Sacrilege or Fun PR?

Simon & Schuster announced today that they have acquired God’s 2011 untitled memoir.

It was announced today that they acquired the rights to a new memoir by God – Supreme Being, wellspring of existence, quintessence of glory, and source of everlasting life – have been acquired by Simon & Schuster.

“We are pleased and honored to add the Lord Almighty to our list of notable authors,”
said Executive Vice President and Publisher Jonathan Karp.

The as-yet-untitled testament which Karp says he plans to publish in late 2011—in time
for the busy pre-Armageddon retail season—will be semi-autobiographical in nature.
Senior editor Sarah Knight says this time around God “very much wants His words to be
clearly understood, as opposed to ‘interpreted,’ which has gotten people into trouble in
the past. To that end He will be abandoning his familiar ‘thee and thou’ format for a
folksier, ‘thee and you’ approach that I and everyone in marketing believe will highlight
his omniscience without making him seem like a know-it-all.”

Read the entire press release here

I won’t share my opinion here, instead I want to know your thoughts. Is this just good humor or borderline sacrilege?

Related articles

• Simon And Schuster Announces 'Book Deal With God' (huffingtonpost.com)
• INSPY Awards Short List (deegospelpr.com)

What Kind of Books Do You Want to Read from African American Authors?

Grand Central Publishing wants to hear from it’s African American customers.

The  Grand Central Publishing survey is designed to assist in future acquisition and marketing decisions and how to best connect with readers and buyers of books by and about African Americans.

I think this is a great idea and another good use of using social media to connect with your ideal clients. The online survey went viral this week. It’s been passed around via email, Facebook and Twitter.

If you would like to participate, and encourage you to do, so, the Survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Click here to participate.

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Booklist Top 10 of 2010

This week Booklist Announced its Top 10 of 2010 Inspirational Fiction. In gist they are below:

1. The Bishop. By Steven James. 2010. Revell,

Deceit. By Brandilyn Collins. 2010. Zondervan,

Fatal Convictions. By Randy Singer. 2010. Tyndale

Her Mother’s Hope. By Francine Rivers. 2010. Tyndale,

A Hope Undaunted. By Julie Lessman. 2010. Revell.

I Shall Not Want: The Psalm 23 Mysteries. By Debbie Viguie. 2010. Abingdon.

Maid to Match. By Deeanne Gist. 2010.

A Memory between Us. By Sarah Sundin. 2010. Revell,

More Church Folk. By Michele Andrea Bowen. 2010. Grand Central.

The Voyage of Promise. By Kay Marshall Strom. 2010. Abingdon,

Click here to read more about these books.

Christian Fiction Blog will share it’s Top Ten 2010 in time for Thanksgiving.  We are also accepting nominations for Fan Favorite and Book Club Favorites for 2010. Leave your nominations here or on our Facebook Fan Page.

Lori Tharps Natural Hair Care/Substitute Me Twitter PJ Party blacklitchat

We are pleased to announce that this Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 9pm EST Substitute Me author, Lori L. Tharps will be our guest for #blacklitchat Tweet Chat on Twitter!!!!!!!!!!

So grab your book, grab your PJs, grab your galpals and lets have an online book chat with her.  Also if you have questions about natural hair care, have them ready so she can answer.

Umm…who is Lori. L. Tharps?

Lori L. Tharps is an assistant professor of journalism at Temple University, an author, freelance journalist and mom. She was a staff reporter at Vibe magazine and then a correspondent for Entertainment Weekly. She has written for Ms., Savoy, Suede, Bitch, Odyssey Couleur and Essence magazines.  She’s the author of  two non-fiction books: Hair Story coauthored with Ayana Byrd, Kinky Gizpacho and her debut novel Substitute Me.
I’ve heard about Substitute Me, but don’t know what it’s about?

Substitute Me reads like ” a modern-day horror story… that will haunt you for days.”
Essence Magazine, August 2010

Where is the source of our identities? Our upbringing, occupation, partners? Kate, a driven public-relations exec and mom coming off maternity leave, tells Zora, while interviewing her for a nanny post, that she wants to hire a “substitute me.” Zora, an upper-middle-class African American, wants the job but worries about betraying the dreams of the women who came before her by becoming a domestic. She then finds her passion in cooking, and practices to become a personal chef by feeding the family as part of her duties. Brad, Kate’s egalitarian banker husband, feels uncomfortable making so much money in the pre-meltdown days. Kate misses her son but throws herself wholeheartedly into her work, putting in exceptionally long days. Brad accepts all these household changes, and finds himself spending more time with Zora than Kate. Friends, lovers, co-workers, and family—all armed with opinions and attitudes—play key roles in Tharps’ lively modern domestic drama about why we are who we are. . --Danise Hoover, BookList

"Lori Tharps's warm and engaging novel about the struggles of juggling marriage, motherhood and a meaningful career focuses on a story we're each living, but also exposes the secrets we won't tell. An enjoyable read."
-- Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

Book clubs: Substitute Me will give you so much to talk, laugh and argue about, you might want to schedule two meetings to discuss it. Days after finishing it, I'm still debating who the villain is. Lori Tharps has written a timely, engaging page-turner that every working mom in America should read!"
-- Carleen Brice, author of Children of the Waters
A fresh, fun, view of "the help" from a writer to watch.
-- Benilde Little, author of Good Hair

After you’re read the book, I’ll add your praise here. (wink, nod)

What is BlackLit Chat?

It's a stream of tweets about books by Black[including Pan-African, African-American, Brit, Caribbean, Canadian Black, etc.] authors in real time during a specified time. Our time  for this chat is Sunday, November 21, 2010 from 9 PM EST.

More about #BlackLitChat is here at my co-host Bernadette Davis’ Black Books Blog. 

 How does it Work? 3 Easy Steps

1. 1. Get a Twitter account, or login, or remember your Twitter Password.
2. 2. Join the chat by clicking this link. http://twebevent.com/blacklitchat
3. 3. Now login with your Twitter Password.

Related articles

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• #BlackLitChat Twitter Book Chat Stats for 32 Candles (deegospelpr.com)
• Five Young Black Writers You Should Be Reading Now (theroot.com)

Desk Makeover Contest

Give your desk a facelift
—transform your desk and your relationships!

• An autographed copy of
  A Woman and Her Workplace
• Hard cover journal
• 40 piece stationary set
• Handbag styled refillable note dispenser
• Photo frame
• Stainless steel travel mug
• Mini stapler, pen, pencil and highlighter

So what’s this A Woman and Her Workplace: Building Healthy Relationships from 9 to 5  book about?

BOOK SUMMARY:
For most people, the workplace is their home-away-from-home. We spend most of our waking hours with coworkers and employers. No blood relation, but yet we must build healthy relationships with them if we hope to excel at our work and enjoy our careers. Just like families, our work families are disturbed by dysfunctional issues. Interactions at work are often anything but ideal, let alone godly.
We find someone to vent about the grumpy boss, that arrogant team member, the lazy coworker who gets by doing nothing, and the undermining woman who makes our lives miserable. Yes, it’s easy to blame them for our workplace woes—but it’s better to look inward at what we have control to change.
A Woman and Her Workplace shows how God can perform a deep heart transformation within us so His love flows through us to the people in our workplaces. By delving into the issues that wreak havoc on our workplace relationships, author Rosemary Flaaten provides readers the help they need to develop and apply strong biblical principles of humility, integrity, forgiveness, grace, and celebration in the workplace.
Through discussing relationships such as boss to staff, woman to man, woman to woman, and teamwork, Rosemary guides women to develop healthy interactions in their workplaces. It makes sense to invest some effort into the relationships where we spend the lion’s share of our waking hours. This book isn’t just for women, though. Men find the book gives them insight into how to make the best of their working relationships with the opposite sex in their offices.


ROSEMARY FLAATEN’S successful book, A Woman and Her Relationshipshelps women process their outside-of-work relationships, so now she’s delving into these 9-5 relationships. She writes from a fully equipped life-experience toolkit. In it we find her varied work experience, a counseling and educational background, and a deep love for God as well as a passion to help others. Her Relationshipsbook won The Word Guild Award, which is Canada's top Christian literary honor. A dynamic speaker—Rosemary challenges women of all professions to view their work as a calling and their workplaces as opportunities to live out Christ’s love. Rosemary lives with her husband and three children in Calgary, Canada.
Now how do I win that facelift?
Leave a comment about Workplace Gossip and how you handled it.

Veteran’s Day Christian Book Feature

Happy Veteran’s Day!

For those of you like me, who like to read stories befitting of the day, I recommend Sarah Sundin’s A Memory Between Us.

About the Book: Major Jack Novak has never failed to meet a challenge--until he meets army nurse Lieutenant Ruth Doherty. When Jack lands in the army hospital after a plane crash, he makes winning Ruth's heart a top-priority mission. But he has his work cut out for him. Not only is Ruth focused on her work in order to support her orphaned siblings back home, she also is determined not to give her heart to any man.

As the danger and tension of World War II rise to a fever pitch, Jack and Ruth will need each other more than ever. Can Jack break down her defenses? Or are they destined to go their separate ways?

From the English countryside to the perilous skies over France, A Memory Between Us takes you on a journey through love, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

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misChristian Fiction interview with NYT Bestseller Cindy Woodsmall Part II

Fall Hard for Amish Lit

An interview with Cindy Woodsmall

Part II

Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author whose connection with the Amish community has been featured on ABC Nightlineand on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. This fall she sat down with Christian Fiction Online Magazine to share about her new novel series and some truths about Amish culture in Christian fiction. Following is part two of a two-part series. This month she shares writing wisdom and novel-building techniques. I encourage you to save this and refer to it often. Click here to read on.