CHANCE: A Legal Thriller

CHANCE: A Legal Thriller

This book is in the Hot New Releases TOP 20 on Amazon!

Death does not offend me, and violence does not surprise me. 

Book Description:

A young, hot-shot Florida lawyer with a gambling problem takes on a case to defend a Sudanese man who is accused of killing a doctor complicit in a church massacre in his homeland.

Meet the Authors!

Jamie Mason Cohen is a high school teacher who once worked for Saturday Night Live creator, Lorne Michaels’ in New York City.

He is the author of LIVE FROM YOUR CLASS, Everything I Learned about Teaching, I Learned from Working at Saturday Night Live. He is a TEDx Speaker and the Winner of the TED-Huff Post International Teaching award, “The SOLE Challenge.” He lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife and two children.

Jimmy Gary Jr. is a WVU alumni and actor who plays CO Felix Rikerson on the Netflix series, “Orange is the New Black.”

He is a strong supporter of “Green Hope,” services for women who are released from Rikerson Island prison and battling substance abuse. He lives in New York with his wife and four daughters.

Excerpt: CHANCE: A Legal Thriller (Kindle Locations 92-99).

The monk took a breath and gazed into the eyes of the detective. His steady nature and even face gave nothing away. “To ignore death is to live your life without ever looking forward and to ignore the preciousness of the moment,” Tenzin remarked. “. Death does not offend me, and violence does not surprise me. A man is dead, and there is nothing to be done but to learn from this event.”

“Did you learn something?” Grant wondered aloud.

“It was a clear and stark reminder that no one is guaranteed the amount of life they wish,” he answered, peering over the detective’s shoulder at the crime scene. “However, it was also a reminder that the impact you make today may be the last one you make.”

Grant tapped his pen on the pad, unsure of what to write. “We have your number,” he finally decided.

CHANCE: A Legal Thriller

Young Loc’s On The Westside

UK USA CDN AU

Those of us who grew up on the West side of Los Angeles, during the 80's crack era, can relate to this compelling hood story. Ali Shabbazz's raw and rugged writing style, keeps the reader enthralled with its clever euphemisms and street savvy lingo. A must read that will not disappoint. ~ Review by karen smih

From the Press Release – Intended for an adult audience.

Cult California Author's Work Now Back in Print in New Expanded Edition, as “Young Loc's On The Westside” Arrives On Amazon.com

The writings of The Legendary Experience have been favored by readers of urban literature for years, and have been republished after experiencing cult appeal in the 1980's and 1990's.

LA, CA, January 27, 2015 – Certain African-American authors have managed to stand out in the publishing world and capture the voice of a generation. Among these authors are literary stars like Donald Goines, Richard Wright, Iceberg Slim, and now, The Legendary Experience. This street author has been captivating both young and old with an authentic Los Angeles voice for over 20 years.

In the late 1990's, readers passed worn copies of his limited-run paperbacks to friends, family, and cellmates, and now these beloved stories are back. The first, Young Loc's On the Westside, captures the inner world of a cold and vicious street gang, and was written at the height of the Los Angeles gang phenomenon.

Readers couldn't get enough of The Legendary’ s Experience's words, and can now enjoy them once again, as Young Loc's on the Westside will take them back to the 1980's era on the streets of Los Angeles, when crack was king. It's the author's very skill at evoking that sordid and intense time that gave him the name “The Legendary Experience.”

Young Loc's On the Westside features the story of kids that live on the Westside of the city, and lived outside the stereotype of other gangbangers in the city. Instead of bandanas, these gangsters wear preppy brands, but brandish cold steel. “I wrote Young Loc's On the Westside for straight-up shock value. America has a sick fascination with sex, money and murder”.

I decided to take readers on a journey down this path filled with lustful innuendos and let them experience it in a gritty visceral way. I'm going to give it to them uncut, raw, and straight with no chaser. That fantasy has now been changed into a very sexy and gritty reality,” says Legendary.

Young Loc's On the Westside is now available in paperback on Amazon.com and Overtheedgebooks.com it will soon be followed up the other books in the series.

The author has several books to his name, including Moral Dilemma, Dubie the Hustler, A Hip-Hop Love Story, and Water the Bush, and lists Sidney Sheldon as one of his literary influences, alongside Sister Souljah, Goines, and Richard Beck. When he's not writing, he's volunteering his time as Director of Operations for Go beyond the G.A.M.E. Student Athlete Mentoring Program.

 

Young Loc's On the Westside

UK USA CDN AU

Urban Removal: Westside Chicago is an excellent play

UK USA CDN AU

Reviewed by Opal Freeman from Windy City Reviews

Urban Removal: Westside Chicago is an excellent play written about the facts and figures of Westside Chicago. Using a historical platform, John Robert Bland creatively connects the elements of Chicago’s history, people, events, music, and education into an engaging and fun experience. The succession of each scene in the play captures the reader’s attention and embraces the views and values of long-time residents as they share individual life experiences of the neighborhood and surrounding communities.

Bland’s five characters are a unique blend of people who respect and admire each other a great deal. Their daily meeting place, a local bus shelter, provides an environment where the characters are able to have an open forum about any and every subject. The various conversations are filled with passion and pride, and they provide the reader a non-traditional education of the community where the characters live. In discussing the economic, demographic, and financial challenges of their neighborhood, this group of characters is able to provide solutions to matters that touch their hearts and sustain themselves with a spirit of survival.

John Robert Bland has written a play that allows the reader and audience to not only reflect on decades of the rise and fall of Westside Chicago, but he also confirms, through the creation of the play, the existence of humankind and community spirit. Thanks for the history. I really enjoyed the play.

See previous posting for more about: Urban Removal

UK USA CDN AU

Urban Removal

UK USA CDN AU

“It's interesting how you have these very lively and charismatic characters congregate at a bus stop talking 'barbershop trash'. But in fact they're very bright by the very nature of their well grounded and insightful commentary on the state of world affairs.” Dr. Roland Jefferson - Psychiatrist and Author

Book Description:

Urban Removal is an engaging play based on the degrading life on the Westside of Chicago, a place where both population and communities have gradually but surely disappeared to be replaced with a different demographic and upscale real estate.

Meanwhile, long time residents and survivors Can Man, the colorful self-anointed neighborhood mayor; Ili, the entrepreneur; Fenny, the commonsense blind guitarist; god fearing Alberta, and young Jamal join wits at a daily ritual bus stop corner encounter to discuss the neighborhood’s events and problems of the world.

This work is good story telling based on both fact and fiction.

“It goes a step beyond "The Help." in that it is contemporary and universal.” Doug Casement - UIC Project Upward Bound English Teacher

Author: John Robert Bland

MUP, city planner, playwright, songwriter, and poet.

Excerpt (written in a play format and so this is a line from character Can Man)

Can Man
But let me tell you something. This here drugs they got on the streets ain’t like reefer. This is the knockout punch and it will destroy all of us whether you use it or not. You gonna lose your children, your house, your money, and your mind. You better listen to me.

*****

“Thanks for the journey back to our youth because this is the only way we will have to remember it since the neighborhood and soon our old high school will be no more, so the written and spoken word is the vehicle we will use to pass our legacies on and though you can remove the buildings they will never be able to touch the memories of those times.” Ernest Pettis - Chicago's Crane High School Basketball Standout

Urban Removal

UK USA CDN AU