McGlothin, Victor

PERSONAL:

Married; children: two.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Plano, TX. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author. Formerly worked as a bank vice-president.

WRITINGS:

Autumn Leaves, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

What's a Woman to Do?, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Every Sistah Wants It, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Earl Sewell and Phillip Thomas Duck) Whispers between the Sheets, BET (Washington DC), 2005.

(With Carmen Greene and Tracy Price-Thompson) Indecent Exposure, Kimani Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Mary Monroe) Borrow Trouble, Dafina Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Down on My Knees, Dafina Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Sinful, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2007.

Ms. Etta's Fast House, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2007.

Sinful Too, Grand Central Publishing (New York, NY), 2008.

Also author of the blog Victor Said ….

SIDELIGHTS:

Novelist Victor McGlothin "almost lost an athletic scholarship due to poor reading skills," wrote a contributor to the author's home page. He later earned a master's degree and moved on to work as a vice president for a bank. He left that position to become a full-time writer, composing such novels as Autumn Leaves, What's a Woman to Do?, Every Sistah Wants It, Down on My Knees, Sinful, Ms. Etta's Fast House, and Sinful Too. In his books, McGlothin seeks to diversify the subject matter readily found in popular African American literature. There is "too much of the same thing drowning the African American literature market," he told an Urban Reviews interviewer. "I think there's enough Af-Am dollars for all writers but dang, does everybody and their momma have to write Erotica and Street Lit? By looking at our best selling lists, you'd think that's about all we (our sistahs mostly) read. While it's not the whole truth, I hate flipping to best-seller lists (month after month) and seeing booty-booty-booty-booty-booty everywhere! Enough already!!!!!"

Autumn Leaves looks at the issue of AIDS in the African American community. Rumors are spreading that UTexas-Consolidated football star Rorey Garland is gay because he's never been seen keeping company with a woman. But Rorey confides in his best friend and fellow football player Marshall Coates that the reason he is celibate is because he contracted HIV from a former girlfriend (now dead) and the disease has progressed to AIDS. More seriously, he believes he has unintentionally infected a one-time lover, Shauni Woodbridge. When she comes down with the disease, Rorey has had enough; he takes a gun and kills himself. The circle of infection spreads through friends and acquaintances until it includes Kennedy James, the lover of prominent businessman Simpson Stone. "Moving from denial to acceptance in a group called Autumn Leaves," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor, "is her only solace as the disease slowly progresses." "These characters," declared Debbie R. Sims, writing on the Romantic Times Online, "leave the springtime of their lives by falling like leaves in autumn." "This serious novel," Harriet Klausner wrote on the Best Reviews Web site, "will hook the audience with its somber message that death in the form of illnesses like AIDS knows no contrived human boundary."

In What's a Woman to Do? McGlothin takes up the story of three sisters—Joyce, Janeen, and Janesse (or Sissy)—and how they try desperately to conceal their secrets from one another. Joyce, the eldest, considers herself the keeper of the family secrets, including those her sisters don't know about. Janeen has been passed over at work for a man with whom she has become infatuated; at the same time, her husband, Ray, has been having multiple affairs and has gotten involved in a scheme that is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Finally, Sissy has immersed herself in shady business deals, including a real estate fraud and a call-girl ring. The novel, Harriet Klausner stated on the Best Reviews Web site, "is an engaging family drama that looks deep into how close siblings really are when secrets are kept that involves all of them." "The twists and surprises are both plausible and unbelievable," declared Lilian Lewis, writing in Booklist, who found the novel "both engrossing and entertaining." "This book," concluded Suzie Housley on Romantic Times Online, "offers a gripping, emotional glimpse into the dark world of the unknown."

"With a plethora of interesting characters," wrote T.L. Burton on the Romantic Times Online, "McGlothin explores real-life issues" in Every Sistah Wants It. The focus of the story is on Octavia Longbow, "an exotic beauty raised on an Oklahoma reservation," explained Lilian Lewis, writing in Booklist. Every Sistah Wants It traces Octavia's emotional journey between her former boyfriend (a famous recording artist) and her new love (an impoverished man who treats her with respect and affection). Down on My Knees traces the tale of Grace Hilliard, a marketing executive pursuing a career and raising her son, Andre, as a single mother. After being challenged by another woman, Grace decides to pursue a new relationship—but she decides to do so through celibacy and in accordance with her religion. Grace's journey "captures and recaptures the reader within the fantasies cascading through her mind," declared J.A. Crawley on the Romantic Times Online, "and her decision to rely on her faith."

Set in 1947, Ms. Etta's Fast House is part noir thriller and part romance novel. The protagonist is ne'er-dowell Baltimore Floyd, who arrives in St. Louis on the run from a Harlem gambling debt gone wrong. Ms. Etta's is an African American nightclub in the historically black section of St. Louis (known as "the Ville"), frequented by physicians and nurses from the local black Homer G. Phillips Hospital as well as hustlers and women of easy virtue. The author "showed great creativity by exposing the reader to black St. Louis in the 1940s," wrote Radiah Hubbert on the Urban Reviews Web site. "From Ms. Etta's House to the black-owned Watkins dry goods store, you could literally picture everything." "Vivid storytelling rooted in history," concluded Valerie Hawkins in Booklist, "ultimately makes this one a winner."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, May 1, 2003, "Victor McGlothin's Second Novel, What Every Sistah Wants, Was Picked up by St. Martin's Press."

Booklist, September 1, 2003, Lillian Lewis, review of What's a Woman to Do?, p. 58; November 1, 2004, Lillian Lewis, review of Every Sistah Wants It, p. 465; April 1, 2006, Lillian Lewis, review of Down on My Knees, p. 20; September 15, 2007, Valerie Hawkins, review of Ms. Etta's Fast House, p. 33.

Ebony, December 1, 2006, review of Borrow Trouble, p. 42.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2002, review of Autumn Leaves, p. 1076.

Publishers Weekly, February 5, 2001, "Moving On Up," p. 20; August 19, 2002, review of Autumn Leaves, p. 69; September 11, 2006, review of Borrow Trouble, p. 34; August 13, 2007, review of Ms. Etta's Fast House, p. 43.

ONLINE

Best Reviews Web site,http://thebestreviews.com/ (August 21, 2008), Harriet Klausner, reviews of Autumn Leaves, What's a Woman to Do?, and Whispers between the Sheets.

GOD and "Good" Books Web log,http://christianbooks.myblogsite.com/ (August 21, 2008), Tavares S. Carney, review of Sinful.

Macmillan Web site,http://us.macmillan.com/ (August 21, 2008), author profile.

Romantic Times Online,http://romantictimes.com/ (August 21, 2008), J.A. Crawley, review of Down on My Knees; T.L. Burton, review of Every Sistah Wants It; Suzie Housley, review of What's a Woman to Do?; Debbier R. Sims, review of Autumn Leaves; and Brooke Garner, review of Borrow Trouble.

Urban Reviews,http://www.urban-reviews.com/ (August 21, 2008), "Inside Out: Victor McGlothin," and Radiah Hubbert, review of Ms. Etta's Fast House.

Victor McGlothin Home Page,http://www.victormcglothin.com (August 21, 2008), author profile.