The Divining Wand

According to the PBS Book Review: “Alibi Junior High”,
Greg Logsted has a winner.

Carleen Brice (Children of the Waters) will host a
discussion about faith and mysticism in fiction on Litchat (via Twitter). Please join in this Friday, July 17th between 4 – 5 p.m. EDT.

Masha Hamilton’s 31 Hours, a deeply human thriller, is now slated to be published on September 8, 2009. The author has a most thoughtful Contest to win a copy of the book. The deadline: September 30, 2009…giving you more than 31 hours.

Therese Walsh and her debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, now have a film agent, Sarah Self with Gersh Agency.

And the book continues to receive the most beautiful reviews:

“A hauntingly beautiful story about grief, the language of twins, and the healing power of a bond that is stronger than death. The characters of Moira and Maeve will linger long after you finish this amazing first novel.”__Brunonia Barry , New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Lace Reader

“The Last Will of Moira Leahy is haunting, exotic and romantic—the way Gothic tales are romantic, wrapped in luscious, dark atmosphere. It’s a magical debut and I can’t wait for more from Therese Walsh. She’s one to watch.”__Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells

And debut novelist Lara Zielin’s Donut Days will be released on August 6, 2009. To celebrate, the about-to-be author is running a contest every week until publication date. For details of ths week’s contest, please visit Lara’s Blog.

Remember, what’s good news for authors is almost always better for their readers!

[Note: I was unable to preview this post and double check the links. Apologies if any are "broken," but my 7 1/2 year old PC is gasping for breath at the moment. That's why The Divining Wand will only feature two posts this week as I will be offline becoming an imac owner! Hope to see you all back here next Monday.]

Debut novelist Lynne Griffin (Life Without Summer) is thrilled to announce that her next novel, SEA ESCAPE, will be published next summer by Simon & Schuster. Lynne claims that SEA ESCAPE, about a mother trapped in a silent world following a stroke, and her daughter, who becomes desperate to unravel their tangled family history before it’s too late, is a novel she was born to write.

Also this author is visiting book clubs and loving it! Please email her to arrange a visit — by phone or in person — to yours. Contact Lynne: pr@lynnegriffin.com

Rather than having a life without summer, it sounds as though this writer is experiencing a most wonderful summer!

Kristy Kiernan’s third novel, Between Friends, due out on April 6, 2010, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! It has yet to be posted on IndieBound or Barnes & Noble, but once it’s up on Amazon, those are never far behind. If you’re all about covers, here is the “official” art work.

Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon was reviewed in The New York Times Sunday Book Review on July 5th. Of course you read about this suspense novel here on its debut day!

Katie Alender is holding a contest at her website. Enter to win a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die and “some other fun stuff!” The contest ends this Friday, July 10th.

And Carleen Brice with Children of the Waters is featured on Author Buzz this week. She’s also announced a Contest that will giveaway 5 FREE Copies of the novel. Enter by July 31st!

Since The Divining Wand’s launch two weeks ago, have you followed your favorite author(s) beyond their pages? Just click on the appropriate Authors page and you’ll find several ways to discover what’s going on in a writer’s life. For example:

This past Wednesday Jess Riley, who took us on an unforgettable road trip in Driving Sideways leaves for Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island this Friday and is thrilled because it’s, “A family reunion of sorts — I’ll be meeting aunts, uncles, and cousins I’ve never met (but have corresponded with). So excited! I’m sure it will be a gold mine of material.

“Also, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to see Deb Eileen (Cook)) while I’m out there.”

On Thursday Allison Winn Scotch admitted that silence can be golden in her post, Are You Too Connected?

Carleen Brice paid a meaningful and musical tribute to “The King of Pop” with Black or white on Friday.

Then — over the weekend — Therese Fowler opened the doors to her new home/Website. Be sure to drop by, look around and say “hello.” You’re likely to find Therese on her front porch, enjoying the summer beyond her pages.

Last spring, Carleen Brice’s debut novel, Orange Mint & Honey (which was optioned by the Lifetime Movie Network) instantly became a #1 Denver Post best-seller and Essence Magazine Recommended Read. Yet there was more. Later in 2008, this writer won the Breakout Author of the Year Award from the African American Literary Awards Show and in 2009 she received the First Novel Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Carleen is also a finalist for the 2009 Colorado Book Award in literary fiction. And, with such wonderful recognition for Orange Mint & Honey, one might wonder what this author will do for an encore? That answer can be found within the pages of Children of the Waters to be released tomorrow, June 23, 2009.

A visit to the writer’s Home page offers a quick glimpse of the book with this early praise:

“I was exhausted and singing the blues the hour I began Carleen Brice’s new novel, Children of the Waters. Five hours later, I’d finished this fresh, free-rein novel about mothers’ secrets and children’s sorrows and was shouting ‘Hurray!’”__ Jacquelyn Mitchard author, The Deep End of the Ocean

“In Children of the Waters, Carleen Brice manages to explore the difficult, messy and unpleasant details of life with both humor and wisdom. The parallel journeys of sisters, Trish and Billie, will resonate with everyone and anyone who has questioned their identity and place in this world. Once again, Carleen Brice has crafted a thoroughly enjoyable novel that gets at the heart of the human experience.”__ Lori Tharps, author of Kinky Gazpacho

“In Children of the Waters, Carleen Brice highlights the effects of America’s complicated relationship with race and identity on three generations of two families in a clear and insightful depiction of what it means to be American at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Brice knows how far we have come and how far there is left to go, and in Children of the Waters she deflty lays it all out for the reader to see.”__ Matthew Aaron Goodman, author of Hold Love Strong

“In Children of the Waters, Carleen Brice deftly explores issues of family, identity, and race with a wonderful abundance of humor, forgiveness, and grace. This moving story of two sisters separated by prejudice will open minds and touch hearts.”__ Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Wednesday Sisters

Carleen’s focus is once again on family and she has an interesting backstory to Children of the Waters (actually her first novel but after 100 pages, she got stumped and put it away):

“The center of this novel is loosely based on a true story — one of my sisters-in-law is biracial and was given up for adoption while her birth sister, who is white, was kept by the family. When my sister-in-law told me about being found by her birth sister, I thought it was an amazing story. But I changed some things, of course, to make the story it’s own.”

And that backstory evolved into this Synopsis:

The author of the #1 Denver Post bestseller and Essence Book Club Pick Orange Mint and Honey explores the connection between love and race, and what it really means to be a family

Trish Taylor’s white ancestry never got in the way of her love for her black ex-husband, or their mixed race son, Will. But when Trish’s marriage ends, she returns to her family’s Denver, Colorado home to find a sense of identity and connect to her past.

What she finds there shocks her to the very core: her mother and newborn sister were not killed in a car crash as she was told. In fact, her baby sister, Billie Cousins, is now a grown woman; her grandparents had put her up for adoption, unwilling to raise the child of a black man. Billie, who had no idea she was adopted, wants nothing to do with Trish until a tragedy in Billie’s own family forces her to lean on her surprisingly supportive and sympathetic sister. Together they unravel age-old layers of secrets and resentments and navigate a path toward love, healing, and true reconciliation.

If you have yet to read Orange Mint & Honey, please see the presentation post, A Meme of Orange Mint & Honey, to better understand what a smart, refreshing and realistic storyteller Carleen Brice truly is. In fact she’s also provided parts of Children of the Waters first three chapters in this Excerpt

Even in those early pages, do you hear the author’s strong voice on the importance of family and the values of family and friendship and belonging? Carleen admits that family has always been the core of her life — thanks to her grandparents — and she’s passing the message on to her readers. However it’s possible that this writer is offering something more priceless. Last August 7, 2008, Carleen posted Am I the Obama of Fiction? by initially noting:

“I’ve always been confused about what a writing voice is. Until now. Lori Tharp (Kinky Gazpacho) posted a kind review of Orange Mint and Honey, and is one of the umpteen people who’ve noted that my characters could have been any race. I’ve heard very often that the story is “‘universal.’”

“At first, I was perplexed by these type of responses. Why was it worth noting that a book with black characters was universal? Wasn’t that a given? Then, I was a little angry and I wondered if racism didn’t play a part. But then black readers started to tell me the same thing. So I went back to perplexed. I still don’t know why this should be deemed so unusual. Do you think it is?

“This is my world view. This is my life. There are all different kinds of people in it and while I definitely acknowledge and honor differences between my African American, Latino, & white family members and friends, mostly we’re pretty much alike. Finally, coming from Flyover Country pays off! Because that is how my voice was formed. In Omaha, I lived on the same block with and went to school with white, Native American, Hispanic, Asian and black kids. My family has every kind of color in it.”

And this is how Carleen Brice, through her universal voice, has told a tale of living in today’s America — entitled Children of the Waters. TRUST: You will be entertained and enlightened, enjoying every moment spent in the company of her storytelling!

[Note: This novel can also be purchased online at: Borders, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound.

And for more of Carleen, beyond her pages, visit The Pajama Gardener and White Readers Meet Black Authors.]

Several weeks ago — at the start of the debut author presentations on Seize a Daisy — Lisa Kenney tagged me with a book-related meme. The rules were few and simple, while the actual purpose (I think) was much more compelling:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)

I purposely cheated by waiting to give Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice, aka The Pajama Gardener, its own spotlight. True, some of you have already read this novel, blogged about it and/or have the lovely garden cover book waiting on your TBR pile. Then there are those who will discover Orange Mint and Honey right here and now as I move on with this meme:

Find Page 123. Find the first 5 sentences.

Done.

Post the next 3 sentences.

“I …I…didn’t mean to hear…You…” I sputtered. “You keep…I’ll go.”

“What in the world is wrong with you?” Nona asked, dropping the distant tone she had been using with me since our fight.

The above sentences are likely to be read as an obviously awkward exchange between two people — in this case, a mother and daughter — in a less than perfect relationship.

And so ends the rather curious meme. Or is it just a me?

Since I’ve already cheated, let me tell you more, beginning with Carleen Brice — an already praised and established writer of non-fiction. Here’s how she describes herself in her blog’s About Me: “While wearing pajamas, I created a water-wise garden and wrote my first novel. ORANGE MINT AND HONEY (One World/Ballantine) is available in original trade paperback. My non-fiction books are: Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number (Beacon Press in the US/Souvenir Press in the UK), Lead Me Home (Avon/HarperCollins) and Walk Tall (iUniverse).”

And this is Carleen’s synopsis of Orange Mint and Honey:

“What would Nina Simone do? That’s the question 25-year-old Shay Dixon asks of her de facto spiritual adviser, the late great High Priestess of Soul, when she finds herself depressed, evicted from her apartment, and about to flunk out of grad school.

The answer – move back home to live with her recovering alcoholic mother Nona – leads Shay back to Denver where she is shocked to discover a new Nona, sober, healthy, raising a 3-year-old, and growing a lush, healing garden.

Though reconciliation seems a hard proposition for Shay, something unmistakable takes root inside her, waiting to blossom like the flowers in Nona’s garden.

Soon Shay finds herself facing her first real romantic relationship and exciting possibilities. But when a crisis hits, even the wise words and soulful melodies of Nina Simone may not be enough for solace. Shay begins to realize that, like orange mint and honey, life tastes better when bitter is followed by sweet.”

Would you like to learn the backstory of these totally genuine characters? If so, please visit Carleen’s Bio where you’ll find an extensive and fascinating Q&A Interview which explains their creation as well as the author’s feeling that she needed maturity to relate to the mother, Nona, and successfully write the entire story.

Timing is everything and this author’s patient waiting proved well worth it, as noted by this review from Publishers Weekly:

“In Brice’s accomplished debut, African-American Shay Dixon, a burnt-out grad student, has a visitation/fantasy/fever dream featuring Nina Simone, the high priestess of soul, who counsels Shay to go home. To do that, she must face Nona, the drunken failure of a mother she’s not spoken to in seven years and blames for a harrowing childhood that left her emotionally scarred. Still, she takes Nina’s advice, heads home to Denver and discovers that Nona’s now an A.A. member with a good job, a lovely home and an adorable three-year-old girl, Sunny, Shay’s half-sister. Their reconciliation is complicated by Shay’s stubborn anger, Nona’s A.A. sponsorship of a troubled young woman and Shay’s sexual awakening. Brice’s straightforward prose is dead-on in describing the challenges Shay and her mother face as they reconnect.”

Of course there are many more terrific reviews and honors for Orange Mint and Honey, including:

~ Target’s selection as a Bookmarked Break Out Book for February
~ One of The Black Expressions Book Club picks
~ An Essence magazine Book Club selection — in fact, read their article/review

Better yet, you can also read the first two chapters of the novel in A taste of Orange Mint and Honey

Carleen Brice has written a smart, honest and humorous story about the serious — and often life-burdening — consequences that alcohol addiction causes for everyone involved. Because when bittersweet memories are put in perspective, there is hope. And what you plant in your garden of life will bloom within you.

What a great reminder, what a wonderful book. No wonder Orange Mint and Honey is #1 on the Denver Post paperback best sellers list! Congratulations to Carleen!!!