Interview With Victoria Christopher Murray
author of Joy and Temptation

GGBC: Could you tell us how creating TEMPTATION affected you personally?

VICTORIA: I really cannot say that writing this book affected me in any way that is unusual. It was my first book and I was writing with thoughts of would this be good enough for publication, would I get an agent, etc. I was affected more by the publication of the book than the writing of the book.

GGBC: Did you learn anything about yourself personally during the writing process - or about what it means to be a black Christian author in America today?

VICTORIA: I didn't learn anything new about myself during the writing of this book, but I learned a lot about being an African American author. Interestingly, the "Christian" did not play any part in this process because I did not know I was writing what people would later say was Christian fiction. Though an avid reader, I had NEVER read a Christian fiction book in my life - I didn't know the genre existed. I just wanted to write a book like many of the others on the market and put God in the middle of it. And because the mainstream publishers had not published a contemporary Christian fiction before, they didn't know what to call it either. So, my challenges were not as a Christian writer, but as an African American author.

The perception is that African Americans still do not read and when they do, they will not purchase hardback books. So, we bring our books to the table with people who do not understand our culture, our expectations, our desires...etc. Their expectations of us and our performance as authors are so little. For that reason, I believe it will always be a struggle for African American authors. However, it is no different to me than my experiences as an African American woman in Corporate America - especially when I entered that arena in the early '80's. So, I will just continue writing the books that I am led to write and fight to have them published and marketed.

GGBC: Where do you go from here? Will there be a sequel?

VICTORIA: Well, since I'm a writer, the next place for me to go is back to the computer to write another book. I'd better - or I won't be eating next year. I have a four book contract with Warner Books, so I will be writing many more. My second book is complete, the cover has been designed, galleys should be available in a few months - basically, it's in the bag. I'm working on my third book. And, no. There will NOT be a sequel.

GGBC: If there was on thought or conclusion that you would like readers to take away from this story, what would that be?

VICTORIA: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

GGBC: What do you hope readers and critics will talk about?

VICTORIA: I'm not sure I understand the question. My first reaction is that I hope they will talk about the book and whatever they got out of it. What I have found is that everyone who reads the book pulls something different from it.

Whatever the Lord wants to work on in that person is what they seem to pull from the novel. So, I definitely don't want people talking about only one thing. I would like critics to talk about that fact that the book is entertaining , not preachy, and a very good read. (Which the reviewer at Barnes and Noble.com said.)

GGBC Thanks Victoria For Her Time and prays for continued success!