• E books,  Excerpts,  Historical fiction

    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.

     

    The Queen of Comedy takes center stage
    The Queen of Comedy takes center stage

     

    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. ©

     

     

     

    Honi-Hawkins-promo

     

     

     

     

    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.

  • #BlackGirlMagic,  Books 4 Boys,  E books,  Scifi,  Urban Fantasy

    The Boys R Back in Town

    Medium-sized-NIGHTSTALKERS-gif
    From left to right: Ronin Bey, Firedrake. Ash the Hellraiser, (center) Andre Santana, Alpha X Werewolf, Karnage Xian, Gargoyle

     

    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

     

    HUI_GIF-edited1

  • Books 4 Boys,  E books,  Paranormal romance,  Scifi

    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.

     

    American-Werewolf-GIF-with-Werewolf-Art
    Andre Santana is AMERICAN WEREWOLF. Photomanipulated werewolf art at end of GIF done by rhabwar-troll-stock.deviantart.com

     

    If you like the cool werewolf art at the end of the GIF, more of the artist’s work can be found here

     

     

    Iron Mike and Trinny promo
    Iron Mike and Trinny promo

     

     

    Bender plays fire hockey

     

     

    Read an excerpt from BENDER:

     

    I’ll be back to add the excerpt!

  • #BlackGirlMagic

    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.

     

    David Bowie and his wife Iman
    David Bowie and the love of his life, his wife IMAN

     

    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.

     

    GIF of D Bowie by Helen Green
    David Bowie GIF by talented UK artist Helen Green. Click to be re-directed to Green’s tumblr site

     

  • #BlackGirlMagic,  E books,  Paranormal romance

    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:

     

    Promo for Imani_Love and ballet series1
    Ballerina Imani Fairchild falls for North Korean prodigy Le Jong Hui, in the interracial romance set in the world of ballet, titled HUI

     

    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.

     

    Confessions of a Shapeshifter cast. Julian Armitage Larouche, the Victorian era vampire, Kris, the dark child, and Andre Santana, the werewolf
    Confessions of a Shapeshifter cast. Julian Armitage Larouche, the Victorian era vampire, Kris, the dark child, and Andre Santana, the werewolf

     

    Confessions of a Shapeshifter
    Confessions of a Shapeshifter

     

     

    Sister Witches_Lilith_Pagan_Ondine copy
    Witches 3
  • #BlackGirlMagic,  Adult Fantasy,  E books,  Paranormal romance,  Scifi

    Deadlier than the Male

    I love, love, love this photo of supermodel Ajuma Nasenyana

    Ajuma Nasenyana
    Beautiful 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

    The transformation of Ziona NIM

     

     

    NIM intergalactic planetary assassin

     

     

    NIM promo1

     

    And the head sister-witch Lilith:

    LILITH, an African American witch from the upcoming paranormal romance Long Ago and Far Away
    LILITH, an African American witch from the upcoming paranormal romance Long Ago and Far Away