• Contemporary Romance,  E books,  Excerpts

    Dancing like no one’s watching

    What I’m watching: HBO’s The Latin Explosion: a New America

    I hope they include Celia Cruz. I was so happy to see José Feliciano’s segment. Many people know Feliciano’s hit Feliz Navidad, but his rendition of the star spangled banner was groundbreaking, and years before Marvin Gaye’s souful version. 

    Yes! they just showed vintage Celia!! Cuban born Celia Cruz is a Salsa legend. I hope someone does a big screen bio on her. 

    Celia Cruz immortalized on a US stamp
    Celia Cruz, immortalized on a US stamp

     

     

    This is an excellent documentary. It was good to see footage of artists I still enjoy listening to.

     

    I’ve got a few ebooks that I’ve kept under the radar, since I love creating unique story lines. So if you enjoy reading books featuring diverse characters who navigate through challenging life stories, then you may want to check them out.

    The next romantic release from Wikkid.Sexy.Cool books highlights that age old debate. Can love co-exist with a burning drive to succeed?

     

    Le Jong Hui is a charismatic ballet superstar. Imani Fairchild is his love interest, in the interracial romance HUI

     

    This is why I enjoy digital editing, because I can manipulate stock photos to create covers and promos that feature minorities.

     

    Low resolution color version of HUI promo, featuring Le Jong Hui and Imani Fairchild

     

    Le Jong Hui is ripped. Oh hell yeah. And he’s good in bed

     

     

    Excerpt:

    “Oh, Imani, you’ve got company,” Julio sang, just before knocking on her bedroom door and getting the okay to enter.

    Imani was on the verge of asking “Who is it?” when a familiar face peeked over Julio’s shoulder. Hui thanked Julio, who was bold enough to turn around and tell him, “Hey now, I told you to wait in the front room-”

    “Thank you, thank you,” Hui kept saying, but Julio wouldn’t budge. Whenever Hui tried stepping around him, Julio blocked his way.

    “Julio, it’s okay,” she finally said.

    “Well alright then. Y’all have a good time.” He backed out of the room, closing the door slowly while giving Imani a comical face. “Adios.”

    Once they were alone Imani acted as if it was totally normal that she was covered from forehead to chin with a frothy green beauty mask. “It’s an avocado peel. S’posed to clear my pores,” she told him. “It’s not really dry yet.”

  • Adult Novellas,  Contemporary Romance,  E books,  Excerpts

    OPP and PYT

     

    Nu-Hui-promo-for-January

     

     

    ~~~~~

    Did the man ever raise his eyes to look directly at anyone during rehearsal? Imani wondered.

    As she inwardly grumbled about Hui’s aloofness, he glanced up. Imani’s breath caught in her throat. Make the connection. Come on. She willed herself to smile, hoping against hope that it was actually a grin she’d formed and not something that made her look much too desperate, or God forbid, just plain frightening. Her trembling smile gained an ever widening grin from him. It was glorious and bright and so infectious that Imani’s lips divided invitingly.

     

    Hui and Imani kissing full body shot with effects added and watermark copy

     

     

    As she moved forward her shoulder bumped against the girl next to her.

    “Oh, sorry,” Imani stammered.

  • Adult Novella,  Adult Novellas,  Contemporary Romance,  E books,  Excerpts,  New Adult

    Update on The Player

    I worked on another promo for the book HUI (pronounced Hway)

     

    Promo for the book Hui resized2

     

    My apologies for the watermark.

    I’m readying up The Player for release, and there are characters from other books who make an appearance in the story line. Also, the thing that took so long with that novel, is that its not just the two leads but also Ozzy, the ex husband.

    His story needed to be explored, because I didn’t want it to be the typical evil ex tale. Rappers need love too.

     

    Hui-edited-GIF

     

     

    I’ll be back to link this GIF to a short excerpt. Unfortunately, recent events have convinced me to make a change on the length of free excerpts.

    Here’s a brief teaser of HUI:

     

    First position . . .

    Hui stood there, still and imposing, like one of the many large billboards with his likeness promoting the dance company. In a repeat of the countless hours they’d practiced together his arm was outstretched and his hand was elegantly positioned, urging her to grasp it. Instead of his usual attire of a tee shirt and black practice tights, he was completely naked.

  • Contemporary Romance,  E books

    RUSH release later today 5/05

    The full ebook of RUSH will be out later today, and I must thank all the individuals who re-tweeted my tweet on the free download. With their assistance, the excerpt alone landed in the top ten of FREE ebooks in the category of African American Romance.

    Today is also the last day for the multi-excerpt free download. So there’s still time to read the very beginning of the book for FREE via Amazon.com:

    RUSH Sneak Peek excerpt on Amazon
    RUSH Sneak Peek excerpt on Amazon
  • Contemporary Romance,  E books

    RUSH Week, the final excerpt

    A scene from RUSH:

    Scene from RUSH - Aiden and Aaliyah kissing in field
    Scene from RUSH – Aiden and Aaliyah as teens, kissing in a field

     

    I need to stress that this is an edited photo. I wanted to duplicate a scene from the book, so I manipulated purchased images to do it.

     

    Aiden DeLucca from the ebook RUSH. Motorcycle gang member falls for Somali Banu refugee in RUSH
    Aiden DeLucca from the ebook RUSH. Older and wiser, out of jail and out of time.

     

     

    Final Excerpt:

    AIDEN

    Most days I only went to school when I felt like going. Sometimes I went just to keep warm and to be in the mix with kids closer to my age. The city had built a new high school that could hold two thousand kids. We had security cameras and computers in just about every classroom, but we were still the lowest performing school in the county.

    Sometimes I’d pass a couple of them Somali kids in the hallway, but I could never get ’em to look me in the eye. I wasn’t sure if the girl I’d seen would be in with the ones at my school, but one day I was going up the stairs and a bunch of ’em were coming down, and while the ones in front were chattering away I saw her, the same girl who’d been playing in the snow.

  • Blog,  Contemporary Romance,  New Adult

    Aaliyah from RUSH

    One of the reasons I create picture representations of my characters is so that they feel more real to me when I give them a voice. I’ll search for just the right stock photo so I can edit it to fit scenes in the book or as a promo.

    The first time Aiden meets Aaliyah, I decided he’d hear her voice, and not see her. There’s a joyfulness about Aaliyah that intrigues him, and challenges his preconceived notions about her culture and her faith.

    But RUSH isn’t just one young female’s coming of age tale that continues until her mid-twenties. It’s about a group of girls, like the African American teen enthralled with the new refugees. And there’s Fatuma, the self appointed leader of the Somali Bantu students. I’ve posted a brief excerpt of what I call “The World according to Fatuma”:

    Aaliyah

     

    “I’m not some . . . some ‘thing’ that needs to be pitied. And I’m not someone who needs to be saved. Go look at your own life if you need to change someone.” – Aaliyah from RUSH

    Aaliyah from Rush

     

    Excerpt from RUSH:

    Fatuma is my closest friend. We attend high school together. She is very beautiful and she knows it. When we are in the presence of our elders she behaves like a good muslima. But once we are alone she tells me all the gossip. She knows many things and much of the American culture, especially the words they say in school that I don’t understand. Fatuma can speak several languages. When she talks, she goes from Maay-Maay to Somali, to Arabic and to English, and even Swahili. I’m learning a great many things from her.

    “Stay away from Batool,” Fatuma warned as we walked to the bus stop. “She’s nothing but a dhilo. She only likes ajanabi boys, the foreigners like the blacks and the whites and the Spanish guys. She’s making zina with anything with a dick. I do not want her with my brother.”

  • E books,  New Adult,  Novella

    My GIF to You

     

    Download December starts this weekend (Dec 14th and 15th). New excerpts in several genres will be available for free on Amazon. In preparation I’m creating a number of GIFS that readers can use, which will also  post on Saturday. Directions on how to save a Wikkid.Sexy.Cool GIF to your computer and using them in either an email or your own personal blog will be provided.

    With every GIF you take (and use) you help promote Wikkid.Sexy.Cool. Where multicultural romance rules!

    One more “gift” is an excerpt from a section of RUSH:

     

     

     

    She made the first move.
    I was replacing the spring plate on my bike’s kick stand when the wrench was blown clear outta my hand by a half flattened soccer ball. I got up from a squat, ready to do some serious butt kicking when I saw Aaliyah in the middle of the street.

    “Sorry about that. Can you give us back our ball?” she said, not looking the least bit sorry. I don’t know where her father was, but she sure wasn’t wearing a headscarf or a long skirt. It seemed like she’d borrowed a pair of her brother’s shorts.