2 Nite!!!!!!!!!!!

Night Biters Book Signing at Laurel Book Store in Oakland

If you’re in town stop by

Night Biters Book Signing

Under Pressure

I can’t say enough how important it is to support films like Pressure Cooker. See drag me to Hell next week, support a movie with a conscious this weekend

Unorthodox Culinary Arts teacher Mrs. Stephenson is a tyrant known throughout her Philly public high school for her hoarse rebukes of her students’ creations. She may be disarmingly blunt, but she cares about the final product. Last year, 11 of her seniors totaled $750,000 in scholarships to top culinary schools across the nation. Here, we follow three of Stephenson’s dedicated inner-city kids with circumstances stacked against them whose best hope for the future depends on the perfect results.

Check out the Chef Jeff Project

Night Ride

NIGHT BITERS is the first in a series of fast paced horror novels targeted toward readers who enjoyed Harry Potter and the Twilight series, but yearn to read about characters that reflect their own rich diversity.
NIGHT BITERS tells the story of 16-year-old Jamilah and her 14-year old brother Omari when the two arrive in the city of Oakland, CA. A mysterious stranger gives Omari a magical compact disc and crucifix. Upon listening to the CD the siblings learn that the lyrics and the crucifix can aide them against the danger of vampires, but danger has never been as attractive as the handsome and charismatic heartbreaker Tyrone, or as beautiful and deadly as the vengeful Jennifer. Soon the siblings find themselves in twined with rival gangs, the Crimsons and the Cobalt’s. Their leaders transformed into vampires whose hatred for another threatens to destroy the city.

Dayo

In my search for the Pinoy Were Wolf, I have come across some facisnating  Filipino mythical beast

 Manananggal 

Tikbalang

Dayo is an animated film that features Filipino mythological characters such as manananggal and tikbalang. It is a story about the adventure of a little boy named Bubuy and her friend Anna in the world of Elementalia to find and save his captured Lolo and Lola. The film showcases Filipino values and tradition in the modern times plus the mythical creatures and fantasies that we Filipinos know. Bravo! Dayo was the second animated movie created by the Filipino. It is another masterpiece we should be proud of. I’d never expect that much onto the animation but when I saw the whole film I’m really stunned. The quality of the animation was superb and can compete with the other country.

Source Jethres Blog

an acute insufficiency

By concentrating only on Street Lit for African American teens.

the publishing industry is missing a big opportunity

In  the 2004  article  Street Lit is a breakout hit James Fugate the owner of  Eso Won, a African American bookstore is quoted saying, he understands why major publishing houses are taking an interest.

“They are reaching an audience they didn’t know existed.”

In the article Terrry McMillian vs Ghetto Lit Shays writes  “However, ghetto lit is growing for one major reason, which folks like myself with libertarian streaks will point out: the market reflects what black folks as a group – especially black folks under age 40 – want to read. There is a much, much wider market of black folks who want to read talkin-‘bout-the-hood, hip-hopesque tales of sex, violence, crime, and the like than who want to read about tales of bitter, upscale black women like what Ms. McMillan has written or the feats of the Tuskegee Airmen back in World War II like I or others would likely read.”

in the 2008 Publishers Weekly  article Publishers are paying attention to African-American teens

But its hard to determine that this is indeed the case with books targeted toward AAT.’  In Felicia Pride and Calvin Reid article they challenge you to  talk to a YA editor or take a stroll through that section at your local bookstore and it’s evident that there’s a growing number of books aimed at the young adult market—and those numbers include more titles geared specifically to African-American teens. As publishers are addressing the lack of material aimed at this market—many African-American teens have turned to popular adult authors because of this dearth—there has clearly been some improvement.

But not much,  Street Lit s popular, because

1. The authors get it: good, bad or ugly, the writing is at least empowered, and there is no pandering to the  reader

2. There is very little else to read: what other options are there for African American teens (AAT) read outside of scaled down versions of street lit? I’m amazed that the industry do not believe that AAT would be interested in a Black Twilight or Harry Potter of which, outside of Night Biters there are very few (click here for a list of fantasy books)

An audience they didn’t know existed in the early 90’s there was an explosion of books geared toward African American’s,  Waiting to Exhale and other. To me the Publishing industry should have had the foresight to know that those readers would want books t that the lives of their children, and even grandchildren.  I wrote Night Biters after going to a book store asking for a book from the Goosepumps series that feature an AAT

If the industry believes that  AAT are only interested in Street Lit and are not interested in works like Twilight or Harry Potter, then will continue to be miss opportunities that can help rebound a sagging industry

Happy Billie Holidays

Thanks to the Lumo Crew for this blog

Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959)
Lady Day

Vamps in the Hood

The New Video for Night Biters

Set against the gritty backdrop of Oakland, California Night Biters tells the story of Bay Area teens coping with the dangers of urban living while facing the horrors of the Supernatural. Fasten your seat belts, you’re going to a place bustling with hip hop music, drugs, gangs and vampires.

Check it Out

Skip a Flick, Read a Book

Trailer for Night Biters the Novel

Tell me what you think