African Urban Fiction

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker - and they sure do love to talk. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children - leaving them husks, empty of joy and strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world.

Simone Campbell is the epitome of crazy and the ultimate villain. Take a look back into her high school and college days, when she was causing just as much turmoil and chaos. This story's ending is only the beginning of Secrets of a Side Bitch 4, and the dots will connect even more for key players in Simone's vindictive games of love.

A menace, I was, the duration of my life. Unsure of what was next, who was next, or where I was headed next. The only for-sure shit in my world was my paper and my people. The ice around my heart was still intact, never being penetrated or as much as tapped.

KoKo is back with a thirst for revenge. Treachery looms thick in her midst as she plants the brutal Kiss of Death on whoever is in her way. The plot thickens while KoKo is on her quest to find everyone involved in Kayson's murder. A guilty confession. Past family secrets that set a chain of events into play may cause her whole world to come crumbling down. Will KoKo maintain the empire that Kayson left behind or will the secrets and deception ultimately destroy her?

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.

Contentment is a luxury, and for the first time in Amon Black’s life, all the pieces have fallen into place. His role in the Powers family is solid, and he has the woman he can’t live without. Brie Barnes has what most would perceive as the perfect life. Things have always been family first—but this time, she’s the one who’s living the dream. Not only is everyone she cares about happy and healthy, but she’s madly in love. Amon and Brie are meant to be. However, life has a way of challenging even the strongest bonds.

Eve is a recovering drug addict, who was just released from prison to a female Christian halfway house. She signed up for the halfway house not to recover but to learn how to stop using drugs so often. Eve has no intentions of staying clean until she meets Reverend Washington. Reverend Washington's wife dies during childbirth, and Eve seduces the newly widowed reverend until she becomes his new wife and the mother to the reverend's three young children. But Eve is very resentful of the deceased Mrs. Washington and plots to make her husband's first wife look like a lying adulterer.

Carmen has gotten her wish. Renee is no longer queen. Being stripped of her title and the power that comes with it, Renee must start from scratch and rebuild what she once controlled. Having turned their backs on one another, Renee's once strong circle is now dismantled, and each individual is after what ripped them apart - Carmen. Carmen's making it hard for them to capture her and doing whatever she must to survive. Renee wants revenge along with everyone else, but will she achieve it, or will she die in battle without the help of Julian and Dane?

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.

Thanks to James Johnson's ground-breaking technology, the drug game and oil exports are now on life support. His prophecy has been fulfilled. However, the Saudi Arabian Oil King, Shalik Khalid, has unleashed a vicious death squad on American soil. The message is clear, and now the surviving members of the Johnson clan must regroup, while the architect of their movement lies in critical condition. The reigns have been passed down and now there exists one logical decision for the heirs to the throne. "Bring to them what they brought to us!"

Q wished that Bacon had killed Red when he had the chance. Red knew Q's career as a hustler was over, and he was counting on starting a new legit business with the money he had made. He had once believed Red when she promised that the money didn't mean a thing and she would give it all up to be with him. Bacon returns from prison and suddenly Q is left for dead.

With demanding careers and two children, Cherise and Mason McKenzie find themselves spending more time apart than together, which allows infidelity with a trusted loved one to darken their doorstep. It is only through a series of near-tragic events that the couple are able to rebuild their lives and rekindle their love.

Raised on the deadly streets of New Orleans, James Johnson is displeased and disheartened by the drug game and the sickness it's inflicting on his race. Unexpectedly, James has befriended America's most wanted and deadliest fugitive, Osama Bin Laden. Now he and Osama have joined forces in an effort to eliminate the nation's drug trade.

Published during a literary era marked by the ascendance of Black writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley, this thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown’s childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s.

Her billionaire family's scandalous secrets are as big as their fortune. But consummate con-mami Mink LaRue plans to play them all for the ultimate high stakes.... As a newly minted Dominion family heiress, Mink has new golden moves to snag even more of the family fortune. Trouble is, her hidden love games with seductive uncle-by-marriage-only Suge have them at bad-news odds - and more than her heart is in dirty sexy trouble.

Dr. Kasen Phillips has the magic touch when it comes to helping his patients who are in dire need of counseling services, but when the love of his life winds up missing in action, Kasen's life takes a horrific turn for the worse. His office manager, Voncile Harper, is there to lend a helping hand. She's on a mission to shake Kasen from his misery by offering him her sweet heat, which he can't resist. It's not long before Kasen finds himself caught up in a web of Voncile's lies.

Set in 1950s New Orleans, Little Black Girl Lost is a powerful tale filled with sex, greed, and the explosive political and social climates of an America long gone. Fifteen-year-old beauty Johnnie Wise lives her life devoted to God. But her innocence is shattered when her mother, who has been a prostitute for years, sells Johnnie's body to lecherous insurance man Earl Shamus.

Essence best-selling author Keith Lee Johnson's popular series continues with this fourth book, which reaches back to unearth the roots of JohnnieWise's family tree. On the eve of her arranged marriage in an African village, a 16-year-old girl elopes with her fiancé's younger brother. But the lovers are captured and sold into American slavery - and the girl wonders if she'll ever see her man again.

Marisol Rivera barely survived being abused with nowhere to turn. So there's nothing she won't do to keep her Lower East Side women's health clinic open and give disadvantaged women new lives. Running an exclusive escort service for New York City's rich and powerful 1 percent is the perfect way to bankroll her business - not to mention the perfect cover for robbing corrupt CEOs.

Life is supposed to be easy and carefree when you are young, but if you live in Washington, DC, that's not always the case. Flashing back to the 1990s, listeners enter the lives of four black men looking to gain money, power, and respect. These four brothas come from different walks of life, but they have one thing in common: They are trying to make fast money in the harsh inner city. However, when the money comes too easily, there's usually a price attached...the ultimate price.