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n his new novel Finding Jamaica, Malcolm
Frierson takes reader on an adventure with Sayvon Walker seeking love on his vacation, but discovers that women can be ruthless
to men who refuse to play games.
Surrounded by the sexual escapades of his married best friend and pro-athlete brother, Sayvon wonders if he will ever find a woman willing to meet him halfway in a serious relationship. When a spunky dancer storms into his life and grabs his heart, he swears she's "the one." Yet her troubled past and a calculated extortion plot by his ex-fiancée cause unforeseen trouble. Thrilling, emotional, and funny, Finding Jamaica is a wild ride on the slick love train!
Surrounded by the sexual escapades of his married best friend and pro-athlete brother, Sayvon wonders if he will ever find a woman willing to meet him halfway in a serious relationship. When a spunky dancer storms into his life and grabs his heart, he swears she's "the one." Yet her troubled past and a calculated extortion plot by his ex-fiancée cause unforeseen trouble. Thrilling, emotional, and funny, Finding Jamaica is a wild ride on the slick love train!
CEM Q & A with author Malcolm Frierson
I'm a dreamer, thinker, and doer. I live for new experiences and value friendships as much as finances. I could always use more of both, of course! Jackson, Mississippi is my birthplace—my sweetheart is a native of Barbados. I love my family, career in post-secondary education, and all of the variety that life brings.
It's about a guy looking for love. He wants to be the opposite of irresponsible men like his father. His closest guy friends are womanizers, but he wants nothing more than to meet his match and have a traditional family. Now, the ladies he encounters along the way are some very bad girls! One is a Jamaican bombshell who turns his world upside down. That complicates this story while adding excitement as the novel answers the question of whether or not nice guys really finish last.
Unfortunately, I think everyone has passed over a "good man" or "good woman" at some point, and my thinking was to write a story from that overlooked lover's perspective.
I found it so difficult to keep the main character true to his identity. One reader mentioned wanting to jump into the novel and shake him into his senses. I felt the same way at times, so I had to work to displace my thinking and allow Sayvon to go through his ups and downs on his own terms.
I first thought about the person that I didn’t want Sayvon to be. The literary world has enough main characters who are liars, cheaters, and gangstas, including the white-collar variety. Sayvon is definitely flawed, but he's a "good man" overall. I put effort into creating a character that has so much of what most women claim to desire in a man.
You mean other than myself? I've played the fool once or twice! As the song goes, it takes a fool to learn that love don’t love nobody. Everyone who has been on the losing side of the game of love at some point reminds me of Sayvon.
I often reflect on the many Harlem Renaissance novels that I fell in love with years ago. They inspire me because they are so entertaining, educational, thought provoking, and just good! I try to give my readers the same type of meaningful experience. Thinking about books likeNot Without Laughter, The Blacker the Berry, and many others raises my creative energy.
No. My first published novel, A Place in the World, fits into the genre of literary fiction. I also enjoy writing nonfiction—works rooted in history and present-day social criticism.
I don't outline when I'm writing fiction. I'll occasionally make a note to include a particular situation or pop culture reference, but I generally rely on my imagination to determine my direction and schedule. When the words and ideas are flowing, I can spend as much as three weeks writing daily from sunup to sundown. At other times I can go a month without writing a single page. I've learned to be patient with myself.
This is the second novel I've written primarily from the comfort of my bed. That's my process. I think, write, and nap interchangeably. There must be something about the cozy feel of my mattress that increases my productivity!
Absolutely. In fact, I've considered adapting the novel into movie or play script in the near future. Its elements of drama, suspense, humor, and hope would work incredibly well in those mediums.
Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, Michael Baisden, Carl Weber, Colin Channer, and several others. I never read their works while I'm working on a novel, though. Their stories, their styles are so captivating that I stay away from them while writing in order to keep my thoughts within my own imagination.
I have a couple of literary projects on my table. One is a fiction drama about a young married woman struggling to help her husband become a man and do right by her. It's tentatively titled You're Gonna Love Me. That manuscript is about halfway complete and I think it will appeal to readers who enjoy drama, suspense, and redemption in novels. My other project is a nonfiction story of the role that African American comedians played in the struggle for freedom in America during the 1960s. It's very close to completion, so look for it in book and documentary form soon!
Not at the moment, but I'll give it stronger consideration if enough readers want an update on Sayvon and his merry-go-round. The novel has a conclusive ending yet there's still room to question how things turn out, say, one or five years later.
They can visit malcolmfrierson.com or Amazon.com.
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