Book Tour - Author Ben Burgess Jr
Name :: Benjamin Burgess Jr. Website :: http://www.facebook.com/BenBurgessJr
I am excited to do my first of hopefully a few book tours and today Author Ben Burgess Jr stops by She Reads to talk about his book, what inspires him and he even has a give a way!
Get your copy of Love&Happiness
Author Bio
Ben Burgess Jr is the author of the award winning novels "Monster", "Wounded", the poetry book "Times Have Changed and Life is Strange" and the new novel "Love and Happiness" He is an active performer of spoken word poetry. Ben Burgess Jr uses his love of writing to inspire and influence youths to strive for what they believe in, and to never give up on their dreams. His poetry book "Times Have Changed and Life is Strange" and his novel "Monster" are currently used in schools on the lower east side of Manhattan. Ben Burgess has a BA degree in Business Management, and a MA degree in Educational Leadership. He is the proud father of his daughter Jaelynn and is active in trying to improve urban neighborhoods and communities. facebook.com/BenBurgessJr Twitter: Ben_Burgess_Jr
Author Ben Burgess Jr |
Let's talk with Author Ben Burgess Jr - The Interview
She Reads-Where did you get such rich personality traits for your characters?
Author Ben Burgess, Jr -I love to people watch, and I’m constantly thinking. When I’m developing my characters, I like them to be layered. I don’t want to make perfect characters because no one is perfect. I develop characters that have strengths and flaws because I feel that makes it easier for readers to connect. I put pieces of myself in every character, but I also look at the personality traits of strangers, family, and friends to inspire me for my character development. I like to do research also by interviewing strangers to get different perspectives on topics.
She Reads- Who was your favorite character to write and why?
Author Ben Burgess Jr- My favorite character to write would have to be Karen because she was more of a challenge. To write as a woman when you are a male, is hard. I did a lot of research. I interviewed close to twenty women, asking them all types of questions on marriage and infidelity. It’s a lot of work to develop a female character as a male author, but I loved showing the different layers of her personality.
She Reads-Why did you choose to tell the story in a first person narrative instead of third person?
Author Ben Burgess Jr- Most of my favorite books have been told from the first person narrative, so I adapted that style to my own. I feel that as a reader, first person perspective makes you feel like you are the character. In all of my books, I want readers to understand the characters and relate to them even if they don’t agree with everything they do.
She Reads-While this is still at its heart an urban contemporary romance, did you find it tricky or difficult to stay out of genre stifling stereotypes and story lines to appeal to a broader audience?
Author Ben Burgess Jr.-This by far is my favorite question and here is why:
Being an author for African American/Urban Fiction, I know that the genre has a stigma of only telling stories about crime and violence, but my goal is to show the world that the genre is more than that. I strongly dislike the term “African American/Urban Fiction” because I feel like it makes people believe that only African Americans should read it. My books are for everyone. I write stories that most people can relate to. For me, it wasn’t tricky or difficult to stay away from stereotypical story lines because there is more to African American culture than crime and violence. I hope when everyone (race, and gender) reads my books, they understand that, or at least realize it. I could easily write “hood books”, and while there is nothing wrong with them because those stories need to be told too, my niche is to break the mold and show a different side of the African American genre.
Book Title :: Love and Happiness
So what's it about? :: Karen is cheating on her husband Chris, with not one man, but two. On the outside, her life seems perfect, but on the inside Karen feels neglected. Out of fear of losing Chris and breaking up her family, Karen ends the affairs but when Karen's dirty secrets are revealed,
Karen must decide if she should sacrifice her happiness for her husband's love, and Chris wonders if he should stay with Karen because he still loves her despite her infidelity.
With permission I have been allowed to share her copyrighted work with you on my site. Please contact the author through her website before using any of the work seen here.
Excerpt from Love & Happiness by Ben Burgess
He tugged on my lingerie to take it off. I couldn't hide my smile. His hands hungrily roamed my body.
"Easy, baby. Enjoy what you're looking at."
I felt self-conscious as he groped me because his earlier comment about me looking chunky kept replaying in my mind. We made love.I used a lot of the new ideas I learned to spice things up, but he didn't seem to notice. Chris always has the decency to make sure I cum, but again we ended up having another quickie because he had to wake up early the next morning. He rolled over on his side and went to sleep almost immediately after. I frowned, shook my head and stared at the ceiling. Was it me? Is this how marriage was supposed to be? Had we both gotten too comfortable? I decided I'd start going to the gym and get a personal trainer. I hoped working with a trainer would change me enough that even Chris would have to say something positive about it.I didn't imagine how much it would change me.
© Ben Burgess Jr
TITLE – Love and Happiness
SERIES – N/A
AUTHOR – Ben Burgess Jr.
GENRE – African American Fiction/ Urban Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE – April 24th 2015
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) – 240 Pages
PUBLISHER – Self Published (CreateSpace/IngramSpark)
COVER ARTIST – Leah Friday
Just in case you missed it, my Review of Love & Happiness (caution... its rated R)
THAT'S THE DREAM!!!!
Where can readers purchase your books or content? :: Readers can purchase
my book at these links:
LOVE AND HAPPINESS:
Amazon/Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/pw7bl95
Barnes and Nobles/Nook: http://tinyurl.com/npqgmq4
Google Play Store: http://tinyurl.com/o7dnoa9
Itunes: http://tinyurl.com/odhovan
MONSTER:
Kindle/Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/k4bbypu
Google Play: http://tinyurl.com/p4kt6ms
Nook/Barnes and Nobles: http://tinyurl.com/pkoeout
iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/nq8dxww
WOUNDED:
Kindle/Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/q422o75
Google Play: http://tinyurl.com/q279o7r
NOOK/Barnes and Nobles: http://tinyurl.com/leref9u
iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/m8pun9d
Who are your favorite author (s)? :: Eric Jerome Dickey, Richard Wright, Zane, and Carl Weber
Any words to live by for new writers? :: There will be times when you want to give up. There will be times when people talk bad about your book or sales might be low. Never give up. Believe in yourself and believe in your work. Listen to critiques and push your pride to the side. It doesn't matter how great of a writer you believe you are, you can always improve. There will be those who will not be fans of your writing, but you should never give up. Keep improving and learning your craft.
You can also Follow Author Ben Burgess Jr with these links
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE – http://www.amazon.com/Ben-Burgess-Jr./e/B00BCKZPHK/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
WEBSITE / BLOG – http://www.facebook.com/BenBurgessJr
FACEBOOK – http://www.facebook.com/BenBurgessJr
TWITTER – http://twitter.com/Ben_Burgess_Jr
PINTEREST – http://www.pinterest.com/bennyb15/
SHELFARI – http://www.shelfari.com/books/38888256/Love-and-Happiness
GIVEAWAY PRIZES
(5) Five paperback books to (5) selected winners.
Who says you can't buy Love and Happiness
ITUNES –
GOODREADS –
I love my readers and subscribers so much, so have a little more Love and Happiness
Caution it gets a little adult in this piece
“Don’t go like this,” he pleaded.
“We can’t do this anymore.”
I walked out of the room. I got in my car and cried the entire ride home. When I pulled into the driveway, I dried my eyes and gathered my composure. Chris was sitting in the living room watching the news. I walked up to him and kissed him passionately. I started to take off his clothes.
“Damn babe, what’s got you hot like this?”
“I need you... Now.”
The girls were already in bed, so I fucked him right there in the living room. I needed to be penetrated by Chris. Every stroke felt like I was letting go, releasing the hold and feelings Tyrell and Raheem had on my heart. I kept picturing Tyrell and Raheem instead of Chris. I felt ashamed of myself for thinking of other men when my husband was making love to me. Chris was swelling inside me. I knew he was close. As much as I enjoyed having raw sex with him, we couldn’t risk having more kids. I pulled him out of me, maneuvering myself, so his manhood was directly in front of my face. I palmed his ass and pushed his hips forward taking him in my mouth. I sucked and sucked and sucked. His orgasm spewed into my mouth. I milked his dick and swallowed every drop. I felt guilty; my eyes filled with tears. Chris noticed.
“You okay, babe?”
Chris looked concerned.
“Yeah... It was just so intense.”
“I loved it.”
I forced myself to smile and rushed upstairs to shower. I turned the hot water on until the steam fogged up all of the mirrors. I didn’t want to see myself. I adjusted the water temperature, took off my clothes and stepped inside.
In the shower, I cried until my throat was sore. I felt disgusting. I felt horrible. All the guilt from cheating crashed down on me all at once. I had no one to talk to. I always showed my friends my strength. I never let them see me during troubled times because I tried to portray myself as a strong woman that had her shit together. But I was falling apart at the seams.