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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Earl Austin, Jr., author of You Might Need a Jacket

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Earl Austin, Jr., author of You Might Need A Jacket
(PriorityBooks Publishing)


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(One of the first ten people to comment on Earl Austin, Jr.’s author interview will win a FREE COPY of You Might Need a Jacket.)

(Congratulations to Octavia for winning the FREE COPY of Earl Austin Jr.’s You Might Want a Jacket.)

Behind every successful, young athlete, there is a highly-motivated parent obsessed with the idea of their son or daughter becoming a big sports star. Earl Austin Jr.’s latest book, You Might Need A Jacket: Hilarious Stories of Wacky Sports Parents, is dedicated to those mothers and fathers and other loved ones who go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure their children’s success in the athletic arena. Way, way beyond.

In twenty-two years of covering amateur and youth sports in St. Louis, Austin has virtually seen it all from the sidelines and now he is sharing some of those funny stories with you in his new publication. Be ready to laugh out loud. This delightful book contains nearly 200 stories and anecdotes that chronicle the activities of “Strait-Jacket Parents,” which is the term created by Austin and his friends that describes these overzealous sports parental units. Some of these stories may be hard to believe, but they are all true. They range from the funny and cute to the strange and truly bizarre.

Earl recounts such humorous stories as:
*The proud mother who spent thousands of dollars to have bobble-head dolls made her daughter’s likeness while she was a high school basketball player
*The out-of-control father who ended up being arrested, tasered and taken away in handcuffs from his eight-year old son’s youth football game
*The nervous mother who would always wet her pants whenever her son trotted onto the football field to attempt a field goal
*The overzealous father who sent his eight-year old son to seventeen basketball camps in just one summer

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write You Might Need A Jacket?

Earl Austin, Jr.: On Friday nights during the high school sports season, a group of us usually gathered at a local restaurant after the games to discuss the games that we’ve just witnessed. After a while, we found ourselves talking more about the wild behavior of some of the parents at these games than the actual game itself. One of my buddies tells me, “Earl, you should write a book about this stuff.” The stories kept getting wilder and more amusing to the point where I just started keeping a collection and started writing them down.

After several years, I finally decided to put all of these stories together and put them into a book. It gives all of us adults a chance to really look at ourselves and have a laugh about how some of us get a little carried away when it comes to our children’s athletic endeavors. Then we can begin to focus on what is really important about sports; which is the children who are actually competing.

JP: In your twenty-two years of covering sports, what is the funniest incident you witnessed in person?

EA: Wow! There were so many. I guess the one that immediately comes to mind was when I attended a youth basketball tournament and watched a game between two third-grade teams. It turned out to be one of the wildest games that I’ve ever seen. These kids were eight and nine years old, but from watching the parents carry on, you would have thought they had bet their paychecks on the game. When they weren’t screaming at the coaches and the referees, they were yelling at their own kids and the kids on the other team. They were out of control from the start.

The coach of one team got kicked out of the game in the first half for yelling at the referee too much. At the scorer’s table, two parents almost got into a big fight because one parent thought the other parent was trying to cheat his son’s team with the score. The capper came in the second half when the coach of the other team became involved with the referees. This particular coach was wheelchair bound. He started barking at the referee when he disagreed with one of his calls. The referee just turned his back and walked away, ignoring the coach.

The coach did not like being ignored, so he turns on his motorized wheelchair on full-speed and motors on the court in an effort to run down the referee. Luckily, the referee turns around and sees the man in the wheelchair coming at him at full speed and manages to get out of the way before he is plowed into. The coach then turns his chair around, then tries to run the referee over again. By then, his coach’s wife comes on the court and manages to calm him down and get him off the court. I was laughing so hard, I had tears streaming down my face. I had never seen anything like that before.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to You Might Need A Jacket getting out to the public?

EA:
I have a passion for writing that is unquenchable. It started with newspapers, but now with books, I can really take my writing to another level. Also, being a part of the sports media for the past two decades has given me a good amount of visibility in the community, and I am blessed for it. Plus, this subject matter is something that hits home with a majority of people because so many people are involved in youth sports as a participant, coach, official or doting parent or loved one.

Regardless of your race, gender, nationality or personal background, we all love our children. We all want them to be the best at whatever they do. So many people may see themselves in You Might Need a Jacket or they know someone who is a straitjacket parent. It relates to so many people from different walks of life.

I also have to give a lot of credit to my publisher Rose Beavers at Prioritybooks Publications. She has opened my eyes to a whole new world of how to get my book marketed and out to the masses in a variety of ways. Not only is Rose a good publisher, but she is a good friend and mentor.

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

EA: It took a few months to write the book. This one wasn’t as difficult because I had all the stories collected and in my head. It was just a matter of sitting down and putting them on paper. In other books I do on sports history, it takes a little longer because I’m doing a lot of research and interviews along with the writing and editing part of it. Those books usually take at least a year for me to write.

JP: What’s next for Earl Austin, Jr.?

EA: It looks like I will be writing a follow up to You Might Need a Jacket. People have been sending me stories of more strait-jacket parent behavior, so a sequel is in the works. I am also a sports historian here in St. Louis, so I have been working on a series of books on high school sports history in the St. Louis area. I’ve done two books already and will continue to write more in the near future.

http://www.earlaustinjr.com/
http://www.prioritybooks.com/
http://earlonsports.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1027561365&ref=name
http://www.stlamerican.com/

Earl Austin Jr. is the sports editor of the St. Louis American, one of the top African-American newspapers in the county. He is also a radio talk show host and basketball color commentator for St. Louis University. You can contact Earl Austin Jr. at eaustin@stlamerican.com.

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Kareem Tomblin, author of Death, No Exceptions

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Kareem Tomblin, author of Death, No Exception
(PriorityBooks Publications)


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It was one thing for William Earl Holly, an ex-con four months fresh out of State prison, broke and hungry for a quick major come up, to strong arm rob Queen City dope girl on the low, Monica Sparks, taking her coke, cash and chromed out 190 Benz. But it was altogether something different when William put his hands on her child in the process.

In the eyes of Monica and her thugged-out associates, it was a fatal mistake – one in which they all were determined to have William answer for. But first, William had to be found. Follow Monica as she demonstrates in no uncertain terms what being motivated by an unhealthy emotion called revenge can do.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Death, No Exceptions?

Kareem Tomblin: The idea and inspiration to write Death, No Exception actually came from my personal experiences in the streets “thuggin”. The fruit never falls too far from the tree that births it. I wanted to create a story of uncompromising revenge but also a story of uncompromising forgiveness.

My main character, Monica Sparks, is out for revenge. Not only was she robbed at knife point of her coke and a major lump sum of cash, but in the process of her hesitating to give up what the robber knew she possessed, her child suffered. Furious about her son being scarred for life, it’s a must she finds out who this dude is as well as who hipped him to her.

When this information is discovered, all hell breaks loose and it’s Death, No Exceptions for the corporate. Well…at least that’s the plan and attempt.

JP: What sets Death No Exceptions apart from other novels that detail murderous revenge set in the inner-city?

KT: When Monica’s robber, by the grace of God and a bit of theatrics on his part, survives a murder attempt, all he wants from the point of his recovery is to pay Monica another visit somehow, and kill her. But after listening to a pastor early on a Sunday morning preach an unusual sermon about how crazy and violent people in this world are, he decided, after that sermon had sunk deep into his soul, that perhaps after much thought it would be more profitable to consider “changing his life than putting more blood on his hands”.

I think this is what makes Death, No Exception a little different from most murderous revenge set in the inner-city. Most of the time with thugs in the streets, if you hurt or harm in anyway a thug or gangsta or what have you, retaliation is the norm. If your retaliation attempt fails, then the person who you tried retaliating against will now seek to find you until someone is hurt severely or killed.

It stops when someone in the streets who has been scarred by another in the streets decides to say “You know what? I’m alive and over time scars can heal. So I’m going to use better judgment and deny my PRIDE and let the matter go. I’m going to let it go, because there’s a possibility that if I go and do something foolish, I will regret it later. The prisons and graveyards are full of individuals who aborted exercising common sense because their PRIDE got in the way or whatever…”

JP: How did you get hooked up with Prioritybooks? How instrumental has this publishing company been to getting your story out to those need to read it?

KT: I got hooked up with Prioritybooks through an ad I discovered in the East St. Louis Monitor Newspaper. Prioritybooks Publication was accepting manuscripts. I decided to send them the first three chapters of Death, No Exceptions along with synopsis and brief bio of myself and what I was trying to do through writing my books.

All I wanted was an opportunity to deliver positive messages while at the same time not watering it down or sugar coating it. One thing I knew personally from thuggin in the streets at a young age was that the streets will light your *ss up with all type of negative bullsh*t. It will have you living a life that God didn’t intend for any of His children to live. Oh yeah, there’s a lot of fast money that can be made while in and off the streets. There are a lot of promises that so-called friends will make you. Promises that they will be loyal to you if sh*t ever hits the fan.

I learned the hard way that everything that glitters isn’t gold, and sometimes that hand you shake and even eat from in the streets is the same one that will bite you when you need them the most. Prioritybooks Publications is giving me the opportunity to give it to my readers the way it is. I really appreciate Mrs. Beavers, the CEO, for that.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Death No Exceptions?

KT: As an author, I just let the Spirit guide me into my next story or whatever. That’s how I end up coming up with stories. If the Spirit or the inspiration isn’t there, nothing really can be produced worth reading, right? Hip Hop music helps me in many ways to write.

There are so many different issues facing the youth today, such as HIV/AIDS, obesity, gang affiliation and incarceration. I consider these plagues and under the inspiration to speak on it through my books, I just get a typewriter and let it flow. It took me a couple of months to write Death, No Exceptions. It was my first. The story was in my head. The problem was getting it on paper. I didn’t have any help, so I just did the best I could as a young author.

JP: What’s next for Kareem Tomblin?

KT: What’s next for Kareem Tomblin? Well, I completed a novel not long ago which will soon be released called Father Forgive Me and Her. It’s about a Federal Inmate who falls for this very sexy and beautiful Federal employee. The problem is, she’s married. Like the young man, he’s going through a lot being locked up with his hormones running crazy. He wants her badly.

It will be a pretty good read. It’s a different take on a love story. I’m working on other projects as well. God bless you and thank you for taking the time to interview me. I pray that you enjoy reading Death, No Exceptions! Be on the looked out for the sequel. You definitely will not want to miss it.

http://www.myspace.com/kareemtomblin
http://www.priopritybooks.com/
http://www.prioritybooks.com/kareem.htm

Kareem Tomblin a.k.a Soojah is currently incarcerated in a federal correction institution located in Bennesville, South Carolina. He has been incarcerated since 1992. He has never allowed his present confinement to stop him from accomplishing his dreams of bringing the ghetto gospel of truth to those who have eyes to read and ears to hear.

Kareem lets readers know, in his first street story, that the warning he is ultimately delivering is simple, whatever decision one chooses to make in life do it with wise direction. Because in this world of sin, motivated by dividends, one slip, or wrong turn could lead to Death, No Exceptions! Bottom Line.

Kareem Tomblin #10119-058
Federal Correction Center
Post Office Box 52020/Unit B-2
Bennettsville, SC 29512

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Keisha Ervin, author of Gunz and Roses

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Keisha Ervin, author of Gunz and Roses
(Urban Books)


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Urban fiction diva Keisha Ervin is back with Gunz and Roses, her latest story of street love. Time stands still as up and coming fashion editor Gray Rose watches the man of her dreams walk into the club. The last thing St. Louis kingpin Gunz Marciano wants is to become attached to one woman-until he spots Gray.

After one night of erotic passion, Gunz and Gray embark on a tumultuous journey. When their obsessive love becomes too much and Gunz wants out, Gray is ready to let him go. She learns the identity of his new woman, and things get complicated.

Gunz and Roses is a sensational, passionate drama filled with an intense mix of suspense, lies, and murder.

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

Keisha Ervin: I actually got the story idea from some things that had happened in my own life. In the past two years, I have gone through so much relationship wise that I just felt that I needed to get it out on paper.

I also wanted to show people that I’m not perfect, that I make mistakes and that Iam still growing and learning as a woman. Hopefully, my story will help some other womn that may be going through the same thing.

JP: What sets Gunz and Roses apart from other the other cult-classic Keisha Ervin novels?

KE: This story is different because it’s based on real life events.

JP: The last time you were interviewed for “5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…”, you went from Triple Crown to Priority Books. How did you come to release Gunz and Roses through Urban Books?

KE: To set the record straight, I haven’t been signed to TCP since early 2008. After I left, I was a free agent and trying to broker a new deal. While doing that, the offer from Priority books was set on the table.  My agent and I discussed it and decided that it would be a good idea especially since Priority Books is a St. Louis based publishing company.

I knew that regardless of the publishing company, Gunz and Roses wouldn’t be out until 2009. I wanted to have a book out in-between that time, so I signed the one book deal and wrote my first novella. When I started working on Finding Forever, I signed my new publishing deal with Urban Books.

JP: What is your most memorable moment you experienced while getting this novel ready for publication?

KE: Finding the cover art. With this book, I really wanted the cover to reflect my character in the book. Urban Books presented me with a photo. It wasn’t what I was looking for, so I had to find another cover with in 24 hours.

Thankfully, my agent searched the net and found the cover that is on the book. When she sent it to me, I instantly fell in love with it. Another memorable moment was reliving all the funny and dramatic moments that has happened to me in the past two years.

JP: What’s next for Keisha Ervin?

KE: On August 25th, 2009, Gunz and Roses will be released as well as the fifth book from the Girls From The Hood series which I have a short story in called “Queen Pynn”. Currently, I’m working on my eight novel as well as a collabertive novel with my agent/author Brenda Hampton.

To contact me feel free to email me at keisha_ervin2002@yahoo.com or hit me up at www.myspace.com/keishaervin.

I am a National Best-Selling author and have been #1 on Essence Magazines Best Sellers List three times.

http://www.myspace.com/keishaervin
http://www.webjam.com/grayrosez

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