African Urban Fiction

Welcome to Bailey's Café, the most mythically real diner you've ever walked into. Presided over by Bailey and his helpmate, Nadine, it is a magnet that draws a wide variety of the "colored" people of 1948, each with a story to tell.

''It's the penthouse or the morgue.'' This is the philosophy adopted by Keshawn Wilson, a.k.a. ''K-Dawg',' self-proclaimed lord of the streets. Keshawn is the youngest of five kids and one of only two that doesn't belong to his mother's husband. As a little boy he feels the distance between he and his stepfather, and life becomes increasingly difficult for him as the years pass. His childhood and young adult years are spent in a home for boys and state prison, where he serves time for manslaughter.

Jess Roberts thought she had a good life with Esias. Despite all the chaos of their kids and her taking classes, they still seemed to keep it together, even if she does feel neglected and a little trapped in her life. Then fellow student Jayson Winston comes into the picture...and rocks her world. Jess finds herself tangled up in an innocent game of email truth or dare with the alluring Jason, which heightens with every exchange and finally explodes in a massive affair. Jess soon realizes she needs to save her good marriage and tries to cut all ties with Jayson.

Simone, Te'Nae, and Shay are picture perfect wives and career women. Although they're able to juggle prestigious jobs, motherhood, and wifely duties with ease, they share a dark secret that, if exposed, could ruin everything they've worked hard to maintain. They will only get one chance to figure out if their families and marriages are worth more than the risks they're taking. They better hope they make the right decision, because once good wives go bad, there is no turning back, and the consequences can be major.

After one night as a stripper, Cindy decides she can’t take it and quits. Unlike most of the girls she knows from the streets, she’s not ready for that kind of grind. That doesn’t mean she can’t hustle, though. In order to make money without being groped by men in the club, Cindy starts a phone-sex company. Her lip services quickly gain popularity, and she ventures into other aspects of the sex industry.

A crippled economy changes Lola Jones' silver-spoon status to copper. Only one thing can save Lola's children from the claws of poverty, and that comes in the form of a million-dollar life insurance policy. It is, however, just a useless piece of paper unless she's dead. Lola vows to make the ultimate sacrifice for her children's well-being. There are two problems - she doesn't have the guts to kill herself, and her insurance doesn't pay out on suicides. Lola turns to Blase, a desensitized hit man with a "no turning back" policy, to execute her murder.

Animal, the gentle and kind-hearted family man, is still infamous for turning at any moment into a cold-blooded killer. Animal is the product of ruthless abuse and the unforgiving streets - he is the product of the world we all live in. Is there anything that could push you to the breaking point of murder? Are you absolutely sure there isn't? After all, there's an Animal in all of us.

Lyfe Simmons is on top of the world. He has an empire that has been growing bigger every day, a group of friends who would die for each other, and a wife who is down for whatever. What could he possibly be missing? He has basically anything he could ever want right at his fingertips, but he doesn’t have the one thing he wants most: the woman he fell in love with and hasn’t stopped loving since he first laid eyes on her. With so many obstacles and bitter people in the way, can love really conquer all?

I knew he had the power to make me feel, but he also had the power to break me. To pull my heart outside of my chest and stomp on it. I knew falling for a man like Capone came with more than I was ready for. He wasn't feared for no reason. Timmy never meant Jaiden any good, and I knew it from the first time I met him. I've never wanted someone dead as much as I wanted him dead. Timmy needed to go, and I didn't care how he went as long as he wasn't breathing. Capone put it on his life that he would always protect me and mine.

Still recovering from the suicide of her best friend, Shan, now pregnant by a married man, is forced to make major decisions in her life. Ready to leave the fast life behind, Shan believes a move to Detroit will help her become a stronger woman - but someone wants revenge against her brother and is willing to destroy her in the process.

For one night a couple checks in to an upscale hotel. The pair seem unlikely companions, from opposing strata of society, but their attraction is palpable to all who observe them - or overhear their cries of passion. In the course of 12 hours, con games, erotic interludes, jealousy, violence, and murder swirl around them. Will they part ways in bliss, in sorrow, or in death?

After many years of misery, Zen Brooks is finally free. Free from her cheating husband, free from a dead-end job, and free from more than 100 pounds of weight that she worked hard to lose. Now, she is enjoying life and determined not to ever go back to being the person she was. Josh Miller had the world in the palm of his hands. Once one of the top players in the NBA with millions of dollars in his bank account, there was nothing in this world that he wanted and couldn't have. But his world and career came crashing down because of bad habits, bad choices, and a bad attitude.

In the third installment of the runaway hit series Girls from da Hood, street-fiction veterans KaShamba Williams and Mark Anthony are joined by newcomer MadameK as they turn up the heat with fiery stories that will leave the listener breathless.

Blazing with scandal, deception, temptation, and revenge, this third installment in the Twisted series blurs the lines of infidelity and tests the true meaning of love.

Halleigh and Malek have been through more drama in their young lives than most people will ever see. Now, their saga is coming to an end. Find out what happens to Halleigh and Malek in the final installment of the Flint series. Will these young lovers, separated over and over again, finally be able to live their happily ever after, or will they be swallowed up by the streets?

Alexis Gibbs, addicted to a controlling man named Jarred Simmons who has given her nothing but empty promises and broken commitments, must choose between being Jarred's mistress forever or moving on and starting a new life with a new man.

Robyn and Aries are "The Murder Mamas", contract killers from Los Angeles who take no prisoners. It doesn't take them long to link up with Hollywood's biggest drug kingpin, who hires them to take out a snitch and a judge. But the plans backfire, and they complete only half the job. Robyn is caught and put on death row, and Aries goes on the run. She winds up in the islands, where she takes up a new life as a mother and wife and tries to forget who she once was.

Still reeling from her husband’s untimely death, Deborah Robinson needs a fresh start. So she decides to pack up her family and return to her grandmother’s ancestral home on Cavanaugh Island. The charming town of Sanctuary Cove holds happy memories for Deborah, and, after she spies a gorgeous stranger in the local bakery, it promises the possibility for a bright future. Dr. Asa Monroe is at a crossroads. Ever since the loss of his family, he has been traveling from one town to another. When he meets Deborah, the beautiful bookstore owner with the sunny smile, Asa believes he has finally found a reason to stay in one place.

Around the Way Girls 11 is a fast-paced look at the lives of some street-smart women who think they know it all, but are about to get the lessons of their lives. "Meal Ticket" by Treasure Hernandez: After the tragic death of Yanna's husband at the home of his longtime mistress, Yanna's teenage son is forced to step up and fill his father's shoes as the household's sole meal ticket. The straight-laced student soon links up with an unlikely partner in crime. Also featuring "Party Girls" by Clifford "Spud" Johnson and "Do or Die" by India Johnson-Williams.

Knox Baker has been missing for weeks. When his cell phone is discovered in Farah Cotton’s possession, his family wants to know how she obtained it. Always deceitful, Farah quickly devises a clever lie to buy time. The problem is that there is one living person who knows the truth - Eleanor McClendon. Della Baker, Knox’s mother, senses that Farah is lying. To help discern her son’s whereabouts, she calls upon two deadly family members from Mississippi. They waste no time converging on Platinum Lofts to find their lost family member, no matter who they must kill in the process.