No, I haven’t met fellow Girlfriend Carleen Brice in person, but like a lot of readers, I feel like I’ve gotten to know her through her writing; her glorious debut last year, ORANGE MINT & HONEY and I can’t wait to dive in to CHILDREN OF THE WATERS, her second release. Plus, we are friends on Facebook, and somedays it’s like we’re sitting right across from each other drinking Chai Tea as we share life’s little joys (and annoyances.) Welcome, Carleen!

1. If Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be? Oh, it could be a few things: race relations in the 21st century; family secrets revealed; adoption and reconciliation.

2. What was the most fun scene in your book to write? The most difficult? There were several scenes that were very fun to write-involving pot-smoking & purchasing a vibrator (based on a story 2 friends told me–really!). I have a senior-citizen drug dealer in my book who amuses me very much.

The most difficult scene to write involves something that I experienced personally and was very painful so I cried a lot when I wrote it. I don’t want to reveal it here though.

3. Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice? I don’t really have one ritual or one thing that helps. Whatever works at the time. I might listen to a little music or read a bit from a favorite book to get in the mood to write. Coffee and chocolate always help. But it varies by day and with the material I’m working with that day. I do believe in writing walks. If I’m stuck, going for a walk (with pen & notebook) can be really helpful. And even if I’m not stuck, as I walk, I tell myself the story over and over and it helps me get at what’s going on.

4. What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write? I have a desktop Mac now, but I’ve been a PC girl my whole life, and still have a PC netbook, so I’m bilingual. I also keep a notebook/journal for every novel I’m writing, but I inevitably also end up writing on scraps of paper and sticky notes! Couldn’t write a book without sticky notes!

5. Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it? I’ve been lucky to have a few of them. I’ve been recognized in public before (at a restaurant, in the grocery store, on a walk in my neighborhood), which is hysterical. A recent rock star moment was going to visit a local book club and hearing the room full of women scream when I rang the doorbell. I really thought maybe they were expecting a stripper or something! But no, just me.

6. What do you do to celebrate your writing successes? I usually buy myself a little sumthin sumthin or take myself out for a meal (which may be McDonald’s if I’m in need of junk food, which I don’t often eat).

7. Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud. Inquisitive, steadfast, generous, fretful and quick.

Author bio
Carleen Brice’s debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey, was an Essence “Recommended Read” and a Target “Bookmarked Breakout Book.” For this book, she won the 2009 First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the 2008 Break Out Author Award at the African American Literary Awards Show. Orange Mint and Honey was optioned by Lifetime Movie Network.

Her second novel, Children of the Waters (One World/Ballantine), a book about race, love and family, just came out at the end of June. Booklist Online called it “a compelling read, difficult to put down.” Essence says, “Brice has a new hit.” You can read an excerpt at her website www.carleenbrice.com.

She is at work on her third novel, Calling Every Good Wish Home, and she maintains the blog “White Readers Meet Black Authors” www.welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com.

Publicity Contact: Lisa Barnes
212/572-2014; lbarnes@randomhouse.com
Trade
Paperback
Original

From Bestselling author Carleen Brice
Children of the Waters

CHILDREN OF THE WATERS (A One World Trade Paperback Original; On Sale: June 23, 2009) by Carleen Brice—author of the #1 Denver Post bestseller and Essence Book Club Pick Orange Mint and Honey—explores the connection between love and race, and what it really means to be family.

Brice’s compelling, eagerly anticipated new novel CHILDREN OF THE WATERS strikes deep emotional chords and poses the intriguing question: Can two strangers become sisters?

Trish Taylor’s white ancestry never got in the way of her love for her black ex-husband, or their mixed race son, Will. But when Trish’s marriage ends, she returns to her family’s Denver, Colorado home to find a sense of identity and connect to her past.

What she finds there shocks her to the very core: her mother and newborn sister were not killed in a car crash as she was told. In fact, her baby sister, Billie Cousins, is now a grown woman; her grandparents had put her up for adoption, unwilling to raise the child of a black man. Billie, who had no idea she was adopted, wants nothing to do with Trish until a tragedy in Billie’s own family forces her to lean on her surprisingly supportive and sympathetic sister. Together they unravel the age-old layers of secrets and resentments and navigate a path toward love, healing, and true reconciliation..

Essence wrote that Orange Mint and Honey “will have you hooked from page one”—and so will Brice’s latest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carleen Brice is author of the novel Orange Mint and Honey and Lead Me Home: An African American’s Guide Through the Grief Journey. She is also editor of the anthology Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife. Her book Walk Tall: Affirmations for People of Color sold over 100,000 copies. She lives in Denver with her husband and two cats where she writes, gardens, and blogs about writing and gardening. Please visit her through her website, www.carleenbrice.com.

CHILDREN OF THE WATERS
By Carleen Brice
A One World Trade Paperback Original; On Sale: June 23, 2009
978-0-345-49907-3; $14.00; 224 pp

Get it on Amazon or at your favorite book retailer.

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