What has become of you pursuit to find out Penguin publisher position on Millenia’s lawsuit over “The Great Pretender”?

I understand that more things have been happening and brakes in the saga.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Temporary Absence
Due to certain imperatives, I’ve temporarily hidden the post and subsequent comments on the Jim Crow state of publishing. I will be away for the next two or so weeks and will respond to all the inquiries and requests for interviews upon my return. I’ll be at liberty to share more information at that time.

I want to thank everyone for their support during this painful and trying fight for fair and equitable treatment. Thank you so very much! More later.

Millenia Black ’s post is gone.

Isnt that interesting?

Good stance hon., that’s it.
Together we stand, and we all know what happens to the contrary.

But there’re some people who need a little instruction on how to operate themselves, if you will.

Below are some food for thought.

Indeed we all must realize the value of the power of “language”. For believe it or not, when someone begins fashioning a more efficient and effective way of speaking, people automatically take note of it.

Racism reigns for this long primarily because folks lacks position of proper linguistic rhetoric and mode of conduct. Do you believe that? Its true.

So having an issue such as racism against any race at all, White or Black, calls for particularly the most effective linguistic delivery to disgrace the perpetrators and thereby bring about access to liberty everyone is entitled to enjoy.

Talking trash even jokingly, but more specifically in solemn occasion as in this subject matter, this do seriously harm the chance for which to deliver needed change.

Good spoken representation and sage conduct is the tool that’s reliable enough to get the job done regardless of the resistance.

Trust Mi, for I’m a global philosopher, I do understand the chemical secret workings of when we communicate. And there’s a vast difference between when you “hit it or you mist it”.

It seems like many of us do recognized and well appreciate Millenia’s sense of articulation. I can tell that by reading her novel “The Great Pretender” that she’s mentally adroit and skilled, very decisive. She seem to exercise her ferocity of pursuits with some kind of subtle MO. That’s very powerful, allot of linguistic mystique is at work here.

What I’m driving at is this; it has to take something extraordinary in talent to embolden someone of Ms. Black’s status to get up single-handedly to lead the fight of racial cause with Mount Everest standing there…like David against Goliath. Of course David’s big brothers et al just stood by while he slay Goliath. But they all celebrated the victory. We can’t just stand by like some are attempting to do.

I affirm that it behooves both Whites and Blacks to speak decisively, effectively and scholarly in solidarity against the shamefulness of racism, and loathed it with high emphasis.

Millenia Black is undoubtedly doing the hardest part, like being on the frontline– so instead of one being critical in speech, just put that energy to renounce the dam injustice affecting them while trying to shoot down the wrong target. Racism will never go away doing that kind of a thing.

Hey, good judgment and accurate distinction are vital for our living, especially for fighting any battle.

I’m sure Millenia Black will win with Whites and Blacks supporting this noble cause, I see the support is building on several fronts. It must not stop, that’s until we’ve made and are satisfied with substantial progress.

So, is any more fool left out there? I really believe that the national medias will soon pick this up and run with it, its too relevant and seriously important to all of us. Then many will say: I knew this was a damn serious thing.

Tess Gerritsen is Chinese, but there’s no Asian packaging of her mysteries. More recently, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Lifel” by Kaavya Viswanathan has been marketed as mainstream ya-chicklit, not east indian fiction.

The central issue that only the courts can resolve is if NAL (or any publisher really) can use race to make lawful niche marketing decisions or if such use of race is discriminatory in the treatment of certain classes of authors from others. That’s the bottom line.

I can almost see a niche publisher or imprint argue such a case successfully because the guidlines require black/gay/christrian/ whatever only books and authors know better than to try and subvert the restrictions. NAL isn’t such a publisher nor has such an imprint.

“Millenia Black self-published her first book, The Great Pretender, in 2002. Her “press” file lists only quotes from Harriet Klausner and the Midwest Book Review. No prepubs like Kirkus, PW, Booklist, or Library Journal and no newspapers or ejournals like Bookreporter and Bookloons.”

NOT SURE WHAT YOUR POINT IS WITH THIS. PW, ETC. AREN’T KNOW FOR REVIEWING SELF PUBLISHED BOOKS…AND OBVIOUSLY IT DID WELL ENOUGH AS SELF-PUBBED TO ATTRACT NAL’S ATTENTION….BUT THAT’S ALL BESIDES THE POINT.

What if NAL picked up the book because the author is black and they were trying to get in on the “hot” category of AA romance/erotic fiction? Is it still racism for them to say that don’t want her second book unless she has black characters?

IF THEY DID ANYTHING BECAUSE THE AUTHOR IS BLACK—THEY’RE IN VIOLATION OF THE LAW. YES, IT’S RACISM, THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE TO ASK SHOWS YOU UP, BIG TIME……..I TOOK THE LIBERTY OF READING THE EXCERPT OF GREAT PRETENDER AT AMAZON, NOTHING IN THE STORY TO THAT POINT THAT SAYS “AFRICAN AMERICAN FICTION”.

I don’t have the answers, but I think it’s strange that dozensof bloggers are jumping on this story without reading any of Millenia Black’s work.

IT’S INTERESTING YOU THINK IT’S STRANGE. A PERSON MAY BE BEING SUBJECTED TO RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND YOU THINK IT’S STRANGE PEOPLE ARE RALLYING IN OUTRAGE AND QUIT TO DECRY IT IF IT’S INDEED TRUE. TSK, TSK.

I can’t wait to see how this plays out. As I said on my blog, I think the outcome of this, whatever it may be, will have a collossal impact on the industry going forward.

Maybe one place to start with judging Ms. Black’s credibility is found in her first book “The Great Pretender” at the back: A CONVERSATION WITH MILLENIA BLACK.

on this page, from the third question comes a query of what she has learned through writing her book and becoming a published author. I think her answer to that question is enlightening as to what we’re hearing as rumors today.

Well, shall we assume she started rumors in her book that the publisher calssified AA and put in marketing? Doesn’t seems right to me.

“The Great Pretender” is darn good attractive family story worthwhile reading, and it may appear that this book given time would gets around pretty much on its own.

Dased on points we’re able to see, it seems rather unlikely that this story is just nothing but a contrivance.

I’d suggest that wherever there is real smoke, you should clear away the ashes. Why? There’s at least one coal of fire there.

You know, everybody both Whites and Blacks should be out- raged over this issue. At least for the sake of civility. Really, we should have past the dump site eons of years ago, more belest to be here struggling with the aberrations of racial chavinism and religatng of others in 2006.

I think we’ll find out the truth in the near future. This kind of nasty racial conduct must stop today, and that’s how I feel about it, damn it.

“I didn’t mean to be offensive. I was just curious. I wanted to know whether she was a black writer,” Akbar says. “If she was offended by it, maybe there’s something deeper that needs to be looked at.”