I did it - I cracked the Cayman Islands opinion and commentary market with an Op-Ed piece about the military coup in Honduras - hizzah!

So my last name is misspelled… a small detail…

Here it is my Caymanian debut. The piece is called “Good Intentions, Wrong Side of History?” and it’s basically an admission that while we (me included… probably me more than most) can be self-righteous about events that happened in the past, with all the benefits of hind-sight this confers, when it comes to a proper analysis of current events, things are seldom as black and white as they seem.

I’m very excited to be touring Carleen Brice today, and her second novel, Children of the Waters, the follow-up to her best-selling debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey.

Carleen doesn’t just write and blog about racially diverse characters - in the age of exploding Hispanic and Latino populations in the US, a half-Hawaiian, half-Kenyan President at the helm of the world’s sole Superpower, and, my personal favorite, an Arab version of American Idol on my mother’s kitchen TV set, you have to have something more than a racially diverse cast of characters to contribute to the dialogue.

In Children of the Waters, Carleen presents us with two sisters on opposite sides of the racial divide, and spins a tale of reconciliation through a maze of rejection, lies, and pain.

Here’s the author, in her own words…

Q. Readers of this blog know I am very seriously into traveling - what’s your idea of the perfect travel destination and why?

A. Someplace with a beach, turquoise waters, a hammock & drinks with umbrellas in them. Self-explanatory I think.

Q. How do you go about choosing a setting for your novel? Does it, like New York in Sex and the City, almost play the part of another character in the book, or could the plot be transported to another setting and work?

A. So far, my books have been set in Denver and I kind of like writing about this city, but setting isn’t really a character in either novel.

Q. Who’s your favorite literary (or movie) villain? Why?

A. The monster in Aliens. I love that it’s a kick-ass female monster vs. a kick-ass female heroine!

Q. What would you change about your life if you became the next Sophie Kinsella?

A. I’ve fantasized a lot about winning the Oprah lottery or having one of my books pictured in Michelle Obama’s hands. But really my imagination fails after paying off debt, helping out my family and taking a trip to some destination like the above. I think I’m pretty much living the way I want to be living, so I don’t think much would really change.

About the author

Carleen Brice’s debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey, was an Essence “Recommended Read” and a Target “Bookmarked Breakout Book.”  For this book, she won the 2009 First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the 2008 Break Out Author Award at the African American Literary Awards Show. Orange Mint and Honey was optioned by Lifetime Movie Network.

Her second novel, Children of the Waters (One World/Ballantine), a book about race, love and family, just came out at the end of June. Booklist Online called it “a compelling read, difficult to put down.” Essence says, “Brice has a new hit.” You can read an excerpt at her website http://www.carleenbrice.com/.

She is at work on her third novel, Calling Every Good Wish Home, and she maintains the blogs “White Readers Meet Black Authors” www.welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com and “The Pajama Gardener” www.pajamagardener.blogspot.com.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Carleen!

…Puerto Rico. Which I hope, dear readers, will (partially) explain my recent absence from the blogosphere. I am trying to divide my days between working on projects I’ve long wanted to do (finish Upside of Down, start exclusive-for-Kindle novella, bask in the Puerto Rican sun..) But I’ll be back, so please hang in there.

Just before I start posting about more reviews, photos of gorgeous San Juan, and announcements of contest winners, allow me to please share with you this gem I happened upon in the New York Times.

This 10-page article is about whales, and is absolutely fascinating. I’m a nature girl, and like a lot of people, am especially curious about whales, but even with my natural inclinations aside, I found the insights in this article to be pretty mind blowing.

Here’s one of the best parts:

“…We do have compelling evidence of the experience of grief in cetaceans; and of joy, anger, frustration and distress and self-awareness and tool use; and of protecting not just their young but also their companions from humans and other predators. So these are reasons why something like forgiveness is a possibility.”

The background to that quote is this: whales, until recently, had been fished to near-extinction. However, with preservation and re-population strategies, some species have rebounded. Past whale behavior had shown them to be extremely cautious towards the humans who’d massacred their kind into near-non-existence, but now, it seems that they just might have forgiven our past transgressions. They are interacting with humans again, and NOT in situations where food or feeding grounds are involved.

It would seem that whales are ready to give peaceful co-existence a second chance.

As a Palestinian I have to wonder - if whales can forgive humans for hundreds of years of hunting, how is it that Israelis and Palestinians can’t find a way to co-exist peacefully?

When we say that someone is behaving like an animal, we mean it in the sense that this person is sub-human, savage, and incapable of emotion beyond the most basic, instinctive kind.

After reading this I have to wonder if humans aren’t the more barbaric, savage species.