Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sistah Souljah is BACK!!!

Have you heard?? As I was flipping through the 15th Anniversary issue of Vibe the other week, I discovered that after nearly 10 long, long, long, long years—Sistah Souljah is finally preparing to release the sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever this October with the title Midnight. Mmm hmm that’s right Winter Santiago aficionados, come next month, the new novel is focused centrally around that beautiful, blue-black specimen of a man I know I wish truly existed--MIDNIGHT!

We’ve been waiting for the film version of Coldest Winter for so long that Jada Pinkett-Smith, who has long been rumored to play lead, might as well play Winter’s mama by the time the movie ever decides to drop—but hey—I’ll take a sequel any day. I’m an admitted Facebook junkie, addicted for over three years now, and I swear to ya that The Coldest Winter Ever has probably been listed under more folks’ favorite books than the Good Book itself!! Oh yeah, Midnight is going to fly off shelves.

News on the release has been circulating for a few months now, and according to Publisher’s Weekly, Sistah Souljah says part of the reason for such a long wait between titles is that she conducted extensive research to get the plot just right, traveling three continents to get the job done. If you remember somewhere in the middle of Coldest Winter, after ‘befriending’ Sistah Souljah, Winter discovers through old letters that Souljah and Midnight had a tight connection. And how could we forget how in luv Winter was with Midnight, so needless to say she wasn’t too happy learning Souljah had a bond with Midnight she’d kill to have. We also learn that Midnight, who is actually Sudanese, went through some deep ish escaping the turmoil in his homeland to arrive in the U.S. We begin to understand how he became such a ruthless, yet indescribably mysterious and wise, hustler. Deep. Oh my gosh, I’m getting excited just explaining that little piece of the plot!!

I’ve upgraded my reading game a lot since first reading Coldest Winter in high school, but it is a quality title that I hardly like putting in the Urban Fiction category, because the genre has become sooo glamorized and overdone over the years. I know a lot of yall out there are into those True to the Game, Triple Crown Publications, and that’s cool, but please pay homage to the author who in my opinion truly started the Urban Fiction ‘trend’—Sistah Souljah. No other urban fiction author I’ve read can really kick it on her narrative level in terms of depth, style and plot, and I challenge someone to give me a book that proves otherwise.

So yeah, keep an eye out for the long overdue sequel that I’m betting will be just as memorable as its predecessor. If she has a book signing in NYC, I swear I’m calling off of work!! Oops, did I write that?
HARD WORK, SECOND EFFORT, DEDICATION, LOYALTY & LOVE!!

3 comments:

Mi$$ Rain Fashionista King! said...

I can't wait

Rebecca V. O'Neal said...

uh oh... i read this when i was in 6th grade (way WAY too young lol)

and i used to tell dudes my name was winter lol

Miss Concrete Jungle said...

lol at becca using winter's name! i can't lie, i know i envied her swag when i read the book myself..