YA Contemporary
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The Final Four plus one!
My March Madness picks, plus one. Each novel is now .99 cents, and also available on Kindle Unlimited.
My Final Four plus one All my novels, whether YA, NA or Adult contain romance.
HEAVEN: A service dog transforms the lives of the teen inmate who trains her and the wounded marine who becomes her owner.
RUSH: Outlaw Motorcycle gang member falls for Somali Bantu refugee.
The Stone Boy: A girl witnesses the end of her parents marriage while beginning a tumultuous affair with a troubled boy
JUKEBOX volume one: Mid-west teens form an interracial singing duo in their small, still segregated town.
RAZHER: She wolf avoids an arranged marriage with the help of a Russian vampire and Chinese gargoyle.
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Going back in order to go forward
I’m busy working to get HUI and The Player released this weekend, as I try to figure out which novels will be part of MARCH MADNESS
I’ve decided that after HUI is released, I’ll complete the next round of edits on books that need to go on sale.
I haven’t forgotten about my book sequels. The excerpt for RUSH 2 will be up this weekend:
RUSH: A Suicide Kings motorcycle gang novella, featuring Aiden and Aaliyah. 
Aiden and Aaliyah’s story continues in RUSH: The Book of Aaliyah Ebooks related to this series :
Click the image for an excerpt
Anatomy of a Seduction is Rory’s tale. Rory is a character first introduced in RUSH 
Make Me Yours. African American divorcee falls for her Somali Bantu college professor, Daniel Semboga, who was first introduced in RUSH 
Unforgettable, a spin off novella from The RUSH: Suicide Kings Motorcycle Gang series -
Throw like a Girl . . . hell, yes
If you don’t know who Mo’ne Davis is, you should. She’s 13 years old and made history last week by being the first female to pitch a shut out in a Little League World Series game.
Huffington Post GIF 
Mo’ne Davis and Clayton Kershaw Dodgers GIF Link to MLB.com GIF:
Here’s that Clayton Kershaw/Mo’ne Davis pitch-off you’ve been waiting for (sort of)
Her team lost tonight, and in order to advance they must win their next game. But when I went looking for a stock photo showing a black female pitcher, I couldn’t readily find one. So I decided to create one to go with a new YA story. Throw like a girl? If I could throw like Mo’ne Davis, then HELL, YES.
- Middle Grade Fantasy, New Adult, YA Contemporary, YA Fantasy, YA historical, YA Novella, YA Paranormal
Lee and Low New Visions Award
The Lee and Low New Visions Award opened on June 1st. The deadline is Oct 31st.
Lee and Low New Visions Award 2014 I’ve listed the details here: Lee and Low 2014 new Visions Award
Here’s the link to the Lee and Low website and the page listing the contest:
Lee and Low 2014 New Visions Award
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Cover Reveal and Books for Boys
Andre Santana gets his own ebook:
Click for a larger view:
Andre Santana gets his own ebook Because Andre Santana is a recurring character in several other books (he’s in Razher and Confessions of a Shapeshifter. He’s also got a cameo in Razher, Rise of the Gargoyles) I’d always planned to have a spin off book for Andre AKA Dre AKA Cadaver Dawg, and now I’ve completed the cover.
Some other books featuring males:
YA contemporary featuring Trayvon Wilfredo Lima, a hearing impaired teen who finds love. 
New Adult scifi HAZE -
Why more writers of color need to enter the ABNA’s
This year my book HEAVEN once again made it to the quarterfinal round of the ABNA’s (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards) which meant the book was reviewed by someone contracted by Publisher’s Weekly. Long story short, I can use snippets of the review when promoting the novel. The ones I plan on using are “straight forward and emotionally raw story” and “starts off strong and develops a genuine emotional connection between Nevaeh and Joshua.”
The ebook HEAVEN I’ve had a great run with this novel. It reached #1 in a couple of sub-categories on Amazon (the category dance on Amazon is tough enough for indie writers, but especially frustrating for YA indie writers whose leads are characters of color. That’s a whole ‘nother post that I have to rant about).
- Contemporary Romance, E books, Historical fiction, New Adult, Paranormal romance, Urban Fantasy, YA Contemporary, YA historical, YA Paranormal
NA Sneak Peeks are FREE this weekend!!
The following New Adult Ebook Excerpts are free for downloading this weekend (Saturday May 10th and Sunday May 11th).
Here’s your chance to read about the volatile bad boy Derek Keane from the NA contemporary The Stone Boy:
The Stone Boy featuring lovers Nicole and Derek JUKEBOX has The Burr Brothers, Eli and Johnny, two rockabilly teens who switch musical genres to perform as soul men, and along with the female classmate they both love, all three make history in the process.
JUKEBOX principal characters. Eli, Simone and Johnny -
HEAVEN is a quarterfinalist in the 2014 ABNAs
HEAVEN made the quarterfinals of Amazon’s ABNA contest for 2014.
The linked screenshot below shows the place holder for the excerpt’s first 5,000 words (which are identical to the already released novel).
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award excerpt of YA novel HEAVEN I wasn’t going to enter this year, but I decided at the last minute to go ahead and submit it. Last year JUKEBOX was cut before this round, but prior to that (in 2012) it made the semi-finals.
The ebook HEAVEN 
JUKEBOX Volume One For those interested in entering next year, Amazon usually puts up an announcement in either December or January. As in prior years I plan on posting it on this blog in order to encourage more authors to enter, especially authors of color who write interracial romance or have a diverse set of characters in their novels. Writing can be a very solitary endeavor, but there’s a great group of authors on the ABNA boards both new and experienced who offer assistance and are supportive, should you choose to enter.