The official website is underway...!
Yeah, yeah I know. You guys have been waiting for this for many a damn day now but fret not it is right around the corner. Literary Hood is about to have its internet grand opening. But you guys know your friendly neighborhood author Brandon McCalla knows how to treat his neighbors, exactly, you guys want this shit popping way before the cork is pulled out of the bottle... I'm here to keep my hood well supplied and the only drought we should have is Diamond Drought book 1 of the Diamond Series...
THUS HERE IT IS, LITERARY HOOD COLUMN'S SECOND INSTALLMENT WHICH HAS THE INCREDIBLE KWAN INTERVIEW (brought to you by me, of course and i.b. Concept Magazine)...
THUS HERE IT IS, LITERARY HOOD COLUMN'S SECOND INSTALLMENT WHICH HAS THE INCREDIBLE KWAN INTERVIEW (brought to you by me, of course and i.b. Concept Magazine)...
Literary Hood
Columnist Brandon McCalla
See that title above me readers. I felt it was only fitting to put a nice word in front of my government name. But in retrospect I’m here to keep you informed on what’s going down in my literary neighborhood and nothing more. See, the definition of columnist simply means a writer in a publication, such as a newspaper or magazine but my Literary Hood column is more than a mere column since I am more than a mere writer. i.b. Concept magazine allows me to run rampant and give me more page space to write than the average magazine would dare to. Perhaps because I bang on desks and make obscene phone calls to Dean (one of the ceo’s at i.b. C) to assure they don’t besmirch what I post up with those fucked up edits most publication editors situate. Editors generally imbed their own thoughts within the things we write and a lot of what we write wind up on the cutting room floor. For instance see how I aimlessly curse in text, this is the way I fucking talk people and thus this is what you get when you read Literary Hood. They never snippet my creative flux. None of this is getting tossed in the waste basket.
But enough about me, whoa…! Hold up DIAMOND DYNASTY book two of the Diamond series is in stores as you read this and on www.amazon.com so buy that shit. Now that that’s all said and done let me give you the low down on i.b. Concept’s second installment of Literary Hood. Please divert your attention from the lovely chocolate and light skinned dames for but a mere moment (if you’re a fast reader).
I got super author Kwan Foye in my hood. Kwan the author of the bestsellers Gangsta, Road Dawgz, Street Dreams and his next swashbuckler Hoodlum which should be hitting the shelves in a massive way August 2005 (it’s right around the corner).
I met up with Kwan in Harlem, New York to do an exclusive interview for my column; we had a photo shoot with a new clothing line called Deathless and decided to do the interview directly after that. Originally we were scheduled to take the photos at a Walden’s book store in Brooklyn, New York but upon discussion we chose to do the shoot at Hue man’s book store in Harlem since it was closer and we were lazy. The shoot went well, Kwan had his lovely daughter with him and she partook in the festivities and stole the show since she was more photogenic than her father and I. After the shoot we hustled further within the bowels of Harlem, dropped his baby boo off at her mother’s and went to Kwan’s bachelor pad where we lit some green stuff, puffed, guzzled beer and did the interview.
The ever welcoming stench of the greenery lingered and eased both of us since it was a hectic day. Endorsing a clothing line aint an easy thing, taking pictures with various attire and those pesky photographers trying to persuade a nigga to smile (I don’t smile, I only smirk and grimace). So I pressed the record button on my little digital audio recorder, took a deep breath. Kwan had just split another Dutch Master; he took a deep breath of his own. He said, “Try not to misquote me like some journalists have done.” with a shrewd face.
I assured him that would never happen, “Nigga this is i.b. Concept. We don’t do such things.”
He still gave me the ice grill. But then he passed the spliff. I took a long pull. The interview commenced with the billowing of the smoke…
B: First off son, I don’t see to many street books in hardcover that deserve it. I saw Gangsta at some book store during one of my book signings in hardcover…
K: You saw a hardcover of Gangsta, you lying…
B: Naw, I aint lying. I saw it and was like whoa…!
K: I gotta track that down, I saw a hardcover of Street Dreams at Creative Impressions (bookstore) in Jersey but I never saw Gangsta.
B: Speaking of Street Dreams that’s your first major publishing house book. You took the big leap from minor publishing to a major publishing house. You were once on Triple Crown Publications but now you’re on St. Martin’s press. What’s the difference between the minor and major publishing houses?
K: The major houses give you a bigger money advance, they give you more exposure and they market more because they have the money to do that. I had more control over at Triple Crown but St. Martin’s want exactly what I’ve been giving the masses to begin with, gutter. St. Martin’s want hood books from me, they want ghetto but they want tighter work. The only thing I really bumped heads with them about was titles, but they didn’t get overbearing about it.
B: Give me more depth on the difference in control between the minor and major houses.
K: Well Triple Crown published what I gave them. But with St. Martin’s you know they made suggestions. Like in the beginning it was like, well you gonna do this like this and you gonna change this… I was like hey, this is how I write, I don’t dictate how the story is gonna come out, the story dictates how the story is gonna come out, I’m just a medium for which to get the story from my brain to the readers.
B: So did they want you to tone your shit down.
K: Naw, they wanted it just as raw as I always give it but they want their stories tighter. I think every publishing house has their own curriculum on how tight they want their stores. What you can get away with on one publishing house you might not be able to get away with on another. The only real problem I had with them was with changing titles.
B: I know we spoke about what the original title of Hoodlum was and how Hoodlum became Hoodlum. But let’s move on buddy. You are in that elite group of urban authors who transgressed from the minor to the major leagues, who else has done it and who as fast as you?
K: You got Shannon Holmes on Atira I think. St. Martin’s snatched up my dawg Mark Anthony and Tracy Brown. Who else…
B: I think Danielle Santiago is on S&S now, right? I know I’m just on some business shit right now but Literary Hood is about everything but most of the authors I interview just give me generic answers and you’re giving me the type of interview I prefer.
K: I just say what’s on my mind dawg, I aint gonna give you a generic answer about anything.
B: That’s what’s up. I hate that beating around the bush shit. And on that note let me just say this. I have the utmost respect for you and your writing abilities but to be honest a lot of the other urban authors are wack! I’m just gotta keep it real, there are only a few of us who can be considered accomplished writers in the proper term of the word. You are one of them and you deserve all the success that you’ve acquired but some are bestsellers and are terrible writers.
K: I’m a meat and potatoes writer. I’m a man’s writer. I know what you’re talking about dawg, we don’t even gotta go further than that. The majority of the readers are women so you gotta keep that in mind, but I just write from my mind.
B: True. But most aren’t text book writers nor had any formal training and its not like you need formal training but I think a few need to sharpen their swords or pens but you don’t and I know I don’t but what do you think. Damn you said don’t go any further right, well what type of books do you read?
K: Street lit but I also read Horror.
B: Yeah me to and I write it. A lot of people don’t know this but you write horror yourself and do a fucking really good job of it. I gotta say this though Street Dreams is like the best written and edited street book to date. Why did Street Dreams come out so damn fine combed and sharp?
K: Thanks. With a smaller house, a reader reads it and the publisher goes through it, and that’s that. But at the major house, you got like an editor then a secondary and third editor. And they keep sending you the manuscript back and forth like six or seven times. They take more time with your work thus your shit comes out more polished.
B: True.
K: What did you think about Road Dawgz editing?
B: Well, I read all your books nigga and I must admit Road Dawgz is like the best TCP book to date when it comes to editing and story situation.
K: I had an outside editor do Road Dawgz.
B: Ahhh, Yo Kwan you aint above killing off your main characters.
K: I smash shit when I write. Killing off a lead character is like a slap in the face because you get too love the character and then I just dead them. Plus in life there aint always a happy ending…
…Yo readers I could go on and on. We were conversing for about two hours at least. Eventually I just stopped taping and we just continued to vibe. We started talking about the book groupie situation. I’m gonna leave our comments for another date. I’m gonna do an exclusive Literary Hood column on book groupies giving you the inside scoop on how the women show their devotion to their favorite male authors, and on their stalking antics.
I just wanted you to see how focused Kwan is in this little snippet of the interview and you are gonna get the raw synopsis of his soon to be released title Hoodlum in the column’s Words of Art along with Mo Shines Brazen. The Hoodlum cover is bananas! I love covers with just type, it shows a level of class and puts you within the ranks of a Stephen King, Danielle Steele or a Janet Evanovich (obviously I read abroad).
i.b. Concept’s next issue and the next Literary Hood column will have an in-depth interview with bestselling author Mark Anthony. He has his own publishing company Q-boro Books and we’re gonna get the low on what he’s been up to since Paper Chasers and Dogism. Hopefully we will get that interview with KaShamba Williams, both of our schedules are crazy right now and she has like a hundred thousand books out…! But I think we will meet in the middle of the road somewhere between now and the next issue, let’s hope so.
Denise Campbell’s MAN KILLER will get spot light book status in the Words of Art segment next issue and you’ll get a sneak peek at my very own Diamond Dynasty… hurray! Does the name Deborah Smith ring a bell…? Yes, no, well you will know all about her in the next issue of i.b. Concept and she sent me a nice picture of her showing legs… that’s what I’m talking about.
As I end this portion of the column (see it’s so big I can use a word like portion) let me not even begin to inform you people about how horrible this literary business can be at times. Diamond Dynasty should have been on the shelves since January and now it’s scheduled for release in April and it aint even being promoted yet. Guess what boys and girls, ahh you guys are so bright. You guessed it before I could even get it out, that’s right boys and girls… it’s time for me to get my hustle on.
Now like Mr. Rodger’s used to, I grab my sweater and hat, sing the outré of the Please won’t you be my Neighbor song and bounce. That or ask you to get off my block. Aint enough room for all of us here and Kwan’s about to drop Hoodlum soon so all of us had better hustle hard till then. When Kwan opens up even crack cocaine takes a loss.
Uno…
Columnist Brandon McCalla
See that title above me readers. I felt it was only fitting to put a nice word in front of my government name. But in retrospect I’m here to keep you informed on what’s going down in my literary neighborhood and nothing more. See, the definition of columnist simply means a writer in a publication, such as a newspaper or magazine but my Literary Hood column is more than a mere column since I am more than a mere writer. i.b. Concept magazine allows me to run rampant and give me more page space to write than the average magazine would dare to. Perhaps because I bang on desks and make obscene phone calls to Dean (one of the ceo’s at i.b. C) to assure they don’t besmirch what I post up with those fucked up edits most publication editors situate. Editors generally imbed their own thoughts within the things we write and a lot of what we write wind up on the cutting room floor. For instance see how I aimlessly curse in text, this is the way I fucking talk people and thus this is what you get when you read Literary Hood. They never snippet my creative flux. None of this is getting tossed in the waste basket.
But enough about me, whoa…! Hold up DIAMOND DYNASTY book two of the Diamond series is in stores as you read this and on www.amazon.com so buy that shit. Now that that’s all said and done let me give you the low down on i.b. Concept’s second installment of Literary Hood. Please divert your attention from the lovely chocolate and light skinned dames for but a mere moment (if you’re a fast reader).
I got super author Kwan Foye in my hood. Kwan the author of the bestsellers Gangsta, Road Dawgz, Street Dreams and his next swashbuckler Hoodlum which should be hitting the shelves in a massive way August 2005 (it’s right around the corner).
I met up with Kwan in Harlem, New York to do an exclusive interview for my column; we had a photo shoot with a new clothing line called Deathless and decided to do the interview directly after that. Originally we were scheduled to take the photos at a Walden’s book store in Brooklyn, New York but upon discussion we chose to do the shoot at Hue man’s book store in Harlem since it was closer and we were lazy. The shoot went well, Kwan had his lovely daughter with him and she partook in the festivities and stole the show since she was more photogenic than her father and I. After the shoot we hustled further within the bowels of Harlem, dropped his baby boo off at her mother’s and went to Kwan’s bachelor pad where we lit some green stuff, puffed, guzzled beer and did the interview.
The ever welcoming stench of the greenery lingered and eased both of us since it was a hectic day. Endorsing a clothing line aint an easy thing, taking pictures with various attire and those pesky photographers trying to persuade a nigga to smile (I don’t smile, I only smirk and grimace). So I pressed the record button on my little digital audio recorder, took a deep breath. Kwan had just split another Dutch Master; he took a deep breath of his own. He said, “Try not to misquote me like some journalists have done.” with a shrewd face.
I assured him that would never happen, “Nigga this is i.b. Concept. We don’t do such things.”
He still gave me the ice grill. But then he passed the spliff. I took a long pull. The interview commenced with the billowing of the smoke…
B: First off son, I don’t see to many street books in hardcover that deserve it. I saw Gangsta at some book store during one of my book signings in hardcover…
K: You saw a hardcover of Gangsta, you lying…
B: Naw, I aint lying. I saw it and was like whoa…!
K: I gotta track that down, I saw a hardcover of Street Dreams at Creative Impressions (bookstore) in Jersey but I never saw Gangsta.
B: Speaking of Street Dreams that’s your first major publishing house book. You took the big leap from minor publishing to a major publishing house. You were once on Triple Crown Publications but now you’re on St. Martin’s press. What’s the difference between the minor and major publishing houses?
K: The major houses give you a bigger money advance, they give you more exposure and they market more because they have the money to do that. I had more control over at Triple Crown but St. Martin’s want exactly what I’ve been giving the masses to begin with, gutter. St. Martin’s want hood books from me, they want ghetto but they want tighter work. The only thing I really bumped heads with them about was titles, but they didn’t get overbearing about it.
B: Give me more depth on the difference in control between the minor and major houses.
K: Well Triple Crown published what I gave them. But with St. Martin’s you know they made suggestions. Like in the beginning it was like, well you gonna do this like this and you gonna change this… I was like hey, this is how I write, I don’t dictate how the story is gonna come out, the story dictates how the story is gonna come out, I’m just a medium for which to get the story from my brain to the readers.
B: So did they want you to tone your shit down.
K: Naw, they wanted it just as raw as I always give it but they want their stories tighter. I think every publishing house has their own curriculum on how tight they want their stores. What you can get away with on one publishing house you might not be able to get away with on another. The only real problem I had with them was with changing titles.
B: I know we spoke about what the original title of Hoodlum was and how Hoodlum became Hoodlum. But let’s move on buddy. You are in that elite group of urban authors who transgressed from the minor to the major leagues, who else has done it and who as fast as you?
K: You got Shannon Holmes on Atira I think. St. Martin’s snatched up my dawg Mark Anthony and Tracy Brown. Who else…
B: I think Danielle Santiago is on S&S now, right? I know I’m just on some business shit right now but Literary Hood is about everything but most of the authors I interview just give me generic answers and you’re giving me the type of interview I prefer.
K: I just say what’s on my mind dawg, I aint gonna give you a generic answer about anything.
B: That’s what’s up. I hate that beating around the bush shit. And on that note let me just say this. I have the utmost respect for you and your writing abilities but to be honest a lot of the other urban authors are wack! I’m just gotta keep it real, there are only a few of us who can be considered accomplished writers in the proper term of the word. You are one of them and you deserve all the success that you’ve acquired but some are bestsellers and are terrible writers.
K: I’m a meat and potatoes writer. I’m a man’s writer. I know what you’re talking about dawg, we don’t even gotta go further than that. The majority of the readers are women so you gotta keep that in mind, but I just write from my mind.
B: True. But most aren’t text book writers nor had any formal training and its not like you need formal training but I think a few need to sharpen their swords or pens but you don’t and I know I don’t but what do you think. Damn you said don’t go any further right, well what type of books do you read?
K: Street lit but I also read Horror.
B: Yeah me to and I write it. A lot of people don’t know this but you write horror yourself and do a fucking really good job of it. I gotta say this though Street Dreams is like the best written and edited street book to date. Why did Street Dreams come out so damn fine combed and sharp?
K: Thanks. With a smaller house, a reader reads it and the publisher goes through it, and that’s that. But at the major house, you got like an editor then a secondary and third editor. And they keep sending you the manuscript back and forth like six or seven times. They take more time with your work thus your shit comes out more polished.
B: True.
K: What did you think about Road Dawgz editing?
B: Well, I read all your books nigga and I must admit Road Dawgz is like the best TCP book to date when it comes to editing and story situation.
K: I had an outside editor do Road Dawgz.
B: Ahhh, Yo Kwan you aint above killing off your main characters.
K: I smash shit when I write. Killing off a lead character is like a slap in the face because you get too love the character and then I just dead them. Plus in life there aint always a happy ending…
…Yo readers I could go on and on. We were conversing for about two hours at least. Eventually I just stopped taping and we just continued to vibe. We started talking about the book groupie situation. I’m gonna leave our comments for another date. I’m gonna do an exclusive Literary Hood column on book groupies giving you the inside scoop on how the women show their devotion to their favorite male authors, and on their stalking antics.
I just wanted you to see how focused Kwan is in this little snippet of the interview and you are gonna get the raw synopsis of his soon to be released title Hoodlum in the column’s Words of Art along with Mo Shines Brazen. The Hoodlum cover is bananas! I love covers with just type, it shows a level of class and puts you within the ranks of a Stephen King, Danielle Steele or a Janet Evanovich (obviously I read abroad).
i.b. Concept’s next issue and the next Literary Hood column will have an in-depth interview with bestselling author Mark Anthony. He has his own publishing company Q-boro Books and we’re gonna get the low on what he’s been up to since Paper Chasers and Dogism. Hopefully we will get that interview with KaShamba Williams, both of our schedules are crazy right now and she has like a hundred thousand books out…! But I think we will meet in the middle of the road somewhere between now and the next issue, let’s hope so.
Denise Campbell’s MAN KILLER will get spot light book status in the Words of Art segment next issue and you’ll get a sneak peek at my very own Diamond Dynasty… hurray! Does the name Deborah Smith ring a bell…? Yes, no, well you will know all about her in the next issue of i.b. Concept and she sent me a nice picture of her showing legs… that’s what I’m talking about.
As I end this portion of the column (see it’s so big I can use a word like portion) let me not even begin to inform you people about how horrible this literary business can be at times. Diamond Dynasty should have been on the shelves since January and now it’s scheduled for release in April and it aint even being promoted yet. Guess what boys and girls, ahh you guys are so bright. You guessed it before I could even get it out, that’s right boys and girls… it’s time for me to get my hustle on.
Now like Mr. Rodger’s used to, I grab my sweater and hat, sing the outré of the Please won’t you be my Neighbor song and bounce. That or ask you to get off my block. Aint enough room for all of us here and Kwan’s about to drop Hoodlum soon so all of us had better hustle hard till then. When Kwan opens up even crack cocaine takes a loss.
Uno…
posted by Mr. McCalla | 5:57 AM
2 Comments:
You said a lot of interesting things Sonia, and most of them are correct I'm afraid. But fret not this is the reason why me and Kwan are writing and the reason why I take the alternative route in most of my novels. And aint nobody as street as me, but by the same token, I got a degree and only smoke my blunts during the passover...!
Holla back!!!
Thanks Quana,
I intend to keep it gangsta and hopefully with real and true authors to interview like Kwan, it will only get more insightful and stay honest.
Look out for a few tips from your friendly neighborhood author in regards to the inspiring writer... but be prepared for it to be a bit humorous... this industry is kinda hard to take seriously, trust me...!
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