Latest / DA CREW Podcast / scbookgal & friends podcast live every tuesday 8pm est hosted by patrice grimball

Transcript

scbookgal & friends podcast live every tuesday 8pm est hosted by patrice grimball · DA CREW Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You're tuned in.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: To The Crew, podcast and media network where voices rise,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: stories shine.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: And purpose meets the world. Welcome to the crew. Come
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: on in. This is where it starts. We are the change.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: We are the change.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Right here in our hearts.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Welcome home, welcome through. There's a place for you. The
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: crew around the world.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Lifting every voice too.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: We make space for the voiceless. Hope for the undeserved.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Real talk, real stories. Every voice deserves to be heard.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Streaming live, we on the move. Facebook, Twitch, kick YouTube.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: From the mic to the nations, we build transformation.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Change begins with us. Faith, purpose, power, trust. Seen around
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the world tonight. That crew shining bright. This is where
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: it starts. We are the change.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: We are the change.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Right here in our hearts.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Welcome home, welcome through.
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: There's a.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Down in south carolina where the stories rise there's a
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: queen with a mission fire in her eyes 20 years
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  Speaker 2: and counting serving wisdom on the shelves helping voices find
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the courage to believe in themselves she opens up the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: pages lest the hidden stories shine black and brown author
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: stepping boldly into time with a mic and a message
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: she's changing the scene everybody knows her name she's a
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: literary queen from the library shelves to the podcast stream
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: you lift every offer you wake up a dream tuesday.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: Night at eight and the room leans.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: In patrice grimball let it all begin.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Your legacy from the page to the air you said it's.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Free Hey everyone!
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: This is your girl SCBookGal843 and it is another Tuesday night.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So of course I'm going to bring you a new
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: book and a new author, okay? But, like I always ask,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: how are you? Okay, okay. Me, I'm good. I am
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: feeling blessed. I am getting ready for Next week, when
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: me and two of my co-workers who put on an
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: event here in Charleston that was very successful, thanks to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: you guys, Brown Sugar Black Romance Literary Festival coming again
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: next year. Me and Maya and Shekinah will be presenting
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: at SCLA, which is terrifying, but I'll get over it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: And guess what has started, everybody? Early voting. Yeah. Let's
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: do what we need to do. Let's turn South Carolina blue.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: We have a great chance of making it happen. Okay?
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Y'all might see me. Not might. I think I'm going
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: to do it this Friday. No, I really don't have
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: anything to do Friday, but do another author interview, which
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I'll be bringing to you guys. If you are in Charleston,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: South Carolina, there are a couple of early voting spots.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Some of them are libraries. Some of them are churches.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I know the main one is on Corporate Road, which
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: is up here in North Charleston off of Bridgeview. If
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: you know where the jailhouse is, go in the opposite direction.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Okay?
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: From 830 to 6, make sure you have proper ID.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Not expired. Make sure you guys go to the pool. Because,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: you know what? You got to make it do what
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: it do. Alrighty? Okay. So, we've splinted the block, everybody. Okay? So,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: me and this author were supposed to hook up two
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: weeks ago. I know y'all saw that real short show
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: that I did. Like 18 minutes. But, you know, it
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: was a time zone difference. And that was on both
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of our faults. But you know what? I had to
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: bring her back. So we are going to bring up
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: author Leah Thomas. Come on up, girlie. Come on up.
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: Hello, hello.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: What's up, Deva?
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: What's up? I'm so happy to finally be here on time.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Yes, you guys. It was just a time zone difference. Yeah.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: The thing about it is I could tell she was
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: dedicated because who would go on social media and be like,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. I'm like, no, she didn't do that.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: But look at it. It was two weeks later and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: now you're back. And we can talk about this book.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: But before we talk about the book, you got to
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: All right. All right. Well, I am a full-time mother, I.
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: Work full-time, and I go to school full-time, and I'm
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: a full-time author as well.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Hold up.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Hold up.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question. How old is your... No,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I want to guess. I want to guess. A girl.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: Oh, boy. Girl, you good, man.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You are wonderful.
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: I mean....
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, you are. And how old is he?
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: He's 10 years old.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I'll trade you.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: No, no.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Hold on, hold on. Let me think about my son
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: at 10. My son at 10 was cool. Me and
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: him was calling ourselves going on dates. Yes.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, goodness.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: He would order my little iced tea. My mommy would
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: like an iced tea. We used to always go to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Red Lobster. Oh, okay. But for the girl, I treat you.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: I love that little man.
• 7:09
  Speaker 6: Oh, man.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: He comes and he's.
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: Like, nobody mess with my mom.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: He comes and tells me about the story.
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: He's like, Mom, you got to keep this secret between
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: me and you, Mom.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: You know, be close, Mom.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Listen, it will continue to be like that when they
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: get older. Me and my son had a conversation, and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I went upstairs, and I was feeling so good. I'm like, oh,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: it is such an honor to have my son talk
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: about something serious. And he will always know that Mama
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: got your back. I'll get inside your head a couple
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: of times, but I got your back. So, what made
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: you want to become a writer?
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: Well, okay, I'm going to tell you this.
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: Starting off, my whole life, I struggled. I was in
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: special education. Coming up as a youth, And I struggled
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: with reading the most. I taught myself finally how to
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: read in eighth grade. That's when I officially learned how
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: to read. And then it just built up from there.
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: When I finally actually knew how to write was when
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: I was in college. And that's when I wrote my
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: first A-plus paper, which is crazy. my first able speaker
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: in college. But she showed me, and I was like, wow,
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: is this easy? And is this fun? I can just,
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: I can lay it all out in this kind of organization,
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: because I'm a neat freak already. So, bringing there, what
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: sent me to write my first book was, I was
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: looking at how our people are just it's like a
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: repeating rotation of struggle and then what we are all
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: exposed to mainly I'm more of a movie person and
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: I see have you ever looked back have any of
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: Are black movies won awards that don't have anything to.
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: Do with gang violence or slavery? right right I don't think.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: I don't I don't think.
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: So right right so you see it was just fire
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: building up in me And then George Floyd happened. And,
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: you know, all those people started protesting. We just had enough,
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: you know. And I didn't want to be out there
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: getting missed. So what I did, I decided I'm going
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: to protest in my words. And I want to change
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: the world.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I'm like.
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: Instead of all this pain that we're going through and
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: that we're seeing. Can we look at black people winning?
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: Black superheroes. Black kings. Black queens.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: This is why I started writing my first novel.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: It's crazy that you said that. I viewed COVID in
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: the African American community as that uh-huh moment because we
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: were being creative there were so many writers that had
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: and I guess because we had that time to sit
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: back and actually showcase our talents you know what I'm
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: saying we had so many things and Then when the
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: George Floyd situation happened, I think we got fed up.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell y'all right now, and I'm
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: going to get close. I think we're about to go
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to a point. But I don't think somebody is going
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to get killed, because they're already killing people now. Oops, sorry.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Didn't mean to say that word. But I'm thinking and
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing this energy that's rising in our community today.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: And it's a slow hiss. It's like, but that's the
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: same thing that was doing. It was building, it was building,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: it was building when it came to George Floyd. That's
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: why you guys got to get out and vote. Yeah.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: That's why November 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, let me make sure
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I got the date right. I don't want none of y'all. Ms.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Patricia told us 3rd. It's so important. And a lot
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: of states already have early voting. Okay. Go ahead and
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: do your thing. So I do understand where you're coming from.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Yes. Yeah.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: And my hat's off to you for having that determination
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to teach yourself how to read.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: That is beautiful. That is outstanding. Queen put your tiara on,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: your crown on, and wear it. You did that. There
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: you go. If you're like me, you've got to come
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: to the side a little bit.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: There you go.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: So once you wrote your first book and you had
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: that baby, and I call the books, the first books
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: or any books, babies, because this writing process and journey,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: it's like labor. How did you feel when you had
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: your first book in your hand? Well.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: Oh, man.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: It's scary.
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, I don't I don't know. I didn't cry.
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: I was just like, I actually I did this. My
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: words are coming into view my words are coming true.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: And it's really about to make a change for our people.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: There you go. So a lot of authors, they cry
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and you know that that's Sam Cooke. A change is coming.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: You did that. So you guys, we would talk about
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the book for the longest and y'all know I'm a
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: cover girl so look at this book this book is
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: amazing i am going to bring it up right now
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: you guys.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: There it goes that's my girl.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: You gotta tell me about this lightning i know there's
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: a reason for this lightning okay love the spelling that
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: you have i love that that is wonderful tell me
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: about this lightning because see i'm a cover girl so
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you got it.
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: Okay, so the reason I have that lightning is Athena is,
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: although it says that it's based off this woman named Monica, I.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: Was inspired by.
• 15:25
  Speaker 6: Our girl Storm from X-Men. And this is a, yeah, yeah,
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: this is a superhero book. a black superhero book yes
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: so um she has the power of lightning and she
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: has the power to heal herself as well so she's.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: A healer and she will electrify you yes.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Okay see I'm mad at her now I'm not mad
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of scared of her Man. Superhero. That's one
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: of those genres that we as African Americans, we don't
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: go over there a little bit too much. But I'm
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: glad that there are authors that are willing to go
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: that route for those that are of color and that
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: are wanting to read African American main characters. Was that...
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: difficult to write like a superhero African American and on
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: top of that a female how was it easy or difficult.
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: It was very easy and it was easy because the
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: research that I found from us and not the research
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: from the American history research before that because we didn't
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: start off as slaves We started off as kings, queens, warriors.
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: Did you even know that Mansa Musa was the very
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: first billionaire?
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: And he was black. He was the very first billionaire. So....
• 17:26
  Speaker 6: It was extremely easy. After finding all my research, I just, like...
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: It brought me into this whole different world. And then
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: what really, like, brought me up... It wasn't just Storm.
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: And it wasn't just the Avengers. Because I'm a superhero person.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: But it was the Matrix.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Okay. I've never seen the movie. I don't know... I
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: don't know what to say. I don't know if that's
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: good or bad, but I have never seen any of
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the Matrix movies. I don't think my attention span can
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: last that long. Aren't they long movies?
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: They're pretty long. Yeah. Yeah. But if you... One day...
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: One day. If you watch like the Cliff Notes or what.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: The Cliff Notes?
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: Or a small summary on YouTube or something. Then you'll
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: be like. Oh I see why.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: But.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: The.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: I think my son is big into movies like that.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: And. Oh he loves the Cliff Notes. I. I. I.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: You give me five minutes. If somebody ain't getting beat up,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: knocked out, or somebody's laughing, I can't.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: I tried.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: You know how long it took me to look at
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the help? It took me three days to look at
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the help. Three days. My attention span is not that long.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: If y'all really want to know, my feet are shuffling
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: right now because it's like, all right. What are we doing?
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: What are we doing here? So.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: But I thank you for doing that because there is
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: a very, very big following now of comics and graphic novels.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: And my coworker who sits next to me runs through
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: them like water. And I'm like, I don't understand how
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: y'all read it, but you know, hey, to each his own.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I know somebody's looking for one. I'm going to send
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: them to you. So... How important was it to have
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: an African-American female lead character?
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Very important. You know, in.
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: History and even in the Bible, it's always the man
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: is stronger.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: The man is And I'm not, you know, shunning on
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: the Bible. Hey, that is in my spirit. It's in
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: my soul, everything.
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: But where are our warrior women? You know, let's... Oh,
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: I understand Deborah. She helped, you know, lead the war.
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: But can we get some sword fighting? Can we get
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: some kick button?
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm like.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: So it was very important.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: And I wanted to show a woman coming, becoming, and.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: Getting that strength within herself as well.
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: Because not much of our black women get that encouragement
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: as well.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: So I wanted to encourage our black women.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. See, now you're doing that. Female character, then you
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: got her as a heroine, and you want her to
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: walk in the power that she has. Her power, really.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I see it. I see it. So, main character, Monica, correct?
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Now, tell us a little bit about Monica. This is
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Monica on the cover, right?
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, this is Monica. I scared of you, girl.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: I scared of you. Tell us a little bit about Monica.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: Go ahead. Pick up your teacup. Okay.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Let me bow out for a second, girl.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Go ahead. Now, Monica, she has schizophrenia.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: And Let me say that one more time. She has schizophrenia. She...
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: But the thing is... Her days.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: She doesn't really remember her childhood or anything. And then
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: all of a sudden it's like.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: Her days keep repeating. So she thinks it's still schizophrenia. So... She's.
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: A college student. She's just finished her sophomore year. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: she's a rock climber. So that's what she does for
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: peace and everything. But she just feels like I'm a
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: normal girl. I live in downtown Chicago. She lives with
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: her parents. But she doesn't even know her parents' names.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: But she has schizophrenia.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: So....
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: So, it brings you back to... I.
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: Made it like this because in The Matrix, Neo, they
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: say that you're in a dream world, Neo. And he like,
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: what are you talking about?
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: No, I'm not. No, I'm not. And they're like, you're
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: in a dream world.
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: So with Monica, her days keep repeating. And each same day,
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: crazy stuff is happening. And so that third day, she
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: actually wakes up and she's not in Chicago. right right
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: she's in a lap I don't want to say too much.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: Right what the devil.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah whoa okay so that would explain why you were
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: talking about the hallucinations and you were talking about her
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: being in a maze a mental maze So that's where, okay.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: She thinks she's having an episode.
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: And throughout the whole story, she's like, am I going crazy?
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: Or am I this reincarnation of this woman, of this
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: woman in the past?
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: Or am I her?
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Who am I?
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: Because she's like, She meets up with this man named Adonis.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: And he is... That name right there.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Them Adonises. See, that's how I knew it.
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: I knew it.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Anytime y'all see the Adonis in the book, it's called
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: you about to be in trouble. Oh, you're going to
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: hit that character by the end of the book.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: If you've seen on my social media what Adonis looks like,
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: he's a black king.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: And he's like, it's you. And she's like, who are you?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know you.
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: So throughout the story, they're fighting together.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Basically, they're running together.
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: And I don't know what's too much to tell and
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: what's not too much to tell.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: But it's so hard to not tell it.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: So, okay, so, so. You remember this because this is
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: going to help you out with that little section I
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: told you I couldn't tell you about. So, oh, Lord,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I mean. You know what? Let's just go there. Let's
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: go to the fun questions.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: Let's do it. Let's do it.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: Hold up.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: You ready for the challenge? Y'all see how she comes up?
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Let's do it. Okay. Okay, boo.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: You ready?
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: She ready.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: We'll see this. All right. The fun questions is what
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: I use to help with Reader's Advisory. Of course, you're
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: working towards your degree, and Reader's Advisory is going to
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: be something that you do a lot of, okay?
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: People tend to read what they.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Watch on TV.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: So when I'm telling people about books, I always bring
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: it back to television. And for me, I bring it
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: back to music. So we're about to put you in
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: hot seat like you are right now, man. All right.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: We are working with Paramount, because y'all know Paramount don't
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: take over everything. And all the Queen's men come out tomorrow, y'all,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: just to let y'all know. I'll be up at midnight
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: looking at that.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Really?
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about. So Paramount called and they said, hey,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you know what? We love this book, Athena. We love
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the character. We love the book art. We love this book.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: We would like to make it into a miniseries. Because
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I know there's a part two to this book, correct?
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's going to be a part two and part three.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: See? So we're going to make this into a miniseries.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: But we want you to help us out with the casting.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Who would you... You looked at my show before.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, I did. I watched it, yes.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Shoot, you were ready. See, don't worry, I'm going to
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: put a sun on you in a minute.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Who would you get to play Monica? But, but, but, but,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: they got to be an 80s R & B singer. Yeah,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: we taking it back to the old school.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: R & B singer?
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: 80s.
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Okay, okay, let me see, let me see. Oh, my gosh.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: She could try to get me, y'all. I'm going to
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: get her.
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: Oh, you got me because I have Athena already.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: Okay, okay.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Now, I'll give you who I think.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: Okay, okay.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Talk about the strong person that she is and the
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: character of the book. I was thinking Chaka Khan.
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, okay.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I truly thought Chaka Khan.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: You got the hair already.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Yes. And Chaka Khan has this, this, you can't pin
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: her down. She all over the place. You know what
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I'm saying? She's not like Anita Baker was. Anita Baker was,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I love you. You're my heart. You're my soul. Chaka
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Khan say all kind of stuff. And then you think
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: at the end, like, are you really going to do
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: this stuff that you say? You know, Chaka Khan is,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: y'all go listen to the CD. Don't think about the
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: song through the test of time, through the wire. Y'all
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: need to go listen to her CD. Y'all understand what
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. So I thought Chaka Khan.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: Or maybe Tina Turner.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: Cause she fought she been through the pain and she
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: fought through the pain then she ran and got out
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: of that pain and fought.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: Back I.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Can see Tina I can see that With.
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: The hair, too.
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: I always love that big hair.
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I wonder how much, you know, Atrice, don't do that.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I wonder how much hairspray that she got to keep
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: it up. God bless you, Tina. Rest in peace. But
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I do wonder back in the day.
• 30:12
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: But who were you thinking to play Monica if you
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: get to choose anybody? Who would it be?
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: I hope I get her name right, but it's Blake
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: Logan or Logan Blanche.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: All right, y'all. So you see me looking to the side.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: That means I'm going to my computer. And I'm going
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: to type in Blake Logan.
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: She played in the movie Perfection from Netflix.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Okay. I see you. I see you.
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: You see it?
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: You see it? I see it.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: I see it.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, so why did you choose her?
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: Now, I watched the movie Perfection.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: And it's one part in the movie where she just,
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: she's screaming.
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: She's like, oh my God, what is wrong with me?
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: And then the girl is sitting there. She's like, she
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: has bugs in her arm. And she, the way that
• 31:15
  Speaker 6: she acted, she like, she scared the crap out of me.
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: It was extremely believable. And I'm like, wow. It's a
• 31:25
  Speaker 6: part in my book where Monica is running in the
• 31:30
  Speaker 6: middle of the street.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: I think it's... I wrote it and I forgot the street.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: She's in the middle of the street in the middle
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: of Chicago, downtown Chicago. And she's like, she's looking at.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: People, what is wrong with you people?
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah. So I immediately seen Monica right there.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: So she has Blake Logan. And Blake, you did that
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: because the character came to her, right? Now we talk
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: about Athanas. Right? He has to be a hip-hop legend.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: A hip-hop legend.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: I'm more of R & B kind of thing. And
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: I don't know, maybe not really, but maybe D'Angelo. Not really,
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: but maybe.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Who else?
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: I'm thinking about instead of hip hop artists, hip hop artists.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: I was thinking Method Man, Method Man.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, Method Man. No, everybody, for me, Method.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Man, Method Man.
• 32:57
  Speaker 6: And he's still attractive now.
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: He's attractive.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I don't even, okay, so one point in time I
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: had a thing for LL Cool J.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: Younger.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: But Method Man. Oh. Okay, I need to keep my
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: eyes open because every time I close my eyes, I
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: see this man. See you in my dreams, miss up. Okay,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: so we have Blake Logan as Monica, and as Adonis,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: we have possibly D'Angelo. We wait for him to call
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: us back and see if he's going to do it,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: but met the man. He said, hey, Chris. I said, hey, Matthew.
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: Okay, so. Another poor actor, though. I was thinking Michael B. Jordan.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ.
• 34:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Or I can't decide on Adonis.
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: So maybe Michael B. Jordan.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: Or maybe, oh my gosh, what is his name?
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: He played in, it's this movie on Netflix called Mia Carlotta,
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: something like that. And he played in Bird Box. He
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: was the male lead in Bird Box.
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: Nice. It's driving me crazy.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: Did you find him? I'm not.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: No.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: Okay, hold on, y'all.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Because y'all know I have to find out
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: some of these people. I'm going to tell you right now,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I don't even have Netflix no more. I got Netflix
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: for every girl, and that was it. I was like,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: I can't do it. Bird box characters. All right, so
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: we're going to look at these beautiful people in the
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: bird box. Oh.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes. What's his name? What's his name? I can't
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: remember his name.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: I can't find a name, but he's the second person
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: on me. He look a little bit like an older usher.
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: Oh, do you see Adonis maybe in that? I can.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: I can. I can see a little bit.
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: I can see a little bit.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: His name is Trevante Rhodes. Yes.
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: Trevante Rhodes.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Y'all, I ain't crazy. I got another screen. What is
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: she looking at? I have a whole other screen.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: Okay, he cute.
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: He cute.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: He cute.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: He looks like somebody you could bring home to mom.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? And not have a problem,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: you know? So, we got that. Now, you know that
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: a miniseries, you have to have two or three, okay?
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: You now, they say, you have to choose one to
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: help you write the second one. Who would be the
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: author you would dream of writing a screenplay with and
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: why that author?
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: You know, I would say.
• 36:49
  Speaker 6: She was one of my inspirations. It's in between. It's
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: in between.
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: She was the author. Why can't I remember these names?
• 37:06
  Speaker 6: But she was the author of the series Twilight. And
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: then Maya Angelou.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Stephanie Myers?
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: Stephanie Myers.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: And Maya Angelou. Okay, you're on two different spectrums.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: How did you do that? It'll be beautiful. Exactly something
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: like that. With a slice of the Matrix in it.
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: I can.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: See the paranormal factor. I can see the African American
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: female lead character. And you mixing together. You did that.
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: I did that.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: You really did that. Okay.
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: I can see that.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: And I can see Okay. I can see that. Strong
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: African American female and that paranormal thing. Okay. One more thing.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: We need a theme song. What would it be?
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: I already have it. Kendrick Lamar DNA.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA. There's the
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: theme song.
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: There we go.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: It's my favorite. See, you look at the show before,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: and you did your research. I see this. I see. Well,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: you survived it.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: You got me.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: She survived the fun questions, you guys. She did it.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Go ahead. but before we leave tonight we have to
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: ask you what would you say to your old readers
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: your new readers and the readers that you will obtain
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: after they see the show.
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: Keep an open mind you are more than.
• 39:14
  Speaker 6: The American dream than anything.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: You are more than just the slavery. You are a king.
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: You are a queen. You are a warrior. You are
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: a genius. You are more than you think you are.
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: Than you believe you are. And you can still grow. Oh,
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: I can't hear you. I think you mute it.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: You got me, girl. I'm sitting up here like, she
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: just spelled out all the affirmations. If you don't go
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: to work stronger, if you don't go to sleep stronger,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: if you don't wake up stronger, then I'm going to
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: need you to go back five, ten seconds and listen
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: to that again. Because she's telling you what it is. So,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: You continue to listen to her words and follow her work.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: How about you give us the rundown? Tell us where
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: we can follow you at on social media, where we
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: can grab your book, Athena, and any special projects or
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: anything you have going on. Go ahead and give us
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: a little rundown.
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: Well, you can follow me on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: I have some names here. Oh, I should have my
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: names pulled up.
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: But as well, let's see, and my project that I
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: am working on now is Athena Book 2. Now, spoiler alert,
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: she is going to, this book is going to.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: Be named As Above, So Below.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: She done told y'all what it is. If you're looking
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: at the bottom screen, you see all of her social
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: media handles. Also, where can we get Athena?
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: Ooh.
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: If you are an online person, you can go straight
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: to Amazon. If you are that in-person, I don't want
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: to wait for that shipping. My book is in... second
• 41:47
  Speaker 6: in Charles um bookstore that's in Highland Indiana it's also
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: in uh the Plot Twist bookstore in Lockport Illinois and
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: it's also in um Rock the Rock Shop bookstore and
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: that is.
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: In Homewood Indiana homewood illinois.
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: So if you are near those locations if you don't
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: want to wait and i actually have my signature and
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: the you will have a signed copy from the actual
• 42:28
  Speaker 6: author in the second and charles bookstore if you want
• 42:32
  Speaker 6: to hurry up and snatch that one.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah okay you guys book lovers We love autographed books.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: We may only read it once, but the fact that
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: that book is autographed, I'm telling you guys, I've got
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: four or five books around here that are autographed. There's
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: two of them up here. There's one back here behind me,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: you guys. We love autographed books. It just gives that
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: book a special place in our hearts. And we don't
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: loan out autographed books. So don't ask us. Because you
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: ain't getting them. Because if you mess up our autographed book, yeah,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: ain't going to be a good day for you. Well, sweetheart,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: we are at the end of the show and I
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: appreciate you being here.
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: I am so happy to be here. And thank you
• 43:37
  Speaker 6: for being my very first You're the very first one.
• 43:44
  Speaker 6: That's why you're saying that apology.
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: Let me tell you something. I'm going to take my
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: glasses off for this one. The way you just.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Supported your book and supported your brand. And you gave
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: us your book. You didn't come dry. I used to
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: say this offstage, but I'm not going to. I'm going
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: to do it right now. You are going to go
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: far as an author. You are doing things that seasoned
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: authors do not do. And, girl, you're going places. Go
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: ahead and get your book signed and sign up. Go
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: ahead and get your virtual readings lined up. You're going
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: far because you couldn't tell me this is your first interview.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: You could have not told me that. Wow. Let me
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: put the glasses back on. You go, girl. Thank you
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: for being with us tonight. And make sure you come
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: back when you got book two because I need to
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: know how much kids her and Athona's going to have. Oh,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: they already have kids. See, I knew it. I'm telling you,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: something about them kids, them kids with people and the donuts.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: I knew it had to be something. I knew it was.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: I knew it wasn't. Uh-oh. You got seven fingers up?
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: But the devil did truly believe in me.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: For a four-multiplier.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I know the Bible said it, but good God from Zion.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: Ain't got no TV or nothing to do.
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: What's that spiritual number as well? Isn't it seven, two?
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, so you got hidden things in your book. I
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: love a book like that that has hidden meanings.
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: I got some Bible scriptures in here as well. Oh,
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: it's powerful. This girl is powerful.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Let me look at this price on this book right now. Okay,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: if I don't drink coffee tomorrow... Oh, what are you
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: talking about? It is $ 2. 99 on Kindle Unlimited. Y'all, stop
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: playing around and go get the book. You can get
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: a hardback. Oh, and she has a hardback for $ 18. 99
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: and paperback for $ 12. Listen, when tomorrow, once this goes live,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: you guys, I'm going to make the link to her
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: book where it's going to take you straight to Amazon
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: and you can go and purchase the book. Okay? Y'all
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: know what I'm telling you. Go get the book. Go
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: thank you Leah for being with us tonight we appreciate
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: you thank you thank you thank you.
• 46:45
  Speaker 6: For having me I came on time.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Well you guys it's another author and another book next
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: week Tuesday I am going to be interviewing Patrice not
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: me her name's Patrice Patrice is going to tell us
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: about I am Patrice. This is going to be crazy
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: because we're going to be saying each other's name all
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: night long. But you guys join me next week Tuesday
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: at 8 o'clock in Columbia, South Carolina, you guys. I'm
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: going to tell you right now, I'm going to be
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: so happy because I would have just finished doing my
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: presentation and then I get to talk to you guys.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, how wonderful is that? But remember... There's no
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: such thing as an old book. Because not everybody has
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: read every book. You guys have a great night. Go
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: and vote.
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: Bye.