Intimate Conversation with Miss KP

The Dirty Divorce Trilogy
 

Miss KP began writing in high school as an outlet to express her emotions as a teenager. She would write poetry and has even written unpublished songs. However, after feeling as if she had much more to say, she decided to purchase a laptop and began working on her first novel, which we now know as Dirty Divorce, Part 1.

Just months after a good friend introduced her to publisher, Azarel; Miss KP’s dreams came true. She became a published author with the Life Changing Books (L.C.B) family with a #1 hit behind her name. Along with being an author, Miss KP works in the fashion industry as a Merchandise Manager in prominent department store.

A native Washingtonian, Miss KP currently resides in Maryland with her eight year old daughter, and is awaiting the release of her second and most anticipated novel of 2010, The Dirty Divorce- Part 2. For more information on Miss KP or her books, visit her website at: http://www.misskp.com/

Ella: Introduce us to your book, Dirty Divorce 2 and the main characters.
Drugs turn out to be a way of life for Rich, a powerful, sexy Drug Lord hailing from Washington, D.C. His desire for fast money and the extravagant things that it brings puts his family in harms way. Soon, his ego forces him to leave his castle and empire to expand business on the West Coast. His decision to leave his love ones behind at the mercy of his enemies turns out to be catastrophic. One by one, each of Rich's children spiral out of control.

Pregnancy, rape, and abduction all hit the family structure one day after another. With Rich putting his focus on money, sex, and insignificant things in life his wife Lisa, throws some new drama into the relationship as well; a side-piece and divorce papers. This creates an even bigger wedge between Rich and Lisa. The hate that Rich and Lisa develop for each other causes the divorce to get down- right dirty. Can their love out way their hate to save their family or is it too late?  

Meet the Main Players in Dirty Divorce 2
Rich- Handsome and definitely a lady's man. Father and husband that is ruthless and some think he's heartless but he's real. He lacks respect for women and his infidelity causes major issues in his home. His only love is for his money and his daughter. He keeps his son and wife on the back burner which causes major problems.

Lisa- Rich's wife. A docile, fragile wife and mother that struggles with what's important in life-- the love of money or her happiness. She deals with Rich's infidelity for the finer things in life but realizes when it's too late the price of street life has a hefty price tag.

Juan- Rich and Lisa's son. Has extreme hate for his dad due to his lack of respect for Lisa but doesn't realize he's more like his father that he knows.

Denie- Rich and Lisa's daughter. Teen girl that loves her father no matter how much he neglects her. He can do no wrong until it effects her and their relationship is tested.

Carlos "Los"- Rich's Cousin. Handsome street Colombian that holds rank in the street. His father Uncle Renzo makes things happen on both coasts and is the reason for the major cash flow that Rich and his family benefits from. Carlos and Rich's loyalty is tested by the ultimate betrayal and causes the family to dismantle.

Marisol- Carlos' wife. Beautiful but ruthless. A true ride or die chick. Will do anything for her husband.
A close friend to Lisa.


Ella: Who are your favorites? Are your characters from the portrayal of real people?
I would have to say that Lisa would be my favorite character in Part 1 because of the transformation of her character. It was intriguing to have her go from being this gullible wife to this deranged woman that was lost and willing to do anything for revenge. The characters of the book are fictional characters but the situations are real.

Ella: What role do you give the mean spirited characters? Do you have such characters?
The mean spirited character in the book is Rich, but he is consistent. Sometimes we have to look inside to see what makes people tick and why are they the way that they are. When people treat others with lack of respect and there are no consequences, do we blame the victim for allowing it and not standing up for themselves.

Ella: What specific situation or revelation prompted you to write a book?
As a teenager I would write as an outlet because I experienced a lot at a young age. My father’s absence through my teen years contributed to a lot that I went through. One of good friends was going through some relationship issues and made a powerful statement, she said, “I feel as though I’m being punished for everything my father did wrong to women, why do my relationships keep failing?” From there I said I want to write a book with a storyline that speaks to the troubled black family.

Ella: Who do you want to reach with your book and what is the message within?
The Dirty Divorce I feel anyone can relate to. Everyone either knows someone who has been through a divorce or has been through one themselves, even if they are a product of divorce. Everyone in the family is affected by the break up, whether dirty or not. The abuse in the home becomes a way of life and you take the risk of your off springs either becoming a product of their environment or finding a way out. I want people to see that even though this book is fiction, it’s somebody in this world going through the same things and what are we going to do differently in our lives to make a change in our current behaviors.

The one thing I always say is, I don’t want anyone to lose the message. The cars, the money, and the big house might seem all good but we need to know the consequences that come with it. The streets are always watching and you have to live a life in fear of the day it could all come to an end; whether if it’s the Feds or the next man trying to get on top it eventually comes to an end. Infidelity comes with the territory as well.

Know that these are all the things you sign up for street life, but the main message is not only what I just mentioned, it’s the effect on the family and the children. It’s a vicious cycle because we are teaching our children that this is the only way, and as young girls we choose the hustler as our boyfriend, and as young men we choose street life as the way because this is all we know.

Ella: What are some of their specific issues or problems addressed in this book?
Divorce has been such an easy way out these days, the younger generation doesn't fight anymore for their relationships so this is definitely a topic everyone can relate to. Also the relationship between a mother and her son as well as a father and their daughter. How the decisions that we make as parents and how they affect our children.

Ella: Share with us your upcoming releases and online contact info.
The Dirty Divorce is a trilogy and Part 2 will be released on November 24th and for updates on release information or to contact me I can be reached on Twitter: www.twitter.com/misskpdc. 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/misskpdc   or visit my website at:  http://www.misskp.com/  


Purchase Dirty Divorce 1 and 2 written by Miss KP, HERE.
Publisher: Life Changing Books
ISBN-10: 193423074X
ISBN-13: 978-1934230749

Intimate Conversation with Attica Locke

 In the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles comes a powerful new voice in American fiction: Attica Locke delivers a brilliant debut thriller readers will not soon forget…With intelligent writing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent. 

Attica Locke is a novelist and a screenwriter who has written scripts for Paramount, Warner Bros, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, HBO Films and more. A graduate of Northwestern University, she was a fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmaker’s Lab.  Black Water Rising, her first novel, was nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award and a 2010 NAACP Image Award. She is currently at work on her second book.

BPM:  What makes you powerful as a person and a writer? Courage. I wake up every day not sure where the work will take me, scared that I won't have anything to say. And yet I still show up for it every day. Which is the same way I approach life. I'm often scared of the unknown, of what I can't see about my future, but I'm willing to show up to life every day. I live and write by faith.


BPM:  Who are your mentors? Where do you find your inspiration?You know the person I think of a lot when I'm writing? Lightnin' Hopkins, the Texas blues musician. His music is clean, simple and deeply moving. I want my writing to be like his blues - tough and melodic and full of raw beauty.


BPM:  Introduce us to your book, Black Water Rising.
Black Water Rising  is a murder mystery, following the character, Jay Porter, a low rent criminal defense attorney who was heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the late '60s and early '70s and now finds himself trying to transition from the political activism of his youth into the Reagan '80s - a time when the whole country and black people in particular had shifted our focus from political progress to economic progress. And along the way he has to come to terms with the demons of his past.

Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl, and he runs his fledgling law practice out a dingy strip mall. But he’s long since made peace with his path to the American Dream, carefully tucking away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.

Houston, Texas, 1981. It’s here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night he impulsively saves a drowning woman’s life – and opens a Pandora’s Box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston’s corporate powerbrokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.


BPM:  Who were your favorites? Are your characters from the portrayal of real people?Well, Jay is certainly my favorite character in the book. He's not any one person in particular, though some facts of his life are similar to the details of my father's life. But he's more representative of my parents' generation - a group of people who, in their late teens and twenties, devoted their lives to political activism and then somehow had to find their way out of that when the movement ended.


BPM:  Finish this sentence- My writing offers the following legacy to future readers...
...a deep compassion and love for the choices and mistakes and small victories that make us human.


Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
Purchase books today!
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Water-Rising-Attica-Locke/dp/0061735868



Book Reviews for Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

"Black Water Rising is a near-perfect balance of trenchant social commentary, rich characterizations and an action-oriented plot..."   – Los Angeles Times


“Locke, a screenwriter with both film and TV credits (including a forthcoming HBO miniseries about the civil rights movement) steers a gritty drama to a satisfying end… Locke remains an author to watch.” 
– Publishers Weekly


“Locke expertly etches a portrait of her anxiety-ridden protagonist, and she animates the complex plot with the assurance of a practiced screenwriter...”  – Kirkus Reviews

Intimate Conversation with Literary Legend L. A. Banks

Hosted by Ella Curry, EDC Creations Media Group

L. A. Banks  is the recipient of the 2009 Romantic Times Booklover's Career Choice Award for Paranormal Fiction as well as the 2008 Essence Storyteller of the Year award. Ms. Banks has written over 42 novels and contributed to 12 novellas, in multiple genres under various pseudonyms.

She is a proud member of The Liars Club, and a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania Wharton undergraduate program with a Master's in Fine Arts from Temple University. Ms. Banks is a full-time writer living/working in Philadelphia.

EDC:  You are a true literary legend! We love your work. What makes you powerful as a person and a writer?

LEB: I think one's power comes from a depth of experience and living life -- and that's my well as a writer, because I've lived a lot of life and have had a lot of experiences to draw from to help make my characters feel real. People can relate to the emotions felt by my characters, whether the story is a realistic romance or a truly supernatural, paranormal tale. Even though what I write is fiction, the emotions that I write about are always grounded in reality.

EDC: How much of what you write reflects on your outlook on life?

LEB: About 99.99% of what I write I also believe in. I write about good winning over evil (even though I may not believe in real vampires, per se)... but we've all seen "vampire acting people" who suck the life out of others via their negative behaviors, as well as people who do horribly demonic things to one another. But through whatever tragedies we see in the media or within our communities, most of us pray that good will come out victorious in the end. I also believe in love and I definitely believe in Divine Intervention. If you scratch the surface of any tale I tell, it's all in there.

EDC: Who are your mentors? Where do you find your inspiration?

LEB: My mentors were those old aunties and grandmothers in my family, as well as my dad... all of whom are gone now. They inspired me, because in my generation I had opportunities open to me that they'd only dreamed of--and that's also why I cannot waste a second of that good fortune. I view it as a responsibility, and I know that I stand on some very strong black shoulders.

EDC: What do you think of the increasingly gratuitous sex in African American literature?

LEB: The increasingly gratuitous sex makes me weary, truth be told. I like a good love scene as much as anybody, and a well crafted on set in context, is a part of life and therefore shouldn't be ommitted from the story. But when you have people jumping into unnecessary and crazy situations simply for sensationalism without moving the plot forward, it feels forced and trite. Once you've gone there as a writer, to me, you've lost the element of the craft. People are grown and I don't believe in censorship... but I do believe in truth in advertising. If it's erotica, or dare I say porn, then call it that--but don't try to sell it to me as a mystery or a thriller or whatever. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a damned duck.

EDC: What three elements complete a formula for Happiness, Success or Freedom?

LEB: The three elements in my mind are as follows: The first thing you need is a strong spiritual base--because life will test and try you, and in order to stand firm and to have gratitude in your attitude, you have got to have a foundation (a rock); secondly, you have to surround yourself with positive, like-minded people that are forward-moving individuals (because drama people and negative influences can wear you down); and lastly, you have to put in the good, old-fashioned hard work. Remember the saying, "Faith without works is dead?" Yeah. That's pure truth. Wishing and hoping ain't gonna do it. You have to be willing to constantly learn and grow and do.

EDC: Finish this sentence- My writing offers the following legacy to future readers...

LEB: My writing offers the following legacy to future readers... that they might be able to break the stereotypical bonds of literature that only show African Americans in a few dimensions of all that we are and are capable of being -- from our rich history to our astounding bravery and creativity, until we might even dream of being super heroes and heroines again. My work allows us to step into supernatural realms or to love each other hard and full and deep in my romances, or to solve crimes and get away like James Bond... and always shows "us" as intelligent and sexy and honorable.

EDC: Introduce us to your literary series and a few of the main characters.

LEB: I have several series that I am working on--one is The Vampire Huntress Legends, where a young woman and her family fight evil (Damali is NOT a vampire--smile.); I have a werewolf series, entitled, The Crimson Moon Novels (and Sasha is a supernatural, but not a werewolf and is good.); and I have dozens of romances. All of it can be seen at: http://www.vampirehuntress.com/  or http://www.crimsonmoonnovels.com/  and http://www.leslieesdailebanks.com/   I have also just started a young adult series at  http://www.neteruacademy.com/  and on all the sites there are detailed excerpts and book explanations.

EDC: Who are your favorites? Are your characters from the portrayal of real people?

LEB: Of all my characters, Damali and Carlos are my favs, because they represent the young people I knew and was to some degree, growing up "around the way." Damali is a blend of my sister, me, and my female cousins and girlfriends... hot-tempered, secure, insecure, passionate, scared, brave, mature, immature--all of it at the same time.

EDC: What role do you give the "mean-spirited" characters? Do you have such characters?

LEB: I give my "mean spirited" characters the role we see of decadent, powerful people who do destructive things because they can and for profit. I take those personalities from the predators we see ripped from the headlines--or people we have seen that destroy communities and families.

EDC: Who do you want to reach with your book and the message within?

LEB: My books, except for the new young adult series that I just started, are for mature readers (NC 17 rated with mature scenes, sex, violence and language)... but my work is multicultural in nature and I have as many male readers as female readers of all ethnic backgrounds.

EDC: How will reading your books shape the reader's lives?

LEB: I'm not sure how my work will shape a reader's life, but I always hope that my work touches something within him or her and makes that person think.

EDC: Why are your books so different from others in the same genre?

LEB: My series deal very seriously with matters of spirituality as well as make social commentary within the paranormal genre in a way that you rarely see. Most writers in the paranormal genre tend to leave religion and spirituality out of it. My work also thoroughly embraces multiculturalism in a way others do not.

EDC: Share with us your latest news or upcoming book releases.

LEB: My latest project is that The Vampire Huntress Legends series has now gone to comics--which is a thrill for me as a female author. In addition, I have a new multicultural young adult series coming out in March 2011, entitled, Shadow Walker--which is a paranormal tale about the children of the heroes and sheroes from the 12 book Vampire Huntress Legends.

EDC: Thank you so much for this interview! How can our readers reach you online?

LEB: You are welcome. It's my pleasure to share my journey with the readers!

Leslie (aka L.A. Banks)!

Website: http://www.leslieesdailebanks.com/

New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author

RT Career Choice Award for Paranormal Fiction

Winner of the 2008 Essence Magazine Storyteller of the Year Award

PROUD Member of The Liars Club, http://liarsclubphilly.com/

On Twitter: LA_Banks

On Face Book: Leslie Esdaile Banks

Join the Leslie Esdaile Banks Fan Club on Yahoo!