New Adult
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Thirsty
I made more promos for The Saint of BOYStown, a New Adult IR (Interracial romance).
Here’s a scene from the novel:
Tanner Joseph, from the ebook The Saint of BOYStown 
Lovers Tanner Joseph and Nathalie Childress, from the ebook The Saint of BOYStown 
Pictured: Nathalie Childress and Tanner Joseph, from the IR romance The Saint of BOYStown 
Pictured: Tanner Joseph and Nathalie Childress from the IR ebook The Saint of BOYStown 
Pictured: Justin Ybarra, Tanner Joseph and Cody Childress, from the IR ebook The Saint of BOYStown. There’s a lot going on in this book. There’s race, romance, economic disparity (and not just on the black folk side) That’s all I’ll reveal for now.
Excerpt:
Go away Tanner. Go far, far, away. He doesn’t. Instead of pulling out a chair like a normal person would, he leapfrogs over the top of the backrest and plops down next to me, with a tray full of food I’d never eat. I’m allergic to vegetables. I won’t eat rice with gravy, but I will snack on rice with butter. Tanner quizzes me on the lack of eats on my tray, to which I repeat that I’m veggie intolerant.
His eyelashes flutter downward and his fingers steeple as he says grace. There are teachers and other students watching, just as shocked as I am at Tanner’s transformation. When he stops giving thanks he starts in with questioning me. “No, really? You really can’t eat vegetables?” he asks, mixing everything on his plate together before shoveling the stuff in his mouth. It’s such a Cody-like move. I give him a nod of assurance that my lie is the truth. I also can’t stop gawking at all the different foods he’s mixed together.
One side of his face balloons as he tries to eat and talk. “Yeah, Cody convinced me and Justin to eat this way.”
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Release Week
This is release week for two of my novels. In the meantime here are a couple of excerpts from The Saint of BOYStown and SENSEI
The Saint of BOYStown
That’s not Cody lying in bed, looking for all the world like a male version of Sleeping Beauty. His muscles are nowhere to be found, because his body has shrunk, almost like he’s deflated. His breathing is so shallow that its hard to tell if he’s really taking in air on his own. Mom is already here, doing what a nurse usually would.
As I watch her washing Cody I’m ashamed at how bratty I’ve been to her. She takes his arm, wiping a wet cloth over his skin ever so tenderly. The soap suds are close to the same color he is, but even with the sterile whiteness of the bed sheets, the peach tinted lava of the soap and Cody’s fading tan, I hope he can feel the love in her touch. I pray he can hear her voice, how she sings so sweetly to him, peppering a made-up melody with lyrics like “my beautiful boy.” She encourages him and herself by bragging about how everything’s gonna be just fine. Mom gives him a run-down on all the well-wishers and prayers from the community. I wish I had her kind of quiet strength. When she notices me standing in the doorway, she smiles and motions for me to come in. I hang back, feeling like I’m intruding on this private moment between a mother and her comatose child.
“Talk to him, Nat,” she says. “I’m sure he’d like to know how you’re doing.”
I don’t want to. All I want to do is transport the three of us back to Aunt Gina’s living room, when we were laughing and hollering at LeBron James and the Cavalier’s game seven win over Golden State. See, I want to have that kind of mind-over-matter type will, a “I refuse to go down” philosophy, the same power that LeBron and his teammates had. I want to will Cody to wake up.
~~~~~End of Excerpt~~~~~
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
SENSEI
“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Takeshi said. “I thought you might be thirsty.”
With a half-smile and a deep throated “thank you,” she took the bottle, giving him a quick appraisal in the process. He was decent looking. Large hands, broad shoulders, big feet . . . Oh bloody hell, he was attractive in a ruggedly handsome sort of way. But that bowl haircut was totally wrong for his face. Nyesha guessed his age to be somewhere in his mid to late thirties, and just like she was checking him out, his attention was on her face, in addition to getting an up-close view of her bare breasts.
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Thank You!!
This is a post to thank all those who’ve downloaded the free excerpt of The Saint of BOYStown on Amazon.com. When I created the character of Nathalie Childress, I knew she was someone special. I start the book off with Nat in the first chapter, because that’s how strong the “voice” of the character is. I’ve included another excerpt below that I think readers will enjoy. It goes more into Tanner and Nathalie’s budding romance in the face of tragedy.
Bonus Excerpt:
“Do you always come up here to talk to yourself?” I ask him.
“Yeah, most times I do. It makes me feel . . . uh, closer.”
I look around. We’re the only two people for miles. “Closer to who?”
Tanner shrugs. “Ah, you know.”
“No I don’t”
“Did you do something different? Your face-”
Oh crap. My little underwater stunt took off all my carefully placed dirt and grime. My face is clean, so he’s able to get a good look at me, especially since the sun is in my eyes. I try to play it off. “I think I’m coming down with something. I think I’ve got a fever.” I muster up a half-hearted cough. “You should stay back. I don’t wanna spread my germs.”
“It’s okay.” He walks closer to the edge and starts talking, almost as if I’m not even there. “I converse with God up here. I do it a lot since the accident. I’m guessing it was God who told me not to get in the car with Cody. I’ve been trying to get God to talk to me again, to answer some questions I have.” This whole conversation is mighty uncomfortable, especially for me, but I don’t interrupt him. “My therapist says it’s called survivor’s guilt.” He does a little shrug, as if it’s no biggie.
“I’ve heard of that,” I add, wishing he’d stop glancing my way, partly because he’s on the edge of a freakin’ mountain. “Wonder why Mason hasn’t experienced what you have?”
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An AA heroine with vitiligo
In keeping with my theme of diversity (with a focus on underrepresented women of color in publishing), I’ve got a New Adult romance featuring a young woman who discovers just how strong she really is:
Young lovers Bree and Stone, from the ebook The Gorgeous Nothings 
Pictured: Bree Silvestre, lead character in my New Adult romance about a sexual assault on a college campus. Excerpt:
If a six foot-something man could shrink to two feet, that’s what Tyshawn did. My words seemed to make him fold into himself. His shoulders slump, and his face is crestfallen. “Bree, please . . . I just need to explain.”
“No, you-you get back. Get back or I’ll scream. You were there, and you didn’t do a damn thing except laugh. You saw me on the ground, but you didn’t do anything to help me-”
“I didn’t know you needed help! Jamie said you had too much to drink, and he was gonna help you get home.”
“And you believed him.”
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Release Date – November 15th
Many thanks to all the readers who’ve downloaded a FREE Sneak Peek excerpt of IVY LEAGUE and The Gorgeous Nothings, Bree and Stone
These books are scheduled for release on November 15th. Tomorrow (11/2) is the last day to download a free extended excerpt of both ebooks.
LGBTQ activist Kenya Paul reconnects on Capitol Hill with Brandon Wingate, a conservative congressman in the IR erotic romance IVY LEAGUE 
Pictured: Bree and Stone, from the IR erotic romance The Gorgeous Nothings Additional Excerpt from The Gorgeous Nothings:
“This isn’t happening,” he muttered, pacing around the room. “Somebody’s gonna walk in on us, like your dad.”
I giggled, loving how unnerved he was about the whole thing. “If it bothers you that much then just lock the door.”
“No.” With a shaky finger he pointed to my pants on the floor. “You-you put your jeans back on.”
“Only if you look at me. And I mean really look at me, Stone.”
He shook his head. I’d never seen his eyes that big before. They were wide and wild, like some animal trapped in a house, a poor creature filled with anxiety because they don’t know how to escape. It wasn’t funny anymore, so I reached for my jeans. “Never mind, this was stupid.” How pathetic was I?
“Bree, wait. You have a beautiful body.”
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Trigger Warnings
Free Sneak Peeks go into effect tomorrow, Oct 31st until Wednesday, Nov. 2nd for the upcoming ebooks Ivy League and The Gorgeous Nothings, Bree and Stone.
I’ve got a couple of books that I’ve decided to label with a trigger warning.
Here’s the definition of a trigger warning:
A statement at the start of a piece of writing, video, etc., alerting the reader or viewer to the fact that it contains potentially distressing material (often used to introduce a description of such content).
The Gorgeous Nothings deals with sexual assault on a college campus. Since the assault happens to the lead character, I think its only fair to warn readers who may find the subject matter upsetting, especially if they have experienced rape. The Sneak Peek doesn’t contain the assault scene, that’s why there’s no trigger warning on it.
Pictured: Bree Silvestre and Stone Ulrich, from the IR erotic romance The Gorgeous Nothings I’m debating whether I should put a trigger warning on SENSEI, since the lead character experiences both rape and sexual trafficking. However, in SENSEI, I don’t use first person or have the main character describe in detail what happened to her.
As I familiarize myself with Amazon’s publishing process again (it’s been almost a year since I uploaded a manuscript), the Sneak Peeks serve a number of purposes for me. While Sneak Peeks are for marketing purposes, I’m able to correct format errors and process any changes Amazon has made. All my books, from the covers to the blurbs, are created in-house.
IVY League is a love story that begins in college and continues on Capitol Hill. Kenya Paul is a liberal and active in the LGBTQ community. Brandon is conservative, and has just been elected to the House of Representatives when they re-connect in Washington, DC.
Pictured: Kenya Paul and Brandon Wingate, lead characters from the IR romance IVY LEAGUE -
All the Fine Young Cannibals
I’m ready to start marketing upcoming releases, so this weekend I’ll have a number of FREE extended chapter excerpts on Amazon and SCRIBD. I use excerpts as promotional tools for my books.
The other reason I use Sneak Peeks (especially on Amazon) is because periodically, the company changes it algorithms. If you are a new writer its important to be aware of this. Here are two recent articles on the subject (be sure to read the comments section also):
http://selfpublishingadvice.org/amazon-sales-rank-taming-the-algorithm/
I’ve had some plot details to iron out (I mean, who could’ve predicted the rise of Donald Trump?), but I plan on releasing extended SNEAK PEEKS for:
Kenya Paul and Brandon Jefferson Wingate take on Capitol Hill as a couple 
Bisexual LGBTQ activist Kenya Paul falls for conservative Brandon J. Wingate 
Promos from IVY LEAGUE 
Click the photo to read an excerpt of the erotic romance SENSEI New Adult erotic romance SNEAK PEEK will also be up:
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When a book writes itself
This is the third time its happened. The first time was when I penned The Stone Boy. Then it was the refugee/biker romance RUSH, featuring the motorcycle gang The Suicide Kings. It happened again with an upcoming ebook, and I can’t explain why it happens, but sometimes a story line, its characters and most of all, the scenes(dialogue and descriptions) are clear enough to type, and the pages soon make up a book.
Readers, thank you for your patience. I’m gearing up for a roll out beginning this month. Because I’ve been busy writing, I’ll need to do some marketing. Part, but not all of the roll out will include free sneak peak promos with several chapters to generate interest. Advertising and marketing can sometimes be the toughest part of being an indie writer, so please keep on the look out for:
She’s bisexual and a democrat. He’s straight and conservative. Somehow the left and the right will meet in the middle. 
Who needs a fairy godmother when you’ve got three sister-witches in your corner? Because it will take the power of three to face off against an old adversary, in order to give this couple a happy ending. 
Pagan, Ondine and Lilith, witches from the ebook Long Ago and Far Away 
Lilith, the head witch in charge