African American Anthology

The heralded Queen of Hip-Hop Lit presents an addictive collection of celebrated urban authors with their fingers on the pulse of the streets. Street lit’s finest female voices—Keisha Starr, Tysha, LaKesa Cox, and Monique S. Hall—deliver searing stories about women who make hard sacrifices to stay on top of their hustle and seize the power, money, and fame they can’t live without.

A striking mosaic of prose, poetry, and dramatic dialogue, Jean Toomer’s Cane has come to be considered a masterpiece of the Harlem Renaissance. Structured as a series of vignettes ripe with longing, passion, violence, and revenge, the haunting novel gives a powerful voice to the interior lives of African Americans in the rural South and urban North. Championed for its unsparing honesty and psychological insight by such luminaries as Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, and Maya Angelou, Cane shines as a beacon to generations of African-American writers.

Ancient folklore and modern myth come together in these stories by author Craig Laurance Gidney. Here are found the struggles of a medieval Japanese monk seduced by a mischievous fairy, and a young slave who finds mystery deep within the briar patch of an antebellum plantation. Gidney offers a gay teen obsessed with his patron saint, Lena Horne, and, in the title story, an ailing tourist seeks escape at a distant shore but never reckons on encountering an African sea god. Rich, poetic, dark and disturbing, these are distinctive tales not soon forgotten.

Raslyn and Cameron are friends who met in college. Years have passed. Ras is now an art exhibitor giving museum tours and Camay (Cameron) pursues music as a profession. In between, a lot takes place. Their friendship is tried when Ras accepts a modeling gig to satisfy her friends' curiosity. She's a big & beautiful woman with curves in the right place. She is serious about the modeling opportunity.

Mahogany is now coming face to face with the reality of her secrets and lies; she will have life-altering decisions to make soon. Finding new love, having a beautiful family, great friends, her dream career, and financial stability means nothing as she deals with her internal demons. Will her friends and family stick beside her? Will finally turning to God help her, or is she too deep in that it's just too late?

This long-awaited story collection from Wesley Brown summons up the smoky clubs and gritty streets of a long-gone New York City, one that moved in the frenetic rhythms of jazz. A more innocent city fueled by cool, not money. We meet Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Cab Calloway, and many giants of the era in these sharply observed, carefully intertwined stories. In Brown's deft hands, these legends become real - like we've never seen them before.

This small collection of short stories of riveting and dark plots dabbles in politics, religion, martial arts, social identity, and various other facets of life like baby farms, revealing what man proves to be when he tries! Titles include "A Cold One", "Lagos Hustle", "Cornbread, Fried Chicken, and Sauerkraut", "Rest in Peace", "Alpine Nightmare", "My Style Is Better Than Yours", "Furqaan", "Turf", and "The Part: The Re-assassination of Abe Lincoln".

"No justice, no peace!" The crowd marched through the streets, chanting as their hearts and minds are weighed down heavily. Each individual’s soul has been tattered and worn. The Black and Brown faces that make up the group all house expressions of anguish, pain, and restlessness. The words—"We the Jury, find the defendant, Tyler Mitchell, not guilty"—sting as they fall upon the ears of those who have gathered on the courthouse steps. Another White male has mercilessly taken innocent and unarmed lives. When will it end?

All my life, I've been a man-magnet. Everywhere I go, guys drop at my feet. After all, I have a perfect body, insatiable sex drive, and a razor wit. I'm also modest (can't you tell?). Trouble is, I've never been lucky in love. I only attract guys who forget their wallets and show up to dates wearing #@%#-stained clothes. With my best friend's wedding around the corner, I finally decide enough is enough. I'm not only going to find the perfect date to her wedding, but I'm going to find Mr. Right: a gorgeous man with a great sense of humor, a chiseled bod, talent in bed, and a big...(ahem) wallet. Is that too much to ask? If all goes right, my quest will lead me into the arms of my perfect match...or will it?

Zora Neale Hurston is best remembered today for her work as a novelist, but she was also an accomplished dramatist, short story writer, and folklorist. That range of interests and styles is on full display in this collection.

Roberto "Papa" Huffington. Beloved husband. Father. Friend. This is a very short story in honor of his legacy that he has left behind.

Elegant, profound, and intoxicating—Spectral Evidence, Gregory Pardlo’s first major collection of poetry after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Digest, moves fluidly among considerations of the pro-wrestler Owen Hart; Tituba, the only Black woman to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials; MOVE, the movement and militant separatist group famous for its violent stand-offs with the Philadelphia Police Department (“flames rose like orchids . . . / blocks lay open like egg cartons”); and more.

This dynamic collection of Black voices, performed by Tony and Grammy Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Daveed Diggs and Emmy Award-winning writer, creator, producer, and actor Lena Waithe, works like an incantation of origin, healing, and imagination. Born from a series of conceptual art exhibitions, the perspectives gathered here are nowhere near monochromatic.

Sasha is a single mother and the youngest of her two sisters. Drama followers her everywhere and her sister, Stacey and Randi are fed up with her short temper and untamed tongue. Their relationship with Sasha seems toxic due to her unbearable irresponsible lifestyle. She faces many trails but relies on her good looks to get her out of trouble. Until she finally gets a wake up call.

Situationships is a collection of poems and short stories about everyday relationships. It was written based on real stories from real people. John Holley Jr. interviewed many people of many different ages and backgrounds and used their stories as inspirations. Every story or poem is based off one of their stories and a few of his own.

The Story of Jamie is a fictitious short story loosely connected to actual events about a young girl named Jamie. She was born in the 1940s, and struggled most of her life to find her true identity. During her many devastating conflicts in life, she cycles through love, pain, and perseverance as she finds happiness while maturing and flourishing into a mother and a wife.

Negus: A Compilation of African-American Science Fiction short stories and flash fiction will satisfy conspiracy theorists, sci-fi lovers, and urban fiction fans. Whether you're obsessed with aliens, astronomy, pineal gland decalcification, crystals, or life before birth and after death, Negus hits a home run with out-of-this-world content that'll leave you in deep thought about life and this planet we call home.

Afice is the last of nine generations of women who have survived enslavement, sickness, and hunger. Alone at age seventeen, she sets out through the Louisiana swamps to follow the trail of her ancestors and hear their songs anew. On this journey, Afice must decide how to honor her ancestors while embracing her own future.

Before Langston Hughes and his literary prowess became synonymous with American poetry, he was a seventeen-year-old on a train to Mexico City, seeking funds to pursue his passion. His early poems, beloved verses like “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” were written without formal training, often on the back of napkins and envelopes, and were inspired by the sights and sounds of Black working-class people he encountered in his early life. Blues in Stereo is a posthumous collection of these early works, in which we see Langston Hughes like we’ve never seen him before.

Sade: I haven't done a lot of dating since my jerk fiance cheated on me two years ago, but I have a very full life: a great family, a fulfilling job, and a home in beautiful Portland, Oregon. Then my big brother introduces me to his mysterious writer friend from LA.. I'm falling fast, but I don't know if I can risk my heart again. What if this gorgeous, sensitive guy isn't what he seems to be?