Selling the Fantasy

Stacey L. Ford was born and raised in Oakland, California. She received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from UCLA and a MBA in Marketing Management from California State University, East Bay. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Texas in Sociology with her areas of concentration in Race & Ethnic Studies and Sexuality with a focus on non-normative and alternative lifestyles. She is also a successful Real Estate Broker who services the Dallas Metroplex.
Stacey became a novelist and screenwriter by chance. After numerous talks with her girlfriends about the lack of available, single, quality men, Stacey and her friends jokingly had conversations about their perceived options as single Black women between the ages of thirty-five and fifty: lesbianism, celibacy or polyamory (multiple partner relationships). “None of these were viable options for me and my girlfriends, but the idea of man-sharing sure did stimulate a hot topic of discussion,” she says. These conversations and additional research on alternative lifestyles resulted in the publication of the Dallas Morning News best-selling novel, Selling the Fantasy. The publication of her novel and the buzz about polyamory in the mainstream, brought conversations to the forefront in the African American community about an alternative lifestyle that could be a viable option for some. “Nowadays, Black people are testing out so many different lifestyles five or ten years ago would have been considered taboo, such as bisexuality, swinging, open relationships and polyamory. The idea of two women sharing one man, unfortunately, is not a new concept, but with poly relationships at least women can make the conscious decision if they want to participate, rather than finding out about the other woman across town,” she says. Selling the Fantasy allows readers to peer into the life of a typical, single, Black woman and the tough decisions she must make if she wants to have the man of her dreams. It also compels women to contemplate the question, “Could I live this lifestyle if done correctly?”
Selling the Fantasy, the novel has received numerous accolades including: Dallas Morning News Best-Selling Novel – Fiction, USA Book News Award Finalist in Multicultural Fiction, Mosaic Books.com Top Ten Best Seller List and 5-5 Best Reviewed Books by Urban-Reviews.com. The screenplay, based on the novel, was recognized as a finalist in the Peachtree Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, a qualifier in the Urbanworks Film Festival Screenwriting Competition and numerous other national competitions. Stacey describes Selling the Fantasy as a compelling mixture of humor, romance, erotica and betrayal.
Stacey currently lives in the Dallas Metroplex and is working on a sequel to Selling the Fantasy in both paperback and screenplay formats. In addition, she has also started her first non-fiction book highlighting the results of her doctoral dissertation about dating, relationships and non-normative lifestyles.