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Join me in welcoming author Nikkie Coe. Nikki Coe
began writing as a hobby. Employed by the USPS for nearly twenty
years in several different capacities and locations, Nikki Coe is
an expert on the postal experience. An avid reader, Nikki is
familiar with the types of literary works that appeal most to women
and she writes to that appeal.
Nikki
has created characters that people talk about; characters that
endear and emotionally involve the reader. Her characters
experience common problems that are solved in unorthodox ways.
Visit her website at: www.nikkicoe.com.
Please read the
interview below and consider giving this book as a gift this
holiday season. Are you a bookclub, think about making this a
book-of-the-month!
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| Great Gifts! |
BPM: Introduce us to your latest book Rain, Snow, Sleet or
Hail.
What's really going on at the Post Office? The main characters in
Postal Blues meet at a safety briefing and form an unlikely
friendship that working together night after night reinforces.
Bailey Jenkins, Lisa Johnson, Tonya Elson and Jackson Andies, take
the reader on an amusing trip thru the United States Postal Service
as they deal with irritating co-workers, inept management and
postal violence. In their private lives, newly found love, single
parenting, an adoption gone wrong and broken hearts keeps the
reader turning the pages.
There are no secrets
in the post office. Yes there is, and Lisa, Tonya and Jackson guard
Bailey's at all cost. The sequel to POSTAL BLUES, RAIN, SNOW, SLEET
OR HAIL takes over where Postal Blues leaves off while remaining a
stand-alone book in its own right.
RAIN, depicts a more
mature Lisa as she becomes a full-time student while still working
hard at the post office. Her first day in class she's shocked to
find out that her 'harrrd' law professor is no stranger.
Love and Jackson
have changed Bailey but their relationship is everything but smooth
because his ex refuses to let them live happily ever after. A now
expectant Tonya will soon be the mother of two but her adopted
three year old is not feeling her...at all.
Tonya wants to send
her back but she is the apple of Michael's eye and he's having no
part of it. And yes, the irritating co-workers have pushed it up a
notch and are more irritating.
BPM: What
specific issue or crisis in society prompted you to write
Rain, Snow, Sleet or Hail?
Two things prompted me to start writing. I was growing tired of
reading books that left me disappointed at their completion. Tired
of hearing me complain about the books I'd read, my husband urged
me to "write something better" so I began taking writing classes.
The first thing that you learn in writing classes is to write what
you know. Being a postal employee, (a stressed out one) I began
writing what I knew. That solved two problems; one, what to write
about and two, it released a lot of work related stress.
BPM: Who are your favorite characters?
It's unusual but my
favorite character in both books, POSTAL BLUES and RAIN, SNOW,
SLEET or HAIL is actually a side-bar character whose name is Carla.
She has been on every diet known to mankind yet she continues to
gain weight and she doesn't know why. Carla can always be found
with a muffin or a fast food bag in her hand. Sweet as the donuts
that she can't resist, she takes the constant ribbing about her
diets with a smile. I like her because she doesn't take herself too
seriously and because she represents the inner struggle that a lot
of us have with will power.
BPM: Are your characters derived from real
people?
No. I've developed my characters around events rather than actual
people.
BPM: How much of what you write reflects your outlook on
life?
A lot. There is plenty of humor in my books. I hear all the time
that, "this had me cracking up" or "I couldn't stop laughing when I
read that." There isn't too much life that I can't find humor in.
My writing reflects that.
BPM: What do you think of the increasingly gratuitous sex
in African American literature?
I think it takes away from the talent of the author. Not only is
there too much gratuitous sex, but the over abundant number of
sexual book covers depress me. When I see those covers on book
shelves it makes me realize that some of my people are still
falling in line with the perception that other races have of us. It
makes me wonder if the author is aware of the impact that their
cover may have on us as a race. But sex sells and this is a hard
business to break into so I understand the method behind the
madness, I don't agree, but I do understand which leads me to my
next answer.
BPM: What was the most powerful chapter in the book for
you to write?
Difficult not powerful...In POSTAL BLUES one of the main characters
goes through a "transformation" in the bedroom to make her husband
think that she's having an affair. In order to accomplish that, I
had to write some pretty graphic sex scenes. It was difficult for
me. I had to pump myself up, lock my office door and forget that my
brother may someday read what I had written. Even after having
three children I didn't want him to know that I knew how to have
sex.
In RAIN, SNOW, SLEET
or HAIL I didn't put myself thru that torture; I wrote about making
love without actually writing a 'How to' manual on it.
BPM:
Ultimately what do you want readers to gain from Rain, Snow,
Sleet or Hail?
People read fiction for entertainment. Does my book have
any life changing revelations? No. If my writing prompts readers
to consider a new way to handle a common problem, great, but I
write to entertain. When someone finishes POSTAL BLUES or RAIN,
SNOW, SLEET or HAIL I want them to think, "Wow, that was
entertaining, or "Wow, that's a book I wouldn't mind
rereading..."
Postal Blues
by Nikki Coe
ISBN: 9781934248591
https://nikkicoe.com/products.php
Rain, Snow,
Sleet or Hail by Nikki Coe
GENRE: Fiction
ISBN: 9780578040219
Purchase: https://nikkicoe.com/products.php
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