Souls of My Sisters Launch

NEW YORK, March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Steven Zacharius, Chief Executive Officer and President of Kensington Publishing Corp. announced today a joint publishing agreement between Kensington Publishing Corp. and Souls of My Sisters, Inc., which takes its name from the highly successful Essence Bestseller SOULS OF MY SISTERS: Black Women Break Their Silence, Tell
Their Stories, and Heal Their Spirits, written and edited by Dawn Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy.

Souls of My Sisters Books, the imprint launched this month with an update of SOULS OF MY SISTERS and the new SOULS REVEALED: A SOULS OF MY SISTERS BOOK OF REVELATIONS AND TOOLS FOR HEALING YOUR LIFE, SOUL AND SPIRIT with a foreword by Star Jones. Other projects include It Happened In Church: Stories of Humor from the Pulpit to the Pews written by Patti S. Webster.

Souls of My Sisters Books will publish a minimum of four titles per year. Kensington will distribute the books, building upon its base as the country's leading distributor of African American titles.

Connie Briscoe chats with Kimberla Roby

Today: Connie Briscoe Presents Kimberla Lawson Roby

You can check out my review of Roby's Sin No More in the Feb issue of Romantic Times Magazine. Click the link and view it online.

Dee

Christian Fiction News: Anne Rice & Tyler Perry

Anne Rice speaks about her second Christ chronicle, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana (Anne Rice) and her disgust with Dan Brown's Davinci Code.

I think this new book is a very radical book," she said. "The bar of realism is so high, and yet it's so completely orthodox. My faith in the Bible and in Jesus is absolute. I don't rationalize. Everything I write is based on what he does in the Bible and what the Bible tells us about him.

It's a radical accomplishment -- and I don't know whether people will see that -- to combine an accurate history of the period and archaeology and geology and be completely faithful to the Bible and yet write a novel that keeps people turning the pages. I have created an emotional life for him that fits my faith in him as God and man.

Tyler Perry has been spotted in New Orleans this week scouting possible scene locations for his next movie, "The Family that Preys Together." Taraji P. Henderson, Rockmond Dunbar(Prison Break) and Robin Givens are confirmed to the cast. The story's premise is two families come together. After this movie, He will prepare for "Madea Goes to Jail" the movie.

How to Win Vonda Skelton's Treasure Box

Vonda's celebrating the release of her new book, Seeing Through the Lies: Unmasking the Myths Women Believe by hosting a blog basket bonanza!!! There are many sweet treats in this goody pack, but the book is divalicious enough to stand on its own as a gift for your girlfriends' souls.

Why? You can use it to build a summer girlfriend bible study. The book include eleven chapters that could be used as lessons, with the appendix acting as a chapter by chapter question primer. And if you win Vonda's treasure box, you and your girlfriends can share the loot!

What's inside the Treasure Box:

• Designer Gift Box
• One copy of: Seeing Through the Lies, Bitsy and the Mystery at Amelia Island, Bitsy and the Mystery at Tybee Island.
• A stretchy bracelet with Sterling Silver Beads, Gold Swarovski Pearls, Turquoise and Blue Zircon Swarovski Crystals and Sterling Silver Masquerade Mask Charm.
• Bookmark custom-made with Sterling Silver Beads, Gold Swarovski Pearls, Turquoise, Blue Zircon and Clear Swarovski Crystals and Sterling Silver Masquerade Mask Charm on a 4.75 inch Silver Plated Bookmark.
• Gold Tri-fold picture frame.
• Pewter-colored oval picture frame.
• Jeweled decorated cross.
• Peanut caramel clusters.
• Caramel Truffles.
• Mini-Yankee Candle.
• Three-pack sample tea bags.
• Sample Columbian Supremo Coffee.
• Oh My! Itty Bitty Chai Packet.

Wow! That's a lot.

So how do I enter this contest, Dee?

Answer my question below either here, via email or in a separate blog post, but link back to this post, so that I can track you. Once you respond I will add your name to the Christian Fiction Kitty, then send it to Vonda. Check Vonda's blog everyday. Other bloggers on the tour will be blogging about this contest. Leave a comment on their blog and you get another chance to enter. Every time you post, you earn a ticket! On April 4 she will pick a name from her hat to be the winner. Just in time to for your class kickoff. Cool beans!!

And now the question:

What is the biggest myth you believed in that made a mess

Break Agendas to Become a More Authentic Writer

Vivacious author and speaker, Vonda Skelton stops by Christian Fiction Blog to participate in our 1 Question Author Interview series and to invite us to participate in her Gorgeous Spring Goody Bag Sweepstakes. This month's question:

What truth has God taught you that also affected your writing career?

He's teaching me that I need to trust Him more. I recently had so many things going on that I couldn't prepare for three events as thoroughly as I usually do. I found myself feeling vulnerable, weak, and needy. Not that I don't ask for His help every time I speak, but this was different. I was crying out to God, begging Him to fill me with His words, His message. And you know what? Those three events were the most powerful, most amazing events I've ever had! Instead of working from a well-defined plan, I spoke the words God placed in my heart and mind. As always, I had been praying God would use the week's events to change hearts...and He did. He changed mine. I learned to relinquish my agenda and plans to His; to trust Him in a way I hadn't truly trusted Him before. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That week, God's power was made perfect through my weakness. I never want to work in my strength again.

Thanks Vonda. Stay tuned(Subscribe). The next post will explore the book and discuss Vonda's sweepstakes giveaway.

Quills Suspended

Reed Business Information, has announced plans to suspend support of the Quill Awards program.

The first Quills event took place in October 2005 to celebrate the best in book publishing while promoting the cause of literacy in the U.S. Former Variety publisher Gerry Byrne chaired the Quills Literacy Foundation, which was overseen by an Advisory board made up of 40 members of the publishing and media community.

“To help create a program to celebrate the written word was a privilege,” says Byrne. “Thank you to all my colleagues at Reed, NBC and throughout the book publishing world for their support."

FIRST: The Restorer's Journey

It is March FIRST, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book's FIRST chapter! This month's feature is: Sharon Hinck and her book: The Restorers Journey (The Sword of Lyric) (Navpress, February 2008) . You can read Sharon's Blog: Stories for the Hero in All of Us. More about the Sword of Lyric Series: The Restorer and The Restorer’s Son. The FIRST chapter shown here is from the third book, The Restorer's Journey. Enjoy!


It is March FIRST, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book's FIRST chapter! This month's feature is: Sharon Hinck and her book: The Restorers Journey (The Sword of Lyric) (Navpress, February 2008) . You can read Sharon's Blog: Stories for the Hero in All of Us. More about the Sword of Lyric Series: The Restorer and The Restorer’s Son. The FIRST chapter shown here is from the third book, The Restorer's Journey. Enjoy!

Chapter One - JAKE

My mom was freaking out.
She stared out the dining room window as if major-league monsters were hiding in the darkness beyond the glass. Give me a break. Our neighborhood was as boring as they came. Ridgeview Drive’s square lawns and generic houses held
nothing more menacing than basketball hoops and tire swings. Still, Mom’s backwas tight, and in the shadowed reflection on the pane, I could see her bitingher lip. I didn’t know what to say to make her feel better.

My parents gathered up the pizza stuff and carried it to the kitchen, out of
sight, but not out of earshot.

“If we hide the portal stones Cameron and Medea won’t be able to go back,” Dad
said over the crinkling of a sheet of aluminum foil.

Someone slammed the fridge door shut hard enough to make the salad dressing
bottles rattle. “We don’t want them running around our world. They don’t belong
here.” Mom sounded tense.

“I know. We have to send them back. But on our terms. Without anything that
would hurt the People of the Verses. And what about Jake?”

Silence crackled, and I leaned forward from my spot on the couch.

When Mom refused to answer, Dad spoke again, so quiet I almost couldn’t hear.
“We need to keep the portal available in case he’s needed there. But how will
we know?”

Needed there? Did he really think . . .?

I waited for them to head back to their bedroom, then slipped down the steps
from the kitchen to the basement. Most of the basement was still unfinished –
except for my corner bedroom and Dad’s workbench.

I hurried into my room and shut out the world behind me. Tonight everything
looked different. The movie posters, the bookshelves, the soccer team trophy.
Smaller, foreign, unfamiliar.

I pulled a thumbtack from my bulletin board and scratched it across my thumb. A
line of blood appeared, but in a microsecond the tiny scrape healed completely.
I had assumed the healing power was some heebie-jeebie thing that Medea had
given me, or that had transferred over from my interactions with Kieran.

But now that my head had stopped throbbing, I could put the pieces together.
Excitement stronger than caffeine zipped around my nerve endings. My folks
thought this was more than a weird effect left over from my travels through the
portal. They thought I might be the next RestorerTo read the full excerpt visit here