illustrator)
#5 - Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns: Stories by J. California Cooper
Nonfiction
#1 - The Covenant with Black America by Tavis Smiley (Editor)
#2 - We Speak Your Names: A Celebration by Pearl Cleage
#3 - The Black Man in the Old Testament and Its World by Alfred G. Dunston, Jr.
#4 - Holla Back...but Listen First: A Life Guide for Young Black Men by Mister Mann Frisby
#5 -  Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance: Selections from the Work of Richard Bruce Nugent edited by Thomas Wirth
 

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

 
Two Great Ways to Ensure Your Book is Seen at the Harlem Book Fair

The Harlem Book Fair is expected to draw more than 50,000 people.  Maximize your book's exposure by utilizing one or both of these terrific products: African American Books That Click and Harlem World Magazine.  

Advertise in either and your book will be placed onto the AALBC.com homepage rotation from July 7th until September 4th!  Advertise in both and get a 10% discount in each!  The deadline for inclusion in both publications has recently been extended to July 1st, 2006.

African American Books That Click
http://aalbc.com/booksthatclick.htm

African American Books That Click is the first and only full-color, direct-to-consumer catalog to target African American readers where they are � in places like churches, hair salons and local neighborhoods. This quarterly catalog effectively promotes African-American authors and black-interest books at the grassroots level, unlike other book advertising vehicles on the market.

Harlem World Magazine's, Harlem Book Fair 2006 Commemorative Edition
http://aalbc.com/harlem_world_magazine_ads.htm

Advertise your book in Harlem World Magazine's, Harlem Book Fair 2006 commemorative edition. This issue will be the official program guide for the Harlem Book Fair to be held in Harlem NY on Saturday, July 22nd 2006.

The Harlem Book Fair 2006 commemorative issue is a first of it's kind, and is sure to be a collectors item. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to showcase your book to one of the largest gathering of book buyers in the country.

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

   
High Waters by Suzon Tropez
- Reviewed by Thumper
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/high_waters.htm

High Waters, a novel by Suzon Tropez, is a novel that I am unsure as to what the storyline or the point of the novel is. I think it is a novel about an older black businesswoman who faces obstacle after obstacle in her career quest. What I do know is that reading this novel was an exercise in dealing with frustration and aggravation. I finished this book with a crying yell, �Editor! Editor! My kingdom for an EDITOR!�

Nikki Charles is a mature black woman who loves her career. She�s smart, intelligent, and does her job extremely well, but along her climb to the top Nikki has made some enemies that she does not know she made. Her enemies are out to destroy Nikki and they will do whatever it takes to insure her downfall.

To say that I had my share of problems with High Waters is putting it mildly. I hated the book. How much you ask? Here, let me count the ways...

Halle Berry - The X-Men 3 Interview with Kam Williams
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/halle_berry.htm

With X-Men 3, Halle Berry is back on the big screen for the first time in two years, unless you count her voiceover work last year as Cappy in the animated feature Robots. The Oscar-winning actress, who turns 40 in August, had been out of the public eye for awhile, recently returned to the gossip pages after the paparazzi caught her canoodling with Canadian supermodel Gabriel Aubry.

The whirlwind romance with the broad-shouldered, 6�2� blond boy-toy reportedly began last December when the two fell in love while shooting some Versace ads together. This relationship comes on the heels of the bronze beauty�s brief fling with Michael Ealy, her cocoa-colored co-star in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

In the wake of her freshly finalized divorce last year from crooner Eric Benet, the two-time loser found herself fretting that maybe she just wasn�t marriage material, given her unfortunate track record of being victimized by infidelity and spousal abuse. Here, Halle opens up about reprising her role as Storm, about her biological clock ticking, about Oprah�s Legend�s Ball and she even updates us about her philandering ex-husband, but the coy cutie buttons her lips when it comes to her new beau.    

Mama Made the Difference: Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me - Reviewed by Kam Williams
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/mama_made_the_difference.htm

A collaboration, among the contributors who also share their poignant personal memoirs in this touching tome are Reverend Bernice King about her mother, Coretta; gospel great CeCe Winans about her mom, Delores; and former Secretary of State Colin Powell about his mother, Maud. If the good Bishop�s mission, here, was merely to let every mother know that their sacrifices matter, make a difference, and will forever be appreciated, well then, Mission Accomplished! 

Black Cops Against Brutality: A Crisis Action Plan by DeLacy Davis - Reviewed by Kam Williams
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/black_cops_against.htm

�The Vanishing Black Male� was the #1 documentary on my annual Top Ten List for 2005. That timely and thought-provoking picture seriously examined how guns, drugs, incarceration, suicide, and a host of other societal ills have collaborated to leave African-American men on the brink of extinction.

I start with this sidebar because one of the standouts of that groundbreaking film is Sgt. Delacy Davis, a recently-retired, 20-year veteran of the East Orange, NJ Police Department. Ever so eloquently, he bemoaned the breakdown of the black family while delineating the efforts of Black Cops Against Police Brutality (B-CAP), to support single-moms and their kids in an effective manner.

Don't Shoot! I'm Coming Out: How to Man-Up & Set Heterosexuals Straight by Ben Setfrey - Reviewed by Kam Williams
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/dont_shoot.htm

Benn proves to be quite a gifted writer, whether recounting the comical attempt of a female colleague to seduce him, or describing in vivid detail the terrible toll that freebasing cocaine and stealing his big sister�s bi-sexual boyfriend as a teenager took on his family. The bottom line is that he hopes to serve as inspiration to other gays by coming out of the closet and commanding respect because, as he puts it, �Being gay is not a lifestyle choice- living gay is. Living a lie is always an option, but why should I have to?� Indeed, why should he or anybody else have to?

Daryle Jenkins - The Klanbuster Interview with Kam Williams
http://aalbc.com/reviews/daryle_jenkins.htm

Everybody admires the bravery firemen exhibit by rushing into a burning building when the human survival instinct calls for exactly the opposite behavior. It is for similar reasons that you are likely to find Daryle Lamont Jenkins so fascinating, since this 37 year-old black man born in Newark devotes most of his free-time to monitoring the movements of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.

Expo brings book publishers together by Kelly Starling Lyons
http://events.aalbc.com/expo_brings_book_publishers_together.htm

Originally Published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 

Washington�Roland Barksdale-Hall stood in an aisle of the African American Pavilion at BookExpo America and smiled as he gazed at the scene around him.

On one side, award-winning publisher Just Us Books displayed titles that celebrated the beauty of Black children. On the other, Amber Communications Group Inc., the king of African-American self-help books, showcased a new book and other empowering releases. A walk down the rows of Black publishers and industry professionals revealed literary legends like Third World Press and emerging giants like African American Literature Book Club (aalbc.com).

 

EVENTS
http://events.aalbc.com

Harlem Book Fair - Volunteers Needed
http://events.aalbc.com/volunteers_needed.htm

Join In this Historical Event as a Volunteer!

It's time again for the Harlem Book Fair. The fair will be held on Saturday, July 22, 2006 from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. on 135th Street between Fifth Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Boulevard. Last year, CSPAN's BookTV, The New York Times, the Daily News, Time Out New York, the New York publishing community, and thousands of avid readers joined us in a historic celebration of books and American culture.

The Divoll Branch Library
Book Discussion Group

When: Friday, July 7, 2006 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Where: Divoll Branch of the St. Louis Public Library, 4234 N. Grand Ave. St. Louis, MO 63107

Will discuss the work of author Tananarive Due.  Have You Read: The Between, The Black Rose, Freedom in the Family, The Good House, Joplin's Ghost, The Living Blood, My Soul to Keep? Come and discuss them with us!

For questions contact: Chris Hayden,  Phone: 314-615-3633 (days), E-mail: belsidus2000@yahoo.com

 
INTERESTING DISCUSSION BOARD POSTS
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus

"Seriously, yo... My co-workers started lookin' over here like "WTF!?", 'cause I was laughin' so damn hard!"

Will the Publishing world ALLOW another Wright or Baldwin?
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/1/11953.html

"Today, I think it is easier for a Black woman to ascend to the stature of a "literary giant" than it is for a Black man. Because the literature of Black men is apt to critique White folks. While the literature of Black women is more apt to critique Black MEN." �Abm
 

Check out all of the past weeks conversations
http://www.thumperscorner.com/cgi/discus/search.cgi?method=last&number=7&units=1440&tree=ON&where=all

 
AALBC.com Recommends
 
The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty by Lawrence Otis Graham
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060184124/ref=nosim/aalbccom-20

This is the true story of America's first black dynasty.

Born a slave in 1841, Blanche Kelso Bruce became a local Mississippi sheriff, developed a growing Republican power base, amassed a real-estate fortune, and became the first black to serve a full Senate term. He married Josephine Willson, the daughter of a wealthy black Philadelphia doctor. Together they broke racial barriers as a socialite couple in 1880s Washington, D.C.

By befriending President Ulysses S. Grant, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and a cadre of liberal black and white Republicans, Bruce spent six years in the U.S. Senate, then gained appointments under four presidents (Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, and McKinley), culminating with a top Treasury post, which placed his name on all U.S. currency.

But in the end, the Bruce dynasty's wealth and stature would disappear when the Senator's grandson landed in prison following a sensational trial and his Radcliffe-educated granddaughter married a black Hollywood actor who passed for white.

By drawing on Senate records, historic documents, and the personal letters of Senator Bruce, Josephine, their colleagues, friends, children, and grandchildren, author Lawrence Otis Graham weaves a riveting social history that spans 120 years.

 
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