Category Archives: african american book

MG Hardie, author of EveryDay Life: As a youth, I had to read because I didn’t have a television until I was about ten-years old. When I finally got one, it was a black and white piece of [crap], but it worked. I got a color one at fourteen, and it was like Christmas everyday. We lived in a four-walled shack. I never had a room of my own. At night when I heard sirens, all I could do was read. I would get a book and read about all of the magnificent and wonderful places my mind wanted to go. In my reading, I imagined that I traveled further than anyone else. Most of the time my stomach growled louder than my wildest imagining, and reading was my solace, my salvation and my friend.

EveryDay Life is a journey from hopelessness to hope. It is a new kind of literature. It’s a raw, intensely humorous, personal and inspiring look at the journey of a young African-American man who, against the odds and his environment, decides to change his life for the better. It delves into uncharted literary territory and deals with so many relevant issues about life. EveryDay Life is an interactive literary journey that implores readers to read it more than once.

For more information about MG Hardie and EveryDay Life, please visit: http://myspace.com/MGHardie.

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Torrance T. Stephens, PhD, author of Dirt Behind My Ears

March 15, 2009 Joey Pinkney 2 Comments

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Torrance Stephens, author of Dirt Behind My Ears
(Firefly Publishing & Entertainment)

Torrance Stephens delves into a range of subjects, from politics and relationships to sports and history, providing valuable insight to the African-American perspective of the world. These essays are an effort of the author to try and explain his belief orientation with respect to the relationship of humanity to the universe, himself and society , especially the African American community via scholarship and satire

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Dirt Behind My Ears?

Torrance Stephens: Well, I have been writing essays all of my life. I started early around age 10. I also read a lot of philosophy and opinion in newspapers. I amassed more than 1,100 essays and took about 190 to comprise my first book of essays.

I loved both philosophical thought and scholarship; it just seemed to me that what I read lacked the experience of the common man. I think a writer is a product of his reading, and I have a penchant for wanting to publish all my works. Poetry, essays, nonfiction in the form of history, short stories and plays. I think a writer of substance writes it all from essays to science fiction and plays.

JP: This front cover of Dirt Behind My Ears is interesting to say the least: A black man with long locks sitting on a rusty lawn chair wearing a jogging suit and Air Force Ones with a rifle across his shoulders. Care to explain?

TS: Well, the picture was taken on my farm. I figure we all have dirt behind our ears because of the stories we could tell, especially us from the dirty south. I’m from Memphis, and my essays reveal the connection I have with the South from the city streets to that which makes us country. I keep a rifle in each room. That’s just how I take care of mine. Can’t call 911. Plus, I can hunt all the deer and wild turkey I want. Where I live right now, hunting and fishing is all good. What I was wearing on that book cover is how I dress.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Dirt Behind My Ears getting out to the public?

TS: Outreach through my blog and book clubs. I have seen sales increase via my blog and book clubs because word of mouth is what pushes sales. In fact, the only reason Borders and other major chains carry it in select stores is because of request. The underground is important. I hope history judges my corpus of writings more so than folks living now. That is the honor for me.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Dirt Behind My Ears?

TS: Well, I write everyday. I am influenced by Voltaire, Neruda and folk like Camus, historians, scientist and philosophers. I write how I talk and try to ground the reader in information in order to educate and even inculcate my purview of a particular subject matter. Like I said, I have thousands of essays and poems and short stories. I’m just trying to publish as many books as I can. I write for myself first, and that is the advice I would share with any writer. Your readers will find you if you serve your craft first before getting published, book sales or fame.

JP: What’s next for Torrance Stephens?

TS: I have a book of plays at press called Why I am a Gangster, another book of love sonnets called Late Night Winds of Club Paradise (170 plus poems) and a book of Short Stories called Freak Type Scene. I serve as senior Opinion Editorial Writer for Rolling Out UrbanStyle Weekly (http://rollingout.com).

http://rawdawgb.blogspot.com

Bio of Torrance T. Stephens, PhD

Originally, from Memphis, Tennessee, he attended Morehouse College where he studied psychology, biology and chemistry. He received a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology and Measurement from Atlanta University and a PhD in Counseling from Clark Atlanta University. He is the father of two and currently lives in Palmetto, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. He is an author and has a novel, three books of short stories and a book of sonnets on the market. Dr. Stephens is also the owner of Braincell a store that specializes in merchandise and gourmet food for dogs.

Other Books by Torrance Stephens: Rockstar, Stud, Gigolo (short stories), A Matter of Attention (novel), Fast and Gamin’ (short stories), Butter Brown (short Stories), For U Who Left Me While I Slept (poetry) and a contributor to Bloggers’ Delight, Vol. 1.

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P.S.S. If you want to be feature in a 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… series, email me at joey.pinkney@gmail.com or myspace.com/joeyreviews

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National Reading Month With… Rose Jackson-Beaver, author of Caught in the Net of Deception

March 14, 2009 Joey Pinkney

Rose Jackson-Beaver, author of Caught in the Net of Deception: I have always been a great talker. As a child, I loved to tell stories and repeat daily news that happened to anyone who would listen. The difference was the way that I reported these stories. I used great imagination, exaggeration and action verbs to draw my audiences in. My mother used to tell us stories and read books to all of her children. Sometimes we would sit in a circle and listen. She was quite imaginative. Growing up in a large family, I loved to read. We would fight over the cereal boxes as we ate breakfast in the morning. My siblings and I had to read the back of the box. It seemed to make the cereal taste that much better. I had to read. Reading made my day that much brighter.

I am finding that I am more passionate about writing for teens. I don’t mind writing to take people visually to places they have not visited. I can write love scenes that may stimulate, but as I grow as a writer, I want my words to inspire someone to take action. With teens I want to make a difference and give them hope when many of them are feeling so hopeless. I want my words to teach without preaching. I love encouraging teens to become all they can through stories that interest them. I will release Caught in the Net of Deception in early March 2009. It’s a teen book that focuses on teens and the dangers they can find surfing on the Internet. I wrote this book because several teens I know were almost found in danger because they are susceptible to communicating with strangers who pretended to be people they were not.

My mother laid the foundation for my love for reading when I was young. I think it is important to instill reading in children early because reading really strengthens comprehension skills. Take a child to the library weekly and watch how his desire to read grows. I don’t know what I would have done without reading. It broadens my horizon about life.

For more information about Rose Jackson-Beaver and Caught in the Net of Deception, please visit http://www.prioritybooks.com.

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Category Archives: african american book

National Reading Month With… MG Hardie, author of EveryDay Life

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Torrance T. Stephens, PhD, author of Dirt Behind My Ears

National Reading Month With… Rose Jackson-Beaver, author of Caught in the Net of Deception

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