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AALBC.com eNewsletter - November 10th, 2003 |
| Celebrating Our Literary Legacy! |
Did You Know?
AALBC.com is the highest ranked, most frequently visited site dedicated to promoting Blacks books and authors on the world wide web. Alexa.com a web site ranking service consistently ranks AALBC.com at the top of all websites in the genre. Earthlink lists AALBC.com as one of the "top 100" destinations for African Americans. Over 2,000 other sites link to AALBC.com. We consistently get over 2,000,000 hits per month. Visit http://aalbc.com/website.htm for more information.
RECENT AALBC.COM BOOK REVIEWS
If you looking for a good book or one to avoid, check out AALBC.com's book
reviews
 The
Known World by Edward P. Jones - Reviewed by Thumperhttp://www.aalbc.com/reviews/theknownworld.htm "The Known World is literary classic. The novel centers on the life of a former slave who became a slave owner. The Known World come closest to the mythical "great American novel". I could apply more adjectives to the following statement, but I'm going to keep it short, simple and sweet: The Known World is a masterpiece and a magnificent work of art." |
 Black
Swan by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon reviewed by Rondall Brasherhttp://www.aalbc.com/reviews/blackswan.htm "The collection is as personal as any poetry as I have ever read. It is instilled with the particularly feminine alchemy of endurance. Van Clief-Stefanon's stories are told in the first person. This would normally have a tendency to build monotony, but her delivery is entrancing. I found myself creating an identity with her and I grew deeply concerned about the treachery and violations inflicted upon her." |
 Mojo:
Conjure Stories edited by Nalo Hopkinson reviewed by Thumperhttp://aalbc.com/reviews/mojo_conjure_stories.htm "Mojo: Conjure Stories, edited by author Nalo Hopkinson is an excellent anthology of short stories that include the occult, folktales and voodoo. The common threads connecting each of the 19 stories are variations on the themes of the unpredictability and cruelty of human nature -- the heartbreak and pain that come with living life. Every entry in Mojo: Conjure Stories is outstanding, making the anthology simply unforgettable."
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TWO BOOKS FROM ST MARTIN'S PRESS
Use
Me or Lose Me: A Novel of Love, Sex, and Drama
http://writers.aalbc.com/stmartinspress.htm#Use Me
by Maryann Reid
The fabulously fine, Farah Washington first appeared in Sex and the Single Sister. A junior correspondent to NBC News, she has always taken the fast track to love and success. Now she's determined to climb to the top of the media ladder, and she's willing to use every weapon in her considerable arsenal to do so. Then Farah meets Lenox Whitworth, a powerful, oh-so-fine lawyer who steps in to negotiate the station's contracts. But what he sees in her is the kind of sophisticated woman he needs and wants on his arm, in his life and in his bed. And Farah, sensing a prime opportunity, allows this powerful, handsome brother, to truly introduce her to the wicked indulgences of the rich and glamorous as he influences her career behind the scenes. They both believe that they've got a handle on a good thing, but they're both about to realize that they've met their match in each other.
Filled with love, sex, drama and glamour, Farah and Lenox take you on a wild ride.
One
Day I Saw a Black King
http://writers.aalbc.com/stmartinspress.htm#One Day
by J. D. Mason
Read an AALBC.com review by Thumper
"He stared at himself in the mirror, wondering how he'd managed to lose track of time. Complacency had managed to set in again. . . A decent job, warm home, food on the table, and a body to curl up next to at night; he'd made the mistake of getting comfortable. Comfort fooled him into thinking it was all good when it wasn't. Damn nightmares had a way of reminding him of that."
Ever since he was fifteen, John King has been on the run from the ghosts of his past, always drifting, never settling down in one place or with one woman, though more than one has certainly made the offer of forever-after. But every time his memories of life back in Texas start to haunt him too deeply into the night, John realizes that it's time to move on. That is, until he rolls into Denver, Colorado, grooving to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It on," and meets Connie Rodgers, a woman who grew up on the mean streets and has the pain and the battle scars to prove it. And yet, she inspires him to think "If indeed there were a home for the perfect kiss, it would be on her lips." John is reluctant to admit that here is a woman who just may understand his very soul, even if she does have some baggage of her own. But both must face their pasts if they ever hope to be free to live and love.
Filled with completely unforgettable characters, One Day I Saw a Black King is a stunningly powerful story that explores the power of the past over the present, the search for love and belonging and the healing gift of an extraordinary love.
The
Alphabet Verses The Ghetto by Jessica Care Moore
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/096583087X/aalbccom-20
The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto (AVG) is the highly anticipated release from author jessica Care moore. A rich collection of poetry and prose divided into three chapters of resistance, love and survival. In the midst of all the hype with this art form called poetry, jessica Care moore takes time to flex her opinions and obvious growth as a writer inside these pages. The AVG is a great contribution to the future of American poetry. With call to action poems, like, "Joseph," and "Epilogue," to honest sometimes haunting love poems, like "Purple," and "Leaving Brooklyn," we get to know this poet like never before. "I got my momma's eyes and my daddy's guns."
Moore's first book Words Don't Fit In My
Mouth is one of the top selling books on AALBC.com.
AUTHORS TO CHECK OUT
 Eleanor
Taylor Blandhttp://authors.aalbc.com/eleanorbland.htm Creator of the Marti MacAlister Mystery Series. Bland's 11th contribution to this series will be released in December 2003. Bland has received the Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award, the Chester
A. Himes Mystery Fiction Award, and the Most Influential African
American of Lake County Award. She is a graduate of The College of Lake
County and Southern Illinois University with degrees in Accounting and
Education. She is a member of Mystery Writer's of America as well as a
charter member of Sisters in Crime and co-chair of The Outreach to
Authors of Color. She was also a 2001 Gold Pen Award Nominee. |
 Tayari
Joneshttp://authors.aalbc.com/tayarijones.htm Author of Leaving Atlanta "I was almost nine years old when the bodies of fourteen-year-old Edward Smith and thirteen-year-old Alfred Adams were discovered in Atlanta, beginning the official investigation of what became known as "The Atlanta Child Murders." Over the course of the next two years, at least twenty more African American children were murdered. Two of them were students at my elementary school." "As the survivors, we have a responsibility to tell the story. James Baldwin wrote about the murders in The Evidence of Things Not Seen. Toni Cade Bambara's opus, Those Bones are Not My Child also revisits this difficult period in Atlanta's history. But the time had come for someone of my generation, to tell the tale from the vantage point of the playground. This novel is a memorial to twenty-nine (or more) who did not survive and it the testimony of the thousands who will never forget." Leaving Atlanta wins the 2003 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the category of debut fiction. |
AALBC.com RECOMMENDS
Voices From the Gaps is a World Wide Web project that focuses on the lives and works of women writers of color in North America. The Voices project is made possible through an ongoing collaborative effort between faculty and students in the Department of English and the Program in American Studies at the University of Minnesota. In addition, this site relies upon students and scholars from around the world to contribute "author pages" for women writers of color.
coloredgirls.com is dedicated to a female audience of color passionate about books and writing. Inspired by the dearth of attention paid to female African American writers, save a handful of literary giants and hordes of post Terry McMillian popular fiction writers, coloredgirls.com seeks to challenge the recent publishing industry "discovery" that Black women read�and then take that "discovery" to the next level. Indeed, women of color as a whole are disregarded as serious readers. Not only are African American, Caribbean, South East Asian, Indian, Latina, Chicana, Native American and other women of color serious readers and writers, but we are not limited to a particular type of writing, nor are we limited to reading only about our selves.
coloredgirls is a space for the work of emerging and established writers, interviews with authors, and book reviews. Books about, by, and for women of color are highlighted -- along with anything else we find interesting in the world of words.
Women of color routinely defy the narrow scope that the publishing industry has determined to be of interest to us as readers and writers. The sci-fi success of Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson; the literary fiction of Edwidge Danticat, Chitra Banerjee DivaKaruni, and Mai Ng; the memoirs of Esmeralda Santiago, Asha Bandele, and Waris Dirie; and the critical essays of Julia Alvarez, Gayatri Spivak and bell hooks all attest to the fact that we are reading and writing myriad things.
If you know about another web site our reader should know about, tell us about it. If we agree, we'll share the information in our eNewsletter. Send web sites to us booksites@aalbc.com
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BOOKS PLANED FOR PUBLICATION DECEMBER 2003 http://books.aalbc.com/ Visit our books section for links which allow you to search for new releases, by month of publication, of books by or about African-Americans. Or if you prefer to search for books by author. Visit our "complete" author list for a list of books by over 800 authors. |
LITERARY EVENTS CALENDAR
http://www.aalbc.com/events/
Our events calendar allows visitors to learn about up coming African American literary events. Visitors may even post their own events and include a link back to their web site. If you don't have a web site AALBC.com can build one for you; simply fill out the form on our web site at http://www.aalbc.com/events/
Here are just a couple of events coming up soon:
Gems in the Rough: Literary Showcase of Self Published Authors
November 15, 2003 TIME: 8:30AM - 4:30PM Keynotes: Ms. Audrey Bell-Kearney (Author, Publisher, TV & Radio Host), Mr. Omar Tyree (Author, Publisher & Film Producer) and Mr. Dan Poynter (Author, Publisher & Book Consultant) Admission: Showcased Authors - $180.00 / Book Vendor - $80.00 / General Admission - $5.00 Food - Morning Pastries & Banquet Luncheon Contact - Jolynn Mata, 704-604-1729 or Ahmad Daniels, 704-503-4969 / email ab_inito@jallenmata.com, Internet: http://www.abinito.com
Celebration of Langston Hughes - Monday, December 29, 2003
Celebration of Langston Hughes on WHUR-FM with the Office of D.C. Poet Laureate. Featuring Poet Laureate of Washington, D.C. Dolores Kendrick, E. Ethelbert Miller and Novelist Yolanda Young. Tune in on WHUR-FM or www.whur.com @ midnight
THE COFFEE WILL MAKE YOU BLACK ON-LINE READING
GROUP
http://thumperscorner.com/Reading_List.htm
December
2003 Selection
The Coffee Will Make You Black reading group is currently reading West of Rehoboth by Alexs D. Pate
Our chat session is scheduled for Sunday, Dec 14th, 2003 at 6:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time . If you have already read West of Rehoboth, and would like to participate in our on-line chat session; please join us in our chat room http://www.thumperscorner.com/chat/
Visit http://thumperscorner.com/Reading_List.htm to view the rest of The Coffee Will Make You Black on-line reading group's reading list for 2003
AALBC.com DISCUSSION BOARDS
http://www.thumperscorner.com/cgi/discus/discus.cgi
For live discussions visit AALBC.com's discussion boards. You'll find Thumper's Corner where you may exchange views with authors, avid readers on anything related to African-American literature and publishing. There is the an increasingly popular discussion board on Culture, Race and Economy where you'll find controversial, informative and often humorous, exchanges on the subject. The Poetree discussion board allows visitors to share and solicit feedback on poems and exchange information related to poetry.
CONTESTS
http://fun.aalbc.com/contest.htm
We have not run a context all year; so we've decided to make up for lost time! The prizes are packed up and ready to go all that is needed is the name of the address of a winner - maybe you! Visit out contest page to win a book or other prize.
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Interested in having AALBC.com promote your book or
business? |
Peace,
Troy Johnson,
Founder AALBC.com
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