May Madness: May 24 - Kindred - Octavia E. Butler

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

Octavia Estelle Butler, often referred to as the “grand dame of science fiction,” was born in Pasadena, California on June 22, 1947.  She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1968 from Pasadena Community College, and also attended California State University in Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles.  During 1969 and 1970, she studied at the Screenwriter’s Guild Open Door Program and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop, where she took a class with science fiction master Harlan Ellison (who later became her mentor), and which led to Butler selling her first science fiction stories.

Butler’s first story, “Crossover,” was published in the 1971 Clarion anthology.  Patternmaster, her first novel and the first title of her five-volume Patternist series, was published in 1976, followed by Mind of My Mind in 1977.  Others in the series include Survivor (1978), Wild Seed (1980), which won the James Tiptree Award, and Clay’s Ark (1984).

With the publication of Kindred in 1979, Butler was able to support herself writing full time.  She won the Hugo Award in 1984 for her short story, “Speech Sounds,” and in 1985, Butler’s novelette “Bloodchild” won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and an award for best novelette from Science Fiction Chronicle.

Other books by Octavia E. Butler include the Xenogenesis trilogy: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988) and Imago (1989), and a short story collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).  Parable of the Sower(1993), the first of her Earthseed series, was a finalist for the Nebula Award as well as a New York TimesNotable Book of the Year.  The book’s sequel, Parable of the Talents (1998), won a Nebula Award.

In 1995 Butler was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship. Octavia Butler died outside of her home in Lake Forest Park, Washington, on February 24, 2006, at the age of 58

Awards

• 1980, Creative Arts Award, L.A. YWCA
• 1984, Hugo Award for Best Short Story – Speech Sounds
• 1984, Nebula Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild
• 1985, Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild
• 1985, Locus Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild
• 1985, Hugo Award for Best Novelette – Bloodchild
• 1995, MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant
• 1999, Nebula Award for Best Novel – Parable of the Talents
• 2000, PEN American Center lifetime achievement award in writing
• 2010, Inductee Science Fiction Hall of Fame
• 2012, Solstice Award, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

May Madness: May 23 - What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day - Pearl Cleage

After a decade of elegant pleasures and luxe living with the Atlanta brothers and sisters with the best clothes and biggest dreams, Ava Johnson has temporarily returned home to Idlewild—her fabulous career and power plans smashed to bits by cold reality. But what she imagines to be the end is, instead, a beginning. Because, in the ten-plus years since Ava left, all the problems of the big city have come to roost in the sleepy North Michigan community whose ordinariness once drove her away; and she cannot turn her back on friends and family who sorely need her in the face of impending trouble and tragedy. Besides which, that one unthinkable, unmistakable thing is now happening to her: Ava Johnson is falling in love.

Pearl Cleage is an Atlanta based writer whose work has won commercial acceptance and critical praise in several genres. An award winning playwright whose Flyin' Westwas the most produced new play in the country in 1994, Pearl is also a best selling author whose first novel, What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day, was an Oprah Book Club pick and spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Her subsequent novels have been consistant best sellers and perennial book club favorites. I Wish I Had A Red Dress, her second novel, won multiple book club awards in 2001. Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do, was a "Good Morning America!" book club pick in 2003, and Babylon Sisters made the ESSENCE Magazine best seller list in 2005. Her most recent novel,Baby Brother's Blues, was the first pick of the newESSENCE Book Club and an NAACP Image Award winner for fiction in 2007. In the March 2007 issue of ESSENCE, Pearl had two books on the best seller list, Baby Brother's Blues and We Speak Your Names, a poetic celebration commissioned by Oprah Winfrey and co-authored with her husband, writer Zaron W. Burnett, Jr. The poem was also an NAACP Image Award nominee in 2007. Pearl was a popular columnist with The Atlanta Tribune for ten years and has contributed as a free lance writer to ESSENCE, Ms., Rap Pages, VIBE and Ebony. Her recent play, A Song for Coretta, played to sold out audiences during its Atlanta premiere in February of 2007 and will be produced at Atlanta's Seven Stages Theatre in February of 2008 in preparation for a national tour.

Pearl's work occupies a unique niche in contemporary African American fiction. Her characters are as complex and multi-faceted as her readers lives and their balancing of work, love and family (not necessarily in that order!) ring true to those who eagerly await each novel. She balances issues as challenging as AIDS, domestic violence and urban blight, but the distinguishing features of her books are her optimism, her commitment to positive change and transformation, and her unwavering faith in the possibility and power of romantic love. The creation of good, believable, desirable men -- as well as the women who love them! -- is a hallmark of Pearl's fiction and her readers are quick to mention their fondness for Eddie Jefferson, the dread locked hero of What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day, Nate Anderson, the weight lifting high school principal in I Wish I Had a Red Dress, Burghardt Johnson, the globetrotting journalist in Babylon Sisters, or their all time favorite, the mysterious Blue Hamilton, a former R&B singer turned neighborhood godfather,who is at the center of both Baby Brother's Blues and Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do, where his character is first introduced. This character, with his amazing blue eyes and remembrance of past lives, not only keeps the peace, but falls deeply in love and isn't afraid to show it. His relationship with Regina Burns is at the heart of both books and has made him one of Pearl's most popular characters.

Pearl is married to Zaron W. Burnett, Jr., with whom she frequently collaborates. She has one daughter, Deignan, and two grandchildren, Chloe and Michael.

Virtual Book Tour/Review - Welcome To Paradise - Rosalind James

 

By the bestselling author of the Escape to New Zealand series—

They’re going to party like it’s 1885.

Mira Walker is hoping that competing on a “living history” reality show will give

her what’s missing from her real life. Maybe she’ll get closer to her boyfriend, who

hasn’t been all that nice to her lately. Get fired up about her job again. Who knows,

she might even win a million dollars.

Gabe Kincaid and his brother Alec are after that million too, though. Mira and Scott

are no threat at all, not when everybody involved is going to want to kill Scott after

the first day. And there’s no bond stronger than a twin’s. What could possibly go

wrong?

 

REVIEW

I can't wait for the next book in this series, this was an amazing read and it will definitely not disappoint. I couldn't put this book down and did not want it to end. I was drawn into this story right off the bat and instantly fell in love with all of the characters (except one) Mira's boyfriend, he is awful and I absolutely hated how he treated Mira.

5 Stars

 

Billie Jo

 

Rosalind James is the author of the bestselling “Escape to New Zealand” series.

“Welcome to Paradise” is her first book set in the United States. A former marketing executive,

Rosalind divides her time between California and New Zealand.

Rosalind’s website: http://www.rosalindjames.com

On Facebook: rosalindjamesbooks

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RosalindJames5

 

BUY LINK

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Paradise-The-Kincaids-ebook/dp/B00CBZAI7M/

May Madness: May 22 - When It's Too Late To Tell - J. Evan Johnson

To tell is to perceive. To tell is to inform. When it's Too Late to Tell features four characters, Mark, Craig, Jade and Berta, all holding issues from the past that suffocate every lasting relationship they have. Mark, an elementary school teacher, and his wife Jade, a pharmacy technician, hold deep secrets from each other; secrets that cause a rift in their marriage. Mark's best friend Craig lives his days as a financial planner, struggling with the idea of God, questioning His existence each day. 

Indeed, Craig once believed and held strong to his faith, formerly being a youth minister for a well-known church, but some strenuous events turned his life upside down. If it weren't for a helping hand, his life would have ceased to exist. Berta, Craig's assistant, stands to be the most faithful, although the horrors that happened to her in her past would allow anything but. One part to her past in particular binds her, forcing her to believe that her entire existence boils down to a single man's dying wish. In this mesmeric story of relationships, each of the four must realize what issues truly hold them back and what issues to reveal before it is too late.

J. Evan Johnson is a novelist from the Philadelphia area whose goal in writing is to deliver a message of hope despite those things that make life seem hopeless. His writings cover a range of topics including marriage, the consequences of sin, and the reality of our human condition, all of which are packaged into an entertaining story. When asked about himself, J. Evan Johnson makes only one statement: "I'm just a man trying to use the gifts that were given to me in a manner in which God would be pleased."

May Madness: May 21 - Battlefield of The Mind - Joyce Meyer

Worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger and feelings of condemnation: all these are attacks on the mind. If readers suffer from negative thoughts, they can take heart! Joyce Meyer has helped millions win these all-important battles. In her most popular bestseller ever, the beloved author and minister shows readers how to change their lives by changing their minds. 

She teaches how to deal with thousands of thoughts that people think every day and how to focus the mind the way God thinks. And she shares the trials, tragedies, and ultimate victories from her own marriage, family, and ministry that led her to wondrous, life-transforming truth--and reveals her thoughts and feelings every step of the way.

JOYCE MEYER is one of the world's leading practical Bible teachers. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, she has written more than seventy inspirational books, including The Confident Woman, Look Great, Feel Great, and the entire Battlefield of the Mind family of books. She has also released thousands of audio teachings as well as a complete video library. Joyce's Enjoying Everyday Life® radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences. Joyce and her husband, Dave, are the parents of four grown children and make their home in St. Louis, Missouri.


http://www.joycemeyer.org/

May Madness: May 20 - The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

 

This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom points Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transformation power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

 

The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage. In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time. Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone (to be released in 2009).

 

During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions. Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress & Facebook.

 

He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr, offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution of his work.

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

Blog Hop: Wet & Wild - May 20-25

Book Referees are excited to join another Blog Hop... This time it's The WET & WILD BLOG HOP!!! Book Referees are giving away some prizes too... Make sure you check out the Rafflecopter!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Make sure you check out http://www.skyewarren.com/hop/ for your chance to win the prizes below...

Check out these BLOGS for more opportunities to WIN!!!!