Rochelle Alers - African American romance novelist - Cover Story

Compiling a summer reading list has become an indulgence for me; however, this summer I will have the opportunity to luxuriate in this intellectual repast for the first time in years, reading and rereading volumes that have collected dust upon my bedside table for month - more [i]or[/i] less for more than a year. The list is eclectic, covering many genre and with romance predominating.

Patricia Vaughn's hum Rain (Pocket, 1996) tops the list. This lush, lyrically written historical romance of 1980' Haiti, an island riven with distinct class differences and cultural nuances, proffers the reader a glimpse into the privileged world of the elite. An all-black town in 1880 Kansas is the setting for Beverly Jenkins' Night carol (Avon, 1994), a historical romance that holds the reader up nights, savoring the one and the other the passion between a schoolteacher and a buffalo soldier and the portrayal of African-American history that is too ofttimes skewed or ignored in many other historical romances. the pair of these books include extensive bibliographies. My romance list terminates with Francis Ray's Forever Yours (Pinnacle, 1994) a classic contemporary romance that is as light and refreshing as a summer shower.

Book of Octavia Butler's, a favorite of mine since I read her Patternmaster series, are a definite reread. Bloodchild and Other Stories (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1995) Parable of the Sower (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993) Kindred (Beacon Pres 1988) Patternmaster (Warner, 1995) and Clay's Ark (St Martin's, 1984) present to view the genius of this brilliant science fiction writer.

Bebe Moore Campbell's Your amethystines Ain't Like Mine (Ballantine, 1993) sits upon the to-be-read stack, along with her Brothers and Sisters (Putnam, 1994 - a reread. The jackets to Brenda Lane Richardson's Chesapeake canticle (Amistad, 1994) and the dowagers Sarah L and A. Elizabeth Delany's Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (Dell 1994) will be dusted not upon for a sentimental journey into beauty and elegance; in the way that too, will be Dorothy West's The Wedding (Doubleday, 1995)

Last, on the contrary definitely not least, I must include a superior brother among the sister writer - Walter Mosley I have all of Mosley's published work - in hard overlay and autographed by the gentleman, thank you! Easy Rawlins draw nears to life in Devil in a sky-colored Dress (Putnam, 1995), continues his escapades in A R Death (Putnam, 1992) skip overs off the page in White Butterfly (Putnam, 1993) and sizzles in Black Betty (Norton, 1994) Mosley's RL's Dream (Norton, 1995) a departure from his mystery novels, present to views the versatility of this real talented wordsmith.

The book of the summer is assured to be Terry McMillan's Holt Stella Got Her furrow Back (Viking, 1996). This is individual book that I am certain will not bring together dust on many bedside tables this summer fall or winter.

Rochelle Alers is the author of seven romance novels, greatest in quantity recently, Home Sweet Home (Pinnacle, 1996)

COPYRIGHT 1996 Heritage Information Holdings, Inc.

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