Also on Sale Mo'Nique!

Last week everybody's favorite F.A.T. (Fabulous and Thick, that is) actress/comedienne Mo'Nique published her first YA novel, BEACON HILLS HIGH, which explores the trials and tribulations of teenager Eboni Michelle Imes, who gets uprooted from Baltimore to glamourous Los Angeles, just as she was about to start high school with her friends, the TTC (Too Tight Crew).

So thanks to the likes of Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton we know Southern California can be a bit unkind to anyone who dares to eat and expand beyond a size 0. And Miss (F.A.T.) Eboni has never been one to turn down quality food. So as you can imagine a fish out of water story ensues....With its multi-racial cast and fun setting this book is sure to resonate with many a tween girl. And the cover is cool too.

The Deviant Life of and Demise of Sammy Davis Jr.

On sale this week is a book so hot it got the headline in Page Six of the NY POST and our offices intimidated by Jessie Jackson. Everyone knows who Sammy Davis Jr. is...but most of us, especially those of us who are younger, know little about his days with the Rat Pack...and more specifically how Sammy earned $50 million in his lifetime and died flat broke...not just any kind of broke, but broke broke. As in you owe the IRS your life. In Deconstructing Sammy journalist Matt Birbeck reveled some of the following bombshells:

Sammy Davis Jr. opted out of life saving throat cancer surgery because he thought it'd ruin his voice and eliminate the only way he could make money.

Following his divorce from Scandanavian actress May Britt in 1968, Sammy was pressued to marry a black woman, Altovise Gore who he pressured into attending wild parties.

When Sammy's good friend and longtime conductor, George Rhodes died, he asked Jesse Jackson to perform the eulogy. Jackson charged $5000 in cash and four first class plane tickets plus two suites at the Four Seasons Hotel. Sammy was so broke he had to ask his security guard to take a cash advance off of his credit card.

Matt appeared on NPR's Talk of the Nation so you can hear more about the book here:

A fall preview

September will not only bring you cooler weather, depending on where you live, but also two new exciting Amistad books, about Old Hollywood legends...one no longer with us and another alive and kicking like never before. Sammy Davis Jr. and Diahann Carroll. Masked Editor does not believe in working vacations (if at all possible...) so no new posts until Sept 16!

August On Sale Marvelyn Brown's The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive

Tomorrow one of the most important books I think we've ever published will go on sale. It's Marvelyn Brown's THE NAKED TRUTH: YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL and (HIV) Positive.

Being that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for black women age 24-35 , it's a message we all seem to know, but still somehow two decades plus into the AIDS epidemic, many of us still walk around with an "It can't happen to me" attitude.

Marvelyn is truly an inspiration. When she contracted HIV at age 19, she could've given up on life. But she chose to speak out and she's become one of the most sought after HIV activists of her generation. Some of you may have seen her inteview on CNN's BLACK IN AMERICA special last month. And you can catch her on the EARLY SHOW this week too. But for now you can watch her speak for herself during her MTV PSA that won an Emmy. Please spread the word to every young adult you know....

Books We Read Outside of Work

People accuse me of not liking anything. I call it taste. But there are a lot of things myself and our staff do like. And yes publishing folks do find time to read outside of work. Sometimes. Like when we're riding the train or on vacation. Here are some of our staff's recent fiction picks.

Masked Editor (me): A Fraction of the Whole by Australian Steve Toltz. This book is a real riot. A long, rambling debut novel that is so voice drive that the plot almost becomes irrelevant. For whatever reason it hasn't taken off so much in the States, but has been long listed for the Booker Prize. One of my favorite things about this book's marketing push was the trippy book trailer the author made.

Bryan Christian (Marketing Director): The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. All modern suicide, depression, and manic memoirs owe their publication in some way to Ms. Plath. But being that Prozac, Xanax, etc weren't around then, I believe in The Bell Jar's authenticity a bit more.

Dawn Davis (Editorial Director): Dawn claims she has no time to read outside of work. But I catch her carrying around battered paperback novels in her bag now and then. And one of those novels which she has endorsed is The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, winner of the 2006 Booker.

Cathy Serpico (Marketing Assistant): Northline by William Vlautin. Cathy endorses both Northline and Willy's other book, The Motel Life.

Next time I'll highlight something even more esoteric: Short Stories we've read.

Black Books in Controversy: The Difficulty of Selling Foreign Rights for books featuring black people

Another oddity of publishing that worries me is the lack of enthusiasm on behalf of foreign publishers for titles about black history or novels featuring black characters.

THE KNOWN WORLD only sold rights in one country due to a personal contact before it won the Pulitzer Prize. The Pursuit of Happyness sold rights due largely to the Will Smith film project. But most of the time you just hear crickets from foreign publishers.

This again ties into my suspicion raised in previous posts that for some reason books about black people are somehow seen as less universal. Maybe it's the publishing industry's fault, maybe the consumer's prejudices or maybe neither at all. It's difficult to say.

So what do you think? Anyone seen books about the African Diaspora sold abroad? Which books were they?

On Sale Now: "Taj" from SWV takes on the ever present phenomenon of women hating on each other.

If you can remember the 90s clearly, which I assume most of the readers of this site can, you remember the mega-girl group SWV. Surely, many of you fought over who would sing lead in "Weak", and if you saw the 2008 BET awards, you saw that the members of SWV are very much still active and can still sing....

This month, Amistad published PlayerhateHER: How to Avoid the Beat Down and Live in a Drama-Free World, written by Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George and her best friend Katrina R. Chambers.

And oh all the ways we hate on each other! Tamara and Katrina discuss everything from wedding fights, men and celeb playerhating squabbles, and it's sure to at least put a smile on your face as you recognize yourself and others you know in the anecdotes. And take time to watch the video for "Weak"....it'll bring back some memories!