And You'd Better Not Tell by Nina Foxx
Rumer plans to reinvent herself and be a star while she on a college campus for a summer program. She attracts the attentions of Dante, a graduate teaching assistant and star athlete and is swept off her feet by his flattery and attentions.
Rumer soon finds that that a grown up relationship is more than she bargained for as Dante and his friends take over her life and he pushes her around, both literally and figuratively.
Rumer begins to feel isolated and alone until she finds an unlikely ally in Dante's almost ex-girlfriend, Ranisha. Will they join forces to stop Dante's reign of abuse?
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Momma: Gone A Personal Story
As cultures clash, we see the family through a child's eyes and walk with her as she makes sense of war fought far away, but with effects close to home, and a tragedy that changes her life forever.
More truth than not, Momma: Gone is a story of survival, where all the lessons are taught by the child who must eventually lead them through and a classic American story of overcoming life's misfortunes to find the bloom on the other side. Momma: Gone A Personal Story by Nina Foxx was shortlisted for a Doctorow Award in Innovative Fiction
Praise for Momma: Gone A Personal Story by Nina Foxx
A grief laden journey that will tug at your heart. Profoundly moving.
---Anita Doreen Diggs, author The Other Side of the Game, former editor, Random House
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Catfish by Nina Foxx
Best Friends Dana and Damika share everything about each other, because that's what best friends do, right? But when it comes to relationships, the high schoolers are keeping secrets in cyberspace. After Boy Crazy Dana meets the "perfect" guy, she figures the only way to get close is to tell little white lies. As their relationship flourishes, an inappropriate photo sent for his eyes only...ends up going viral, and threatens Dana's reputation and her future.
Tech nerd Damika is able to reinvent herself online and she's created a cyber life that no one knows about but her. When she meets Rosheon, she's thrilled at their budding relationship, until she discovers there's a lot more to him than meets the eye because just as she can reinvent herself....so can others. As the lies become unmanageable, can Dana and Damika dig themselves out of a web of a mess before it's too late?
In this page-turning novel, Catfish, Nina Foxx dives into a world where nothing is as it seems and danger takes on new meaning in cyberspace.
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Link: http://amzn.com/0991532228
Message about Catfish by Nina Foxx
Do you know how your kid uses social media to communicate with their friends? Have you read Catfish with your child? Catfish will keep you (and Them) in suspense as you explore how two young people use technology and where it leads them.
Online apps and tools youth use to communicate:
-YouNow: This website allows the user to enable the camera on their device so that others online can watch what they are doing. Some articles report that youth are setting this device up on their home computer and allowing strangers to view their every move online. This also has a messaging and comment feature.
-Kik: This app is very common . It allows people to text each other without exchanging phone numbers. The challenge again is that students may not always be good about screening those that they communicate with, so there is a risk that they could be communicating with a stranger.
-Snapchat: This app is also very common . The app allows students to communicate and post pictures that 'supposedly' disappear after 10 seconds. However, often, pictures are downloaded or a screenshot is taken by others who see it, and so the picture posted will often be saved by others. When youth engage in 'sexting' they sometime use SnapChat.
-Whisper: This app is like an online journal. Some articles indicate that teens use this to share their deepest secrets 'anonymously' online with strangers. We would argue that nothing is really ever anonymous, especially because teens often share a lot of personal, identifying information online.
-YikYak: Is an app that allows people to anonymously communicate with people in close proximity to them - so it taps into their GPS on the phone. It also has a 'voting' button that essentially can be used for users to comment on each other - sometimes in an not so healthy way.
-Instagram: Owned by Facebook. Many students are using this app to share pictures and comments. Check if your student is using it, and make sure their settings don't allow non-'friends' to see their photos!
-Other sites that articles on line report teens are using: Tumblr, Twitter (make sure you know about subtweeting), Oovoo, WhatsApp (popular in Europe and growing more popular here), Meerkat and Tinder.
A Letter for My Mother
Heartfelt and deeply meaningful, A Letter for My Mother will inspire you to admire and cherish that special relationship that shapes every woman.
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Conversation with Nina Foxx
Green-light Your Own Projects - Funding the Dream. Women Entrepreneurship
Listen to her Sisterhood Empowerment message:
http://www.audioacrobat.com/sa/WlGwkvlT
Discussing A Letter for My Mother
BPM: What drove you to sit down and actually start writing this book?
A year or so ago, I got a call that the woman who used to be my mother in law was dying. We hadn't had a good relationship, but I was surprised because the news was very upsetting to me. I was across the country and couldn't go to where she was encouraged by my sister to write a letter to her and tell her what I wanted to say. The idea was that someone who was there with her could share the letter with her.
After I was done, I thought I would blog it or try to have it published in a magazine. My agent suggested that I write this as an anthology instead; so many woman have interesting relationships with their mothers, mother figures and other women in their lives. So I asked my writer and filmmaker friends to contribute to what is now this book. I didn't realize how difficult it would be for so many people. People caled me crying and struggling through. Others just couldn't do it so they refused to be in the project. They weren't ready to face whatever issues they had with their mother-figure. They are people who had things to say but chose to write under pseudonym to conceal their identities. Everyone that participated said the process was cathartic for them and the result are some amazing pieces.
BPM: Introduce us to your current work. Is this book available in digital forms?
A Letter for My Mother is creative non-fiction and essays. It is available where ever books are sold and in all digital formats.
BPM: What topics are primarily discussed? Did you learn anything personal from writing your book?
Every woman that participated wrote a letter and a short essay, to their mother or mother figure. They had to tell them something that they either never had the chance to, or something they coudlnt' tell them before. My only requirement was that they had to focus on the positive that they had gained from the relationship with this person. My own mother died when I was a child, and I didn't think I felt any way about that anymore. After I helped each person write their piece, I realized I had something to say to my own mother and sister. That is the last letter in the book.
BPM: What are your expectations for this book, A Letter for My Mother? What would you like for readers to do after reading this book?
After reading this, I would hope that readers tell a woman they love something they have given them; thank them for whatever that is. I also have related film project in my head.
Nina's website: http://www.ninafoxx.com
Blogging: http://ninafoxx.blogspot.com
Like and follow on Twitter: @ninafoxx
A Letter for My Mother by Nina Foxx
Genre: Creative Non-fiction
Link: http://amzn.com/1593095325
More books By Nina Foxx
Read more about the books: https://www.smore.com/1pdp
Black Pearls Interview with Nina Foxx
Discussing Momma: Gone A Personal Story
Seattle resident Nina Foxx is the author of over 17 works in multiple genres. She has won multiple African-American Literature Awards, is an NAACP Image Award nominee and was short-listed for a Doctorow Award in Innovative Fiction.
As a filmmaker, she has produced works that have been selections at numerous film festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, HBO’s Run & Shoot Film Festival and The Urban MediaMakers Film Festival. She has produced several plays based on her books, with the help of grants from the City of Seattle.
She and her husband Barry own Clever Vixen Media. Together they produce literary events. An Engineering psychologist by trade, she works at a major media company in User Experience and is a frequent speaker at technical conferences.
She volunteers her time on the local and national level promoting STEAM careers for under-served youth, often focusing on the value of storytelling in technology occupations.
Books By Nina Foxx: https://www.smore.com/1pdp
BPM: What inspired you to write this book, Momma: Gone A Personal Story?
I started writing this many years ago. I think it is actually the first thing I ever tried to write. I had a memory of going to a bar with my mother and wanted to put it on paper. She died before I was seven, so it was very hazy, but more things unfolded from my memory.
BPM: Is this a true story?
Absolutely. This book is based on my childhood. It is embellished, of course.
Sweetie (main character) had a story that needed to be told.
BPM: Introduce us to Momma: Gone A Personal Story.
Well, this book is literary fiction. If I'd had more courage, I would have written it as Creative non-fiction. This is a story about family and heartbreak as much as it is about loss and recovery. More truth than not, Momma: Gone is a story of survival, where all the lessons are taught by the child who must eventually lead them through and a classic American story of overcoming life's misfortunes to find the bloom on the other side.
BPM: Tell us about your main characters. What makes them so special?
Sweetie is seven years old when this story begins. She is a precocious child that is very much aware of the things that are going on around her, even though the adults never tell her what is going on. She is aware of her mother's illness and the effect it has on the family.
BPM: What are your goals for your writing career?
Momma: Gone is my 15th book. I just want to continue to tell good stories and make a few good movies.
BPM: What would you like for readers to do after reading this book?
I want people to feel along with the main character as she grows, then go out and tell someone about it.
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