Category Archives: african american books

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With Rhonda Lawson, author of A Dead Rose

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Rhonda Lawson, author of A Dead Rose
(Urban Soul)


rhonda lawson head shot a dead rose book cover

(click on the pictures to see this book on Amazon.com)

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write A Dead Rose?

Rhonda Lawson: I’m sure we’ve all met or encountered someone who had a less-than-virtuous reputation. As a young adult, I heard so many stories about women, including myself, that may or not have been true. Someone always had something negative to say about a woman. Few people ever bothered to get to know the woman and find out what was really going on in her mind.

It’s not easy for a woman to find love today. A million mistakes can be made before she can find the man she’s truly meant to be with. Unfortunately, those mistakes can cause a woman not to recognize that man when he finally comes along. When A Dead Rose was first released, I received so much feedback from women who said they saw a piece of themselves in Isis.

JP: What sets A Dead Rose apart from other novels in its genre?

RL: A Dead Rose is not just another love story. While Isis is looking for love, the reader also feels her pain as she struggles to find love for herself. I think people who read this book will walk away from it with a sense of inspiration. Of course, there will be people who will have a million negative things to say about Isis. Those who dig deep will see and feel the frustration she deals with.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to A Dead Rose getting out to the public?

RL: When I released my first book, Cheatin’ in the Next Room, I ran into a lot of roadblocks. It was difficult to find a publisher or even get my book onto the shelves. I sacrificed a lot of nights and weekends writing and signing at various book events. Sometimes I sold 20-30 books, and other times only selling two. However, I kept trying because writing is something I love, and I knew I told stories that I truly believed in.

I think part of the reason my publisher picked me up was because the company saw that I was willing to get out there and hustle. To answer your question, I think I owe my success to writing from my heart, never knowing when to say when, and just getting to know my readers and finding out what they want to read.

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

RL: I wouldn’t use A Dead Rose as a great example, because it actually took me two and a half years to write between being a single parent, my fulltime job as an Army NCO, going to college, and promoting Cheatin’ in the Next Room! When I began writing my new novel, Putting It Back Together, it only took me about four months. I was under a stricter deadline, so I was forced to focus.

For Putting It Back Together, I first outlined the characters and wrote down my main plot as well as my sub-plots. I didn’t outline the whole story because I wanted my characters to take me where they wanted to go. My characters and plot lists helped me to stay focused.

I also made it a practice of writing in the late evenings. That’s something I’d grown accustomed to in the early days of A Dead Rose since I’m a single parent. I do like to change locations every now and then to keep the creative juices flowing. I’ve even written parts of Putting It Back Together while sitting in the community club here in Korea while a rock concert went on outside!

One last thing I did was find people whom I trusted to read passages for me to give me a sanity check. That helped big time.

JP: What’s next for Rhonda M. Lawson?

RL: I’ve started a blog on myspace and Black Planet that focuses on writing. I want to share my lessons learned with other writers. I’m also working on an online newsletter to not only keep my readers informed of my literary news, but to highlight other poets and authors.

Additionally, my third novel, Putting It Back Together, is due to hit the stands next spring. It takes place in post-Katrina New Orleans, and tells the story of Alexis, a pediatrician with her own private practice, and Reggie, a successful professional football player. The couple dated each other in college, but Alexis’ pride causes them to break up. More than ten years later, Reggie is now married, but trying to divorce his wife, Nikki. However, he learns that the lawyer he hires to handle the procedure is dating Alexis! When Reggie and Alexis come face to face, they wonder how their lives would have been had they stayed together, but learn that when life moves on, love isn’t always the answer.

www.rmlawson.com
http://www.myspace.com/rhondamlawson

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5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes 5 Questions With… Stacey-Deanne, author of Melody

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Stacey-Deanne, author of Melody
(Strebor Books)


stacey-deanne headshot melody book cover

(click on the pictures to see this book on Amazon.com)

Full of forbidden desire and unwavering strength in the face of danger, Melody is a chilling tale that will leave readers breathless as they navigate all the plot twists and turns. Struggling to survive until the end, the diverse cast of characters will be left questioning their loyalties, their passions and how far they might be willing to go to protect the ones they love.

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

Stacey-Deanne: For some reason, I wanted to write a sexy thriller. I kept getting the vision of a strong, young woman who wanted to save her sister from something tragic. I soon developed the idea where Melody would begin to distrust her sister, Sarah’s latest boyfriend. At first I had it where Melody simply disliked him, but since I wanted this to be a thriller, my ideas heightened and I turned the boyfriend into a challenging menace. It became a race of good versus evil with Melody as the good and Keith (Sarah’s boyfriend) as the ultimate evil. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted something else to go on despite the main story. Soon, the second plot of the book, the serial rapist was born. From there my ideas naturally flew and I was hooked LOL.

JP: What sets Melody apart from other murder/mystery novels currently on the market?

SD: A lot! I think that most people who read it will agree that Melody is unlike any other novel ever written because of its distinction alone. Melody is one of few mysteries on the urban market these days. It is also one of few whose main character is a Latina. It is one of very few stories that can be defined in many different genres including, romance, mystery, thriller, suspense, women’s fiction, detective and crime fiction and chick lit. A big difference is the variety of spicy characters.

Melody has a racially diverse range of characters. The main characters, Melody and her sister Sarah are biracial. They are half-Latina and half-white. Melody also focuses on an interracial love affair between the two detectives in the story, Brianna and Steven. She’s black and he’s white. Keith and Lucas, Sarah and Melody’s love interests are white. There’s a minor character that’s gay. Another difference is that Melody is a two-plot story. You get two stories in one. While Melody races to save Sarah from Keith’s clutches, there is a serial rapist in the city preying on black women (two who are main characters). As a thriller, Melody holds numerous twists. There’s a lot going on in this book.

JP: As a best selling author, what did you learn from previous novels that you were able to apply to Melody?

SD: I’ve learned that I enjoy putting minority characters in positions they aren’t usually shown in. I strive to make my characters stand out and not be wooden based on stereotypes. My books are for everyone and what I’ve learned is that I enjoy writing a novel with diverse subjects and that it turns out, audiences appreciate this as well. Comparing this to my previous work showed me how great it works out to have such a diverse story as Melody. It fits in many genres and has characters of so many different races that its audience is endless.

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

SD: I’m a fast writer unless something gets in the way. I first wrote Melody eleven years ago so I don’t remember just how long it took (laughing), but usually it takes me around three to four months to write a book and probably a month and a half to edit it. But it all depends on how things are going and whether my process is interrupted or not.

JP: What’s next for Stacy-Deanne?

SD: Many, many things! I have finished many novels and plan to publish them. I am excited that I’ve begun a series that stars the detectives from Melody. I already have two books from the series completed and I will be starting a third soon. I’ve also got other novels I’m editing. If things work out as planned then my next release will be the first installment of my cop series. I am very excited about this. I fell in love with the officers in Melody and there is so much I wanted to do with them.

Website link: http://www.stacy-deanne.net
Myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/stacydeanne

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

5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes 5 Questions With Claude Beauregard, author of The African Rises

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Claude M. Beauregard, author of The African Rises
(AuthorHouse)


claude beauregard head shot the african rises book cover

(Click on the pictures to see this book on Amazon.com)

The African Rises is a fictional story drawing on past and present historic material. It takes a unique approach to examining how power is used by a minority to maintain their control over the vast resources of Africa in the post modern world. It does so using a modern interpretation of the trilogy of Ausar, Aset and Heru sometimes referred to as the Ausarian drama and the struggle for power between Ausar and his evil Brother Set in ancient Egypt.

The African Rises expands on the trilogy and uses it as a base to tell the story of an African male living in the United States who returns to Africa seeking to unify the continent. The story details the challenges faced by this individual to achieve that goal and the attempts by foreign powers to stop him.

The main character Sekhem must also deal with his own internal conflict and the great power he possesses on his own quest for spiritual freedom. The only question is will he complete his task in time and defeat a great and ancient evil that has also been watching his movements and waiting for a time to reveal its ultimate horror for humankind?

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write The African Rises?

Claude M. Beauregard: I got the idea for the book while learning how to read Hieroglyphs. I was always fascinated by the culture of Nuba and Kemet. But a lot of people especially African Americans seem uninterested in learning about this history as a whole. So I thought why not spruce it up and make it more interesting by incorporating this information in the form of an adventure story while also including some of the modern problems facing the African Diaspora.

JP: What sets The African Rises apart from other novels in its genre?

CB: It takes information from an ancient history and presents it in a form that as more appealing than simply reading dry facts. That can become boring very quickly. It also incorporates a lot of the religious beliefs of those ancient cultures.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to The African Rises getting out to the public?

CB: Just being tenacious and not giving up.

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

CB: I really don’t have a process. I kinda of let the story flow based on how I wanted to present the facts that the story was based upon. I know from experience that a lot of readers have had problems with chapter 3 of the book. It’s so in your face. We don’t like hearing the truth about how we screwed ourselves over.

JP: What’s next for Claude M. Beauregard?

CB: Business success in both marketing my patents and commercial real estate.

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

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