African Urban

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.

Jewell Parker Rhodes follows up her acclaimed Voodoo Dreams with a present-day mystery surrounding the gifts of an ancestor of the Voodoo Queen. Doctor Marie Levant can't explain why she's drawn to New Orleans, or why it's comforting and unsettling at the same time. And she can't shake her haunting dreams. But when she delivers a dead woman's baby, Marie knows malevolent forces are at work, and it's up to her to stop them.

It’s real simple. Either you pay the money and live or refuse and come up missing. The Church Street District in downtown Orlando never had a close brush with organized crime - that is, until Patrick Washington arrived on the scene. His ruthless shakedown tactics forced nearly every business owner in the downtown district to relinquish a percentage of their earnings in exchange for his protection. But one owner in the district was not willing to give in to the extortion attempt.

You can take a rat out the hood but can you take the hood out of a hoodrat? We're about to find out in Rotten Lil Peaches 3. Autumn makes it out of the ghetto but can she take the ghetto out of herself? Meka achieved her lifelong goal and is dancing center stage. She has the name, fame, and money she desired but will it equal happiness? Quiana is right on her heels but how will she deal with her deadly diagnosis? Winter is still on the scene but will she be a help or a hindrance in this strange new world?

In Moving Up, Moving Out, Will Cooley discusses the damage racism and discrimination have exacted on black Chicagoans in the 20th century, while accentuating the resilience of upwardly mobile African Americans. Cooley examines how class differences created fissures in the black community and produced quandaries for black Chicagoans interested in racial welfare. While black Chicagoans engaged in collective struggles, they also used individualistic means to secure the American Dream.

After a long 10 years in prison, Dez is finally released and reunited with his family. When his wife decides that they should take a road trip to help bring their family closer, Dez agrees. But things turn from good to bad when their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and the only person that can help them is a creepy-looking stranger that goes by the name Tom. Dez is forced into an impossible situation and has to use his street smarts if he hopes to get his family out alive.

This is the story of Chasity. Born into poverty to an addict mother who was eventually claimed by her addiction to drugs. Chasity is then taken in by her grandmother, the only person to ever really love Chasity like her own. But her sudden passing would leave Chasity alone, yet again. Chasity's uncle would then step forward. Offering to take her in. An arrangement that quickly dissolves when Chasity begins to blossom. As her body changes, her uncle begins to see her as more than just a niece. A repulsed Chasity refuses his advances. Which leads to him throwing her out.

CJ is devastated when he comes home to find Tamika on the floor unconscious and leaking blood from several execution-style gunshot wounds. As he holds her in his arms tearfully begging God not to take her away, he already knows that if she dies, he is going to turn Newark, New Jersey, into a killing field. Raheem has just lost the love of his life to suicide, and although he is grieving, nothing can get in the way of him helping CJ go up against a foe as ruthless as any he has ever faced before.

Meet Justice, a half-black, half-Filipino goddess whose appetite for a quick dollar is insatiable. Having moved from Chi-town to Charlotte, North Carolina, at an early age, Justice and her younger brother, Monk, decide to take the streets of the Queen City by storm. All is well and their hustle is fruitful until Justice's ex-boyfriend, Carlos (a vicious drug dealer), is robbed, and all fingers are pointed towards Justice and Monk. Subsequently, a war ensues between Monk and Carlos' clique of dealers and killers. No one is exempt from the bloodbath!

Raised in complete poverty, 14-year-old Banks Wales' world is rocked when his mother is murdered. If not for his best friend Mason, the son of a kingpin, Banks would be alone. One rich, the other poor, the two do their best to stay alive and navigate the murderous streets of Baltimore. There's one problem. Banks' father sees the young king's affluent lifestyle as a reminder that he is lacking as a father and a man. So he makes a vicious move. One that puts his and Banks' life in extreme danger.

Chasity is a self-proclaimed THOT. The Internet is her chessboard and other men's money are the kings she so terribly loves to capture. It was never a big deal, nor was it ever complicated for Chasity. Find lonely men, exchange a couple favors, and walk away a wealthier woman. She never anticipated meeting someone quite like Vinnie, owner of a surprisingly successful construction company. Vinnie played her games like any other man, except the funds never stopped coming.

The Kennedy Kings have resurfaced only to learn that the women they married are not the same. Scarlett and Camp Kennedy continue to have marital problems. Although their troubles stem from past physical abuse on Scarletts part, their issues are magnified now that she has Ngozi, her mysterious new love interest. With all of her troubles and her new baby, Scarletts emotional stability plummets.

On the streets of Oakland, California, three families' lives intersect and are bound by blood ties, secrets and deceit. Each one, desperate to put their sordid pasts behind them, has strived to create the perfect life for themselves and their children. Consumed with the petty criminal activities of their children, as well as dealing with their own trust issues with each other, each parent will do anything and everything to protect their legacy. However, when the actions of three friends attract the attention of an Oakland kingpin, hidden truths and long-buried rivalries bubble to the surface.

Simone "Simmy" James never had it easy. When her father's drug operation, one of the biggest on the East Coast, was dismantled, Simone lost both of her parents to the system - her father to a life sentence, and her mother to a 25-year sentence. Gone were the days of luxury cars, high-end clothes, and jewelry that Simmy had grown used to. Forced to live in overcrowded conditions in her grandmother's house, Simmy has to learn how to make money any way she can, and her cousin Jayla is happy to show her the art of high-end boosting. Things run smoothly for a while, until Jayla is arrested.

Sex sells. Tawanna learned this early on in life and had been applying this knowledge to every aspect of her life ever since. Tawanna had no problem with using what she had in order to get what she wanted. Tawanna's daughter, who was only 15 years younger than her, was the complete opposite. Alie wanted nothing from anyone. She believed that hard work was the thing that got you to the top. Alie was an up-and-coming R&B singer whose career had risen earlier, but was now stuck at a standstill.

Son of a black gangster and an Italian mother with ties to a high profile mobster, the deadly mixture allows Spaz to become the most ruthless gangster in the City of Brotherly Love. What starts off as a plot to move his mother out of the lethal streets of North Philly, turns into a multi-million dollar drug enterprise.

Tara Davis' in love and when you're in love you'll do anything for your man. Tara's new love is Larry "La" Baker, the biggest dope boy arms dealer and sex trafficker Hartford, CT's ever seen. Naive to the world of crime, Tara happily does anything her boo asks. But when the law swoops down and Tara finds herself in a serious jam, will La come to her rescue in time or will a life behind bars become her reality?

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.

What happens when a son of Baltimore has to become the man of his family? Ask Gregory Steen known as G to his family, and Baltimore Blue to his adversaries.

Ricky Walters grew up in the gritty streets of San Diego California. Upon quitting his security job, he meets an ex-pimp name Trust who teaches him everything about the pimp game. Jackpot makes a conscious decision to become the biggest pimp to ever play the game and goes cross country. Here, is where Jackpot finds himself getting money, ducking the police, feuding with haters, vindictive females, snitches, and eventually doing time in the penitentiary.