African American Literature Fiction

At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic, James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with this eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Time stands as one of the essential works of our literature.

In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all. W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart.

When her marriage to an NFL phenom ended, so did Adrienne Sheppard's chance at wealth and security. Now she's betting on her exclusive new nightclub - and her new man - to turn her luck around.… Sexy vixen Shanice Whitaker is taking her pay-for-play schemes to a whole new level to stack up the mad fortune of her dreams.… And Zakiya Lee is sure she knows how to work the sports fame game straight into full-time professional wife-hood with her NBA star.…

The odds have been stacked against Janelle Doesher, aka Jane Doe, ever since her parents were murdered in cold blood. She's been stripped of the money, power, and respect associated with the family's name. Turning her losses into lessons, Jane takes destiny into her own hands. She does whatever is necessary to rise to the top, and that includes stepping on toes and making more enemies than she already had. Once her spot in the game is solidified, or so she thinks, one of her affiliates blows the whistle on her operation, and an indictment comes down on the entire organization.

They are 40-something, successful, financially set...and done with trying to find "perfect" husbands. So why can't Hahna, Twila, and Kimberly have men strictly for friendship, companionship - and especially mind-blowing sex? Their solution: be sugar mamas to gorgeous young studs who promise the best of having it all. But the ladies soon find that real lust and no strings is way more complicated than they thought....

No matter how tough the odds, Ricky, Derrick, and Jamal learned to unite and fight during their time at the Branch Avenue Boys' Youth Institute. But their adult lives have driven them apart - and set off a series of events their friendship may not survive. All Jamal's political achievements can't erase his bargain with DC's corrupt mayor. And when he finds himself the latest target on Mayor Johnson's hit list, he'll risk everything to end the mayor's deadly reign - even if it's the last move he ever makes.

A Million Dollars Worth of Fat by Mona Love: Keisha Long is cute, funny, and is always the life of the party, but she is also 320 pounds and lonely. She's tried dating apps, blind dates, and everything else, but nothing changes until she buys a winning lottery ticket. Complications by Katt: Secret Johnson has been slim all her life, but since she had her second child and turned 38, she has gained almost 70 pounds. She can see it’s affecting her marriage....

A hard-working daddy's girl, Precious Cummings is sure she's going to college. But when her father is murdered, she discovers he lied for years about money they never had - and hid a shocking family secret. Shattered and lost, she starts hangin' with savvy hood chick Keisha - and falls hard for DaVon, LA's most powerful drug dealer. As his new lady, Precious soon gets the best of every luxurious thing - and fast learns the ropes of her lover's lethal hustle.

Donna and Kim Boon moved to Houston, Texas, with their Aunt Lisa when they were orphaned at 10 years old. Lisa raised the girls as her own, showering them with everything a young woman could want. The girls have grown up into beautiful and privileged Houstonites and are two of the most eligible bachelorettes in the city, with more suitors than they know how to handle. Life seems perfect, but when Aunt Lisa is gunned down in cold blood, the girls discover a family secret that will change their lives forever.

Every territory has a king, and Metro Atlanta is no exception. They have two. Gang Lords Blanket and Guerilla have been ruling the game with iron fists. Long ago they decided that neither would cross into the other's territory, and all would be well. Things change when Guerilla breaks the rules. Blanket retaliates swiftly, causing a turf war like never before. The two madmen leave bloodshed, murder, and mayhem in their wake. Caught in the middle of this battle, from different sides of the track, are London and Saint.

Picking up where Essence best-selling author La Jill Hunt's Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda left off, Too Close for Comfort follows Paige Michaels and her no-nonsense friends as they search for love. Paige has finally broken loose from her no-good man, and she's loving the single life - until Quincy Westbrooke shows up.

Full-figured diva Desa Rae Jenkins and her lover boy, Roc Dawson, have finally agreed to make their way down the aisle for better or worse, richer or poorer, and no mess whatsoever shall keep them apart. Several weeks before the long-awaited wedding, however, Desa Rae is confronted by a woman from the past who makes her aware of Roc's naughty nights in a place known as Hell House.The betrayal sends them back to what Desa Rae considers square one, but then the unthinkable happens. Roc discovers that she's been keeping some secrets too.

Oreo is raised by her maternal grandparents in Philadelphia. Her black mother tours with a theatrical troupe, and her Jewish deadbeat dad disappeared when she was an infant, leaving behind a mysterious note that triggers her quest to find him. What ensues is a playful, modernized parody of the classical odyssey of Theseus with a feminist twist, immersed in seventies pop culture, and mixing standard English, black vernacular, and Yiddish with wisecracking aplomb.

Jimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state. To make things worse, the name Hickam is synonymous with trouble. Jimmy Lee hails from a heathen mix of thieves, moonshiners, drunkards, and general anti-socials that for decades have clung to both the hardscrabble hills and the iron bars of every jail cell in the region. This life, Jimmy Lee believes, is his destiny, someday working with his drunkard father at the sawmill, or sitting next to his arsonist brother in the penitentiary.

Kalif is everything his adoptive family wanted him not to be: treacherous, conniving, and coldhearted. As much as he wishes to please them, he can't deny who and what he is destined to be. The hot-tempered young man is indeed his father's son. While off his meds, Kalif discovers the circumstances surrounding the brutal murder of his birth parents. In a matter of seconds, he totally snaps, ignoring the possible consequences.

Derrick. Ricky. Jamal. One's responsible; one's still a player; one's upwardly-mobile. Sentenced to the Branch Avenue Boys' Youth Institute at 12, they grabbed the chance for better futures. They beat the odds and turned their lives around. But now, these three best friends will go head-to-head with ambition, deception - and each other.

Finding love in the club wasn't working for Soraya after she dumped her ex for going to jail, so she tries to find love online. Thousands of women have found love with a simple click of the mouse, and she wants to test it out for herself. Just when Soraya thinks that spending hours online looking for a man is a complete waste of time, she finds YoungGucci90's profile. Looking at his hazel eyes in his pictures, she falls in love instantly. Though her roommate is convinced that he's a catfish, Soraya sees him at a concert. Fast romance blossoms and everything seems to be too good to be true.

Sylvia Blackwell has it all, or so she thinks. She and her handsome husband, Garrett, are the epitome of success: an immaculate house of their dreams, a beautiful and talented 17-year-old daughter, flourishing careers, and nearly 20 years of perfectly wedded bliss. Just as they are making plans for their vow renewal celebration, a call in the middle of the night interrupts their picture-perfect lives. Now Sylvia has to deal with the reality of Garrett's dead mistress and a love child she never knew about.

In this compelling urban tale, Karim Spencer becomes a successful businessman - despite being raised by a bootlegger in a bad section of town. His sister is a down-on-her-luck stripper with a gangsta-wannabe son, and his despondent brother is serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit.

A retired employee of the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles, Mrs. Washington runs the mean, cold streets of Chi-town messing with all types of young thugs with multiple felonies. A widow for some time now, Vernita is determined to make up for her stale marriage. However, when a major health scare sets her back, she finds herself losing everything. Reality sets in that her time on Earth is about to come to a close. Now faced with a death sentence, Vernita seeks to live out her remaining days being the biggest old super freak.