J.M. Benjamin is a successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker from Plainfield, New Jersey. He is the author of the of the Essence Best Seller Ride Or Die Chick, Award Winning author of Down In the Dirty, My Manz and Em, On The Run With Love, Ride Or Die Chick 2 and a co-author of the non-fiction motivational book From Incarceration 2 Incorporation. He quickly made his presence felt in the fast growing genre of Urban Literature after the completion of his incarceration. Ironically, having spent more than half his life in the streets and a substantial amount of time in prison, J.M. Benjamin’s only credential as a street tale story teller is simply his own first hand experience and knowledge of what the street life consists of.
“I was in the Game wholeheartedly, since I was 12 years old, and throughout that time I survived near death experiences and escaped prison as being my permanent place of residency. For that I am blessed. Those are just two out of many things that inspire and motivate me to write, And if my stories save at least one person’s life, whether it be death or imprisonment, or cause them to change their game plan, then my work is serving it’s purpose,” he says when interviewed by The New York Times and The Courier News newspapers.
J.M. is also a motivational speaker, mentor and activist within his community. He shares his experiences and knowledge of the streets as well as how writing was and continues to be his outlet at various high and junior schools, colleges, probation and religious programs for the youth, institutions and re-entry programs for ex- and incarcerated men and women, and urban communities throughout his travels, in hopes to make a difference.
He is the owner of A New Quality Publishing and publisher of the urban novels Back Stabbers by Nyema and Have You Ever…? By FiFi Cureton. Mr. Benjamin has also contributed to several urban anthologies and has received numerous of awards and accolades for his accomplishments and his contribution to his community. J.M. is also the owner of A New Quality Literary Lounge & Boutique downtown in his hometown of Plainfield where he still resides.
For more info on J.M. go to; anewqualitypublishing.com or facebook.com/jmbenjamin.author
Synopsis:
Heaven & Earth
By J.M. Benjamin
The Columbians had Pablo Escobar…The Cubans had Scarface…The Italians had John Gotti…And the Brothers had Bumpy Johnson…But what about the Sisters?
Meet the female Nino Brown and Gee Money, only these two really are their sister’s keeper.
New Brunswick, New Jersey native Heavenly Jacobs inherited her beauty and street smarts honestly. Father a top notch go getter, mother a grade “A” dime piece. After tragedy strikes her home her only means of survival is to rely on what she acquired from them both. Her choice to ride for the wrong man ultimately lands her in prison where she is forced to re-strategize her game plan.
Eartha Davis is not your average female. Her eyes as well as her body were exposed to more then they were ready for at a young age. Between her mother, who was a bonafide gangster that loved young pretty females, and the streets of Plainfield, New Jersey, it was hard for her not to fall victim to and embrace all that was going on around her. Her crave for the streets, violence, and women all contributed to her imprisonment in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility.
As fate would have it, these two females are thrown together, in which they form a bond that is un-breakable and spills over into streets. Seeing that everybody got fat while they starved, they put together a team of female hustlers that got all men in the game on edge.
Jealousy, envy, ego’s, and pride all come into play unraveling beef between male and female that is far from being a game. Will the brothers sustain? Or will they succumb to the wrath of Heaven & Earth?
Contact info for J.m. Benjamin:
A New Quality Publishing
P.O.Box 589
Plainfield New Jersey 07061
908-531-8699
E-Mail: jmbenjamin.author@yahoo.com anewqualitypublishing@yahoo.com
Facebook.com/jmbenjamin.author anewqualitypublishing.com
Interview with J.M. Benjamin
1. Tell us who J.M. Benjamin is?
I’m just a dude from the projects in Plainfield New Jersey that embraced some of the many negative behaviors that existed in my community and like so many others had to learn the hard way that their was no longevity in the path I chose. I’m someone who society had already predicted my fate as being either death in the streets or prison being my permanent residence. I’m someone who took a negative situation such as incarceration and turned it into a positive opportunity by changing my game plan and switching my product. And now today I am a successful entrepreneur and business owner, author, publisher, motivational speaker and free man, have been for nearly four years.
2.How did you become an author?
I started writing while I was incarcerated in federal prison. Writing started out as therapy for me. A means to learn about myself and contribute to bettering myself. Ultimately something which was intended to be therapeutic wind up becoming my profession and life. I signed a two book deal with a small publishing house named Flowers In Bloom Publishing while I was incarcerated. They are responsible for my titles Down in The Dirty, which was my first and Ride Or Die Chick, which was my third being published, then later I signed a one book deal for Ride Or Die Chick 2. While signing with Flowers In Bloom Crystal Lacey Winslow of Melodrama Publishing accepted a short story from me, which was published in an anthology titled Menace II Society feat Al-Saadiq Banks and Isadore Johnson, it was released before my first novel and opened doors for me. Thereafter Nikki reached out to me and I submitted a shorty to her and it was released in an anthology titled Christmas in The Hood. Since then I’ve solidified myself as an author by releasing four of my titles independently.
3.) Your new book is titled Heaven & Earth, who does this book gear towards?
This is a read for both genders of all walks of life from teens to adults. If you come from this, then you'll be able to empathise with the characters more and possibly re-evaluate your own life style and if you don't come from this the you will learn valuable lessons without having to go through what the characters had in their lives.
4.)What is your book about?
It’s about two females who meet in a women prison, one is the brains from new Brunswick nj, the other is the muscle from plainfield nj, who is also gay, they come up with a plan while in prison to get out and form a all female crew of money getters. In doing so they are at constant war with men, so they have to prove that women go just as hard as dudes. Ultimately something happens and the book becomes a who dunnit? type of story. Still have your sex, money, murder people are use to reading from J.M. but with more substance in the story line.
5.) What makes you any different if you consider to be then other authors in your genre?
I don’t know if it makes me any different but I pour all of me into my writing. I hold no punches so that my readers may feel what it’s like almost to the point of living it themselves. Not to take away from anyone else, but I write from the heart and soul.
6.) Who are some of your favorite authors?
I appreciate authors such as Claude Brown, Sydney Pointier and Richard Wright, Chester Himes and Donald Goines. They inspire me in different ways and many different reasons. And then I also enjoy James Paterson and Dean Koontz
7.) What message would you want to relay to your fellow writers or people in general?
That’ it’s never too late…Never let anything or anyone come in between making your thoughts, dreams and vision into a reality…It’s doable!
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