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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Ms. Pantha Jones, author of Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded

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JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Ms. Pantha Jones, author of Respect My Gantsta Fully Loaded
(TaKeOver Publishing, LLC)

For Sorrow Sanae’ Hunter (affectionately known as Panther) life has designated struggle and death as her permanent shadows. The product of her mother’s infidelity, the stage is set from birth for the abuse and neglect Sorrow will have to endure.

If not for the love of her two brothers ,she would surely perish in the bowels of the streets. And when the circumstances of their mother’s reckless doped-up behavior led the brothers to drugs and murder, Sorrow (unknowingly to them) becomes their willing protégé.

They taught her how to hustle, protect herself, and most importantly, to make the world respect her gangsta.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded?

Ms. Pantha Jones: I wanted to tell a story about how someone’s childhood can affect how they love, how they deal with others, what paths they will choose to take in life and how they see themselves. I wanted to show how their childhood affects how much respect they will demand from people and how much they respect themselves.

In this day and age, a lot of young women don’t have that self-respect nor do they demand it. Respect My Gangsta is also about a young man who thinks respect in the streets is more valuable than respect he gets from being a basketball star and a college student.

JP: What sets Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded apart from other novels in its genre?

PJ: To me Respect My Gangsta really doesn’t have a genre, at least not one specific genre. That’s what sets it apart from other novels. With Respect My Gangsta, your reading a love story, your reading a street novel, you’re reading a suspense novel. It’s a survival novel; it’s coming of age novel. Readers will get all of that, and probably more, out of this book.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded getting out to the public?

PJ: Hah! Well first off, let me say this: if you aren’t willing to go hard or have a lot of patience, you might as well hang it up. I wanted to be a writer, always have. When Pilot didn’t work out, I was determined to put my book back out there myself.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded?

PJ: Music, music and more music. For some reason, I run my stories in my head like movies, with all with background music and sound effects. When I’m working on a love scene, I bring the Prince, Maxwell, Sade, etc. The same thing goes for if my characters are doing something criminal. I bring the rock music and the rap music out.

It didn’t take me long to write the story Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded, not even six months. However, it took me a long time to make it a book and a lot of re-writes. I can’t wait to see the readers’ reactions to Respect My Gangsta One and Two under Take Over.

JP: What’s next for Ms. Pantha Jones?

PJ: Well, the Street Vices Anthology is already out. Which is the debut novel of my company Take Over Publishing. I had other authors come through for me with this project, Lust by Andrea Blackstone, Gluttony by L. Miller, Sloth by Shalya Crape, Anger by Dana Littlejohn, Greed by Darren Chester, Envy by A’milleon Pullen and I did Pride. You can get it on Amazon now. Street Vices is a twist of the seven deadly sins in the streets. I plan on taking Take Over Publshing to the next level and do movies. I want to turn Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded into a movie.

We have Me Against the World by Allene Wofford coming out later this year. T.O.P.’s also doing two more anthologies, G.I. Girls: The Takeover and The Recession. I have an Urban Thriller I’m working on called Cold Thang, which will be out in 2011. And if God’s willing, much more in the years to come.

http://www.takeover-publishing.com
http://www.myspace.com/takeoverpublishing
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=106674

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9 thoughts on “5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Ms. Pantha Jones, author of Respect My Gangsta Fully Loaded”

  1. A combination novel I’d say. I can attest to wanting to mix it up like Pantha. If there is going to be a giveaway for this, count me in. I am thinking this embodies what I like to see in urban fiction.

  2. This lady is busy! I wasn’t drawn in by the Title but I was by the author’s explanation of what it was about. It should be an interesting read.

  3. I enjoyed this interview and I enjoy books that cross “genre” lines so to speak. I will definitely be ordering theses.

  4. ONE of the first FIVE people to comment on this author interview will win a free copy of the book.

    Here is the list of people who are in the running for a FREE copy of Respect My Gangsta by Ms. Pantha Jones.

    1) N.S. Ugezene
    2) Folake Taylor
    3) Rhea Alexis M. Banks
    4) ???
    5) ???

    Leave a comment about your thoughts on the interview.

  5. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading this novel yet. I was waiting for the book to drop under Pantha’s company. I can’t wait to dig in though. 🙂 Kudos to a TRUE hustler in the game!

  6. I just wanted to say that I have watched Pantha grow this story from deep within and finally give it birth. I got a the first glimpse of this story on Myspace when she did an excerpt. I was blown away then and begged for more. Now that her “baby” is born, I can’t wait to hold it my hands and read what she has created. She is an amazing young lady and my hat goes off to Ms. Pantha! Kudos Pantha! You know I’m down with Respect My Gansta!

  7. This interview was very good and I know I would love to read this book.

  8. ONE of the first FIVE people to comment on this author interview will win a free copy of the book.

    Here is the list of people who are in the running for a FREE copy of Respect My Gangsta by Ms. Pantha Jones.

    1) N.S. Ugezene
    2) Folake Taylor
    3) Rhea Alexis M. Banks
    4) Anjel
    5) V.J. Gotastory

    Leave a comment about your thoughts on the interview.

Comments are closed.