• 80's,  90's,  movies,  my view,  sci-fi

    Looking good Buckaroo- My eye candy review of Buckaroo Banzai

    So in my usual state of insomnia last night I was flipping channels and came across

    The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

    Buckaroo 7

    A classic gem (and I use these term in the loosest possible sense) from 1984 which brings forth all sorts of questions:

    Why was this on my cable TV – I mean I am paying through the nose for premium channels and this is what they come up with? Could we get a little more current Verizon?

    What was John Lithgow doing this this thing? But it’s John and he’s been known to make, well, choices and we love him for it.

    ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI, John Lithgow, 1984. ©20thCentFox/courtesy Everett Collection

    And lastly, why did I go and see this in the movies, like the actual theater, when it first came out? Was I that desperate for cinema in 1984? Uh… guess that’s a yes.

    And the why clearly became apparent during my late-night re-watch. Some of the dudes in this cast were serious eye candy in 1984 and right up my alley:

    The first, and seemingly most far fetched (for me), was Peter Weller, but not really though since his styling in this movie was all up and down the Adam Ant Alley which was just my 15 year old thing back then.

    Buckaroo 1

    AdamAnt

    And then there was the supporting cast:

    Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, in the most unfortunate costume this side of Pee Wee’s playhouse, but still so very Jeff:

    Buckaroo 15Buckaroo 16

    Strong and silent Clancy Brown as Rawhide:

    Buckaroo 2

    And that gorgeous Lewis Smith as Perfect Tommy. Talk about perfect use of peroxide:

    Buckaroo 3

    And finally can we talk about the glasses? IMO this movie did more for men in glasses than any other. Yas boys!

    Buckaroo 11

    Buckaroo 14

    Buckaroo 12

    So tell me in the comments what were some of your fave 80’s and 90’s movie classics.

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • K.M. Jackson,  life,  Nana,  Unconventional Brides,  writing,  writing life

    Writer’s Life in Pictures…

    Because I’m editing right now and words are on the chopping block, I’m keeping them to just a few here and letting my pics do the talking…

    Blog pic 6

    Seeing a library edition of a book with your name on it is quite a dream come true!

    Blog pic 7

    Annual Divas retreat is now a highlight of my year. I’m so inspired by these amazing women.

    Blog pic 5

    I’ve picked up the crochet hook again. It’s been years.

    My Nana taught me when I was a very young girl. This sure took me back.

     Blog pic 2 (2)

    There was a pretty exciting foozeball game that happened…or so I hear.

    Blog pic 1

    Gah! I got ARCs of To Me I Wed, Book 2 in the Unconventional Brides Series.

    Can you believe this is coming out in just a few months? I sure can’t!

    But you can pre-order your copy now! http://amzn.to/2krfm26

    I hope things are going super over your way. Let me know what’s happening in the comments!

    All the best,

    KMJ

     

     

    All the best,

    Kwana

  • #WeNeedDiverseRomance,  book launch,  Books,  contests,  Insert Groom Here,  K.M. Jackson,  my view,  Uncategorized

    Happy New Year! And so it begins…

    Happy New Year my Dear Peeps. Welcome to the new world.

    Ouch!  Does that sounds as scary as you read it as it does when I write it?

    Sorry. I’ll just move right along to happier chit chat. I’m hoping you all had a wonderful holiday and a

    Very Happy New Year!

    I’m thrilled to say that on the very first day of the new year I got to start it off in a most exceptional way by seeing my very first mass market single title, INSERT GROOM HERE book one in my Unconventional Brides Series, on the shelves in my local Barnes and Noble for the first time. It was a pretty fantastic feeling and one I’ll never be able to recapture. Hey, your first time is your first time and I’m so grateful to my editor, Selena James and my publisher, Kensington Books for making that dream come true! (cut to me posing awkwardly while I try and play it cool blinking back tears as my husband not so discreetly snaps pics.)

    I tell you what, I may be a way late bloomer, but I least I got a chance to see the sun.

    There is something to this never too late stuff.

    insert-groom-here-barnes-and-noble-bn

    You can pick up your copy of INSERT GROOM HERE Book 1 of the 
    Unconventional Brides where ever books are sold !  

    Kensington: http://bit.ly/2eh61Vb
    Amazon: http://amzn.to/28Mbqk3
    iBooks: http://apple.co/28RPaWU
    Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2gwFuas
    Kobo: http://bit.ly/2g8Fhtp

    insert-groom-final-postcard-front-igh-postcard4x6-3

    And a bonus don’t forget: please subscribe to my mailing list on the right and click below to enter this

    month’s giveaway!

    Hint: it’s FIRE! (Kindle Fire)

    http://gvwy.io/wbjmjcd

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • #WeNeedDiverseRomance,  book launch,  diverse romance,  Insert Groom Here,  my view

    Insert Groom Is Finally Here! #WeNeedDiverseRomance

    Today is one of those days where the life I’m living feels quite unlikely. A woman like me starts to think and reverts back to the girl I was growing up in Harlem and Washington Heights. Back then I spent almost as much time on the ‘A’ train as I did off of it as I commuted back and forth to school. In those days I always had my nose in a book and if a book wasn’t to be had I would erase my surroundings and retreat to the way back of my imagination and come up with a story of my very own. On the train there were plenty of characters for story fodder.

    Well today a story of my very own is out and released into the world in a way that is almost beyond my dreams.

    insert-groom-fb-igh-fb-ad-5

    INSERT GROOM HERE is my first single title and the first in my Unconventional Brides Series and here is the kicker, this book being release from Kensington publishing is the first for me that will be out in book stores and retail outlets and holy crackers there are even some libraries that will carry it! The thought of it overwhelms me. The thought that there may be another girl out there growing up somewhere like I did, who at a certain point may desperately need an escape from her everyday life on the commuter train or a home life which is not the fairy-tale her mask pretends it to be. The fact that she may find that escape in one of my books that she happens upon with a heroine that happens to look like her makes me so very happy.

    I am grateful to God to have made it to this point in my career and know I have so much further to go, both in my writing and in helping to make more of these types of stories more equally accessible to the public.

    Sidebar: #WeNeedDiverseRomance

    But for now, today, I know day dreaming is not for nothing. Dreaming combined with work can lead to a moment of fulfillment greater than I ever imagined.

     

    And now for the pluggy part about my book:

    INSERT GROOM HERE Book #1 the  
    Unconventional Brides Series

     
    Eva Ward has won a lavish wedding on the nation’s hottest morning show and can’t wait to kick off her
    happily-ever-after in style. Too bad her fiancé backs out on-air—and cameraman Aidan Walker makes sure her private meltdown goes viral, down to the last couch-kicking moment. The only way Eva can save face and keep her perfect nuptial plans on track is to star in a new “find-a-groom” reality segment. But finding Mr. Right in one month means ignoring her handsome new producer—none other than Aidan himself—and getting their instant, exasperating attraction out of her system…

    Eva soon finds there’s a lot more to Aidan than freewheeling charm. But one glimpse of his caring side can’t make up for off-camera politics, Aidan’s own secrets—or Eva’s fear that they’re too different to ever trust each other. So it’s time for her to flip this script, write twists no one will see coming—and risk her heart to get the real thing…

    Be one of the first to be introduced to the 
    Unconventional Brides and grab your copy today where ever books are sold !  

    Kensington: http://bit.ly/2eh61Vb
    Amazon: http://amzn.to/28Mbqk3
    iBooks: http://apple.co/28RPaWU
    Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2gwFuas
    Kobo: http://bit.ly/2g8Fhtp

     

    And a bonus: please subscribe to my mailing list on the right and click below to enter this month’s giveaway!

    Hint: it’s FIRE! (Kindle Fire)

    http://gvwy.io/wbjmjcd

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • book launch,  Books,  life,  my view

    Tis The Season!

    Hello Dear Peeps! How are you all?

    I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve checked in and I apologize. November has been an incredibly busy and stressful month, but I’m happy to be back home and get started on the crazy of the holiday season with all of you.

    And speaking of the holidays it’s time for me to get going with making those holiday donuts (see how I was dying to work that pun and these pics into this post) because my first single title release will be out at the end of this month and it will be busy, busy, busy in the best of ways!

    donuts-2

    On 12/27 INSERT GROOM HERE will be HERE!! Yay! Have you pre-ordered your copy yet? Well please do and be one of the first in the know (all the cool kids are doing it- if hat kind of peer pressure works on you).

    insert-groom-final-postcard-front-igh-postcard4x6-3

    You can Pre-order INSERT GROOM HERE at any of these retailers.

    Kensington: http://bit.ly/2eh61Vb

    Amazon: http://amzn.to/28Mbqk3

    iBooks: http://apple.co/28RPaWU

    Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2gwFuas

    Kobo: http://bit.ly/2g8Fhtp

    Also congrats go out to Michael S. for being last month’s 25.00 Newsletter contest winner. Please fill out the links to the right and sign up for my newsletter if you have not already so that you can be sure to get links to the next contest. I hope you all are well and let’s rock this busy holiday month out together!

     

    Best,

    Kwana

  • authors,  Books

    Rom Com? Don’t mind if I do!

    I adore a good romantic comedy and to that my upcoming Unconventional Brides Series, starting with INSERT GROOM HERE is my take at ROM COM wedding fun!

    Insert-Groom-Here450

     

    So today I was completely over the moon to see that my novella ROMANCING THE FASHIONISTA was included in Book Riot’s list of top 100 Must Read Romantic Comedies. What? Huh? I mean come on people Helen Fielding is on the list. To be anywhere near her air, to know me, is to know that’s a dream come true.

    RomancingTheFashionista

     

    So please check out the list and add some new Rom Coms to your TBR piles. Trust me you can’t go wrong. There are so many of my faves here. Ahem, Farrah Rochon, Jamie Wesley, Megan Frampton, Phyllis Bourne, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Victoria Dahl… I could go on. Just get you some books people and enjoy the love with a side of laughter.

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • #WeNeedDiverseRomance,  book launch,  Books,  Holiday Temptation

    Dreams realized- Holiday Temptation in the wild!

    Ok so this happened. HOLIDAY TEMPTATION came out and no fooling, the publishers weren’t kidding with me, but it is out and in bookstores just like they said.

    At this point in my career seeing my name on a book on a shelf was still something I dreamed of but it had become a dream in the far back corner or my mind, about two feet to the left and behind the box that says ‘GET BACK TO COLLEGE GRADUATION WEIGHT’. But today I went into my local Barnes and Noble, the one I’d been in countless times before with my dear twins since they were tiny tots, and there it was. Right up high on the romance shelves, face out no less with the other new releases.

    holiday-temptation-barnes-and-noble-2

    Holy crap HOLIDAY TEMPTATION was there! And it was next to Hannah Howell and one book over from Madeline Hunter. The way I nearly swooned one would think I’d taken to day drinking. But this feeling was better than any drink. This was the feeling of a dream not deferred, but one come true after years of hard work, more rejections than I could count or take so I just stopped counting them, and a determined spirit and faith that boarded on nonsensical so only those with faith or little sense would dare understand.

    Thank you all for sticking with me and understanding.

    Now what to do with that blasted GRADUATION WEIGHT box?

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • Books,  holiday,  Holiday Temptation,  jack,  jack pics,  K.M. Jackson,  musings,  my view

    Turning Pages

    Where, oh where, did the summer go?

     

    jack judge 2Listen, don’t look to me because I have no answers over here. I’ve pretty much spent most of my summer in my little cave pecking away at my laptop in prep for next year’s books. It’s ok though, all my vacations have been in my head and I’m sure a physical one will come soon (sure? Hope?).

    Meanwhile, The Jackster has been by my side as I put the finishing touches on my upcoming Unconventionl Brides Series, only giving me grief when he wants a treat or when he finds me totally slacking. You all know that nobody does judgy like Jack.

    Well now that you made it to my new place on the web grab and a cup of what ever strikes your fancy, a seat and stay a spell. Check out some of my other blog posts, my book page and please don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter (sidebar: you get to find out about my new contests that way) to stay up-to-date on my upcoming projects (there are many!). The most immediate being HOLIDAY TEMPTATION which will be out in now less than a month with me, Donna Hill and Farrah Rochon (I’m so the under card in that fight and proud to be it). HolidayTemptation150

    So that’s that. Happy early-fall peeps! If you know me you know I’m already on the hunt for the perfect black turtleneck and scheduling my Fall TV viewing and tweeting in my planner.

    Thanks and I’ll see you around!

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • authors,  book launch,  Books,  Bounce Back,  conference,  my view,  writers,  writing life

    Viva Las Vegas! My Time At #RT16

     

    Back from Las Vegas and the RT Book Lovers Convention and though I’m exhausted as all get out and think it will be quite a while before I volunteeringly get on a Starbucks line to order coffee, I’m already looking forward to next year’s convention in Atlanta. I had such a good time seeing old friends and making new ones as I launched

    BOUNCE BACK out into the world.

    bounce back 1000

    That said, here is my recap in a totally non-writerly way… pics.

    Can you spot anyone you know?

    RT Collage 1

    RT Collage 2

    RT Collage 3

    RT Collage 4

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • #Listify,  Books,  my view

    Come away with me… Books I want to live in for a while… #ListifyLife

    For this week’s #ListifyLife post the theme is ‘Books I Want To Live In For A While’

    List life 1

    And honestly there are so many that I could list all day but here are a few that came to my mind quickly. You’ll notice they are very different but they all take the reader to places with great atmosphere and people/characters that a offer a warm welcome and a good time.

    Listift Books

    I’ll recap here because my handwriting is well… eh:

    Like Water For Chocolate

    How Stella Got Her Groove Back

    Bridget Jones’s Diary

    Eat, Pray, Love

    Jackie Collins Lucky Series

    Farrah Rochon’s Moments in Maplesville series

    Lauren Dane’s Hurley Brother’s Series

    Beverly Jenkin’s Destiny Series.

     

    What are some books you’d like to get away to?

     

    All the best,

    KMJ