Man, selling stories from scratch is definitely a challenge. Untested, unknown, unproven, lots of un’s come to mind when you’re an amateur unpublished author. So, yeah – been writing for a number of years, polished my craft, studied in class. My mind is obviously full of tales, been swimming around formulating since my single digits. I published my own artist/writing mag with a group of friends called WBIZ (for The Biz) way back in junior high. I posted in high school and college publications. I wrote for daily’s in my neighborhood. Inspirations for stories may come from the most oddball of locations, the challenge is to build on that spark.
True, a mystery typewriter did show up on my mother’s porch way back in the 1990’s while in college. I ran with it, I made it happen. I started writing my hearts content on that old machine, graduated to an early Macintosh, kept it moving.
My early inspiration was always, ‘let’s make a movie’. Most of my manuscripts started as screenplays. I studied film briefly in college but couldn’t match their grad-point average of a B or above. I love film, my passion still is to complete one no matter the obstacle. So, most of my manuscripts are also screenplays, hint hint; producers take note. My passion lies in the writing but I do have video and editing skills. With a bit of investment we can make an indie.
Road Kill began early in 1995 when I was just in my 20’s myself. Urban gangsta fiction as we know it today was just in it’s infancy. I was more influenced by Spike Lee, F. Gary Gray, New Jack City, Boyz N the Hood, Menace to Society. Another huge influence was the great American road trip full of mayhem films such as Thelma and Louise, Natural Born Killers, Freeway and a lil’ nod to Quentin Tarantino. I read a great book called Makes Me Wanna Holla by Nathan McCall and also Malcolm X by Alex Haley. My principals Rashon and Jaymon are by products of 90’s influences, coming of age, personal experiences.
Music is always a great influence in all of my writing, moving eloquently as the complexities of jazz and the snap of hip-hop. Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gangstarr, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Beastie Boys, EPMD, Nice & Smooth, Outkast, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eminem, Nas, Mos Def, The Roots, Heavy D and the Boyz, Notorious Big, Bob Marley, Chaka Demus, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton, the great R&B groups of yore are the pulse of my craft. The subtitle Pathfinder (the ying to the yang of Road Kill) is itself inspired by the lyrics from a good friend of mine’s opus called the one and the same. Bahiy Shabazz and his band the Kommandoz with Organic Groove Continuum rocked hip-hop funk eloquently in the late 90’s early 2000’s in Southwest Ohio. An updated version of Pathfinder is currently being found for a video marketing tool for Road Kill. Kommandoz was an awesome group and experience and needs to be discovered by the world!
I wrote many, many drafts, had different titles such as Blue Zigzags, By the Time I get to Arizona, the Road. My writing grew tremendously, from amateurish to polished. I started my family drama Eat@Zeke’s on deck to be published next, seen in installments on Wattpad and Readwave.com. I have several screenplays I’m shopping such as the comedy ‘Keep Calm’ and horror/action ‘Blur’ seen on film sites Stage32, Juntobox and Triggerstreet.com. I’m also shopping several television screenplays such as ‘The Doc is In’ and reality show ‘Man Up’. All of my links can be found on my page on https://about.me/christopher.j88. Trust, I have many styles upon styles of genres.
I wrote so much my partners AMB aka Aija Monique and Shaunta Kennerly Presents said Road Kill was way too long, now it’s a series. Road Kill (Pathfinder Vol#) is out officially, finally on Amazon.com and coming soon to Barnes and Noble and Books a Million. Hopefully also to a book store near you. Right now, Spring 2015 it’s $1.99 for the Kindle and of course $0 for the Kindle Unlimited. Paperback is $6.99.
Having a book finally published is a dream come true, I want to hold the actual paperback in my hand like one of my children when they were newborn. It’s all my fantasy and hard work wrapped up in a present to the world. I don’t know if I’ll ever be as huge as say Alex Haley or Stephanie Meyers. I would love to be even halfway there – I always admired an old neighbor of mine from the great utopia of Yellow Springs, Virginia Hamilton. She started early but had an outstanding career, who knows, I may get there. I desire a steady fanbase but also scares the crap out of me.
I love the indie book culture the internet has birthed, met a lot of fine folks on here all pursuing similar dreams, some successfully, some not. Huge shout outs to authors Sidda Lee Rain, Layne Weiss, Faboila Joseph, Brittni Hill, Chet Robinson, Errol Wright, Valerie Coleman, Katrina Kittle and the many others I’ve connected with out here doing the damn thing. Least we doing it. We all only have one shot, why not go for it? Buy mine I buy yours lol. Let’s go!
If you’ve stumbled on my fresh Road Kill and it looks intriguing, please give it a whirl, buy and tell a friend, actually buy several for your friends! Reviews good or bad welcome! I have children who need college funding and I want to make more books! Support your starving artists! Love and appreciate you guys and keep reading! BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY 😀
I PRESENT TO YOU: ROAD KILL (Pathfinder #1)
Estranged brothers, forced to flee together w/only quarter of gas, chips & a bag of weed. Destination; to grow up.
Warning** Road Kill is a rated R ‘street urban drama’ so it’s not suitable for innocent readers. I wrote it as realistically as possible for the audience but all in all the strength is in the story!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XQQYLSC
Often times it’s not enough to be just us
We is the new I
We pimp dark shades, just to see;
The justice. (Tagline)
Tragedy has the unmistakable task of finding you at your most vulnerable moment.
Two adolescent brothers’ lives are forever shattered by the untimely murder of their beloved mother at the hands of their disgruntled father who had accused her of an affair.
Fate takes the brothers on two separate, distinctive paths, forever shaping them to who they are as young men. When their paths rejoins thirteen years later, Rashon Turner is now a city dweller while Jaymon Turner lives a small town life, inspired in part by Aesop’s tale of City Mouse, Country Mouse.
Rashon is classified as an urban statistic, a young streetwise deviant, black and dangerous, ex-con on the run searching for some type of solstice.
Jaymon, once promising; is a silent statistic, an atypical lackadaisical youth lost and confused, disaffected “baby boy” attempting to find his path in life.
Two separate; but life-changing parallel accidents crashes both of their lives right back in tandem with catastrophic results.
Pushed by the law and dark forces wanting to crush their very existence, fate once again pushes two desperate young men on a bumpy but exciting new path to clear their names and find deeper meaning in their lives.
FIRST IN A FOUR PART SERIES.
