Urban-Reviews.com - Inside Out with Niobia Bryant - Author of Hot Like Fire as well as Desperate Hoodwives (as Meesha Mink)

Niobia Bryant (a.k.a. Meesha Mink)

Niobia Bryant graduated from Seton Hall University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral and Social Science with an accompanying Psychology minor.

With her foray into many genres, Niobia definitely considers herself a chameleon of the written word. She writes both steamy romance and gritty mainstream as Niobia Bryant, erotica as Niobia Simone, and street lit/mainstream as Meesha Mink. Her next venture will be Young adult fiction. She is now a full-time writer, and she is either in New Jersey or South Carolina writing and living life.

Niobia loves to cook, talk trash, crack odd ball jokes, and spends time with her loved ones. She enjoys "whupping behind" at pitty-pat and whist. She's not married, but she is officially off the market.

Read a full excerpt of Desperate Hoodwives: Click Here
Read a full excerpt of Hot Like Fire: Click Here
Watch the trailer for Desperate Hoodwives: Click Here

Author's Official Sites: Site #1 Site #2
Author's Myspace Pages: Site #1 Site #2 Site #3
Author's Shelfari Page: http://www.shelfari.com/unlimited_ink
Author's Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Niobia_Bryant_News
Printable List of Author's Work: Click Here
Contact The Author: Click Here
Order Your Copy of Desperate Hoodwives: Click Here
Order Your Copy of Hot Like Fire: Click Here

Urban Reviews: Start by telling us about Desperate Hoodwives.
Niobia Bryant: Desperate Hoodwives is the first in a series of book set in the fictional Atlanta low-income projects. In DH, the four main characters are Lexi, a mother of five who is definitely looking for love in all the wrong places, Aisha—the hood fabulous wife of a recently locked up dealer who will do anything to maintain her hood status, Devani—a young up and comer who is scheming to get out of the hood by trapping her pro athlete boyfriend into marriage, and Molly—a white girl who is trapped in Bentley Manor because of her love for the wrong man. The stories can each stand alone but throughout the book they intertwine in a way that will make mouths drops and eyes get big. Also, there are these two old ladies, Miz Osceola and Miz Cleo, who sit outside and know everything about everybody’s business. This book is crazy and I love it!

Urban Reviews: How did you come up with the idea for this novel?
Niobia Bryant: My writing partner, De’Nesha Diamond (a.k.a. Adrianne Byrd) and I were on the phone talking about books we read and loved or books we would love to read and write. We both read all genres from street to romance to sci-fi to non-fiction. Adrianne mentioned a hood version of the TV show Desperate Housewives that would be real desperation and I said kind of flip like “Yeah we can call it Desperate Hoodwives.” We both had that “Aha” moment and we mapped the book out during that phone call.

Urban Reviews: When can we expect the next installments of this series to be released?
Niobia Bryant: Shameless Hoodwives drops this summer in August. In Shameless Hoodwives, there are four new women up to back and these women have secrets that are way too shameless to bear. Of course, Miz Osceola and Miz Cle are back and there are updates on characters from book one. Book 3, The Hood Life, drops January 2009 and this time its all about the men of Bentley Manor.

Urban Reviews: You write across different genres. What made you decide to try the street lit/mainstream genre?
Niobia Bryant: Well, first I think it’s weird that people are placed in a box and expected to stay there. I love all types of books except just romance and that translates into wanting to write more book than just romance especially since I find that romance can be very limiting from the publishing side of it. I was fed on Rosa Guy, Louise Merriweather, and Donald Goines—and by the way to me all of their books are urban fiction because of the urban setting and not the content. There is more freedom of writing in the mainstream genres. When I shifted up from romance to women’s fiction with Live and Learn (Kensington/ Dafina Trade) that was flying for me and then with Desperate Hoodwives I was really able to get loose and be as raw as I’ve always wanted. It definitely was the most fun I’ve had writing.

Urban Reviews: Do you have a favorite genre that you like to write in?
Niobia Bryant: I’m not faithful to any of them. I love them all in the moment. I focus on each genre as I am writing in that particularly genre and it is then that I am in love with romance, or women’s fiction, urban fiction, erotica, or young adult fiction. In real life relationships, I am devoted but in my writing career I am enjoying the variety.

Urban Reviews: Can you share with our readers your literary journey up until this point?
Niobia Bryant: I started out writing short stories for the African-American true confessional like Bronze Thrills, Black Confessions, etc. I did that for a couple of years and it really helped me to learn to think a story through. As a teenager, I would write but I would NEVER finish the story so those confessional helped me as a writer and it may help others looking to do their thing with a pen and a pad. Next, I set down one day and wrote Admission of Love—by hand. But here’s the important part and I think a lot of future writers should get this—I researched the market, I taught myself what it took to submit to publishers, I made it my business to begin to learn the business because there is more to being a published author than just writing the book. Anyway, I finished the book first and then submitted a proposal to three publishers and two of them offered me deals. I went with Arabesque and my second book became a national bestseller. After a two-year hiatus, I hopped back into writing because of the readers reaching out to me. I got an agent through a good writer friend. And all the genres and different publishers came about because of my knowledge of what I want and her ability to get the deal done.

Urban Reviews: You also have another recent release called Hot Like Fire. Can you tell us more about this novel?
Niobia Bryant: Hot Like Fire is my newest romance and it’s part of a joint series (Hot Holtsville / Strong Family) set in the fictional Holtsville, South Carolina. In the series there are four brothers and one sister who all will have their turn at my “sexy, funny and oh so real” version of love. In the book sexy widower Kade Strong has just moved back into the house he once shared with his wife, hoping to bring some stability into his six-year-ol daughter Kadina's life. He certainly isn't looking for a relationship, but the women of Holtsville, South Carolina have different ideas and are willing to do anything to get his attention. Only Garcelle Santos respects Kade's grief. Although he isn't ready to let anyone into his life, Kade can't help being irresistibly drawn to Garcelle. Now she can use a little extra money and accepts Kade's job offer to baby-sit Kadina even though their first meeting was filled with drama. Once they get past their differences, a deep friendship is soon forged between Garcelle and Kade. When Garcelle sees the tricks the neighborhood women have up their sleeves to get near Kade, she makes it her business to protect him. But when she finds herself getting jealous, she realizes she's fallen in love with Kade. And after a stormy night alone, Garcelle and Kade surrender to a desire that only leaves them wanting more...

Urban Reviews: What's next for Niobia Bryant?
Niobia Bryant: Wow. I already talked about books 2 and 3 of the Hoodwives series under my pseudonym Meesha Mink. I also have the follow-up to Live and Learn, which was my mainstream debut under my real name, and that’s Show and Tell which drops this June. The four friends, Alizé, Moet, Cristal, and Dom are in more drama than ever. I will have two new romances next year—and one of them will be the next Strong brother romance. I’m also planning to jump back into erotica and YA. So, life is crazy for me right now but I love it because I get to write for a living.

Urban Reviews: Name one thing that the world does not know about Niobia Bryant...the person?
Niobia Bryant: One thing? Hmmm. I love, love, love Fruity Pebbles cereal. Okay? Alright.