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The Black Experience in Comedy
Black History Month starts tomorrow, so I thought I’d start publishing some excerpts from The Queen of Comedy. TQOC is a generational and historical novel about a family of entertainers. Their craft is comedy, and while the book does include romance, the focus is more on the black celebrity during segregation, and what they had to go through.
I use the love/hate relationship between a woman who was cast as a maid in a number of films, and her nephew, a man who becomes a stand up comedian during the 60s.
Brilliant comic. Flawed woman. One legendary career.
Most people recognize the face, if not the name. That apple cheeked, rich brown face with the inviting smile that adorns baking products worldwide. Older movie goers fondly recall her role as the friendly, wise cracking maid in over one hundred films. But to her family and spurned lovers, the tongue of Honi Hawkins was brutally uncompromising and anything but funny, as she fought to become THE QUEEN OF COMEDY. ©Excerpt:
It was like James Brown sang, “This is a Man’s World.” David even did his own grass. He bought one of those riding lawn mowers, and when he wasn’t at the studio he raced around on it like a cowboy sitting tall in the saddle. He started wearing slouchy cardigan sweaters like Bing Crosby always wore, and carrying a pipe like Bob Hope. He even insisted that Contessa have a martini ready for him when he came home from a long hard day at the studio. They were almost happy, almost content. So when David read in the paper about the growing violence in the Negro community, he found himself agreeing with the intellectuals that blamed the unrest on the poor and uneducated. His people became “those” people, because in his mind he was being treated just fine. The race problem didn’t affect him outright. He was living the American Dream. So this was no time to be trippin’. At the studio he found himself hard pressed to explain the actions of other Negroes. The studio even sent a memo, cautioning him against associating with “troublemakers,” reminding him of the morality clause in his contract. So he suffered in silence, unwilling to explode because if he did, he knew his dream world would come crashing down around him.
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The Boys R Back in Town
The Werewolf art is by rhabwar-troll-stock.deviantart.com, and you can view more of this artist’s work here
Check out a rock classic written by the founder and frontman of Thin Lizzy, the black Irishman himself, the late, great Phil Lynott (singing lead and playing bass) called The Boys Are Back in Town:
I also needed a smaller GIF for social media in order to promote HUI
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Update on Books 4 Boys
Keeping my promise regarding Books for Boys (and men). I’ll be back to link the GIF and photos to excerpts.
If you like the cool werewolf art at the end of the GIF, more of the artist’s work can be found here
Read an excerpt from BENDER:
I’ll be back to add the excerpt!
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What he said . . . RIP David Bowie
“My attraction to her was immediate and all-encompassing. I couldn’t sleep for the excitement of our first date,” he told HELLO!. “That she would be my wife, in my head, was a done deal. I’d never gone after anything in my life with such passion in all my life. I just knew she was the one.”
– David Bowie. Quote from OKAY magazine.
Like a number of Bowie’s fans, I’m in shock over his death.
Bowie’s music was a major part of my life. And his declaration of love for Iman in the OKAY mag quote above, could have been written for a romance novel. In the same interview, Bowie stated that he was already naming their children when he met IMAN. It’s something anyone would want to hear from the person she (or he) loves. RIP David Bowie. Your genius and talent will be missed.
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Paranormal for the People!
I’ve got another new release, this time in the paranormal genre.
First though, Wikkid.Sexy.Cool books is now on Instagram. So I worked on a new promo for HUI that features the female lead, Imani:
Paranormal for the people means stories that not only feature a variety of creatures who go bump in the night, but also inclusiveness and diversity in the world building when those beings are in human form.
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FREE six chapter download of HUI
From today until Tuesday, there’s a free download on Amazon of HUI. Six chapters are available at no cost. The exact dates are January 3rd, 4th and 5th.
If you enjoy the free excerpt, then the entire novel is available for sale on Amazon. Kindle Unlimited subscribers get to read for free.
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Deadlier than the Male
I love, love, love this photo of supermodel Ajuma Nasenyana
This picture embodies a smoldering hot fierceness that I’ve tried to capture in some of my scifi heroines, like Ziona NIM
And the head sister-witch Lilith: