Sydney Pollack.

Have you ever felt great affection for a person you don’t know personally? I adore Sydney Pollack. Whenever I saw his name on a screen in a movie theater, I believed we were in good hands. He passed away yesterday at his home in Los Angeles.

I wanted to list every movie he’s been involved with, but there are just too many, so I’ll list the movies I believe are worth taking the time to watch again (or for the first time). A comprehensive list is available at The Internet Movie Database.

My favorites are starred. My absolute favorites, the movies I could watch over and over again, are bolded.

This Property is Condemned 1966 (director)
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? 1969 (director)
**The Way We Were 1973 (director)
**Three Days of the Condor 1975 (director)
*The Electric Horseman 1979 (director, actor)
**Absence of Malice 1981 (director, producer)
Tootsie 1982 (director, producer, actor)
*Out of Africa 1985 (director, producer)
*White Palace 1990 (producer)
**Husbands and Wives 1992 (actor)
*Death Becomes Her 1992 (actor)
*The Player 1992 (actor)
The Firm 1993 (director)
Sabrina 1995 (director, producer)
**Sense & Sensibility 1995 (producer)
A Civil Action 1998 (actor)
The Talented Mr. Ripley 1999 (producer)
Eyes Wide Shut 1999 (actor)
Changing Lanes 2002 (actor)
The Interpreter 2005 (director, producer, actor)
**Michael Clayton 2007 (producer, actor)

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Publication Day!

Today is the official pub date for my third novel, Whiskey Road: A Love Story. The book has actually been on the shelves at Barnes & Noble since Saturday. I signed some copies at the store on 68th Street and Broadway in New York City with help from a very nice store clerk named Michael.

I don’t have any appearances scheduled before the publishing panel at Bryant Park in June, but I’ll keep this space updated if anything changes.

As always, you can purchase Whiskey Road at Amazon.com, or any other online store like Barnes & Noble or Books-a-Million, if you can’t find a copy at your local bookstore. But it’s also cool if you ask a clerk for the book, because it puts it on their radar and maybe they’ll order a few!

Thanks for your support.

Whiskey Road Playlist.

My background in film production comes into play when I write novels. I visualize a lot of scenes to music and my books tend to unfold like movies in my brain.

If Whiskey Road: A Love Story was a movie, this would be its soundtrack:

Hurt – Johnny Cash
American Girl – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
How Soon is Now – The Smiths
Fade Into You – Mazzy Star
The Living – Natalie Merchant
Into Dust – Mazzy Star
A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
Effigy – Natalie Merchant
Blood Red River – Beth Orton
Devil Song – Beth Orton
The First Time Ever I saw Your Face – Roberta Flack
Consummation – Nina Simone
I Hung My Head – Johnny Cash
I See A Darkness – Johnny Cash
Fire & Roses – Mimi
Run Baby Run – Sheryl Crow
Hold Back the Night – Sinead O’ Connor
Don’t Give Up On Me – Solomon Burke
I Shall Believe – Sheryl Crow
*Bold As Love – Jimi Hendrix

*Bold As Love was the original title of the novel.

The songs are in a kind of order that makes sense to me. For instance, when Caleb stops for Jimi at the side of the road in Darby (chapter 2), it happens to Mazzy Star’s Fade into You. And there’s totally a sex scene that plays out to Nina Simone’s Consummation. (Because what’s a love story without a bit of melodrama?)

There are other songs I associate with Whiskey Road that don’t really fit into the order of the book:

Breathe – Anna Nalick
Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix
The Stranger Song – Leonard Cohen
Pass in Time – Beth Orton
No Need to Argue – The Cranberries
The Judgment – Solomon Burke
If It Be Your Will – Jann Arden
Foolish Games – Jewel

So Whiskey Road: A Love Story is officially in stores Tuesday! Part of me can’t believe the official pub date is already here. Another part of me can’t believe it’s been 3 years since we sold this baby. A lot has changed, and at the same time not so much.

It’s already available at Amazon.com.

Today’s Black Woman

There’s an interview with me in the June issue of Today’s Black Woman. I haven’t seen it yet. Hope to find a copy over the weekend.