Troy

Shirley I don't really use LinkedIn, if you sent me a request to connect it is buried under thousands of others. I hope you do not take my failure to connect with you personally Rahm Emanuel is part of the problem. He will not fix the problem. I think you are treating him as if he where like you or I, a caring human being. Hi Tevin, thanks for contributing. Create an account to that I don't have to approve your posts manually. Chris with that definition of "family" I completely agree with you. The fact of the matter is that we are indeed all connected. Without even getting into all the metaphysical stuff, every person alive today has a common ancestor. We are all literally kin.

Yesterday I sent an email to my subscribers promoting Iyanla Vanzant's latest book. Iyanla was the first bestselling authors on AALBC.com. She is one of 2 or 3 authors who has been bestselling author on AALBC.com in both 998 and 2015. I've seen her in action a few times and she strikes me as down to earth, regular--despite her fame. After I send an email I just get feedback from folks, usually thanking me for the information. Below is a message, typical of one I usually receive, in reaction to the Iyanla mailing: “I knew nothing about it. And I love Iyanla! I have at least three of her books.” Here a two message on the other side of the spectrum. Now I do not recall ever getting a negative message in reaction to a specific author. Here are two message I received regarding Iyanla: “Please don't send me anything pertaining to this woman.” “Thank you, Troy. But I'm going to pass this up.” Again, people do not complain about authors I highlight in my eNewsletter. Now I don't expect people to like all the authors I cover, but people generally don't share their complains with me (though I wish they would). Shoot, I don't even like all the authors I promote--but I know others will. I image most people get this which may explain why I don't normally get complaints about the individual authors I cover. So if people went out their way to complain about Iyanla they must have really strong feeling about her. Anyone got any ideas?

Since Facebook has become "pay to play" for business pages, meaning you have to pay to have your posts seen. I've been reviewing my use of the platform including abandoning it altogether. One experiment I've been trying lately is to post messages about my website activity on my personal page, rather than my fanpage. I only have about 4,800 friends, less than 1/4 of the number of fans I have on my business page, but I'm finding that posts on my personal Facebook page are getting more engagement than the posts entered on the Facebook page for my business (AALBC.com). In fact, over the last couple of weeks I've been posting on the personal page, then sharing on the business page. I used to do it the other way around. Sometime early next year, after I collect more data, I'll see if this increased engagement has resulted in an increase in traffic to my website--which is the only reason I use Facebook. This might be a worthwhile thing to try--even if you don't have many friends. One downside is that you could risk losing the friends you have on Facebook by boring them to death with posts promoting your website/blog/business. This is a risk I'm more than willing to take, as Facebook is not how I engage my friends. I'm ole school, I'll visit, pick up a phone, or send a email or card.

“As long as we continue to wrap ourselves within the confines of our own selfishness, the cycle will repeat itself to extinction. Efforts must be made to educate young black minds, instead of feeding them to the Minotaur.” Absolutely! But, even if the best minds know what to do; they are crippled by an inability to execute. I had ideas on how I wanted my children to be raised, or even live my own life but then reality hit and I'm constantly improvising. The American culture pretty much undermines anything good we want to do. We know if is good to save money, but the culture is constantly screaming at you to consume. We know which food are best, but junk food is pushed to our children nonstop. Everybody knows smoking is lethal, but kids are the biggest Tobacco's biggest targets. Guys know it is not good to try to have sex with every women you meet, but sex is everywhere... What specifically can be done to educate young Black minds? The burden can't be just families, because those benefits only accrue to those families who do the right thing.

As part of the website upgrade, I'm greatly expanding the information on Book Clubs. In fact, I would like AALBC.com to be thought of as the "Book Club of Book Clubs" or maybe the "Book Club for Book Clubs." I'll sort the tag line out later, the most important thing is what is being added to the web. I have about 650 book clubs on AALBC.com. You can find a book club near you here: http://aalbc.org/bookclubs/ I plan to add the reading lists of as many book clubs as possible. I just added Go On Girl! Book Club's reading list: http://aalbc.it/goongirl2016 Also, all commissions earned from sales of books on the Go On Girl! Book Club's reading list will be donated to charity. Book Club information will be aggregated to provide value all readers. In fact, if you go to a book page (every book, on the new website, has its own page), it will tell you how many Book Club's have selected the book for their reading list. Check out the page for Barbara Ransby's book, Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson. There is a lot of potential here. No one is adequately reporting on, or addressing the needs of Book Clubs. Besides libraries, the few remaining book sellers, no other entity advocates for Black authors and books better than Book Clubs. Book Clubs help drive the demand for quality literature that tells our stories. The culture needs their support. _____ *Note: the AALBC.com development site is http://aalbc.org. When the site is launched next year, AALBC.org will become the new AALBC.com.

Yeah I have to believe they are part of the larger Bridge organization. I read the book years ago, so I don't remember. My first exposure to the game of Bridge was on television sitcoms, it was a game white women, played while their husbands were at work. I've never seen anyone play the game and I have no idea what the rules are, though I seem to recall someone telling me it being similar to bid whist. I grew up playing spades. I'm not even sure when I learned to play. The game is so very simple, almost on the level of playing "I Declare War." The real fun comes from the trash talking. It is also a game anyone can pick up, you can play it inebriated, and it does not require too much concentration. I played spades for the first time in a long time and we had a ball. It sounds like Bridge requires a lot more thought than Spades, maybe not on the order of Chess, but certainly more than Spades. Spades, an interesting name for the game considering who plays it

On its face I would be wary because these "we'll display your books" are usually scams. I just did a quick query on the company (which I never heard of), and they appear to be the old www.publishamerica.com which has tons of complains from writers. I would ignore the email.

Shirley the information about schools really needs to be much more widely known. The the old days Ebony may have done an expose on these issues. I'm aware of far too many kids who are put in "special ed" because of a teacher's poor classroom management skills. As you said this is essentially a permanent placement, which impacts the students life options in the long run. When I was in grade school the students were grouped by ability, tracked. From grade 1 through 8, I was in class the with the same students. I was always tracked in the top class. The top class always got the best teachers. Once you were in the top class you generally stayed in it. Those in the bottom, usually stayed in the bottom. The boys (it was always boys), who misbehaved were put in a class in the basement separate from the other students until the aged out, dropped out, or imprisoned. The students in the top class were allowed to take the test for the specialized high schools. These were the schools which prepared you for college. At the time there were also vocational high schools which prepared you for pretty much any vocational career you could imagine. Today those vocational schools are gone, and all schools are supposed to prepare students for college. This change has been a colossal failure for students... I think part of the anger students feel is they see no options for themselves, no realistic way out. The deck is stacked against them, and they understand this, but feel powerless to do anything about it. They should be angry, but like the rabid racist, and Trump supporters, their anger is misdirected.

Sure Trump appeals to the Joe 6-pack, gun-advocate, blue-collar, super-patriots crowd too. I lump them into the downtrodden category as well. The kind of guy who works a labor intensive, boring, or dangerous, dead-end job and comes home, pops open a six pack and watches the game. This guy is no better off than the woman trapped in government subsidized housing, who gets off from a job standing on her feet all day, behind a register perhaps, too tired to do anything with the kids, and watches Housewives of Atlanta. He kills animals for fun (hunts) and she goes to Church. Both are releases, but people need more. I also don't mean to imply that Trump only appeals to the downtrodden. He also appeals to the super rich, and the wannabe super rich. Do you think anyone else would be more pro-business than Trump? It seems increasingly likely Trump will win the nomination, but the GOP may not back him. Supposedly he signed a pledge not to run against the GOP on a third party ticket. We will see what happens. If I were a billionaire, the last thing I would want to be is POTUS. Seriously, who wants the aggravation and a lifetime of secret service? You are may be right in that Trump is not motivated by money. But what, then, is his motivation? Do you buy into his rhetoric that he wants to make "America great again." What does that mean anyway? Does he mean when Black were still enslaved, or under the rule of Jim Crow? When was America any "greater" or worse than it is now? Don't sleep on those speaking fees, as a sitting President Trump will get paid more ways that you can imagine. He could be president for free if he wanted.

@Cynique, my cousin self-published this book a couple of years ago. I was updating her profile and this book made me think of you, for what I hope are obvious reasons. My cousin has a Ph.D. in computational linguistics, and has published several book since she retired.

Cynique, generally I'm rushing when I post here. The last post, with those egregious typos, which I obviously missed yesterday, jumped off the screen at me, as I'm sure they did to anyone else reading them. I might have a mental deficiency--I have to work really hard to edit my own material immediately after writing it. I re-read that last post (at least I thought I did) Shirley, that poem does a good job of presenting a young man, like Earl's, thoughts. The generational frustration, the embarrassment, etc. What made this young man so angry? What did he expect? This makes me think about my mother's generation; most of her peers did not finish primary school. Her own father never learned to read or write, but he owned a farm. It does not seems like it is illiteracy alone that is the problem for boys like Earl. I have also taught a class full of troubled youth and the best readers were the biggest pains in the butt. What made it so frustrating was the those students were wasting my time and their own--but something was clearly bothering them, or they would have had their high school diploma and been doing the things that other smart people do. So being a good reader, or even very smart, is not sufficient to get kids out of the trouble and avoid the anger Earl experienced. Of course my stories are all anecdotal, viewed from my own lense, so may not have anything to do with the broader picture. But still, the frustration at one's inability to read on grade level to shooting another person in the back does not seem like a logical or even reasonable progression. What do you think?

Shirley I OFTEN have to edit something I'd previously posted. Sometimes I reread something I wrote and wonder what in the world possessed me to hit the enter key. It is not like I did not check what I wrote, it is just that my mistakes are invisible to me right after write something. A day later they are as plain as day. I made the corrections, you requested, above.

Before Trump ran for office white people were predicting the rise of someone like Trump. The conditions are similar to the ones in which Hitler rose to power. I completely "get" Trump's appeal. Part of the problem is that the media desperate for viewers are simply reporting, often misreporting, everything he has to say. This has only helped Donald. Trump is voicing the concerns of the downtrodden white, Christian majority. Something that was a seemingly politically incorrect thing for a conventional politician to do, but serves Donald in spades. As misdirected (blaming Mexican for job loses for example) as it may be in some instances, we ignore or dismiss this demographic at our peril. Donald Trump is definitely no idiot, egotistical with a touch of sociopathy, perhaps--but definitely no idiot. I don't even think Donald is an actual racist. Reducing him to these simple characteristics allows us to underestimate him and his power. The only color Donald sees is GREEN. The way things are going he will be seeing a lot more green in the future. The Chicago mayor should be facing jail time.

@Shirley Gale, I'm sharing the backstory to the poem below. I think it will help readers appreciate it. “My first student, Earl Joseph, III, approximately two years ago, shot a man in the back after stealing cars. Earl was only 15 years old. When he was my student, he presented himself as this beautiful young man who possessed a gentle kindness and a smile that could light up the night's sky. I would have never dreamed in a million years that he would have shot someone. Now here is the kicker, Earl was reading on a 3rd to 5th grade level. He hardly ever came to school and when he did, the last thing on his mind was reading, writing, and listening to anything that any of his teachers, of course except me, had to say. Honestly, I am fortunate enough to understand this population of kids as my brothers and I were them. Anyway, I was not aware of Earl's activities until it was too late and my poor baby was locked up in adult population where he was of course raped and tormented by guys much older. Please know that I am in no way excusing his actions. He was wrong--deadly wrong! But he had been wronged as well. He was wronged from birth by all of us--his negligent parents, Louisiana's piss poor educational system, his poor excuse for a community, and our out-of-sight, out-of-mind society at large. Earl took the life of someone's husband, father, brother, etc. But, the fact remains that I am devastated to know that this child, will be locked up for the rest of his natural life with absolutely no chance of patrol. Rehabilitation you say. Please don't mention that non-existent word to me. Louisiana ain't no joke, but their version of rehabilitation certainly is!!!! Long story short, as I always do when I am in despair, I wrote poetic verse to these events. I would very much like to share what I have written. However, I have some very strong words which could be viewed as offensive for this particular platform. Troy, I would like for you to preview first and advise. This piece has graphic content, but it is oh, so powerful. I would love to hear what CDBurns thinks about this particular free verse. I greatly respect his knowledge in this area.”—Shirley G. Perry-Church

HI @Shirley Gale if would be much better if you initiated the post so that you poem stands alone. Also make sure you are logged in; I was forced, due to the spammers, to stop guest posts from appearing without me approving them first. To initiate a new post simply go to the Poetree and click the "start new topic" button on the upper right hand side of the page. If you are logged in, clicking this link will start a new topic too: http://aalbc.com/tc/forum/6-the-poetree/?do=add I have not read your poem yet, I have to read it later when I can think about it. Which means I'll most likely print it and read it off-line, they way I would a long form article. Thanks again for sharing it. Once you post it I'll share it on social media too.

Hi Shirley please post the poem. If you like, post a disclaimer at the start indicating that strong language follows. This should be ample warning to anyone whose delicate sensibilities may be to weak to deal with words on a screen. What part of Louisiana are you in?

Thanks Shirley we are all here to share and learn from each other. The panel was interesting.

Go on Girl celebrates 25 years

Since 1991, Go On Girl Book Club has been, and remains, one of the most important entities celebrating Black literature. They have over 30 chapters across the country, and are the largest national reading organization, for black women, in America. The magajounral mentioned is a collector's item. It is one of the best publications covering Black books available--too bad it only comes out once a year. AALBC.com has advertised in it for several years and has even written an article or two for it. 15 years ago, I attended their National Convention in Chicago and took the photo below. It was a wonderful event. I got an opportunity to speak with a wide variety of authors including Sam Greenlee. (photo from 2000) - Evalyn Hamilton, then Newsletter editor; Lynda Johnson, then Treasurer and founder; and Monique Greenwood, then President and founder (Monique was also, at the time, Editor-In-Chief of Essence Magazine) Last year I attended, Go On Girl! Book Club's National Conference in Baltimore. It was the one of the best book events I attended that year. You don't have to be a club member to enjoy it; It is simply a world class event. The magajounral reflects that quality. You will not go wrong advertising in it.

12/7/2015 Go On Girl! Book Club appreciates your support over the years. We will be celebrating 25 amazing years of reading and honoring authors from the African Diaspora and it’s because of your company and the relationship we’ve had. You connected us to the many authors and books we read and ultimately honored at our Annual Author Awards events throughout the years. You also supported our annual magajournal with messages that highlighted writers from the African Diaspora. It is because of you keeping us in the loop and our love of literature and books and wanting to spread the word we have gone from a humble beginning of one chapter in 1991 to over 30 chapters in 15 different states with over 300 members. Go On Girl! Book Club is now one of the largest African-American women's book clubs in the country. Thank you for your continued support of the Go On Girl! Book Club by purchasing ad space in our annual magajournal. In 2016 the Go On Girl! Book Club will celebrate 25 years of reading and honoring writers from the African Diaspora. The 25th Anniversary and 24th Annual Authors Award will take place June 2-5, 2016 at Lowes Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana. Help us celebrate the legacy of Black literature as we honor our 2015 winning authors and our 2016 Unpublished Writer and Scholarship award winners. The 2016 magajournal will be published to commemorate the 25th Anniversary and Authors Awards Event. You are welcomed to send a message of tribute and/or congratulations by again purchasing space in our collector's edition. We are reaching out to you to continue your support of our organization. We have a special 25th Anniversary package for $1,500 that includes a 4/C ad in the magajournal and a leader board ad on the site for 6 months with the ability to switch creative out once (giving you the opportunity to advertise 3 different ads). You can also take advantage of the 2015 rates, as seen in the enclosed 2015 Media Kit, by sending in an Ad Insertion order form by January 2nd for both the magajournal and/or the website. In 2016 the advertising rates are going up. The 2015 rates are effective until January 2, 2016. To guarantee the 2015 rate all you have to do now is send in an insertion order reserving your space in the special anniversary issue. As noted in the Media Kit, all Ad Materials should be sent to lyndajgog@gmail.com Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at (917) 923-8035. Sincerely, Lynda M. Johnson, Co-Founder and Chair Go On Girl! Book Club www.GoOnGirl.org

I was just updating Kimberla Lawson Roby's page on AALBC.com and was just reviewing her career, which I've followed from the beginning. She is an AALBC.com and Power List bestselling author. She has also made other bestseller lists including the New York Times, on multiple occasions. Kimberla has been a steady force in publishing since 1997, when she self published her first book (years before self-publishing became the norm). She has weathered all the changes the industry has gone through, and maintaining a substantial fan base or loyal readers.. A photo I took of Kimberla in 1999 with her 2nd Book Here and Now. Here is a photo I took with Kimberla in May of 2015 (with author Trice Hickman, another great supporter of AALBC.com, whose career I've also followed from day one). In fact both of these authors are easy to support; (1) They are both very smart about the publishing business; (2) they are return the support; and (3) they are just genuinely nice people. Did I say they both write good book?

I normally archive these newsletters on my Blog, but the wordpress software requires me to completely redesign the page which can actually take a copy of hours with the saving or images, recreation of links, and formatting of text. I simply copy and pasted my eNewsletter email here all of the formatting was preserved and it only took about 3 seconds. Everyday, I get emails from people everyday who want me to share information on the website. I wish I could get them to just copy and paste their information on the appropriate forum here; it is so easy--there is no reason not to do it. The only people willing to take advantage of this feature, certainly over the past week, are racists. Occasionally I'll most information here, on behalf of the person emailing me, but I really need to more aggressively get folks to post their inform here themselves, directly. More people will see their message, it gets me out of the loop, and it takes seconds. Of course that might encourage people to just spam the board with all types of self promotional material without engaging in conversation here. But I'd rather manage that problem rather the problem of a lack of participation. Fortunately, the AALBC.com website is picking in terms of traffic (up 50% compared to last year), this bodes really well on the heals of the pending website upgrade. I hope a continued increase in traffic will drive participation here.

Bestselling Books for September/October 2015 Troy please take a few seconds to subscribe to AALBC.com’s YouTube channel. This won’t cost you anything; we simply need to add an additional 333 subscribers to enable paid content on our YouTube channel. Thanks! Authors You Should Know Dr. Derrick Gilbert, a/k/a D-Knowledge Writer/Performer Dr. Derrick Gilbert, PhD, a/k/a poet D-Knowledge, lost his battle with liver disease on Sunday morning, November 1, 2015. He was 45. One fan writes, “…he gave me a completely new way of looking at people and how I deal with them. From the moment I heard Never Buy a Jeep Cherokee, I was forever changed, and when I finally heard the rest of the album I believe I became someone completely different because there were so many lessons to be learned that I was unaware of. Some were lessons to remind me of the joy of our past, and some were lessons to remind me of the troubles we face in our present, and future. All were lessons I took with me over the years. I never got to tell you this but thanks Derrick.” —ehrichweiss S. Pearl Sharp S. Pearl Sharp commentaries and essays are heard on NPR radio and other broadcast outlets. Her published literary works include the non-fiction Black Women For Beginners, the plays Dearly Beloved and The Sistuhs, four volumes of poetry, including Poets & Performers, New York City, early 1970’s.Typing In The Dark, and two poetry w/jazz CDs, On The Sharp Side and Higher Ground. She was the 2006-2007 Poet Laureate of Los Angeles’ Watts Towers Arts Center. S. Pearl worked with esteemed actress Beah Richards on There’s A Brown Girl In The Ring, a collection of the actress’ essays, later adapting them to stage. Sharp was Senior Editor for Juneteenth Audio Books/ Time-Warner, the first commercial Black audio-books company, founded by CEO Steve Williams, where she co-directed the recordings of books by Bebe Moore Campbell, Susan L. Taylor and Ernest J. Gaines. Steven Todd Fisher Fisher describes himself best; “I don’t write in any particular fiction genre, so therefore I don’t have a targeted audience. My plot and characters are all true to their identity. I try to tell a story in unusual ways. There are always romance, drama, mystery/suspense, bizarre circumstances, some philosophy, part literary narration, and part straight talk. A little spirituality (non-religious), and a little eroticism are mixed in, depending on the character or situation.” Fisher's novel Ayna Rayne: Girl Unusual was selected as one of the 2015 Finalists for The National Indie Excellence Book Awards under the category of general fiction. 1,815 Authors Profiled on AALBC.com Book Reviews & Recommendations Nonfiction Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson Margo Jefferson is Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic. Her memoir relates her experience growing up, in the 1950s, as part of Chicago’s black upper class. In a recent interview, with NPR, Jefferson describes her parent's generation's reaction to the Black Power movement. “My parents were at one with the civil rights movement, but Black Power, it flung its disdainful hand at much that they believed in and much of who they were. And that was very, very painful. Just beginning with the disdain, the contempt with which the word "Negro" was used, which had been their generation['s] and the generation before theirs word of honor. And suddenly "Negro" became the sign and symbol of — for the Black Power movement — of deference ... of corruption, of corrupt bourgeoisie values, of rejection of black identity and black pride. This was horrible for them. In its way, it was traumatic.” Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation by Robert J. Norrell Robert J. Norrell, professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), explores the complicated life of one of America’s most famous twentieth-century authors. Having had access to the Alex Haley Papers housed at UTK and inaccessible to most (if not all) researchers, Norrell sheds new light on his subject. Although it was well known that Haley had money problems for much of his adult life, readers will learn of the unusual severity of that financial hardship. Norrell also investigates the emotional impact on Haley of his mother’s lack of affection, and her premature death at the age of thirty-one, when her son was ten years old. These tragedies, as the author suggests, might help to explain Haley’s adverse relationships with women and his children (Haley was a notorious womanizer and an inattentive father). Book Reviewed by Adam Henig Dark Justice by Diane Cooper Diane Cooper was sentenced to 40 Years for crime she didn't commit. I was shooting a video of the author, during the First Read Expo in Atlanta, thinking I was learning more about a work of fiction. I was about two feet away from her when she says the story is about her life. I almost dropped my camera! Occasionally I meet an author whose book I have to read immediately. I was not disappointed. I was also reminded of my mother's advice to watch the company you keep. African Pyramids of Knowledge: Kemet, Afrocentricity and Africology by Molefi Kete Asante In this volume Asante has sought to provide the formal and informal student with the structure for critical reflections on significant issues in the African world. Thus, African Pyramids is as much a methodological as theoretical work. Molefi Kete Asante has been named by his peers as one of the most influential contemporary scholars in America. In fact, Maulana Karenga said,"Molefi is the preeminent Afrocentric theorist, an intellectual of the highest caliber, and a fine human being." Michael Dyson has written that, "The pioneering Afrocentrist Molefi Kete Asante is one of the most influential African American scholars." Trust: Mastering the 4 Essential Trusts by Iyanla Vanzant You just can’t trust anyone—it’s a constant refrain in the modern world, and learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult lessons. This leads to fear and uncertainty, which too often erodes our confidence and undermines our relationships. “That’s because trust is not a verb,” says legendary life coach Iyanla Vanzant, “it’s a noun. In fact, trust is a state of mind and a state of being.” In Trust, Iyanla explains what trust really is, reveals how and why to trust, and explores how to cultivate this liberating power. She outlines the special rewards that come from mastering the four essential trusts - trust in God, trust in yourself, trust in others, and trust in life—and shares how these opportunities encourage our true state of being. When trust is broken, it brings us face to face with our shadow, revealing our hidden beliefs and expectations about how things “should” be. This book’s pragmatic prescriptions demonstrate how to avoid trust-destroying behaviors through communication, consistency and cooperation. Children’s Books Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia Coretta Scott King Award Winner and AALBC.com bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters, who are about to learn what it's like to be fish out of water as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime. It’s the summer of 1969, and Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit Big Ma and her eighty-two-year-old mother, Ma Charles. Pa can’t remind them enough that the South’s not like Brooklyn, and that you can’t get more southern than Alabama. Willimena Rules: 9 Steps to the Best, Worst, Greatest Holiday Ever! by Valerie Wilson Wesley Christmas and Kwanzaa are right around the corner and Willimena is usually excited about her favorite time of the year. There are fun decorations, yummy food, the seven principles of Kwanzaa and, of course, gifts for both holidays. But this year, no one feels much like celebrating. Aunt Laura lost her job and Dad and Mom say that big changes are coming for the family—changes that mean Willie may not get that bike she wanted. Willie thinks she has it bad until she sees how these big changes are affecting her cousin Teddy. He’s usually nice, friendly, and greets Willie with a grin. But lately, he’s sad, mad, and downright rude. He doesn’t seem to want to celebrate the holidays at all, and nothing Willie does to cheer him up is working. Christmas and Kwanzaa are supposed to be joyful, but this year is turning out to be the worst. Can Willie find a way to bring “happy” back to the holidays? Mommy Says! by Rosheena Beek, Illustrated by Warren L. Maye When something seems hard to do, Mommy makes everything better through her wisdom. This story has little symbols that help us to understand what Mommy says. These symbols are called Adinkra symbols. For many years the Asante people of Ghana, West Africa, have painted and carved Adinkra symbols. This book has been chosen by the Children’s Defense Fund, as part of their “Freedom School” program curriculum listing 2016. Scary, Scary Sasha by Starr T. Balmer Creepy, crawly bugs give Sasha goose bumps. Her fear grows when her mother tells her to pick vegetables from the garden — an eerie, scary place where she believes all bugs live forever and ever. Her mother says many of the bugs in the garden protect the vegetables. But can she stand up to the bugs despite her fear? Scary, Scary Sasha illustrates how a young girl challenges her fear and transforms into a proud, courageous leader, while developing knowledge and respect for the creepy, crawly species of the garden world. Readers join Sasha on her exciting, yet daunting trek, encouraging all to examine their own personal fears and accomplishments, while building confidence and determination. Fiction A Date With Destiny by Lutishia Lovely Preorder Ebook for a Chance to Win Prizes Worth $500! Nathaniel and Destiny Thicke are celebrating their first year anniversary as pastor and first lady of Divine Grace Community Center. After dealing with their share of drama, the couple believes there is only smooth sailing ahead. But when an old nemesis resurfaces, a church deacon becomes obsessed and a best friend’s dream life starts to unravel, those observing wonder if a date with destiny is one the Thickes might want to avoid. A Moment of Silence: Midnight III by Sister Souljah Handsome, young, Muslim, and married to two women living in one house along with his mother, Umma, and sister, Naja: can Midnight manage? He is surrounded by Americans who don’t share or understand his faith or culture, and adults who are offended by his maturity, intelligence, or his natural ability to make his hard work turn into real money. He is calm, confident, and cool, Ninja-trained and powerful, but one moment of rage throws this Brooklyn youth into a dark world of dirty police, gangs, guns, drugs, prisons, and prisoners. Everything he ever believed, every dollar he ever earned, and all of the women he ever loved including his mother are at risk. Will his manhood be taken, broken, or altered? Can he maintain his faith among the heathens? Outnumbered, overruled, and deeply envied how can he possibly survive? Will the streets convert him? What can he keep? What must he lose? In this heart-pounding adventure, thriller, and intense narrative, Sister Souljah has penned her most passionate and engrossing novel to date. The Red Storm: A Mystery by Grant Bywaters Winner of the Minotaur Books/Private Eye Writers of America Best First Private Eye Novel Competition introducing a black ex-boxer P.I. working in 1930s New Orleans Newly-minted private investigator William Fletcher is having trouble finding clientele. He’s not the only man out of work, but his past as a former heavyweight contender with a few shady connections-not to mention the color of his skin in race-obsessed New Orleans-isn’t helping lure clients to his door. Stuck without any viable alternative, he takes a case from an old criminal acquaintance, Storm. His only client assures him that the job is simple-locate his missing estranged daughter, Zella, no questions asked. But when Fletcher starts knocking on doors, he sets off a catastrophic chain of events that turn the city into a bloody battleground between two rival syndicates. Then Storm is murdered and Fletcher finds himself caught between the police and dangerous mobsters. Great Books Coming Out Soon If you are looking for great, soon to be released, books, check out our list.. Related Articles & News Writers Score $Million+ Book Deals The Wall Street Journal published an article last month, "Betting Big on Literary Newcomers." Of particular interest were the Black women who garnered seven figure book deals. The most fascinating thing is that these humongous advances are going to debut authors. I'm sure these books must be great reads, but it will be interesting to see how well these titles sell next year. ▪ ▪ Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi (Random House, Jun 07, 2016) ▪ ▪ Behold the Dreamers: A Novel by Imbolo Mbue (Knopf, Aug 23, 2016) Nine African-American Authors Honored by the National Book Awards in 2015 Nine African-American Authors were honored (winners, finalists or longlisted) by the National Book Awards this year. That total is more than the entire first quarter century the awards were given, starting in 1950. The first book, written by an African-American writer, and honored with a National Book Award win was Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This year’s winners included; Voyage of the Sable Venus: and Other Poems by Robin Coste Lewis and Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Click the book’s titles to watch videos of their acceptance speeches. African American Book Clubs — Let’s Join Forces Book Clubs: AALBC.com plans to pay special attention to your needs on our new website. We want to be the platform, you consider first, when looking for quality African American literature. We also want to provide a platform for you to share information and ideas with other clubs and authors. We can help recruit members, or leverage our collective buying power. We are looking for ideas. We have been compiling information for several months and have almost 700 clubs in our database. If you are interested in joining us, simply email me your name and your book club's name. I'll follow up with you right after the holidays. AALBC.com started an online book club in 1998. We ran our club for a decade and are interested in resurrecting it in 2016. If you are interested in leading our online club, please email me troy@aalbc.com. (pictured: Sisters of the Desert Sun Bookclub from Phoenix, AZ, with Author Tayari Jones) Critical Commentary from "Cynique" AALBC.com Discussion Forums To Ben or to Ben I've been trying to ignore Republican presidential candidate, Ben Carson, in the hope that he would go away, once people discerned that he's more suited to be a cult leader rather than a world one. No such luck. I underestimated the vindictiveness of those who hate the Media and love the Bible. I learned a lesson about blind faith and arrogant science and how they neutralize each other, leaving the truth in limbo, and conflict in command. I personally reject everything Carson represents: his fanatical Evangelical beliefs, his right-wing Conservative politics, his blatant racial naivete and his anti-feminism, but I am discovering how presumptuous I was to think my sentiments mattered. (More) French Toast, Anyone? Sheeze! That Parisienne shoot-out has really touched a nerve in America which has apparently been "jonzin" for a new tragedy to revitalize the 9/11 crying binge it's been on for the last 14 years. What happened is Paris was terrible to be sure, but all mass murders are tragic and in comparison to the recent acts of terrorism in Nigeria, 129 fatal casualties ain't that awesome. Chiraq has accumulated a better record than that in one month. Ah, but French Lives Matter! (More) Serious Problems With Facebook Promotion Facebook made up just 1% of my overall traffic (30K of my last 3 million visitors). Of course it is better to have those visitors than not, right? Well that depends on the effort and cost it takes to get those visitors, compared to other strategies. Writers, if you are using Facebook to promote your work—especially paid promotion— invest 30 minutes of your time to watch these two videos, and read the article. It will probably change the way you think about Facebook and save you some time, energy, and money. Random Thoughts About Facebook I originally wrote this blog post in March of 2011, Almost 5 years later, a life time in WWW years, I decided to revisit and update what I wrote. [2011] I spent about an hour a day on Facebook. If I were not running a web based business I suspect it would be about an hour a week. [2015] I’ve essentially stopped using Facebook for personal reasons and got my business usage down to 10 minutes a day (for all social media). Events — December 2015 Please join us for the 2nd Annual Harlem Renaissance Holiday Fete, December 3, 2015 at Park 112 located at 2080 Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem NY. The festivities start at 6:30 p.m. Events AALBC.com Will Participate in 2016 13th National Black Writers Conference Thursday, March 31 – Sunday, April 3, 2015 Honorary Chair: Rita Dove, Former Poet Laureate of The U.S. 2016 Honorees: Edwidge Danticat, Woodie King Jr., Michael Eric Dyson & Charles Johnson Conference Location: Medgar Evers College, CUNY 1650 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11225 AALBC.com will host a seminar on book publishing, covering editorial, production, marketing, and more. Additional updates are coming soon. The 3rd First Read Expo - August 2016 AALBC.com is excited to partner with First Read Expo for 2016. We plan to offer authors great discounts a free services just for participating. Readers will get to experience a wide variety of presentations and meet dozens of authors. Book clubs we will be providing special benefits for your membership--including at least one panel specifically for book clubs. The two-day event is free to attendees. We will be provide the exact date a location shortly. Dear Troy, AALBC.com’s website upgrade is progressing nicely. Most of the links, in this newsletter, point to the development website (aalbc.org), which will eventually become the new AALBC.com. I’m no longer adding new content to the current site, and am actively engaged in migrating over 18 years’ worth of content to the new website. This is all being done while adding new content, every single day. It is a massive effort and I hope you will be pleased with the results. But keep in mind, I can't do this alone. I need your support. Please link to the AALBC.com from your website and share any content you find valueable on social media platforms and via word of mouth. Subscribe Subscribe Most importantly, please consider purchasing, or renewing, your paid subscription to this eNewsletter, by clicking the “Subscribe” button above. Don’t assume everyone else will do this. In fact, assume no one else will do it. The ability of AALBC.com to thrive, or die, is really is up to you Troy. Your support is appreciated. Peace & Love, Troy Johnson, Founder & Webmaster, AALBC.com AALBC.com eNewsletter – December 1, 2015 - Issue #229

Yeah man, I mean racists remarks are the price of doing business and is nothing new. However in this case, these attackers are trying very hard to jam me up. It is way beyond trying to get a point across, they are malevolent.

You know you've reached a certain level of prominence when racists relentlessly attack you. I had to delete scores of comments on 4 different websites. In some perverse way I feel bad for these folks who vent the racist hatred. Some white folks are angry but they have no clue who the enemy is. Black people were never under any illusions--sure we gun each other down in the streets from time to time, but at the end of the day most of appreciate who the oppressor is. It is not the good 'old boy on the other side of the tracks --any more than it is a rival gang member of the other side of town. Image being a white man in America seeing jobs sold overseas, seeing homes foreclosed, and truly believing the people doing this give a crap about you... it must be classical cognitive dissonance trying to wrap your brain around the fact that these guys don't care about you any more than they care about us. I had to delete screens and screens of these messages (screens shot below). I would have left the individual messages stand if they were not spamming scores of pages. This anger needs to be more widely known. Trump's prominence is a reflection of this anger and the country ignores it at their peril. The Islamic state is the least of our concerns... .