Books can help people escape the world they are living in. Books can also help people navigate their world. It is just as powerful to have refuge as it is to have something or someone you can relate to. When she was a young girl, Mariama J. Lockington couldn’t find books about black female youth adoptees like herself. Her forthcoming novel For Black Girls Like Me, the book she … Read the rest
Interview With “Jumping the Picket Fence” Author & Entrepreneur Lydia Dean!
Many people choose security over passion when it comes to employment. When you were a child, you probably loved reading, writing, singing, drawing, playing a sport, etc. You might’ve even taken that craft on as an extracurricular activity. But did it ever go past a hobby? Did you ever try to pursue it professionally? Maybe you made a few attempts only to feel defeated. Maybe someone talked you out of … Read the rest
Interview (Part 2) With “A Good Kind of Trouble” Author Lisa Moore Ramée!
When we have a passion, it is easy to become consumed by it. But it is important to make sure that we don’t ignore the other experiences that life has to offer. For example, if you are a writer, don’t literally spend all of your time writing. “Some advice I would give to other writers is find something else that you do,” Lisa Moore Ramée tells So Booking Cool… Read the rest
Interview (Part 1) With “A Good Kind of Trouble” Author Lisa Moore Ramée!
While the novel A Good Kind of Trouble has pretty much been dubbed the junior high school version of The Hate U Give, also a Balzer + Bray title, it is a book that had been more than 20 years in the making. It is based on the author, Lisa Moore Ramée’s experiences in elementary and middle school as well as her daughter’s, who is now in college. … Read the rest
Interview With Lou Alpert, Author of “Surrender: A Love Letter to My Daughter”!
When most people who know and don’t know Lou Alpert read her memoir, Surrender: A Love Letter to My Daughter, they want to hug her. The new book, published by Hybrid Global, captures the compelling journey of opioid addiction through the lens of a mother. In December 2017, CNN broke the story of Crystal Champ, a homeless heroin at the time, who surrendered her baby to a … Read the rest
Interview With RJ Young, Author of “Let It Bang: A Young Black Man’s Reluctant Odyssey into Guns”!
RJ Young was not fond of guns, but that changed when he was determined to build a bond with his then white wife’s father, a gun enthusiast. Young became fixated with guns, and eventually became an NRA-certified pistol instructor. The unique and riveting journey to understanding and experiencing gun culture in America as a black man is tackled in Young’s debut, Let It Bang: A Young Black Man’s Reluctant Odyssey … Read the rest
Review: Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story by Candace Toft
OFF THE ROPES: THE RON LYLE STORY, Candace Toft. Hamilcar Publications, $27.95 (214p) ISBN-13: 978-1949590012
Publication date: Oct. 31, 2018
What you learn from a book is what really dictates its value. What the book reveals. What the book confronts. What the book asserts. Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story, is the definitive biography about one of boxing’s “the most known and unknown” (homage to Three Six … Read the rest
Interview With Ben Philippe, Author of “The Field Guide to the North American Teenager”!
If you are passionate about writing and want to pursue it professionally, you might want to keep certain skills off your resume. Ben Phillippe, author of the forthcoming debut novel, The Field Guide to The North American Teenager (Balzer + Bray, January 9, 2019) is one of many who had jobs that he disliked, but when he removed Microsoft Excel from his resume, he yielded opportunities that … Read the rest
Interview With Executive Editor of Riverhead Books, Courtney Young!
Courtney Young carefully considers our question: whether it is enough for people to write a manuscript if the thought of doing so crosses their mind. Understandably so, the executive editor at Riverhead Books believes it is different for everyone; in other words (no pun intended), like many things in life, it depends.
“I will say writing a book is a lot of work, and you have to be, especially on … Read the rest
Interview With Literary Publicist, Lathea Williams!
Lathea Williams might not have initially chosen book publishing as a career, but the driving force for why she chooses to remain in the industry is due to history. “There was a point in time where as a black person, we weren’t even given the opportunity to read. We were chastised for it. So I’m very much aware of my history and that’s one of the main things that keeps … Read the rest