From a Hard Rock to a Gem: A Memoir of a Lost Soul
Diamond Faith Sterling is an inner-city girl fashioned by her environment where crime, poverty and injustice abound and childhood dreams too often become dreams deferred. She has decided that, while society has denied her any chance to enter Heaven (to go to college, to become a professional), she will accept nothing less than ruling Hell (the inner-city and the streets of East Oakland). This one time street-corner drug-pusher transforms herself into a gritty queenpin: the ruthless leader of a multimillion-dollar narcotics syndicate as builds her empire piece by bloody piece. More and more, she desires to (in the parlance of the inner-city) flip her money into something genuine and she begins to focus on her childhood dreams of being somebody. Yet, to rise to Heaven, one must cut ties to Hell…and for this hard rock anti-heroine, giving up the empire she fought so hard to build proves to be the toughest, most gut-wrenching challenge of all…
I'll Cry Tomorrow
Chyna Azzino-Milano is a famous fashion mogul and supermodel known throughout the world. Forbes magazine has listed her as one of the top ten richest African-Americans in the world, with a net worth of 550 million dollars. What follows is an inspiring tale of how this young girl rose from the urban life of the inner-city streets of East Oakland, to the exclusive suburbs of New York, London and Florence and the heights of the fashion world. However, the major complication in Chyna’s life comes from being HIV-positive for the past ten years. Still healthy, and never having shown any symptoms of the disease, she easily hides her illness from her fans and friends alike (of which only a few know of her ailment) until her trusted maid and housekeeper leaks the surreptitious news to a tabloid. Chyna is compelled to break her silence, and publicly discloses her HIV-positive status. Along the way, we see the public condemnation tearing away at her soul, and we see a Christian’s faith in God put to the ultimate test. Finally, we learn how a woman, who has dealt with issues of abandonment by men upon disclosure of her illness, believed that no man would ever want her. Chyna’s character was first introduced by author Pamela M. Johnson in her novel, From a Hard Rock to a Gem: a Memoir of a Lost Soul. This spin-off, as Pamela M. Johnson states,“…is an epic of strife, enlightenment, gallantry, victory and a woman’s unwavering faith in God…her faith, in the end, turned her fear, grief, abandonment, rejection, remorse and shame around, into courage and triumph.” Additionally, the novel explores the faith of one devout Christian, and her belief and trust in God and his word.