Intimate Conversation with Jacqueline E. Luckett
Searching for Tina Turner

After leaving the corporate world, Jacqueline Luckett took a creative writing class on a dare—from herself. During that time she began writing short stories and poetry and, since then, has never looked back. The Bay Area native loves living in Oakland, but travels frequently to nurture her passion for photography and cooking. Her first novel, Searching for Tina Turner, released in January 2010, was chosen by Essence Magazine as its January 2010 Book Selection. Her second novel, Passing Love, is scheduled for publication in October 2011.

» What are you most thankful for today?

I am blessed. This journey to writing and publication has been a dream come true. I’m thankful for my friends, old and new, who’ve offered their support with book parties, signings and the right words at the right minute. I’m so grateful that my mother, at age 88, is still with me and full of energy and good spirit—not to mention her constant supply of chocolate chip cookies and peanut brittle. I’m thankful for having rediscovered my passion.

» Tell us about your fondest holiday moment or event. Do you have Holiday rituals that absolutely, positively must be followed?

My sister and I took ballet lessons when we were young. Neither one of us liked the formal structure of ballet; I think we were more interested in Saturday morning cartoons than dance lessons. Although I can't quite remember how old we were at the time (under 12, for sure), I do recall one special Christmas recital.

We learned a very simple dance choreographed to the music of Johnny Mathis’ “Winter Wonderland”—“sleighbells rings, are you listening?” –an easy step, step, glide. We wore shimmering, short skirts that made us look like professional ice skaters and beige tights that made our skinny legs took big above our white ballet slippers. In the Bay Area, Berkeley, where I grew up, it only snows on the rarest of occasions, but for that recital we wore fuzzy earmuffs and matching hand muffs, white like the sumptuous ermine they were supposed to imitate.

We kept our costumes and for many Christmases afterwards we turned that dance into our ritual. Christmas Eve, we put Johnny Mathis’s Christmas album on the Hi-Fi and nearly wore out the groove on song number one. We danced to the tune over and over again, carefully executing our steps on the small stage that was our living room floor, as if that would urge Santa Claus to tumble down our chimney earlier, or make the clock spin faster to midnight and Christmas and all the joys of that morning. I don’t know how many Christmas Eves we spent dancing to “Winter Wonderland.” I only know we truly believed that without that song and dance, Christmas would never be the same.

» Do you have a favorite holiday menu, story or song?
Share with us.

Next to Thanksgiving, Christmas is my favorite time of the year to cook. I love those holidays because of the focus, among other things, on food—eating it, preparing it, talking about it; sampling, testing, putting dishes together. I experiment with cooking during the holidays more than any other time of the year. I have dozens of cookbooks. About two weeks beforehand, I pull several from the shelf, pile them on my table, and the search begins.

I look for unusual recipes for appetizers, salads, entrée dishes and desserts. For years, I baked all sorts of cookies at Christmas—nut balls covered with confectioner’s sugar, cranberry chocolate chip, and snickerdoodles. I taste while cooking, but I rarely test the recipes in advance—I suppose that since I make my selections from tried and true favorite cookbooks, there’s no need to. These are a couple of cookbooks from my collection that have great recipes: Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen, The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook (Lukins and Rosso), and LaBelle Cuisine (Patti LaBelle).

The preparations are almost a ritual for me. Typically, I create a menu with many more dishes than I intend to cook. I let the menu sit for a day or so and then come back to it and balance the meal with light and heavy dishes and veggies and sweets.

Many of my friends spend the holidays with family or take trips out of town and we don’t have the chance to spend holiday time together. For the last couple of years, I’ve prepared a meal the Sunday before Thanksgiving complete with dishes that bring back memories. Last year, I decided that there was enough time for turkey, so I cooked a pre-Thanksgiving dinner without that big bird: tossed salad of mixed greens, broccoli casserole, brined and roasted whole chicken, pork roast stuffed with peppers and onions, mac and cheese, a yam soufflé covered with mini-marshmallows, cornbread dressing with homemade cranberry chutney, and bread pudding for dessert. Yes, I overdid it, but the leftovers were fantastic! Happy eating!

» Tell us about your latest book. What are two main events taking place in the book?

Searching for Tina Turner is the story of Lena Harrison Spencer, a woman on the verge of change. Lena confronts the hard truths of what it means to have it all and still find oneself unfulfilled. She determines that what she needs is the strength to say no to all that is extraneous in her life, and Tina Turner becomes the icon from whose story she derives strength, even as everyone else tells her she’s crazy for giving up her cashmere cocoon.

Lena takes both an emotional and physical journey in the novel, and without giving away too much, readers who’ve always wanted to go to the South of France and Paris will enjoy the descriptions (and the action) in the last half of the story.

Review for Searching for Tina Turner by Jacqueline Luckett

“A fierce, beautiful tour de force . . . a heroine for the ages . . . Luckett is a writer to watch and admire.”
--ZZ Packer

» Have you ever considered what kind of legacy you want to leave future generations? What do you want to be remembered for?

This is a great, thought-provoking question and one that I’ll continue to ponder. Writing, finishing, and having my novel published have made their marks on my bucket list. I don’t suppose I’m too different from many writers who want to make a positive impact on the world.

My novel speaks to reinvention, inner strength and finding one’s passion. It’s my hope that my characters and stories provide inspiration and spark my readers to think about their own lives and ponder the possibilities for change at any age. Midlife characters are the focus of my novels; I look forward to dispelling the myths of being “over the hill.” I want “baby boomers” to have strong, sexy, and determined characters that they can relate to.

» How may our readers contact you online and pick up your latest work?

Searching for Tina Turner is available online, electronically, and at chain and independent bookstores everywhere. If you don’t see it, bookstores can order it for you. I’d love for readers to become Facebook fans, follow me on Twitter or email me.

Follow me on Twitter: @jackieluckett at  http://twitter.com/jackieluckett;  Website: http://www.jacquelineluckett.com/;   Finish Party:  http://www.finishparty.com;  FB Fanpage: www.facebook.com/pages/Jacqueline-Luckett-Searching-for-Tina-Turner/108871448654

Intimate Conversation with Literary Legend Gwynne Forster

Gwynne Forster, bestselling and award-winning author of When the Sun Goes Down, Blues from Down Deep, If You Walked in My Shoes, and A Different Kind of Blues, conjures a riveting story of fractured ties, secrets, and forgiveness in this powerful family drama in When the Sun Goes Down, the sequel to: If You Walked In My Shoes.

Gwynne Forster is a national best selling author of forty-five works of fiction, including her latest of nine mainstream novels, WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN. Gwynne is author of thirty-six romance novels and novellas, of which the latest novels are DESTINATION LOVE and YES, I DO. She has won numerous awards for fiction writing, including the Romantic Times 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, the Romance In Color Author of the Year award, the Gold Pen Award and has been inducted in the Affaire de Coeur Hall of Fame.

Gwynne loves to sing, read and listen to music, especially jazz, classical music, opera and blues. She also loves to sing and dance, and enjoys entertaining at small dinner parties. She lives in New York with her husband, who is her true soul mate.


Listen to a lively interview with Gwynne Forster and BAN Radio host Ella Curry


BPM: Mrs. Gwynne, we are celebrating the holidays! What was your most memorable holiday from the past?
GF: My most memorable Christmas holiday was the first Christmas Eve that I spent with the man who is now my husband. I cooked a turkey, the first I'd ever cooked and, to my astonishment, it was a perfect bird. Many things happened that evening that we still joke about. We didn't know each other too well then, and we "tiptoed" around each other, each wanting to assure the other a happy Christmas and neither of us knowing how. We had a wonderful evening, singing, eating, listening to music, telling each other tall tales of our lives and, of course, exchanging gifts. I shall never forget it.


BPM: How do you celebrate the holidays? What are the traditions for your family?
GF: We celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve, always with a roast goose dinner and mounds of gifts around the Christmas tree. We began the Christmas Eve tradition when my step son--then a teenager--got his first girlfriend. Of course, he wanted to have Christmas dinner with her and her family. So we invited her for Christmas Eve, and he went to her family on Christmas day. We liked the custom. We open the gifts after dinner on Christmas Eve. One beauty of that is that I enjoy Christmas day with no work to do.


BPM: What are you most thankful for today? What does all your books have in common?
GF: I am most thankful for Jesus Christ in my life and for the health and well being of my family and myself.

GF: My books have different themes, but everyone of them demonstrates the importance of loyalty and common decency and the rewards of reaching for a higher goal. Website: www.gwynneforster.com


BPM: Mrs. Gwynne please tell us about your latest release, When the Sun Goes Down.
GF: When the Sun Goes Down deals with the strengths and fragileness of relations among family members. When self-made millionaire and widower Leon Farrell dies, he leaves behind a legacy of family dysfunction—and a missing will. The possible loss of a fortune only increases the existing tension between his three grown children.

While handsome slacker Edgar kicks back in anticipation of his windfall, middle child Gunther struggles to save his software business, and fiercely independent Shirley unsuccessfully tries to stay out of the fray. But things soon take an explosive turn. And as the siblings find themselves battling each other to protect their own interests, they’ll face choices that could bring them together at last—or tear them apart for good.

Caught in the middle of her brothers’ ill-will, and doing her best to keep the peace, Shirley is further unsettled when she falls for Carson Montgomery, the smart, sexy private investigator Edgar hires to tract down the will. And when Gunther suddenly falls ill, Edgar’s attempt to manipulate him causes a conflict of interest that will shock them all!

BPM: Are your characters a portrayal of real people?
GF: Not at all. Something about a person may give me an idea, but I invent my characters.


BPM: Who did you write When the Sun Goes Down for? Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?
GF: I wrote it for my readership. I thought that the women and men who have read my novels over the years would enjoy a frank discussion of some of the problems common among people of African descent. I’m not sure you’d call it a message, because I make it a policy not to preach to the reader. My first agent told me that it is a writer’s duty not only to entertain, but to inform. I’ve taken that advice seriously, and in every book that I write, whether mainstream fiction of a romance, I include some worthwhile information as a part of the story.



BPM: If you could change one thing you from your road to publication, what would you have done differently?
GF: I wouldn't have written a romance as my first book. I write mainstream fiction, and some of my books have won awards, but they are always judged as romances, because reviewers associate me with romance. And when they complain about something, it's usually what distinguished mainstream women's fiction from a romance.


BPM: Do you write full time? Describe your writing schedule for your readers.
GF: I write full time. I get up around seven-thirty and usually write from nine to about four Mondays through Fridays. Important errands may interfere with the schedule, but that’s basically it. I write after dinner for about two hours, unless my husband and I are going out or have guests. I often write on Saturdays after I’ve finished my shopping and errands. I don’t write on Sundays. I work in my office, and I don’t listen to the radio unless there’s a program of Mozart music.

BPM: What do your do when you’re not writing?
GF: In the summer, I’m an avid gardener. I love music—opera and classical music, classical jazz, blues, some Sinatra/Nat Cole type popular songs and a couple of old fashioned country singers. I enjoy entertaining at small dinner parties and consider myself a rather good cook. And, of course, I read.

BPM: What does your family think of your writing?
GF: My family consists of my husband and stepson. Both are very proud of my success as a writer and read my books. Although my husband is an academician and not a computer expert, he makes my fliers, brochures, and bookmarks and does an elegant job of it.


BPM: What two pieces of advice would you give to aspiring writers?
GF: Don't be disappointed by rejections. When you get one, clean up the manuscript and send it to the next editor on your list. The appraisal of fiction is, in some important aspects, highly subjective.

GF: Learn English grammar, and cultivate an extensive vocabulary so as to express yourself precisely as you intend. Write each day and, if possible at the same time. Try not to get a habit of procrastinating, and don’t rewrite until, say, you’ve at least written a chapter. It’s best to rewrite after you finish a first draft. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. Join a writing group such as the local

RWA group and attend writing conferences whenever possible. Remember: if you write a page every day, at the end of a year you can have a book.


BPM: Thank you Mrs. Gwynne for joining us today! Readers you can find out more about Gwynne Forster and her books at: http://www.gwynneforster.com/



When the Sun Goes Down by Gwynne Forster
Book Review: 5-Stars by Sharel E. Gordon-Love

Dysfunction can be part of a family even when one looks from the outside in and all appears to be well. In Gwynne Forster's When the Sun Goes Down, we find this to be so with the three Farrell siblings after the death of their father, Leon.

Leon Farrell was an odd character, who seemed to lose touch with real life and the children that most fathers would hold dear to his heart, especially after the loss of his beloved wife. However, he retreated within himself and played a cruel joke on his family, that could have them at odds with one another and ruin their relationships for good.

The eldest sibling, Edgar, was determined to get what was coming to him as a means to an end and continue to be the rebel that he is and live life on his terms. In the meantime, his brother, Gunther, and his sister, Shirley, tried to live their lives in spite of Edgar and the way they were treated by their father when he was alive. No doubt, their upbringing had a lot to do with who they grew to be, albeit, all three different in their own way.

When it was all said and done, secrets were revealed and hidden things brought to the light as this family strived to keep their families together and receive the things that they believed they were entitled to outside of their father and his eccentric ways. At the end of the day, it is about family and the things that we do to remain one.

What I loved about When the Sun Goes Down is how author Forster took her time to tell the story; there was no need to rush the storyline. I recommend this book to everyone who loves stories about family love and romance. This book was provided to me courtesy of the publisher for review purposes.
--Review by Sharel E. Gordon-Love APOOO BookClub


When the Sun Goes Down
ISBN-10: 0758246994
ISBN-13: 978-0758246998

"When the sun goes down on my life, you'll all come apart like ripped balloons." -- widower Leon Farrell

When stingy self-made millionaire and widower Leon Farrell dies, he leaves behind a legacy of family dysfunction—and a missing will. It's soon clear that his three grown children, Edgar, Gunther, and Shirley, don't handle loss well—the possible loss of a fortune, that is. And when Edgar hires a private investigator to track down the will, it's just the beginning of a search that will lead the siblings to re-visit their childhoods, uncover buried secrets, and ultimately learn for themselves what it means to be a family. For as tensions escalate between the brothers—with their peace-keeping sister caught in the middle—an unexpected conflict of interest is brewing that will shock them all—and either bring them closer together or tear them apart for good...    Peek inside the book and read excerpt chapters!


Purchase your copy today. Give as a great holiday gift book!
http://www.amazon.com/When-Goes-Down-Gwynne-Forster/dp/0758246994


ALSO AVAILABLE NOW!
Once in a Lifetime by: Gwynne Forster
ISBN-13: 9780373831944

With a young daughter to support, recently divorced Alexis Stevenson jumps at the chance to become household manager for wealthy businessman Telford Harrington and his two brothers. Though she knows it won't be easy turning their bachelor-pad mansion into a home, she is determined to handle any obstacles, while maintaining a separate life for herself and her daughter. But Alexis isn't at all ready for the red-hot chemistry crackling between her and Telford—or the fact that she's suddenly caught in a maze of unexpected secrets and deep mistrust. But if she and Telford find their way through it—together—can they both embrace the love they so deeply desire?

Intimate Conversation with author Connie May Fowler

 New York Times bestselling writer Connie May Fowler is an essayist, screenwriter, and novelist. She is the author of five novels, most recently The Problem with Murmur Lee, and a memoir, When Katie Wakes. In 1996, she published Before Women Had Wings, which became a paperback bestseller and was made into a successful Oprah Winfrey Presents movie. She founded the Connie May Fowler Women With Wings Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding women and children in need. Connie lives in Florida.

BPM:  What specific revelation prompted you to write your new book, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly?I was reading up on pre-Civil war Florida history and discovered that when Florida was a Spanish territory, women could be property owners and slavery was outlawed. But Spain and the United States signed an agreement that would change all of that. The Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819 guaranteed that the United States would lay claim to Florida in 1821. With a stroke of a pen and strike of a clock, suddenly all women and blacks would have their rights stripped away. That haunted me and I walked around with that kernel in my head for a few years before I sat down to write the novel, which takes place in 2006 but is populated with ghosts. 

BPM:  Take us inside the book. What are two major events taking place?The book tracks a day in the life of Clarissa Burden, a woman who wakes on the Summer Solstice with the knowledge that her life must change because she is wracked with spousal death scenarios and writer’s block. Concurrent with her story is that of Olga Villada. Villada and her family are ghosts, their souls unable to move on from the place where they were brutally murdered. Their stories converge, resulting in a startling and life-changing chain of events.

BPM:  What are some of the specific issues, needs or problems addressed in this book?Women’s issues, race, personal empowerment, marital relations, Florida history.

BPM:  Who do you want to reach with your book, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, and the message within?I think this book will have a broad appeal. The book, at its core, is about freedom—individual and universal—and it’s wrapped up in a story that is both comedic and dramatic. I think readers of many ages and races will identify with the struggles of Clarissa Burden and Olga Villada.

BPM:  How will reading your book shape the readers lives?One, I hope it will make readers laugh even amid a few tears. But if there is one message I want readers to gain, it’s that how easy it is for the course of history—the course of one person’s individual day—to go suddenly very, very wrong. There are bad people in this world—sometimes bad people have all the trappings of kindness—and they are capable of terrible things. So we have to be vigilant for ourselves and for one another. Casual prejudices and ordinary meanness can, in the blink of an eye, become lethal. So we have to learn to be pro-actively kind and relentless protective of our rights.

BPM:  What was the most powerful chapter in, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly?I think that once Clarissa decides—in a fit of rage—to kill her husband, this book takes a major turn and all the chapters that follow are highly entertaining, shocking, and ultimately satisfying.

BPM:  Share with us your latest news or upcoming book releases.I recently wrote a story for Slate’s online women’s site DoubleX about how the Haitian earthquake has severely impacted their women’s movement. How Clarissa Burden Learns to Fly is now available nation wide.

BPM:  How can our readers reach you online?

My website is http://www.conniemayfowler.com/.  I blog at http://blog.conniemayfowler.com/ Readers can also follow me on Twitter and friend me on Facebook, where I’m very active.  There is also a Facebook fan page for How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly.  In March, in honor of Clarissa and those pesky spousal death scenarios that haunt her, I am launching the Clarissa Burden Postcard Project in which I will be asking readers to anonymously send me one secret they cannot tell their spouse or partner.  The secrets can be silly or serious, and will be posted on my website.

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly

Purchase books today!http://www.amazon.com/Connie-May-Fowler/e/B000APTGUA

Intimate Conversation with author Iris Gomez

IRIS GOMEZ is the author of the novel TRY TO REMEMBER and of two poetry collections, Housicwhissick Blue (Edwin Mellen Press 2003) and When Comets Rained (CustomWords 2005). An award-winning writer, she is also a nationally-respected public interest immigration lawyer and law school lecturer. She was born in Cartagena, Colombia and presently lives in the Boston area.

BPM:   Iris, it was such a pleasure to meet you a few weeks ago! The book is beautiful. Take us inside the book. If she tries, Gabriela can almost remember when her father went off to work . . . when her mother wasn't struggling to undo the damage he caused . . . when a short temper didn't lead to physical violence. But Gabi cannot live in the past, not when one more outburst could jeopardize her family's future. So she trades the life of a normal Miami teenager for a career of carefully managing her father's delusions and guarding her mother's secrets. As Gabi navigates her family's twisting path of lies and revelations, relationships and loss, she finds moments of happiness in unexpected places. Ultimately Gabi must discover the strength she needs to choose what's right for her: serving her parents or a future of her own.

BPM:   What are two major events taking place?              
A major event that is happening is that Roberto is losing his mind, which is causing him to also lose his jobs, his temper, and his traditional place in the household. Another major event for Gabi is the discovery that she has lost her father.

BPM:   I so love this one review of your book. It speaks volumes:"Fresh and vibrant . . . I adored every single page." -- Mameve Medwed, national bestselling author of How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life and Of Men and Their Mothers

BPM:   Introduce us to the main characters of  TRY TO REMEMBER.

Gabriela (“Gabi”) is the main character – a soulful and generous Colombian teenager who is trying to help her bewildered immigrant family cope with her father’s growing mental illness without going crazy herself. 

Roberto (Gabi’s father) is a once proud breadwinner who now keeps losing jobs and has suddenly been given to fits of temper and episodes of mental unraveling that no one around him understands.

Evi is Gabi’s mother, a traditionally raised immigrant woman forced by circumstances into an uncomfortable head of household role she shamefully hides from her husband as he slips deeper into his strange illness.

Gabi has a trio of tíos, or uncles, who dutifully answer the family’s 911s, though not always so successfully, as well as two younger brothers, and a lively group of relatives, friends and romantic interests who pull Gabi back and forth between the competing norms of Latino and “American” culture & traditional versus modern ideals of womanhood – and who also make her day-to-day life interesting and even fun!

Last but not least, Gabi’s absent grandfather Gabriel, who appears to us only in letters he writes to her from Colombia, is an important symbolic character – when the threat of violence begins to grow in her immediate family, he becomes the emblem of hope in her safe though distant childhood.

 

BPM:   Who were your favorite characters? Are your characters from the portrayal of real people?I loved my fictional Gabi, whom I named after my own smart and charming daughter. The fictional Gabi shares some of my daughter’s qualities along with a little of the younger me, but the circumstances that unfold in the novel inevitably turn Gabi the heroine into her own person, and by the time I was done writing the book, I wanted her to be my best friend!  

Another favorite character I’d like to mention, if a place can be a character, is Miami, the novel’s setting, which is based on a real city, of course, and one whose history I was intrigued by, since I’d witnessed its transformation first-hand when I lived there. Like Gabi, Miami is just coming into its own, developmentally and culturally, during the course of the novel – the southern expansion that began during the post-war boom years has accelerated, and the population is growing and diversifying, until finally a sprawling multi-cultural and international cosmopolis rises up from its dusty roots in the South.
 

BPM:   What specific revelation prompted you to write your book?The initial questions that inspired me to want to write this book were personal and similar to those Gabi faces throughout the course of the novel: what does it mean to love in a traditional family? Can you love your family and yet be independent of them? Is “love” the same as loyalty?  Like Gabi, I was raised with a strong ethic of family loyalty that in some ways conflicted with the ethic of independence I perceived was necessary for a young woman to achieve career success in this country. In the novel, I try to explore these conflicts by dramatizing how far a girl might have to go in remaining true to her family, despite the difficult burdens they impose.

Thematically, I was also interested in the issue of mental illness, which touches virtually all families and cultures, yet remains one of the untold stories of the Latino community. In my book, I try to illuminate some of the cultural taboos that keep mental illness hidden and untreated in families like Gabi’s, as well as the external social forces that drive many immigrants, even legal immigrants, into isolation and away from government entities that could actually help them. 

Additionally, in dramatizing the practical effects of Roberto’s mental decline, I found a perfect context in which to explore the human dimension of one of the legal problems that has troubled me in my work as an immigration lawyer: the rule that keeps immigrants forever vulnerable to losing their “green cards” and everything they’ve built in the U.S., even when this has become their permanent home. 

BPM:   Who do you want to reach with your book and the message within?I hope the book reaches anyone struggling to love a difficult person, whether mentally ill or not – and the related message I aim to impart to them is that the effort itself is honorable and ultimately redemptive. 

I also hope to reach people who are interested in the ways each of us navigates a place for ourselves in this increasingly global, multi-ethnic and multi-racial world. One of the messages I hope the book imparts about Latinos is that the bonds of love which sometimes appear compulsory in our families can also be a saving grace, a strength.

BPM:   How will reading your book shape the readers lives?  In addition to being moved and enlightened by the novel’s big-picture dramas, I imagine readers will delight in getting to know Gabi and her unique, colorful world, and in going along on some of her adventures.   

BPM:   What are some of their specific issues, needs or problems addressed in this book?Dealing with a loved one’s mental illness can be an enormous challenge. The challenge is even greater when the illness remains untreated, as with Roberto’s in the novel. Gabi and her family make many mistakes out of pride as well as confusion as they watch Roberto deteriorate, but their mistakes are only part of the greater tragedy that in the end is no one’s fault.   

BPM:   What was the most powerful chapter in TRY TO REMEMBER?Some of my readers have said that the most dramatic chapter is the one in which the family conflicts come to a head (especially onto Gabi’s head!) and in which love is ultimately betrayed, but the chapter I personally find most powerful is the one with the hurricane – it’s my very humble homage to the magnificent hurricane scene in Zora Neale Hurston’s classic, THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, which remains one of my all time favorites in literature.    

BPM:   What do you think makes your book different from others on the same subject?Many books address the immigrant experience, some of them about the plight of undocumented people and some of them exploring cultural collision. My novel differs from novels and memoirs I’ve loved about Latinas coming of age (e.g., When I Was Puerto Rican, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, The House on Mango Street, Dreaming in Cuban, and others), since those focused on earlier or other Latino subgroups, and my book is about a girl forging her identity in the middle of Miami’s Cuban diaspora though she is actually part of a different diaspora, the Colombians, who’ve become the largest South American group in the U.S., according to census data. Gabi’s story explores the combined experience of being a newcomer with that of having a shared cultural identity – a feature of the new panamericanism that is shaping the cultural dynamics of the U.S.

My book is also different from others about the immigrant experience because it addresses a little-understood immigration problem: whether people who’ve been allowed to live in this country permanently and have families here should be subsequently stripped of their right to remain. In my novel, Roberto, a man with an untreated mental illness, commits a fairly run-of-the-mill offense that for a citizen would result only in a minor criminal punishment, but for an immigrant carries the double penalty of criminal punishment plus the threat of expulsion. Such deportations go to the core question underlying our larger public policy debate about immigration today: who really belongs here?

BPM:   How can our readers reach you online?

My web site is http://www.irisgomez.com/, and it contains a link to a dedicated email address I’ve set up especially for TRY TO REMEMBER readers. That address is: info@irisgomez.com  If anyone is trying to reach me in connection with issues that involve my immigrant rights attorney role, it may be best to contact me at my office (that information is also available on my web site.) 

 

Purchase books today!http://www.amazon.com/Try-Remember-Iris-Gomez/dp/044655619X

 

Book Reviews for Try to Remember

In this stunning debut novel, Iris Gomez offers a fresh and vibrant coming of age novel full of universal truths and dazzling particulars. The endearing Gabriela de la Paz must figure out how to belong to (and escape from) a family unhappy in its own way. As she translates the new world for clueless parents still stuck in the old, Gabriela is a character you’ll root for and grow to love. TRY TO REMEMBER is a book impossible to forget. I adored every single page. --- Mameve Medwed, national bestselling author of HOW ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING SAVED MY LIFE and OF MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS.

Gabriela’s story is truly lyrical, poignant, and smart, as compassionate and hopeful as it is heartbreaking. TRY TO REMEMBER is a novel you will never forget. --- -Jenna Blum, author of the New York Times bestseller THOSE WHO SAVE US.

Intimate Conversation with author Cheryl Robinson

Cheryl Robinson is the author of five novels. Most recently, When I Get Where I'm Going, In Love with a Younger Man and Sweet Georgia Brown. She is a native Detroiter and graduate of Wayne State University. Robinson now resides in Central Florida where she is writing her next novel.

When I Get Where I'm Going by  Cheryl Robinson is featured in Essence Magazine, September 2010!

 BPM: What makes you powerful as a person and a writer?As a person I feel power in my faith. It allows me to press on through the rough times and to remain positive. I try not to let the daily stresses of life get to me. And I try not to judge others. The more I stop myself when I feel my mind going in that direction, the easier it becomes.

I get tired of seeing people get built up by the media to later get knocked down. The less I judge others the better I not only feel, but also when I write and develop characters it's much easier for me to remove myself from the situation. I realize it's impossible for everyone to love my books, but I always keep that as one of my primary writing goals. And, I try to keep a healthy balance between being my own worst critic and one of my biggest fans.

BPM: Where do you find your inspiration? All of the inspiration I could ever need I can find from everyday life--the joys and the pitfalls. I can open one email from someone telling me how upset they are at the way I ended my last book and then turn around and open another email from someone telling me how much they thoroughly enjoyed it. That's an example of how life is in general. One minute you can be down, but in a second it can all turn around. You have to take the good with the bad and learn from them both. But honestly, sometimes I just want it to all be good.

BPM: What specific situation or revelation prompted you to write your book?Some years ago, when I was about nineteen or twenty, I answered the phone at my parents' home and there was a woman on the other end who insisted that we were related. She was trying to tell me that she was my half sister and that we had the same father. I remember my heart sinking. In order for that to be true, based on her timeframe, that would mean my father, who I thought had been happily married to my mother for years, had cheated. But as the conversation continued we both realized that while the two men shared the same name they weren't the same person.

Still, for those few minutes, I had to ask myself what if that was actually the case. The thought never completely escaped my mind, and in some ways it was that event that prompted me to eventually get around to exploring the scenario. And now, in the age of social networking, it's much easier to find your missing relatives. And in the case of these three sisters, it's also true, and they do share the same father.

BPM: Who do you want to reach with When I Get Where I'm Going and the message within?I am a Women's Fiction author. That does not mean I only write for women. Nor does the fact that I'm black mean I only write for black people. I don't write to exclude any one, but to enlighten and entertain us all. I write about women and women's issues, and of course, men are in my novels too. As an author I have an opportunity to go beyond stereotypes. I've learned over the eight years that I've been writing professionally that there is a way to entertain without offending.

If I, as a black woman, do not feel good about how we are represented in the media. If I don't feel empowered about what is being written about us on the internet and elsewhere and if I have to continuously hear from the media that black women are "the least desirable of all the races" or not a preference by some men even within our own race, as an artist, I have an opportunity to present a different message that isn't a negative one, but can still be realistic. It's like music. Some songs only have a good beat while others also have wonderful lyrics. I want to write books that make people feel good.

My intended message isn't given to readers, but written in such a way that the reader gets out of it what they came to the story with and how they view the story and the characters will be interpreted by how they view the world. But maybe, if I do my job as I intend to, they will have a different opinion after it's all said and done.

BPM: Introduce us to your latest book, When I Get Where I'm Going.What would you do if you discovered that you had a sibling you never knew existed? Would you be like Heaven, so excited to connect to that person that you quickly took to Facebook and started searching? Would you be like Hope, too caught up in the trials and tribulations of your own life to even care? Or would you be like Alicia, skeptical at first, but willing to open up to the idea?

Alicia, Hope, and Heaven are three estranged sisters embarking on one special reunion. And it will take an earth-shattering discovery, a lucky lottery ticket, and a near-fatal encounter to finally bring three sisters together and have them realize that nothing can save a person like family.

BPM: Introduce us to your main characters in When I Get Where I'm Going. Heaven Jetter, Hope Teasdale, and Alicia Day are three special sisters! Heaven is twenty-one and the youngest sister. She's on probation, caught up in an abusive relationship, and trying desperately to get her life back on track. Hope is a young widow and single mother searching for the truth behind her husband's death, but once she finds out, can she handle it? Alicia is a struggling actress trying to catch a break in Hollywood after thirteen years of trying, but a devastating one-two punch forces her back to Detroit.

BPM: What are two major events taking place? The novel is written in third person and begins with a prologue that occurs five months prior to the start of the story. And then the rest of the novel is divided into three parts and most of the chapters alternate between the point of view of each sister. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that each sister has a major turning point that makes each of them reevaluate their life.

BPM: What are a couple of the specific issues or problems addressed in this book? One issue in the story is domestic abuse. Heaven is involved in an unhealthy relationship, but like so many other women involved in something like that, she finds it nearly impossible to leave. Her story isn't from the viewpoint of a woman who is both a wife and mother and being abused, but from a young woman who has gotten caught-up with the wrong man and finds herself so confused that she doesn't know what to do and feels that her life in general is spiraling out of control.

Alicia Day's character was written for anyone who has been holding on to a dream for a very long time and wondering if it will ever come true. Aspiring actors, singers, and writers should be able to especially relate to her story. Black actresses, in particular, should also be able to as much has been discussed about the struggles that black women experience while trying to succeed in Hollywood.

Note: Discussion Topics inside When I Get Where I'm Going by Cheryl RobinsonDomestic violence, sisterhood, estranged family, the entertainment industry, specifically the lack of roles for black women in Hollywood.
BPM: Share with us your latest news, awards or upcoming book releases. When I Get Where I'm Going is featured in the September issue of Essence Magazine. And I recently completed my next novel, Remember Me, that will be released in September 2011.

BPM: How can our readers reach you online? Readers can connect with me through my website at http://www.cherylrobinson.com/  and also join me on my recently created Facebook page. There is a link on my web site.

Purchase your copy today at Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/When-Get-Where-Im-Going/dp/0451229479


Cheryl Robinsonhttp://www.cherylrobinson.com/
www.myspace.com/cherylrobinson
When I Get Where I'm Going available now

Intimate Conversation with Skyy Banks

Soul on Fire, Skyy Banks premier novel, is an exploration of the torment of abuse and the consequences of self-hatred and self-destructive behavior, and it sheds light on why so many women sabotage relationships and friendships that mean so much. Before Soul on Fire, Banks shared her work with the world through freelance writings. She is a native of Arkansas who now calls Atlanta, GA her home. Banks enjoys reading, writing, and traveling. Banks uses her writing as a platform to encourage her readers to explore taboo subjects and engage in dialogue to find solutions. She is a self-motivated woman and knows the world is waiting for her greatness.

Every woman knows Dana, the heroine of Skyy Banks’ debut novel, Soul on Fire. Dana, simply put, is a survivor. Her sexually abusive past has imprisoned her and she has unleashed her pain to a sea of devastation and damage.  Not until she confronts her demons can she garner the strength to brave the journey to redemption.  As she begins her journey to release herself from the shackles of her past, Dana quickly discovers the path to salvation and freedom is anything but smooth. Set against the backdrop of the corporate world of Atlanta, Georgia, Soul on Fire chronicles a young professional woman’s journey for inner peace and happiness.

BPM: Take us inside the book, Soul on Fire by Skyy Banks. What major events take place? Dana Taylor is 29, a beautiful, well- educated, rising star in corporate Atlanta. Dana lives life on her own terms, no matter the cost. She can have any man she wants, but often finds herself in the throes of one unhealthy relationship after another. Not until she has retreated into the emotional shelter of various unavailable men, ruined a marriage, and jeopardized a friendship does she look inward to find the source of her self-destructive behavior. To reclaim herself and find redemption, she must unlock the demons of her past and confront those that stole her innocence.

BPM:  Who do you want to reach with your book and the message within?Childhood sexual abuse is a no respector of race, gender, or socio economic statuses. It is an offense that has become increasingly prevalent in our society, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18. Oddly enough, I want not only to reach victims, but potential victims and perpetrators as well. I want victims to know that they can overcome the emotional scarring of the violation that has occurred within their lives and the abusers to see from a different vantage point the devastation they have caused the victim and those closest to them.

BPM:  How will reading your book shape the readers lives? 
Reader’s lives will be shaped in that the book offers an opportunity for self-reflection. It touches on many dynamics as it relates to intimate relationships, family, friendships, and decision making. Life is all about choices and although we are not always dealt what we deem a fair hand, we must not allow the transgressions of others against us or our circumstances dictate how we move forward in life. 

BPM:  What was the most powerful chapter in the book?The book has several powerful scenes, but what I have witnessed and received from readers as being the most was a confrontation scene in which the main character confronts her abuser. The raw emotion is heard when readers read this passage aloud, tears flow, and some have said they wish they too could have done that. They didn’t or couldn’t confront the abusers yet they could identify with the hurt.  Only now to be able to open up to someone else, this for some has been twenty years later.

BPM:  Ultimately, what do you want readers to gain from your book?To survive is to thrive, mind blowing, devastating things occur in daily life. When it happens, nothing stops, not time or even life and people move right along with that flow without ever addressing or pausing to think about the situation. The bottled hurt and emotions then manifest themselves in unhealthy ways. Or on the flipside, it’s repressed and they are just living. Nonetheless, the person has survived in the physical sense, but is not thriving because mentally and spiritually they are dead.  

BPM:  How can our readers reach you online? I can be reached at http://www.skyybanks.com/ where readers can subscribe to my blog and have the most current information on booksignings and appearances. Follow me on twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. 

Purchase Soul on Fire by Skyy Banks at AmazonISBN-10: 0981532659   |    ISBN-13: 978-0981532653
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Fire-Skyy-Banks/dp/0981532659