Reading While Black

Congratulations to Sherry Thomas for the excellent reviews she’s received thus far! Not only has Dear Author granted her debut release, Private Arrangements a B+, but AAR awarded the book a DIK, and both Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review! Brava!

Found here.

I find it particularly bittersweet that when I read interviews or interview black authors of romance,  there is always the need to express how differently black authors experience the whole process. On one hand, there does need to be a bit of awareness raised because most people just don’t think about things that don’t affect them immediately, but, on the other hand, does it make us all sound like a broken record–or a “bitter” broken record?

If blogs and websites are to be utilized to promote books, do we (black authors and black bloggers) need to insert the tribulations faced into everything we touch? Would it make more of an impact, or a positive impact, if say, Seressia had just spoken about her paranormal romance and how great it is and her influences and inspirations. Or if I just reviewed and interviewed books and authors, respectively, who interested me–not just authors of color (predominantly black) and their books because there is a void?

But would anyone on the blogosphere have visited Monica Jackson’s blog, or even have known who she was, if she hadn’t been raising cane online for the past few years?  Would anyone even stop and think about the absence of romances featuring black characters if the issue hadn’t been pressed to the forefront of topics? The more I think about it, the more trickier this whole thing seems.

Anyone have any thoughts?

My first published novel hit shelves in 1997 and I haven’t looked back since. Now a nationally best-selling author after nine novels and eight novellas and short stories, I was fortunate to have one of my novels adapted for the screen, as a made-for-TV movie in 2000. Amongst my achievements, I number a Reveiwer’s Choice from Romantic Times and being awarded the rare RT 4 1/2 star Gold Medal rating twice. Who am I?

An award-winning author of eight book, ranging from contemporary to paranormal romance and a non-fiction book for writers, I recently named a finalist for the National “Best Books 2007″ Award for both my fiction and non-fiction. Who am I?

Celebrating five years as a published author as of this spring, I’ve written nearly ten novels, including my successful family series, following a Southern-bred family living in Seattle. Besides my novels, I’ve also written a number of short stories. When not writing, I can be found working in the stacks of an academic library. Who am I?