Monthly Archives: October 2021

Books Out of Africa – BookFest Panel Discussion

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Books Out of Africa Panel screenshot YouTube

Click the image to watch on YouTube

Watch it on YouTube!

Books Out of Africa: Bookish World Tour

The continent that gave birth to humanity delivers some of the most provocative and moving stories in our world. From non-fiction to fiction to poetry, with invigorating and moving perspectives from an array of authors and literary professionals, this panel discussion aims to create connections and stimulate imaginations. Join these literary leaders who tell the tales of the people, the place, and the continent that is Africa.

Dr. Edward Bynum, Ph.D., ABPP, Author of several books including the latest, Our African Unconscious: The Black Origins of Mysticism and Psychology, clinical psychologist, and former director of the behavioral medicine program at the University of Massachusetts Health Services. https://www.innertraditions.com/autho… Paulino Chol, Author of Leading the Lost Boys, the true story of leading 700 boy prisoners in South Sudan to freedom, and PhD student in management and homeland security at Colorado Technical University. https://machfoundation.org/

Gerald Everett Jones, Author of the award-winning Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner and Evan Wycliff Mystery series and host, for the Get Published! Podcast. https://geraldeverettjones.com/

Useni Perkins, American poet, playwright, activist and youth worker, known for his poem “Hey Black Child”, and author of the newly released Kwame Nkrumah’s Midnight Speech for Independence from Just Us Books. https://blackchildjournal.com/

Moderator: Celeste Duckworth, Author, President of Vertikal Life Magazine, and host of A Taste of Ink LIVE Radio Program. https://vertikallifemagazine.com/

The BookFest Web: https://www.TheBookFest.com/ Books That Make You Web: https://www.booksthatmakeyou.com/ FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksThatMak… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/books_that_…

NYC Big Book Awards Harry Harambee Silver in General Fiction

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(October 27, 2021, Santa Monica, CA) The 2021 NYC Big Book Award just recognized Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner by Gerald Everett Jones in the highly competitive category of General Fiction as a Distinguished Favorite. This is the third award Jones has received for that novel, as well as the third he’s received for this literary fiction and two mystery-thrillers in this and prior NYC Big Book competitions.

Will it be politically disruptive? Kenyans vote next year.

Ten awards overall in the last two years include both Winner (Gold) and Distinguished Favorite (Silver) for his Evan Wycliff mysteries in the 2020 NYC Big Book, which accepts entries from not only indie authors and small presses but also the major publishing houses (the “Big Five”). Of his mysteries, the first in the series, Preacher Finds a Corpse, also won an Independent Press Award (IPA) Distinguished Favorite, Best Literary Fiction in the National Association of Book Entrepreneurs (NABE) Pinnacle Awards, and a Finalist Eric Hoffer Award. Preacher Fakes a Miracle won an NYC Big Book Silver in the same year, winning Jones the top two slots in the Mystery category. Previously, Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner was awarded Best Literary Fiction from NABE and Bronze in the Florida Association of Authors and Publishers (FAPA) President’s Awards in Adult Fiction.

Awards in 2020 included an Independent Press Association (IPA) Distinguished Favorite for Clifford’s Spiral in Fiction, as well as Eric Hoffer Finalist in Business for Jones’s nonfiction textbook, How to Lie with Charts.

The NYC Big Book competition is judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers and professional copywriters. Selected award Winners and Distinguished Favorites are based on overall excellence.

Loosely based on Jones’s experiences living in Kenya for two years, Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is the story of Harry Gardner, a lonely widower from Los Angeles, who makes the challenging transition from tourist and passive observer to committed resident. It’s an emotional story of expat intrigue in rapidly developing East Africa, reminiscent of The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene and The Constant Gardener by John le Carré.

Desmond Boi, editorial writer for The Standard newspapers and Citizen TV in Nairobi has gone so far as to suggest that the book could be disruptive – in a positive way – among Kenyans. He writes: “Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is a captivating, witty read that explores the sociopolitical climate in Kenya in an honest way that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. This is a clear and compelling outlook that realistically paints Kenya while exploring glaring issues that are a bane to the country. When Harry decides to stop being a bystander who lets other people decide his fate, it’s noteworthy. This can be equated to Kenyans finally deciding to take responsibility rather than just going with the flow, waiting for decisions that affect their lives to be made for them. And it can be done without selling one’s soul in the process and leave a legacy and a better country worthy of its name.” (Kenyan general elections are slated for August of 2022, and campaigning is already underway.)

2021 was a record year for the NYC Big Book Awards due to the high level of quality and diverse books submitted. Again in 2021, the competition received book submissions worldwide, including great submissions from journalists, well-established authors, small and large press as well as first time indie authors who participated in high numbers. Entries were from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Cities such as Bangalore, Edmonton, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Seattle, Singapore, and Vancouver were representative among the entries. Winners were recognized globally from Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Lebanon, Queensland, and the United States of America.

Among NYC Big Book entries, some awarded books were published by The American Bar Association, Friesen Press, Gatekeeper Press, Greenleaf Book Group, Joggling Board Press, Story Merchant Books, and WildBlue Press. Quality children’s publishers such as Barefoot Books as well as Mango and Marigold press were awarded. Independent presses such as Brill, Goff Books, Koehler Books, Llewellyn Publications, ORO Editions, Routledge Publishers, Rowman & Littlefield, and She Writes Press took both Winner and Distinguished Favorite awards. AuthorHouse, IngramSpark, KindleDirect, and SDP Publishing were among the self-publishing platforms. Lastly, Hachette Books, MacMillan, Penguin Random House were among the large publishers that entered.

“We are elated to highlight these authors’ books, recognize their excellence, and share their achievements.” said awards sponsor Gabrielle Olczak. “We look forward to showcasing these titles to a larger audience.”

Gerald Everett Jones remarked about his win, “I’m pleased to receive this recognition for ‘Harry’s’ story, especially in competition with the Big Five. My small press LaPuerta Books and Media has published all eleven of my novels, and I’m thrilled by the opportunities for self-expression that new media platforms provide. Storytelling is a unifying force among people and cultures, and I urge both writers and readers to stay focused on that bright, hopeful spot.”

Gerald Everett Jones is a freelance writer who lives in Santa Monica, California. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Dramatists Guild, Women’s National Book Association, and Film Independent (FIND), as well as a board member of the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC). He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the College of Letters, Wesleyan University, where he studied under novelists Peter Boynton (Stone Island), F.D. Reeve (The Red Machines), and Jerzy Kosinski (The Painted Bird, Being There). His author website is geraldeverettjones.com, and he hosts the GetPublished! Radio podcast.

Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is published by LaPuerta Books and Media and available in trade paperback and ebook formats from booksellers worldwide, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Books, and Rakuten Kobo.

Third award just announced – NYC Big Book Distinguished Favorite in General Fiction.

Book Review: Silverview by John le Carré

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Silverview is the last novel John le Carré (David Cornwell) completed before his death in December of 2020. It was just released in the US by Viking Penguin. The hardcover edition includes an Afterword by the author’s son Nick Cornwell, who is a writer himself using the name Nick Harkaway.

Silverview, the last spy novel by John Le Carré (Viking Penguin)

As my friends and fans know, I’m a longtime admirer of le Carré, and I believe that, to rate him as “The premier spy novelist of our time. Perhaps of all time” (Time), is an underestimation. In his novels, the spy story is a metaphor and a model for not only the geopolitical strife between nations but also the loyalties and betrayals between human beings – in their most intimate and personal transactions. I’d say William Boyd’s comment in The New Statesman comes closer: “We should see him as our contemporary Dickens.”

Two recurring themes in le Carré are that humans almost always betray their loved ones, and skilled spies (like readers) must be obsessively attentive close observers. By strewing hints, clues, and foreshadowing in narratives rich in dazzling but often extraneous detail, he teaches you not only how spies think but also how to read with critical intelligence, especially between the lines.

I’ll risk asserting that fans of le Carré will find nothing new in Silverview. But consider this a feature and not a flaw. If you’ve read and paid close attention to his other novels, you will be quick to recognize the suspicious cover stories, the simple and seemingly innocent methods of exchanging word codes and documents, and – at the core of all of it – the ways double agents double back on their professed loyalties, at the same time serving and betraying their countries, while twisting their personal lives and loves inside out.

As I say, recognizing these plot elements on first appearance may give you the satisfaction that you’ve aced the course at Sarratt, the Circus spy academy. Perhaps then you are ready to recognize, face up to, and deal with the loyalties and betrayals in your own life. I guarantee you will pay closer attention to what other authors are trying to express.

All this said, it will come as no surprise that I respectfully disagree with Nick Cornwell’s assessment of this book:

“… Silverview does something that no other le Carré novel ever has. It shows a service fragmented: filled with its own political factions, not always kind to those it should cherish, not always very effective or alert, and ultimately not sure, any more, that it can justify itself.”

I beg to differ. The close observer knows that John le Carré has been saying this all along.

Evan Wycliff mystery-thrillers have won five awards including both Gold and Silver in the NYC Big Book awards. The audiobook for the first in the series is available from Audible, iTunes, Google Play, and other distributors worldwide.

Ready to Escape to an African Adventure? (Shared from Article Rich)

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Photo by Gabriella Muttone

This interview appeared recently on Article Rich and covers some of the in-country experiences that inspired the fictional story of my recent novel Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner. In this story, a middle-aged white widower from Los Angeles travels to Kenya. His character arc and challenges proceed from being a tourist and passive observer to a resident who must decide how much he’s willing to commit to his new community.

Click here to read the interview.

And if you can’t travel to Kenya just now, read the book!