As many of us know, the world has been mourning the loss of the late great Kobe Bryant. Award-winning novelist, writer, and former world-ranked squash player Ivy Claire Pochoda who collaborated with Bryant on their number one New York Times bestselling series Epoca shares her perspective on his passing while working on Book 2, The River of Sand (Granity Studios, December 15, 2020). “It’s been really hard, I mean, … Read the rest
Interview With “Ella’s Greatest Adventures: The Art of Joy” Author Ashley Thompson!
In Ashley Thompson’s second book The Art of Joy from the children’s brand and Ella’s Greatest Adventures (October 23, 2020, eBook and November 6, 2020, print) book series, the beloved protagonist Ella McCutie learns to stay positive despite being bullied. Some of the experiences depicted in the picture book are based on Thompson’s childhood.
“They would pick at my physical appearance,” the scientist shares with So Booking Cool. “And … Read the rest
Interview With “Charming As A Verb” Author Ben Philippe!
When asked for advice about what authors should look for in agents, editors, and publishers, award-winning and Charming As A Verb (Balzer + Bray, October 13, 2020) author Ben Philippe, encourages finding industry professionals whose emails they are unafraid to receive. “I have friends who are also writers, they have that fear of their own editors and publishers,” he tells So Booking Cool. “They’re like ‘Oh, I made too … Read the rest
Interview With “The Hidden Opponent” Founder & Resource in “Geese Are Never Swans” by Kobe Bryant & Eva Clark!
When former Division 1 player and PAC-12 champion, Victoria Garrick, met with Kobe Bryant to discuss her organization, The Hidden Opponent, an advocacy group for student-athlete mental health, she learned he was developing a project that aligned with her passion. That project was the new book, Geese Are Never Swans (Granity Studios, July 21, 2020), a multi-category #1 New Release on Amazon. “After that, I received an alert from … Read the rest
Interview With Journalist & Book Collaborator Jeannine Amber!
It’s no secret that publishing is full of collaboration, from the authors, agents, editors, and illustrators to the marketers, publicists, salespeople, reviewers, and influencers, etc. Then there are the professionals who help authors tell their stories by way of memoir: book collaborators. Multi-award-winning journalist, writer, and co-author, Jeannine Amber, who recently collaborated on I Tried to Change So You Don’t Have To: True Life Lessons (Hachette Go, June 23, … Read the rest
Interview With “A Butterfly Universe” Author Vanessa Chen!
14-year-old Vanessa Chen, author of A Butterfly Universe (Star Moonstone Books/Story Monsters LLC, 2020), doesn’t know if she has written enough to have established her own writing style, however, she does know the techniques she appreciates in other writers. “I really admire whenever an author sort of goes on [the] entire scene,” Chen tells So Booking Cool. “They’re very descriptive about it, but not extremely ‘blah, blah, blah’ … Read the rest
Interview With “Stand Up, Yumi Chung!” Author Jessica Kim!
The adage: ‘if you love something let it go and if it comes back to you, it’s yours’ fits Stand Up, Yumi Chung! (March 17, 2020, Kokila) novelist, Jessica Kim. Before becoming a debut critically acclaimed published author, Kim had quit writing at one point. When she was a youth, in addition to comedy, she enjoyed writing, but didn’t foresee it as a profession, at least not as a … Read the rest
Interview With “Black Boy, Black Boy” Author Crown Shepherd!
For some of us, books are more than words on a page; they do more than tell stories. When emerging author and entrepreneur, Crown Shepherd, aka Crown the Writer, found black authors, her writing soared. Her love for reading and writing, which had gone dormant for about ten years, was resurrected thanks to Octavia Butler and Jesmyn Ward, who is among the black authors of Shepherd’s book club … Read the rest
Author Piece: The Future of Black Speculative Fiction by Nandi Taylor
There has never been a more exciting time to be a science fiction and fantasy writer, and a Black writer in particular. In recent years speculative fiction centering Black characters has been getting more and more of the spotlight, and I absolutely love to see it. I’ve always been a huge SF geek, and growing up I was known to read a book in a day, the majority of them … Read the rest
Book Report: RIP Publishing Legend Sonny Mehta, Kobe Bryant, Happy belated Langston Hughes; The “Diverse Editions” Backlash; Current reads & more!
We discuss some of the latest news in publishing including the late publishing legend Sonny Mehta (Knopf and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group); we also recognize Kobe Bryant and Langston Hughes; we discuss the backlash Barnes and Noble Fifth Avenue and Penguin Random House received for their Diverse Edition initiative; Jessica Simpson’s new, trending memoir; some of our current and anticipated reads, as well as other bookish tidbits. Check it out! … Read the rest