Thursday, August 28, 2014

Interview with urban fiction author Zangba Thomson

Please welcome Zangba Thomson to Reviews and Interviews today. He’s here to chat about writing, and in particular, his new novel, an urban fiction, urban fantasy, action adventure titled Three Black Boys.

During his virtual book tour, Zangba will be awarding a print copy of Three Black Boys: Tomorrow After Supper or a Bong Mines Clothing T-shirt (winner's choice) to a randomly drawn winner (US ONLY). To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other blog tour stops and enter there, too!


Bio:
Zangba Thomson is the Creative Director at BME LLC, the author of Three Black Boys: Tomorrow After Supper, co-author of Do Right Do Good (a self-help guide book towards vision fulfillment and entrepreneurship), a recording artist, and New York Life Coach Examiner. Zangba balances his career and family time on the scale of hard work and dedication, and his main areas of focus include his real life experiences, metaphysics, and spirituality. Zangba's work reinforces the basic idea that goals are fulfilled when right decisions are made.

Welcome Zangba. Please tell us about your current release.
Three Black Boys: Tomorrow After Supper is basically a heartfelt novel about three teenage boys and their adult co-stars. Out of goodwill, the boys spring into dangerous action to obtain financial aid for an Indian immigrant—a near-death woman who has only a month to live. The woman doesn’t have any health insurance, and she is in desperate need of a liver transplant. So, with valuable time ticking away, the three boys go on a dangerous mission to obtain the quarter of a million dollars needed for the woman’s surgery, but subsequently, little do they know that they will encounter huge obstacles and experience more than they have ever experienced before.

What inspired you to write this book?
Three Black Boys originally started as a Hip-Hop song that I recorded at Straight Live Studios, in Queens, NY. People who heard the record were always asking me, "What's the story behind the boys’ robbery attempt?" And at that time—I didn’t know why. One day I just decided to write and record a song about three black boys robbing a grocery store. But that’s the wonderful thing about creativity, we as creators are never trapped, and we have the power to add or take away from any thing that we have created. So to make a long story short—I answered their intriguing question when I adapted the three-minute-song into the short story—Three Black Boys: The Authorized Version, which later evolved into the novel—Three Black Boys: Tomorrow After Supper. It wasn’t easy adapting a hip-hop song into a full-length novel, because if you really think about it—my starting point would most likely be the ending scene in most writers’ stories. Even Kirkus, who did the review for Three Black Boys: The Authorized Version, was impressed that I was able to write my way out of a bad situation—and they wrote, “But Thomson amazingly manages to tack on a happy ending after the unbridled bloodshed!” If that’s not inspiring—I don’t know what is.

Excerpt:
Ego, a creative God, sees the gardeners’ departure as an opportunity to do his dirty work. He wind surfs down below the clouds and lands between two rows of cosmic trees. He walks on dried leaves while reading the names of the cosmic trees as he passes by them. “At last,” he says with a giant smile, after finding what he is looking for, “the Melatonin cosmic tree. The main ingredient I need to permanently destroy their human creation.” Out the corner of his eye, he sees a fountain flowing with miracle water. Unable to resist the temptation, he makes his way over to the fountain, and drinks enough water to satisfy his thirst. “Damn, this is good water,” he says before pulling out a small metallic container from his waistband. He fills the container with miracle water, closes the lid, and inserts the container back inside his waistband. He walks back over to the Melatonin cosmic tree and tries to uproot it, but his efforts are in vain. He closes his eyes to mediate, and a short while later, the color of his aura changes from light gray to dark red. Now, much more powerful than before, he tries again to uproot the cosmic tree and succeeds.

Suddenly, the sky becomes dim and darkness covers the fourth dimensional sun. The moon ascends up to its highest peak, but instead of its normal glow, it shines a black fluorescent ray of light. The ground shakes thunderously, and steam erupts from an underground lake.


What exciting story are you working on next?
I am co-authoring an exciting new relationship guidebook (with five other authors) entitled Single Man Married Man, which will explore the psyche of single, married and divorce men about their views on the state of men and women relationships. It’s gonna be wonderful because from what I’m hearing—a lot of women are anticipating the release of Single Man Married Man, which should be released… sometime this year. I look at it like this—whenever you get a chance to do an interactive project dealing with men and women’s relationship issues—the outcome and response will always be great, especially if the advices given within the book are genuine. There are many single, engaged and married women out there—women who are having relationship problems, and those who are looking for a man but they just don’t know how to obtain Mr. Right. Well, ladies, look no further—the advices written in Single Man Married Man will get you a man or keep you in the arms of your dream man. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
At an early age, I would say around 10 or 11, I use to draw a lot and write poetry. And going into my teenage years—when Hip-Hop was on the rise, I took a very special liking to the music of Boogie Down Production, a Hip-Hop group that was originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. KRS-One’s lyrical ability impressed me so much that I started writing my own rap lyrics, which eventually evolved into songs. And shortly after that, a rapper named Kool G Rap rhymed about a Street Lit author named Donald Goines—who in my humble opinion is one of the greatest storytellers in literary fiction, and after reading my first Donald Goines’ book—which was Black Gangster, a whole new literary world opened up to me, and I knew from that point on moving forward—I wanted to become a professional writer, and ever since then—I’ve been honing my craft.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your workday like?
Yes, I am a full time writer, and my production/publishing company—Bong Mines Entertainment LLC keeps me extremely busy with various writing projects. Also, I run and operate my own clothing line—Bong Mines Clothing Company, which is a subsidiary of BME LLC, and additionally—I contribute motivationally inspired evergreen articles and Q&A interview assignments for Examiner.com/AXS Network and WordOnDaStreet.com; and somewhere in the near future—I plan on branching off and expanding into writing feature films and TV Dramas.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
When I am writing a book, I kinda use the same rhythm and beat formula that I would use when writing a song. First I develop the soul of the story, which is the main ingredient; and then I establish the rhythm or melody; the hook is elusively placed in the plot, and oftentimes I find myself using rhyming words to construct sentences, and while I’m writing—I’m also putting together a musical soundtrack in my mind. It’s quite interesting and different, but through song—I can dictate the story’s mood or emotion and naturally anticipate what scene I should write next.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Growing up, I wanted to be a songwriter, so I wrote everywhere I went, and when I ran out of paper—I wrote my lyrical ideas down on anything I could find or get my hands on. Writing rhymes was my hobby before I even knew what I wanted to become.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Yes, please visit my official website at www.zangbathomson.com; support Three Black Boys: Tomorrow After Supper—and all my other products, and subscribe to receive my articles in your inbox. It’s been a pleasure, and I want to give a special shout out to Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews—for hosting this wonderful event, and also I want to give thanks to Goddess Fish Promotions—for organizing this magnificent “Virtual Name Before the Masses Tour” for Three Black Boys: Tomorrow After Supper. (PEACE) and always remember that (P) Positive, (E) Energy, (A) Always, (C) Creates, (E) Elevation.

Links:

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Thank you, Zangba!

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2 comments:

Bong Mines Entertainment said...

Thanks for hosting this wonderful event - Peace & Love!

bn100 said...

Interesting info