Friday, March 22, 2019

Why Dragons? Why Now?

Eshe is the first to awaken in my new series, “The Fire Breathing Series”. 
Black dragon.
Black woman.

So, yeah. I thought it a magical combination, and immediately fell in love with the concept. 
Having written professionally for nearly twenty years, with as many books in print, the change from writing women’s fiction, romantic suspense, came when I found out that I wouldn’t be getting a new publishing contract. I’d been with a major, traditional publisher for about sixteen years. I worked for seven years before that to realize my dream of signing with an agent and then with a New York City publisher. It was a very long and arduous journey. But well worth it.

My persistence paid off. I’d won, succeeded. And so, the thought of losing a contract and that relationship with my publisher was terrifying. When it happened, the first thought that occurred to me was that I’d failed. I was obviously a lousy writer, and had used up ever creative cell in my body. What choice did I have but to retire? And so, I did, for all of about thirty-seconds.

The realization that I had nothing else left to lose, because I’d lost the one thing I’d feared losing most of all in my career (my contract) liberated me creatively in ways I’d never imagined. All of a sudden, I realized that I was free to explore absolutely any and every idea, concept I could possibly imagine, when and how I chose. I’d somehow managed to put a noose around my own neck as a traditionally published author. Convincing myself that I was limited to writing a certain kind of way or in a particular genre.
I’d been so obsessed with making sales, not saying or doing the wrong thing to jeopardize my career, which wasn’t nearly as highly visible as I’d thought, that I stifled my ideas, and shut them down without even giving them a chance. 

Writing and publishing Eshe, is me rising from the ashes. She’s me, and any other woman who believed she was done, awakening, getting her second wind, shaking off the dust, and moving on to the next phase of life. She’s all of us, who believed we were finished, when in reality, all we really needed to do was to catch our breath so that we could release our fire.

Am I completely finished writing contemporary women’s fiction or romantic suspense? Absolutely not. The problem now is having more stories in my head than I have time to write. But, I’ll figure out how to navigate these waters, eventually. In the meantime, I’m in love with dragons.

Next on tap is Demir: The Forged in Fire Series, Book 1. I’m greedy, so in addition to wanting some lady dragons, I decided to make room for some men dragons too. 




Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Finding Amos




Three national bestselling authors join talents in a multi-dimensional novel that illustrates the importance of love, family, and forgiveness.


After a lifetime of womanizing, making babies, and then disappearing and taking no responsibility for his actions, Amos Davis has finally reached an impasse—literally crashing his car down a one-way street. It may be the only road to redemption for the aging musician, now afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, for it has brought together the three daughters he abandoned. But when it comes to their deadbeat dad, their hearts may already be sealed…

Cass, the child of Amos’s mistress, has had enough heartache, from losing her mother to the tragic end of her marriage. Amos was never there for her—why should this talented cake maker be sweet to him now?

Toya, always the “other woman” in her affairs with married men, was deeply scarred by Amos’s public denial of her existence years ago. Will seeing him again send her further down a troubled path?

A gifted writer, Tomiko channels her pain into her stories of the father she never knew. In her imagined world, she is safe—but will she ever risk her heart on real love?


A powerful interplay of memory and reality, this emotionally taut novel weaves the voices of three authors to deliver an unforgettable tale of one man’s struggle to make peace with his failures, his family and the destinies of those who must forgive to move forward with their own lives and dreams.


About the Authors

J. D. Mason is the national bestselling and award-winning author whose many novels include Drop Dead, Gorgeous; That Devil’s No Friend of Mine; You Gotta Sin to Get Saved; This Fire Down in My Soul; Don’t Want No Sugar; And On the Eighth Day She Rested, and One Day I Saw a Black King. Her short fiction appears in anthologies including Zane’s Blackgentlemen.com and the story collection Have a Little Faith. She lives in Denver with her children.

ReShonda Tate Billingsley’s #1 national bestselling novels include Let the Church Say Amen, I Know I’ve Been Changed, and Say Amen, Again, winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Her collaboration with Victoria Christopher Murray has produced three hit novels, Sinners & Saints, Friends & Foes, and Fortune & Fame. Visit ReShondaTateBillingsley.com, meet the author on Facebook at ReShondaTateBillingsley, or follow her on Twitter @Reshondat.

Bernice L. McFadden’s national bestselling debut novel, Sugar, won the 2010 Honor Award in Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Her many novels that followed include Nowhere is a Place, The Warmest December, and Gathering of Waters, chosen as one of the Best Books of 2012 by The New York Times and The Washington Post. She lives in Brooklyn, where she was born and raised. Visit BerniceMcFadden.com.

The only thing hotter than Texas is the romance in J. D. Mason's brand-new e-series!

 Hart Breaker: A Blink, Texas Story

Available January 5, 2016

Farrah Hart has made her escape. Running from a violent ex, she finds her way home to Blink, TX. With nothing but the clothes on her back, Farrah hopes to lay low at her abandoned childhood home until she can get back on her feet. But when an eviction notice comes in the most dangerously handsome of packages, Farrah might just need someone to lean on after all...Jackson Burris can't believe Farrah is in his house. The last thing he ever expected to see was the gorgeous girl all the Texas boys-including him-crushed on years ago, standing in the doorway. But she needs a place to stay that isn't a run-down house, and his place is much cozier, much hotter. But as the nights grow darker with passion, demons from both their pasts close in, and Farrah and Jackson have to give in to love, in order to not break apart.

Purchase your copy today!


Stone Cole: A Blink, Texas Story

Available February 2, 2016

The hotter-than-Texas e-serial continues!
Ellis Brewer is a free man and is, surprisingly, the darling in the international art world. After seven long years in prison, he found refuge in his paintings and in the old farm house his late grandfather left to him in his will. No longer the hot-headed trouble maker he'd once was, Ellis is a loner and prefers to keep it that way. But when an old friend calls in a favor and asks Ellis to agree to an interview with a beautiful freelance reporter, Ellis throws caution to the wind and finds a love he never felt he deserved.  Christina Cole prides herself on her insightful and thorough reporting skills. When she gets an opportunity to interview the recluse and rising star Ellis Brewer-devastatingly good-looking and charming down to every last one of his ex-con fingertips-she soon realizes that she's getting way more than she bargained for. Cristina came to Blink, Texas with every intention of uncovering all of his demons, but it's not long before Ellis turns the tables, and begins to unravel her deepest, darkest secrets, exposing the most vulnerable part of her heart and proving to him that she needs him, body and soul.

Purchase your copy today!
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Booksamillion


Stormy Knight: A Blink, Texas Story

Available March 1, 2016

J. D. Mason's Hot Blink, Texas series reached the boiling point...

Omar Reid is about to make the biggest leap in his career. As the City Planner for the town of Blink, Texas, he is spearheading the building of a megastore in place of an old strip mall will have the cash flowing like water downhill. There's just one problem-Lola Knight won't have it. A fiery woman with big dreams, she's worked hard to own her own business and pursue her dreams, and without her piece of the property, the megastore goes nowhere. As their heated arguments lead to steamy encounters, Omar and Lola both know that, despite being opposites, their attraction is off the charts. But some key players aren't willing to to see the deal fall apart, and will stop at nothing to keep the wheels in motion, leaving Omar and Lola to fight for what's right and fight for each other.


Purchase your copy today!
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Booksamillion


Thursday, February 5, 2015

H-Town - Black Girl Power!

A part of me is wondering if Hollywood just doesn’t notice what’s happening out there in T.V. Land.  And then another part of me can’t help but to wonder if maybe they do, and they’re doing it on purpose.

It’s raining black women all over television!  Do we mention this?  Or should we just keep our mouths shut and hope that the powers that be in tinsel town keep moving ahead, business as usual, and continue showing this powerful new presence on our televisions? 





Shonda Rhimes’ name has become synonymous with the words “Mega” and “Hit” on television.  From Gray’s Anatomy, which has been on for freaking ever, to the explosive Scandal, and now that crazy, over the top, demented but fascinating How to Get Away with Murder, she’s got the Midas touch in Hollywood and shows no signs of stopping soon.  


And somewhere in the midst of all of that, H-town snuck in a few more precious gems, like Sleepy Hollow featuring a cute-as-a-button, but fierce Nicole Beharie in the role of Abbie Mills, fighting the supernatural along side that hunky Tom Mison’s Ichabod Crane character.  Remember her from the Lifetime movie, Sins of the Mother (based on the bestselling novel Orange, Mint & Honey by my good friend Carleen Brice?).  

One of my favorite new characters though, is surprising, even to me, and Jada Pinkett-Smith plays   If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Jada in action as Fish, let me just say that she takes the words “bad” and “ass” to a whole new level, and since I’ve got a soft spot in me for bad guys (or in this case…girls), I find Fish Mooney hella-inspirational.
that character to the hilt—Fish Mooney on Gotham.




And finally (or maybe not) we have Taraji P. Henson, starring as the very formidable and determined, Cookie in the Lee Daniel’s new series, Empire.  I mean…  What?  This woman gets out of prison and comes back with a vengeance to take back what belongs to her, and I for one, couldn’t be happier. 


So, in a nutshell, we have a super-heavy-weight-lawyer running her own Washington, D.C. crisis firm, having all kinds of romantic trysts and affairs, and this season, is faced with her own crisis of saving her own life from some lunatic; that’s the first thing.


Next, we have the classically beautiful and dynamic Viola Davis, showing up as one of the scariest defense attorneys to ever exist, all wrapped up in the delicious messiness of her own life, while manipulating every one else’s and doing it quite well, I might add. 



We’ve got a ghost hunter in Nicole, a gangster in Jada, and a ex-felon, music mogul in Taraji!


Excuse me while I go and turn another flip.

Why Dragons? Why Now?

Eshe is the first to awaken in my new series, “The Fire Breathing Series”.   Black dragon. Black woman. So, yeah. I thought it...