Thursday, June 26, 2014

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Blue Butterfly by Marian L. Thomas

Blue Butterfly by Marian L. Thomas



Is the World Ready for a Black Ballerina?


Precious Blue Johnson, young, country and naive, from Lutts County, Georgia, is traveling to the energizing city of New York to search for her birth father and perhaps make history by becoming the first black ballerina. Her simple mocha skin and thick lips will put her in the center of a movement, expose secrets and unlock the past as she steps onto the stage as the Blue Butterfly.

She will be guided by the vivacious and wise Ms. Ann and fall in love with the alluring Ray Silvers. Ray brings the whole package. Enchanting eyes, a bright future as a doctor, and a willingness to love completely. To Precious, he is perfect. Except Ray’s package includes his deadly past.

Will their love survive the one person who could end it all—his drug-addicted mother?



Excerpt Blue Butterfly by Marian L. Thomas

Chapter One

They say on the night that I was born June 30, 1969 the fringes of the moon could be seen peeking out through the thin layers of the clouds. They say that the rain had done come down so hard it felt like something was tearing away at your soul, drop by drop. They say my mama was laying in the birthing room screaming because I was ripping her life away from her. They say that the doctors wanted to cut away at her tummy, but she had done plain-out refused. She was an ebullient woman, with the heart of an unbreakable but beautiful stallion.

I ain't never seen the woman with eyes so blue they felt like they could reach down into the pit of your core and tell you about yourself. I ain't never seen the warmth of her smile or the way she could soothe my daddy with her kind-hearted words. People talk under their breath about her. Talk about how long her silky blond hair was or how thin and soft her frame was. I do alls I can when I hear them whispering about the woman who gave her life so I could dance in the rain on a hot summer day.

Just before she took her last breath they say that she stared into my eyes and smiled because I done come into the world with what she thought was the better part of her. The one feature that my daddy loved the most. She was the one who placed the weight of my name upon me. Precious Blue Johnson, but everyone around here in Lutts County, Georgia, fixed my name at Precious.


My dear, sweet Daddy is a tall, well-stocked-around-the-tummy man. I heard that back in his heyday he sported a nicely trimmed frame of six feet, two inches. That his hair used to be slicked back so perfectly there wasn't a black woman in Lutts County that wasn't dying to give it a coat or two of sweet brown sugar with the very tips of their hard-worked fingers.

His shoulders hang now sometimes, but that wasn't always the case. No, it be said that when Charles Johnson used to walk down these dirt-filled roads, his shoulders stood towering with an air of confidence that one could breathe in from a mile away.

Once upon a time, it be rumored that his hazel brown eyes were fixed on singing his way out of Lutts County. They still talk about this fact in the rooms of their barely-able-to-stand homes, where they figure can't nobody hear them but God. Whispering under the dim lights about how it is such a shame that he wasted his talent on a white woman.

There are nights when I would wonder what his voice must have sounded like. I would hear him humming sometimes, but I ain't never heard the sound of butter flowing from his lips.

That's what they say he sounded like.
 
( Continued... )

© 2014 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Marian L. Thomas. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author's written permission. Copyright infringement is a serious offense. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only. Share a link to this page or the author's website if you really like this sneak peek.



Kindle Edition -- Purchase Blue Butterfly by Marian L. Thomas
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Butterfly-Marian-Thomas-ebook/dp/B00JETDF5A 


Print Edition -- Purchase Blue Butterfly by Marian L. Thomas
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Butterfly-Marian-L-Thomas/dp/0984896759 
 


About the Author
Clean Fiction novelist Marian L. Thomas is a dynamic storyteller with four engaging and dramatic novels to her credit. Her books have been seen on national television stations and featured in print magazines and newspapers. She has also been a guest on many broadcast and online radio stations. Her titles “My Father’s Colors” and “Strings of Color” both received the USA Best Book Finalist Award.

What makes her books unique? Mrs. Thomas might be the first African-American pioneer of contemporary women’s clean fiction. She refuses to lace her work with explicit sexual themes or profanity. Ms. Thomas’ books are rich with ever-intriguing themes of race, family strife, love, divorce, friendship and abuse. And yet her tales, which seem to pre-stage current tabloid headlines, are spelled out in ways that suit the delicate moral tastes of both the Christian Fiction reader and the Clean Fiction book reader.

Ms. Thomas resides in a suburb of Georgia with her husband, family and dear friends. Visit the author's media room for Blue Butterfly at:  http://www.marianlthomasmediaroom.net 
 

 
 
 

Breaking Shackles of Discrimination for Black Ballerinas



Blue Butterfly a heart-touching story about discrimination for black ballerinas.


When the word ballerina is heard, it invokes the image of beautiful and radiant white woman dancing in the most graceful manner. Our mind never imagines black women as ballerinas, they are more likely to be thought of as hip-hop dancers, but not ballerinas. However, breaking through these shackles of racial discrimination, there have been five ballerinas in the world that have carved a niche for themselves and made a noticeable mark on the ballerina stage.  They have managed to change the world’s perception about their art, convincing people to see their talent and not the color of their skin: Raven Wilkinson, Lauren Anderson, Tai Jimenez, Aesha Ash, and Misty Copeland. Blue Butterfly by Marian L. Thomas is a novel inspired by these strong women’s determination and talent.

Taking inspiration from these brave and beautiful black ladies, award-winning fiction writer Marian L. Thomas has come up with her most awaited novel, Blue Butterfly- a heart-touching story about a black girl  (Precious Blue Johnson) that fights all odds in order to become a ballerina in a time when most people can only imagine white women in the famous leotard and tutu.  It is a novel about a young girl, Precious Blue Johnson, who leaves Lutts, Georgia for New York with a big dream in her heart: she wants to make history as the world’s first black ballerina.  During her journey, Precious meets the wise Ms. Ann, and falls in love with the very handsome Ray Silvers. While the stage for a heart-warming love story appears to fall in place, her real struggle will not be of the heart. It will be fought in the world of ballet, as Precious sets out find a place to hang her own pair of pointe shoes and perhaps become the first black ballerina.

However, she will soon realize that the world might not be ready for a black ballerina. On her journey to success, she will face many obstacles, make friends and enemies, and even find true love. Ray Silvers is a handsome man with the most gorgeous eyes Blue has ever seen. He is also going to become a brilliant doctor, and he is willing to love her completely. Nothing will stand in the way of their love, not even his dark past and his drug-addicted mother. Together, Blue and Ray can accomplish anything.

It is fitting that Blue Butterfly is set to release on 4th April, 2014, the anniversary of the day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. His fight for freedom and equality provide the back drop to the story. Marian shows how his death reaches into the heart of Anya Duport, a beautiful and young white ballerina who struggles to carve out her own sense of what freedom means.
 
Blue Butterfly will no doubt trigger strong emotions of romance, love, family, forgiveness, friendship and even the harsh reality of betrayal. This is the reason why Blue Butterfly is being eagerly awaited by fiction lovers around the world.  Blue Butterfly will be released in a digital and print edition on April 4, 2014. It will be available for purchase through online retailers and bookstores nationwide.

 

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