Q & A with “Toxin” authors Raynesha Pittman and Quincey Bowen

Q & A with Raynesha Pittman and Quincey Bowen

By Juan C. Diaz @TearsofDiaz

What city and state do you guys hail from?

Raynesha: I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and Quincey in Memphis, Tennessee but we live in Nashville now.

How has your environment influenced you both as writers?

Quincey: The lack of information on finance that’s available in Memphis has always left a bad taste in mouth. Meeting someone willing to help me put it in a book in hopes to change that was a blessing.

Raynesha: I was actually shielded from my environment by those around but was still a product of it in a strange way. Writing has always been my therapy and get-a-way from it all.

Who are your literary influences?

Raynesha: John Grisham, Terry McMillian, and K’wan

Quincey: Robert T. Kiyosaki and Napolean Hill

What inspired you guys to write Toxin as a team?

Quincey: We would talk for hours about everything and we still do. From finance, spirituality, to relationships and politics. Putting it in a book just felt right, so we did.

As a Christian, I enjoyed how the characters would often quote Scripture from the Bible. How did this help in the creation of the character of Dwayne Hollingswell?

Raynesha: It made and kept him grounded. Having a relationship with the Lord forced him to remain humble. It’s easy to lose yourself when your banking account has endless numbers in it. We had to find a way to keep him from being the typical rich guy everyone wishes they were and a true man of God would be able to do that because flossing his money wouldn’t be looked upon as righteous so to speak. That doesn’t mean we let God keep the problems away as you’ve read in the book.

Was Toxin more a fable of the duality between following the word of God and the worldly pursuit of material wealth?

Quincey: You hit it on the nose! You can only serve one master, and although there is a devil who is God’s nemesis, money also has its share of servants.

The story of Toxin revolves heavily around the Stock Market and its inner workings. Did you guys have to research the Market deeply before writing this novel?

Raynesha: I did a lot of research only because it was second nature to Quincey and I felt so out of the loop. Quincey has study finance since an early age and has been published in the City’s paper for trades he made as a finance major in college. His knowledge of the markets floored me and it still does.

One of the most frightening characters in the novel is one named Cynthia. Can you guys please give us a brief description of her?

Quincey: Honestly, we aimed to leave Cynthia’s description to the eyes of the reader, hence the reason the follow up to Toxin is titled Perception. Cynthia is a very unstable character and we believe everyone has run across a “Cynthia” in their lives whether it was a male or female. The title Toxin was created mainly from this character and when we do give a description of her in perception we hope her physical appearance sends our readers in shock.

If Toxin was ever adapted as a film, which actors would play the main characters?

Raynesha: Idris Elba, hands down would be a great Dwayne Hollingswell

Quincey: I’d go with Gabrielle Union as Nivea Bowen. She has her spunk.

Are there any future projects in the works?

Raynesha: Yes, Perception is the follow up to Toxin that we are currently working on and we also have created a Children’s book series that touches on a lot discussed in Toxin. The main characters are Dwayne, from Toxin as a child and Uncle QB as the mentor of the group of kids. The first book is out and is titled, “The Traffic Light of Finance” and book two, “Building Blocks of Business” is up next.

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Pick up the latest Raynesha Pittman and Quincey Bowman book “Toxin.” Only at Amazon. Click on the image to purchase this book.