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From Wrong 2 "Write!"


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For most of my life, I was the guy most wannabe thugs wished they could be. Officially declared a "menace to society", I was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for my role as mastermind of a series of daring bank robberies in the 70s. Two involved shootouts. One with the police. The other with a citizen in a bank parking lot where I narrowly missed being killed. While confined, I took part in an even more daring prison escape.

Despite this seeming penchant for violence, I consoled myself with the notion that I was merely a poet trapped in a gangsta's body and oddly enough, this wasn't far from the truth as I had evolved from a family of teachers, four of whom taught English. As such, I learned, early on, to respect and to appreciate language since my grandmother was very strict and would not tolerate improper grammar under her roof.

From the start, there appeared to be a household conspiracy to convert me into a writer. By the time I was ten, I possessed a private library fit for a scholar, had a new typewriter, a big desk, and plenty of blank paper. By 11, I had mastered the dictionary, was a whiz at Scrabble, and was a honor roll student in school. At 12, I had completed my first novel.

By my 13th birthday, something else happened. I discovered hustling and immediately dropped out of school and adopted "the streets" as my home. By 14, I was in reform school for assaulting a police officer. While there, I was a star journalist, the first black deemed smart enough to work in the print shop and on the in-house newsletter. I served one year and a day.

Upon my release, with hardly any delays, I embarked on a personal crime spree, and at 15, was sent to prison where I was the youngest convict there.

While in the Youth Center, I acquired my high school diploma at 16, wrote my first play, turned militant, and when released at 19, went to New York to join the Black Panthers.

In New York, I discovered heroin. Writing and the revolution would both have to wait as a drug habit left little room for anything else. When I tired of being a junkie, I kicked my fascination with getting high, but years later would emerge as the "alleged" kingpin of a notorious, million-dollar, heroin distribution ring.

Finally brought down by the FBI and DEA in 1997, I again was sent to federal prison. I would be gone for another decade, but once more I turned back to what I had turned my back on: writing. I studied journalism, started a writer's colony, mentored other aspiring prison writers, four of whom are now published, one a bestselling street-lit author. I edited and founded various newsletters, performed freelance editorial services for outside writers while quietly perfecting my craft. I now teach a very popular writing class, called “The Gilbraltar Writng Style”, which I developed while confined.

Hailed by some as the greatest prison writer ever, I was interviewed by numerous TV and print outlets. My writings have even been studied in an English class at an university where I was invited to lecture.

While in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, I published two novels, but soured on traditional publishing after a deal gone bad with a well-known publisher. I also developed two programs. One, PROJECT UPLIFT, deals with drug-dealer addiction. The second, GIRLSMART, concerns at-risk, teenaged, black girls. This program is a counter to the BET-inspired video vixen syndrome where sistas opt to employ their booty rather than their brains.

Once freed in 2007, I established The Giant Steps Foundation along with my old bank robbery crew from the 70s. Our goal was to steer inner-city youth away from a life of crime and confinement. http://www.wcnc.com/...-102315609.html

After spending over 35 years of my life in some of the toughest prisons in America, I founded SOULFIRE BOOKS and can unequivocally say that I have finally gone from wrong to "write!" At last!

Check out some of the 99 cents e-titles at SOULFIRE BOOKS:

Black Pearl. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085YM53K

Pearl Washington is a church girl, who, all of a sudden, feels the church is cheating her out of a social life. Convinced that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, she embarks on an unforgettable journey down the "Highway to Hell"

When I Say Jump http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00785YL96

Leaving Howard University with her law &do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>, Elizabeth Sellers is ready to set the legal world on fire, but her very first case can also be her last. When she takes on the case of four black toddlers injured at a day care, she stumbles upon a government conspiracy to imprison one out of every four black males born in this country.

MatchMaker http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00789SLQC

Amazing novel about the first black First Lady. Samantha Givens is the ultimate diva. At forty-five, she is gorgeous, smart, and clever. She also has a secret agenda. Like her mother before her, she has the amazing ability to pair up young lovers, but unlike her mother, Samantha is too ambitious to simply "hook up" the golden girls of urban America with undeserving thugs.

As an option, she establishes Matchmaker, Incorporated--a secret organization of beautiful, black women--intent on taking control of the country. The BBW--Beautiful Black Women--are the creme de la creme of black America and Samantha will only wed them to rich, powerful men. In this way, the BBWs will be a position to "call shots" as the power behind the throne. Overwhelmingly successful, Samantha has wed her designer line of "living, breathing, female predators" to countless lawyers, doctors, and politicians across the country until there is not a facet of government where there are not found.Yet one prize has eluded her: The White House! So she sets out on the ultimate quest--to marry one of her BBWs to the man most likely to win the presidency of the United States. But before she can marry him to one of her BBWs, she must first find him. Yet, there is an even bigger problem: the woman most suited for the job is the one least interested. Paris Hall, the only woman more beautiful than Samantha Givens, threatens everything.

Snapshots http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076RB6S0

SNAPSHOTS is a cover-to-cover inspirational guide for African-Americans who aspire to understand themselves and the world in which they live. This book will not merely acquaint you with countless gems of wisdom, it will also open your eyes and motivate you to want to become a better person.

SNAPSHOTS is not merely a book of 365 affirmations. It is a provocative day-to-day adventure, a daily event that will transform you. This book will set your soul on fire! It is a key that you can use to unlock the start of each morning and then provide you with a passport into the mystery of tomorrow!

Coochie http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007X6SL6O

Novel that &do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>with the issue of sex trafficking in black America

When Supreme, an aginghustler is released from prison, he turns to his old childhood friend, Ice, a pimp, who swears he has stumbled upon the sweetest game in the world. Teamed up with vicious Russian gangsters, Ice and Supreme become instant millionaires in the international sex trade where they become the main players in a scheme to smuggle, young, black girls out of the country into Eastern Europe. At the last minute, Supreme has a change of heart, but will he be able to save the young girls from a life of sexual slavery!?

The Root of All Evil http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007DBVVM0

Jamal Morris had been born into the richest black family in the country, but little did he know that damning evidence would ultimately link his family’s wealthto the Illuminati, a secret organization of European bankers out to control the world.Suddenly Jamal’s world is turned upside down as the myth surrounding his family wealth is finally exposed. All his life, he had been told that a mysterious, white man had left his wealth to them, but what he wasn’t told was that the man was Paul “Mad-dog” Madsen, the devious English banker who had brilliantly master-minded the collapse of the American government in 1933 forcing it to declare bankruptcy, allowing him to make off with all the country’s gold.

But that’s just the beginning of Jamal’s problem. Unknown to him is the fact that the little, tiny jewelry box that Madsen bequeathed to his family contained secret documents that international bankers as well as the President of the United States are willing to kill for. And they’re only a few of the people out to get him!

From Suga 2 Shit http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Z3RJ72

When Monique Bryant falls from grace, she falls hard. Formerly, a good girl with high aspirations to be a star in corporate America, things do not turn out as planned and it is all downhill from there. Seemingly unable to halt her descent into the life of exotic dancing and drugs, Monique decides to enjoy her ride down the highway to hell! But when the church refuses to accept her back and a family crisis threatens to rob her of what little dignity she has left, what she finds out is that it is her against the world. Knocked down, bowled over and trampled by life, Monique is not one to give up. Becoming a true believer in "that which does not kill me makes me stronger", Monique fights back, clawing her way out of the hole that her big butt and pretty smile have dug for her.

If you have read or plan to read any of these books, please don’t hesitate to post a review. We would love to know your feelings on what we do here at SOULFIRE BOOKS. Thanks

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