Wordless Wednesday....

Bernice L. McFadden

Calling All Book Bloggers!

Gathering of Waters is scheduled for publication on Valentine's day of 2012.

So I want to start spreading the word as early as possible about my new novel and of course I need you to help me do that.

You all did such a fabulous job with Glorious and Sugar - reaffirming my belief that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing machine an author can have.

Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi—a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families.

Tass Hilson and Emmett Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit.

Forty years later, after the death of her husband, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till's spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River. The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion.

Gathering of Watersmines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the Bryant and Hilson families, and threads their history over decades. The bare-bones realism—both disturbing and riveting—combined with a magical realm in which ghosts have the final say, is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Beloved.

I figure the best way to get things rolling is with a good-not-so-old-fashion Book Blogger Contest!

So here's the deal:


4 Lucky Bloggers will receive a $50 Visa Gift Card


The Rules:


• - The fifty (50) Book Bloggers with fifty (50) or more followers to send an email to:


gloriousbookblog@gmail.com with your name/addresss/blog url - will receive a copy of Gathering of Waters.


• - The Book Blogger must read Gathering of Waters and post his/her review on their blog no later 11PM on March 15th, 2012.


• - In order to be considered for the prize Bloggers must email a "Link" to their review to: gloriousbookblog@gmail.com


• - You will receive a *bonus* entry if you mention this contest on your blog


• – If you’d like to enter you must be a Book Blogger


• – You must be 18 years or older (Under 18, get your parents to enter.)


• – US/Canada/UK residents only.


• – Winners will be notified by email on April 1st, 2012

Bernice L. McFadden

Resurrection Day: Anything can and will happen...

Dear aspiring and/or published writer:

You may never be reviewed in the New York Times, receive a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, be invited to attend a prestigious writer's colony, awarded the elusive Guggenheim Fellowship or Genius Grant. Oprah may never shout out your name as the author of her next book club selection and you may never, ever walk away with a Pulitzer, National Book Award or Nobel Prize.

You may not be celebrated or recognized in your lifetime, but know that your name and your work will reemerge on the tongues and in the minds of future generations.

All is not for nought....






Happy Easter -- Happy Resurrection Day....

Bernice L. McFadden

Wordy Wednesday....and Lip Gloss...

I know it's only April, but I'm already thinking about February 2012. Why? Well I will be publishing not one but TWO books in February! And so I figured, why not kick off the festivities early!

If you're a Book Blogger with fifty or more followers, I invite you to drop by my I Love Bernice McFadden Blog and leave me a note letting me know which book you'd be interested in reviewing on your blog.

What do you get -- besides a fabulous, tantalizing piece of literature for free? Well, your name will be entered to win one of four $50 Visa Gift Card!


Frank Yerby was the first African-American author to pen a bestseller, with Foxes of Harrow which was adapted into a film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara - which made him the first Af-Am writer to have a book purchased and adapted by a major Hollywood studio. He moved to Spain in 1955, this due to the racial inequality rampant here in the USA. He remained there until his death. During his career, he made the decision to stop writing about the "Race Problem."

Thanks to Nordette Adams for making me aware of this story. Read about here....

The Wall Street Journal has a great article on how cheaply priced eBooks, written by self-published authors are crowding the bestsellers lists.

This is really good for self-published authors, but not so good for traditionally published authors who are contracted with publishers who are simply unable to sell an eBook for .99 and turn profit.

Lorene Carey is back on the literary scene with her newest novel: If Son, Then Heirs.

Cary tells a complex story of family, race, and the challenges of reconciling the present with a persistent past.

A Chapter A Month has over 500 members! We started with sixteen authors and will be welcoming two more very soon!

Each month, you can purchase any chapter from any author for .99 cents. Now, we’re calling it “a chapter,” but trust, these are not short chapters that are in full-length books. These chapters are far more extensive. We promise you, you will get more than your money’s worth -- so stop by, join for free and then get your reading on!

And last but not least - I wanted to share this cool new product with you....




To order your very own Artistry Lip Gloss, email:

Kiyree McMillan: KC.McMillan@gmail.com
and/or visit his website to check out all of the other exciting products he has to offer on his website.

Bernice L. McFadden

New Arrivals....and coming soon!

In Stores Now!!

Lanie Price, a 1920s Harlem society columnist, witnesses the brutal nightclub kidnapping of the "Black Orchid," a sultry, seductive singer with a mysterious past. Price, a female 1920s version of Dominick Dunne, soon finds herself elbows-deep in a story in which everyone seems to be either lying or keeping a secret to die for. When hours pass without word from the kidnapper, puzzlement grows as to his motive. Then a gruesome package arrives at Price's doorstep and the questions change. Just what does this kidnapper want--and how many people is he willing to kill in order to get it?

Evil hides behind the genteel façades of affluent Strivers' Row and stalks the ballroom of one of Harlem's most famous gay parties. In a complex plot that keeps you tied to the page, Black Orchid Blues explores the depths of human depravity and the desperation of its victims.

Coming on May 24th

With the opening line of Silver Sparrow, “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist,” author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle.
Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s two families—the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters—the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle—she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another’s lives.

At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers—think Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye—Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women, just not as their mothers.

Coming July 1st

Following in the footsteps of her idols Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, Kola Boof asserts her own literary prowess with a chilling sociopolitical love story.

Set in modern West Africa, Europe, and the United States, and featuring the kind of heroine readers rarely get to encounter in popular culture—beautiful charcoal-skinned Eternity, a spirited and diabolical young African hellcat whose life is stigmatized by a heart-stopping secret—The Sexy Part of the Bible is an erotically astute novel filled with mystery and adventure.

Enveloped in the arms of a domineering Fela Kuti–type rap star and revolutionary named Sea Horse Twee, Eternity finds herself miraculously surviving several African rebellions—and in the interim, she powerfully unmasks the science of cloning, which becomes a powerful metaphor in the story.

Written with the lush musicality of North African classics, The Sexy Part of the Bible is guaranteed to stay on your mind long after you’ve put it down.

What does President Obama and Dionne Warwick have in Common?

Bernice L. McFadden

Eat, Sleep, Write: El Gouna, Egypt

Early this year, I announced here that I had been invited to attend the El Gouna Writer's Residency, in Egypt. I was very excited.

And then of course the revolution happened and I thought - 'Oh well, maybe some other time then.'

But things turned around, quite quickly and I took that as a sign that this is a trip I a destined to take.

Of course then I looked at my bank account and thought well, maybe this is a trip I am destined to take at some other point in my life.

But the universe intervened once again when a photographer friend of mine came over to share the exciting details about her recent trip to Ethiopia. She was there for two weeks and she said she would not have been able to take the trip without the help of family and friends and quite a few strangers.

Me: Huh?

Her: I had a fundraiser.

Ding-Ding-Ding!

And so I thought, why not try it. I have family and friends and thousands of readers who may be interested in donating a few dollars for a good cause.

So here are the details:

The story I will be developing during my time in El Gouna is entitled, Winter People.

Winter People is a fictionalized account of the real-life African-American pilot Lieutenant Darwin Nichols, who was shot down, captured and imprisoned in the Gestapo prison in Butzbach. My research thus far has revealed a some-what clouded history of Nichols’ final days. Some accounts declare that he was shot and killed right before the end of the war; others claim that his body was never found. My fictional version of his life will return him safely to America, where Nichols' will recount his story of his time in Butzbach.

This story is important because it will give voice to those "forgotten" victims of the Holocaust..

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., “The fate of black people from 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories ranged from isolation to persecution, sterilization, medical experimentation, incarceration, brutality, and murder.”

I believe that Winter People will serve to introduce readers to a larger historical text, which will be appreciated by the widest possible audience.

Please visit CAMPAIGN PAGE to read all about this amazing trip and the book it will benefit.

P.S. I would really appreciate it if you would spread the word to your list of folks!

Bernice L. McFadden

Trokosi

We are just two days away from the official launch of A Chapter A Month.

I'm very excited about the novel I've written for ACAM.

My Name is Butterfly deals with ritual servitude in Ghana. This practice is also known as Trokosi.

I hope this video will help you understand why I needed to write this story:





AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM ACHAPTERAMONTH.COM

Bernice L. McFadden