Category Archives: african american authors

JoeyPinkney.com Book Review – Nights Over Egypt: An Eye of the Storm Short – Elissa Gabrielle

JoeyPinkney.com Book Review
“Nights Over Egypt: An Eye of the Storm Short”
by Elissa Gabrielle
5 of 5 Stars

Elissa Gabrielle puts words in an order so skillfully that you can at times tell the very cadence of what’s being spoken by the characters in her stories. “Nights Over Egypt: An Eye of the Storm Short” is no exception. Nestled in a nook known as “Nights” in Newark, NJ, a pair of poets pour their passions. Intertwined by dueling desires, King and Egypt detail dirty thoughts through a poetic dialogue that defines divine attraction.

In “Nights Over Egypt”, veteran author/publisher Gabrielle builds a world around the gravity of a mutual desire that rests between two powerfully potent practitioners of verbal gymnastics. Visions are filtered through the minds, bodies and souls of two wordsmiths as they wage a peaceful war in the midst of unwitting watchers. Even when alone, each lover thinks of the other – smothered by thoughts of what could be, what should be and what will be. Continue reading JoeyPinkney.com Book Review – Nights Over Egypt: An Eye of the Storm Short – Elissa Gabrielle

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Sheila Raye Charles, author of Behind the Shades: Hope Beyond the Darkness

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Sheila Raye Charles, author of Behind the Shades: Hope Beyond the Darkness
(Vox Dei)

Let me begin with a telling quote from the book: “Now within sobriety, I felt I had created such a mess with my life that any love others held for me must surely be gone. Looking for love from someone, from anyone, I became convinced it no longer existed. How do you get over that?”

Although I was the daughter of renowned musician Ray Charles and surrounded by people, I was overwhelmed with loneliness. Those I should have been able to trust had failed me, and I also failed so many. Sometimes it seemed there was no hope beyond these shadows I could never seem to escape – shadows brought on not only by my own choices but also by the choices of those who’d lived before me.

This book tells the raw truth of my story…that despite the dark times – and even through them – there is indeed Hope!

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “Behind the Shades: Hope Beyond the Darkness”?

Sheila Raye Charles: “Behind the Shades” has a very complex background! First, my father was Ray Charles, so his fame and schedule as a musician —not to mention his personal choices—made for a rocky childhood for me and a difficult life for my mother. Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Sheila Raye Charles, author of Behind the Shades: Hope Beyond the Darkness

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Patrice Tartt, author of Wounds of Deception

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Patrice Tartt, author of Wounds of Deception
(Patrice Tartt Publishing, LLC)

patrice_tartt_wounds_of_deception_amazon_

Christie Whitfield-Adams has the picture-perfect life: a husband who loves her, a thriving career, stop-in-your-tracks good looks, and an undeniable bond with her father, Kenneth. In a nutshell, Christie’s living the typical American dream. When her father mysteriously falls gravely ill, his two sisters step up and begin to care for him while Christie puts life as she knows it on pause to be by her father’s bedside.

However, when Kenneth’s sisters begin acting strangely, just as things take a turn for the worse, Christie must put her grief to the side to figure out the mystery staring her in her face.

While Christie struggles with her own personal grief, she learns the many secrets that those closest to her worked hard to keep buried. There’s missing money, missing personal items and, worse of all, there’s deception being painted as “love”.

Layer by layer, Christie begins to uncover exactly who had been for her father and who had been for betraying him and his legacy. Will the realization of what she once thought was perfect send Christie running in pain, or will she be ready to bandage up her Wounds of Deception?

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “Wounds of Deception”?

Patrice Tartt: I was inspired to write “Wounds of Deception” when I lost my father in 2011 to amyloidosis, a rare disease. My debut novel covers many topics that are considered taboo surrounding the illness and/or death of a loved one. Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Patrice Tartt, author of Wounds of Deception