5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american book, african american books, interview

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Antwan Floyd, author of Crew Love

26 Comments

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Antwan Floyd, author of Crew Love
(Bleeding Pen Publishing)


antwan floyd crew love on bleedingpenpublishingdotcom

(One of the first ten people to comment will win a copy of Antwan Floyd’s Crew Love.)

(Congratulations to Dapharoah69 The King of Erotica for winning the FREE COPY of Antwan Floyd’s Crew Love.)

Phil-Good Trenton is caring, charismatic, and passionate – traits that get buried underneath his kill-or-be-killed mentality in an attempt to pay rent. Jermaine Lloyd is a casino operator at an illegal after-hours joint. He lives the ideal life of a bachelor, but will a gambling addiction threaten to take that all away?

Blue Ball has always cared for himself and his younger brother, but bailing his brother out of trouble one time too many may prove fatal. Short Stack was a hustler all his life, always about the dollar, but will he change his attitude for the love of a woman?

When the lives of these four men with different circumstances and agendas collide, they set the streets of Chicago on fire! In this gritty and compelling drama of crime, compassion and consequence, will they become victims of their own desires? Or will they conquer their differences and find Crew Love?

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Crew Love?

Antwan Floyd: I have been an avid reader every since a child. My favorite books to read were always about history. As I got older, I became more attracted to books about crime, more specifically African-American crime. I was always a fan of the history of crime syndicates like the Italian crime families, but I always wondered where our stories were?

So I started researching and found this book called African American Organized Crime written by Francis Iaani. Although vague, it was a start. Years later never letting this fascination go, I googled “policy runners” and found an author from Chicago by the name of Nathan Thompson who had written Kings: The True Story of Chicago’s Policy Kings and Numbers Racketeers.

Thus Crew Love was born: the first in a trilogy of my vision of a Black crime family that spans of several generations.

JP: What sets Crew Love apart from other novels in its genre?

AF: The thing that sets Crew Love apart from other novels in its genre is the fact that I’ve tackled the subject matter from a different point of view. I’ve done quite a bit of research to stay true to the time setting that the story takes place in.

Also, few authors of the Urban Lit genre take this point of view as far as story telling. I thought it was important to show where we came from. I also tried to keep it entertaining.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Crew Love getting out to the public?

AF: Research…research….research. I had to take a chance. I had self-doubt in the beginning. The more I researched authors and the type of genre I wanted to become apart of, I found countless amounts of authors doing this whom I’ve never even heard of.

I read some of these authors work and found that I was, in my opinion, just as good as they were. If they could do it, why not me? So I jumped out there put the proper actions in motion, and here I am.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Crew Love?

AF: My writing process starts out with an idea or a title. It might seem seem strange to most but a catchy title pops into my head and that sparks a story line. A story line sparks ideas for characters and characters names Their names develop into the backgrounds of their lives and what makes them who they are.

Every character that I ever dream of, their name tells something about them who they are, what they are about or what their goals are in the story. Crew Love was an idea for many years, but the actual writing and becoming serious about doing this for real took maybe eight months.

JP: What’s next for Antwan Floyd?

AF: More writing, perfecting my craft and perhaps take some writing courses. More reading, find out what my peers are doing. I learn from all writers of all genres. Travel to different states and sell my book at different book fairs in the United States. I am also currently putting the finishing touches on my nest book the sequel to Crew Love, Crew Love II “The Black Mob”.

http://www.bleedingpenpublishing.com/
http://www.myspace.com/antwanfloyd
http://www.twitter.com/antwanfloyd
http://www.facebook.com/antwanfloyd

P.S. Join the Joey Reviews Newsletter at http://joeypinkney.com/joey-reviews-newsletter.html

Please click on the banners to learn more about each JoeyPinkney.com sponsor:















You need to advertise with JoeyPinkney.com! (Click here for more information.)

26 thoughts on “5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Antwan Floyd, author of Crew Love”

  1. I have personally had the pleasure of networking with Antwan Floyd and after reading his blogs on Crew Love and seeing his dedication into bringing into the public eye I am glad to see that a man that has the combination of creativity and passion for his “pen” is able to share his gift with all that desire a good story that seems all too real.

  4. Here is the list of people who are in the Crew Love.

    1) Adrian Ox Mendez
    2) Dapharoah69 The King of Erotica
    3) Marc Livingston
    4) ???
    5) ???
    6) ???
    7) ???
    8) ???
    9) ???
    10) ???

  6. Here is the list of people who are in the Crew Love.

    1) Adrian Ox Mendez
    2) Dapharoah69 The King of Erotica
    3) Marc Livingston
    4) Imani True
    5) Linda Chavis
    6) ???
    7) ???
    8) ???
    9) ???
    10) ???

  8. Here is the list of people who are in the Crew Love.

    1) Adrian Ox Mendez
    2) Dapharoah69 The King of Erotica
    3) Marc Livingston
    4) Imani True
    5) Linda Chavis
    6) Asia
    7) ???
    8) ???
    9) ???
    10) ???

  9. I would love to have this book after reading about his passion for writing and how he puts work into his books researching information although fiction shows that his writing technique is superb…

  10. Sounds like a book that most people can relate to. 4 people that come from different lives and 1 thing that brings them together. Makes you wonder, who lives, who dies, and what lesson will you learn before it’s to late???

  11. Here is the list of people who are in the running for a free copy of Crew Love.

    1) Adrian Ox Mendez
    2) Dapharoah69 The King of Erotica
    3) Marc Livingston
    4) Imani True
    5) Linda Chavis
    6) Asia
    7) Joyce
    8) Janika Schwerr
    9) ???
    10) ???

    1. Cool, Tanya. You are in the running to win the free copy provided by Antwan Floyd. I waiting on one more person to comment, and I’ll randomly draw a winner.

  13. “I learn from all writers of all genres”. This is good to know, and especially good to practice. I tend to stick with only one genre, and never really thought about reading mysteries or horroe or even romance. But I’m realizing that learning something from each genre can lead to more productive writing. Knowing that Mr. Floyd is so serious and dedicated to his work makes me very excited to read this book. Congrats and much success to him!

  15. Here is the list of people who are in the running for a free copy of Crew Love.

    1) Adrian Ox Mendez
    2) Dapharoah69 The King of Erotica
    3) Marc Livingston
    4) Imani True
    5) Linda Chavis
    6) Asia
    7) Joyce
    8) Janika Schwerr
    9) Tanya
    10) Katrina Roberson

    I am going to do a random drawing to find the winner.

  16. What up little cousin Antwan, this is your cousin down in Arkansas ,just wanted to let u know we are very proud of U da book is banging u dat shit! we will come to Minn. and c u soon WE LOVE YOU ! Tell Star we said we love her 2,see u soon . ONE LOVE !

Comments are closed.