African American Short Stories

There's a saying in Brooklyn that if you come from my part of town, you're from around the way. Around the Way Girls is a fast-paced look at the life of some street-smart women who think they know it all but are about to get the lessons of their lives.

With heart-stopping stories by Zane, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Joy M. Copeland, Robert Fleming, Terence Taylor, Francine Lewis, Brandon Massey, and 12 other established or up-and-coming writers, Dark Dreams is a must-have contemporary anthology for fans of the supernatural.

¿Té para tres? ¡Sí, por supuesto! ... ¿Y si te dijera que a veces, los vecinos pueden sorprendernos gratamente? ... Stefani es una madre soltera afroamericana de unos treinta años.

A young Black girl watches as her aunt’s multiple suitors disrupt her family’s privacy. The same girl, now on the cusp of adulthood, shares her family’s growing fears that her father has disappeared. Acclaimed author Ann Petry penned these and the other unforgettable narratives in Miss Muriel and Other Stories more than 70 years ago, yet in them, contemporary listeners recognize characters who exist today and dilemmas that recur again and again.

"Stay Scheming": Karlie Houston is broke, betrayed - and running from a bounty on her head. Turns out the real owners of the payday loan office she ripped off weren't cool with her idea of employment bennies. "Who Can You Trust?": Struggling bank teller Porsha has no time for Cinderella fantasies. She's working overtime to keep her tragedy-struck family off the streets. But her new boyfriend, Game, is smart, seductive - and sure-thing successful. So why not work his rock-solid plan to steal from her bank?

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.

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.

Henry Dumas' fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed only with wit, words, and wisdom. Championed by Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Quincy Troupe, Dumas' books have long been out of print. All of his short fiction is collected here, for the first time, and includes several previously unpublished stories.

Gayl Jones, who was first edited by Toni Morrison, has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century and was recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. This new collection of short fiction is only the second in her rich career, and one that displays her strengths in the genre in many facets. Opening with two novella-length works, “Butter” and “Sophia,” this collection features Jones’s legendary talents in a range of settings and styles.

In ancient mythology, the Titan Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing man the gift of fire - an event that set humankind on its course of knowledge. As punishment, Prometheus was bound to a rock. But in The Gift of Fire, those chains cease to be, and the great champion of man walks from that immortal prison into present-day South Central Los Angeles. Disheveled and lost, he is thrown in jail, where he meets lifelong criminal Nosome Blane....

These 13 stories by the author of The Invisible Man "approach the elegance of Chekhov" ( The Washington Post) and provide "early explorations of [Ellison's] lifelong fascination with the 'complex fate' and 'beautiful absurdity' of American identity" (John Callahan).

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?

A civil rights activist and key figure in African American literary history, Alice Dunbar-Nelson made her mark during the emerging Harlem Renaissance. Violets and Other Tales is her debut (included here in full, save for three stories later updated in The Goodness of St. Rocque). The collection includes poetry, short stories, and essays offering a varied examination of class differences, racial identity, oppression, intolerance, and women’s societal roles. The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories assembles 14 of Dunbar’s short works of fiction.

It is extremely hard to remain faithful, especially when temptation is right in front of you. This is what caused one man to yield to temptation. He had always been faithful to his wife, but just one touch from the perfect female made him lose his cool. She too was fighting her own set of demons. She was in love with a man who was still committed to another.

Which One Are You? is a collection of 19 short stories that deal with a variety of topics, including family, life, friends, and making choices. The stories are told from a variety of perspectives, and they offer insights into the human condition that are both thought-provoking and inspiring.

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.

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.

"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?

Dr. Lenese Stringfield has been the best sex therapist in Atlanta for the last three years. She uses unorthodox ways to serve up her clients and send them home feeling loved...literally. She will take you on a journey of her sexcapades with her clients and educate you at the same time. She will show you the meaning of being "dicmatized" and focus on the different types of men that women encounter on a daily basis. She will teach you techniques that you may want to use at home to better your own sex life.

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.