Book Talk with Marvin Mason

About Marvin Mason

Marvin Mason has arrived as a refreshing new storyteller with this fun adventure of young people and African-American Midwest life, the seemingly quiet but oh-so interesting world that molded me but rarely shows up in the media.”

Kalisha Buckhanon, American Library Association ALEX Award-winning author of Upstate and Conception, winner of the Friends of American Writers Literature Award. Since his debut Mason has brought you novels such as Expert Witness and Interstate that took his audience on a thrilling ride.

What inspired you to write this book?

I enjoyed my time writing the first episodes of Claim Me and Desire Me Only. I decided to write a series all in one book instead of trying to rush a novella out that felt incomplete from the standpoint it only gave one perspective. I also wanted something noirish for today’s reader.

What can we expect from you in the future?

After Cherry Punch, I tackle The Magnificent Mile which is the name of the more high-brow area off Downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue.

How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?

Many of the characters in Cherry Punch exist in one capacity or another. Ray Ray, Sherry, and Benny are all based off living breathing humans still in the area. Oddly, we are all about a decade off in age from each other with me being the oldest. And yes, Big Nat also still exists. We are all Maywoodians.

Where did you come up with the names in the story?

Cherry Punch is named after a medicinal strain that can be bought in most weed shops. I was looking to create an urban Pineapple Express and this idea came up. Cornell, and especially Harold Jasper both fixtures in the area. Neither ended well.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

My act two was by far the most adventurous endeavor I have ever partaken. It didn’t take me long to work it out and I wanted that portion to go on forever. I easily could have written another chapter on that arc.

Is there a writer which brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?

I would love to have had an opportunity to sit down with Elmore Leonard and pick his brain. His transition from Westerns to gritty urban novels where the good guy and the bad guy can be hard to discern and harder to root for whether it be Out of Sight or Hombre. Get Shorty or Last Stand at Saber River, his protagonists and antagonists stand out and could easily switch sides.

About the Book

Cherry Punch by Marvin Mason
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Urban Fiction

Synopsis

A double cross sends a couple of friends on the adventure for their lives.

A chance run in with an old friend becomes a run for their lives when Sherry Rose and Benny Freeman have a misunderstanding with local drug dealers. Witnessing the massacre of friends of Sherry’s double crossing boyfriend leads them to be hunted down by corrupt law enforcement.

Having a near death experience gives them a chance to start a romance they never knew the other wanted.

Will they survive when the bad guys close in on them and finally find the love they always wanted?

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