African Urban

Keema is back, and dirtier than ever. After oddly maneuvering her way out of the blood bath she left behind in Arizona, Keema is up to her old tricks again. Between sex, greed, and murder, it’s almost impossible to escape from the hood life she’s grown accustomed to. From one scam to the next, she finally comes up with a new hustle that rains money and is sure to give her the riches she thinks she deserves. That is until someone from her past emerges, sending her into mental shock. The stakes become high as Keema fights for her life, still with her mind on her money.

In the tradition of Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim comes A Pimp’s Life, the story of the rise and fall of Mack Jones. He’s at the top of his pimp game in Queens, New York, until he breaks one of the cardinal rules of Pimping 101 and falls in love with one of his girls. Destiny was once an innocent young girl tricked into selling her body, but now she’s as tough as the most seasoned professionals on the street. Then a tragic turn of events causes her to open her heart once again.

Meet the Pierce family. Desmond Pierce, a hardworking man from the South, is determined to give his and wife and daughters a good life in Compton, California. Pearla Pierce is a sexy and seductive mother who plays wifey and devoted mother only when her husband is home. Then there’s Carmen, a promiscuous 17-year-old on a self-destructive path and jealous of her younger sister. Cashmere, a 13-year-old, struggles to hold her family together out of love for her father.

Antonio, born of an affair between a beautiful actress and a notorious crime boss, lost his mother to drugs and was forced to navigate foster care and survive on the streets of the Bronx. He is ignored by his father, the infamous head of a powerful crime syndicate, and his half-brothers are living the life Antonio used to dream about. Antonio has turned his struggles into a career in the NBA, but when a devastating injury sidelines his basketball career and he finds out he has been duped out of millions by his best friend, Antonio is forced to turn to the father who never claimed him.

To Merlin Mills, his family ceased to exist when his father turned his back on him, and he had to make some drastic changes in order to survive. Now, nine years later, his family is back, and their existence threatens his once stable relationship with his new wife. If Merlin wants to hold on to her, he must face the demons he’s conveniently forgotten and put them in their proper perspective. Can he undo the damage caused by his omission, or will he snap under the pressure?

Gabby and Mischelle are best friends. Mischelle is despondent, unable to get over the hurt and betrayal of finding out her husband cheated on her with a younger woman - and even worse, he walked out on her and their children. Meanwhile, Gabby's relationship has imploded, and her ex refuses to believe it's over and has started to stalk her. To get away from all the chaos, the women head to Tybee Island, Georgia, looking for a weekend of fun in the sun. Once they get there, they encounter two charismatic yet mysterious men who have the power to inexplicably change their lives forever.

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.

The crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s is arguably the least examined crisis in American history. Beginning with the myths inspired by Reagan’s war on drugs, journalist Donovan X. Ramsey’s exacting analysis traces the path from the last triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement to the devastating realities we live with today: a racist criminal justice system, continued mass incarceration and gentrification, and increased police brutality.

Alexis Griggs has worked hard to get where she is in life. She owns several clinics that service people in need and is a pillar of her community, but looks can be deceiving. Alexis and her brother, Jace, are both leading double lives, which are both illegal and deadly. It leaves little time for Alexis to have a personal life; that is until she has a chance encounter with single father Kevell Farrell.

Nothing prepares Tyler Blake for the fast-paced living of New York City. A small-town girl from Georgia, she quickly gets caught up in the glamorous entertainment industry. While pursuing her dream of becoming an actress, Tyler continually gets sidetracked by men who promise to help her and finds herself going from one dysfunctional relationship to another. Just when Tyler finally believes she has found her ideal man in hip-hop producer Brian McCall, everything begins to go horribly wrong. Trapped in a nightmarish relationship, Tyler is determined not to go down without a fight.

In the hood, every day is about struggle and survival, and no one understands that daily grind more than 22-year-old Kaeyla “Goldie” Dennis. She’s been the “wifey” of an older, wealthy man since she was 15, but the discovery of their longtime affair by his real wife brings to a crushing end her hood-fabulous lifestyle in their low-rise project in Newark.

Kayla, Evelyn, and Trina have been on-and-off-again girlfriends for many years, but the lines of true friendship will be crossed, the knives that go into another friend's back will cut deep, trust will not apply, and no one will share their dirty little secrets. With enough backstabbing, finger-pointing, and disrespect to go around, this trio sticks to their motto of "What she can do, I can do better; and whatever she has, I want a piece of it too." Much competition is thrown in the mix, and jealousy is so thick that there will be no place for anyone to run when the mess hits the fan.

Four friends manuever through toxic and terrifc relationships and come to terms with their troublesome views about women.

What do you do when your work is used against you? This is a question that Auto, leader of the Eraserheads, faces when an unforeseen and dangerous situation wreaks havoc on everything he's built. It's up to him and his right hand, Code, along with their team of expert car thieves to figure out who's behind the attacks on their livelihood. When a crafty con woman named Smiley and a mysterious businessman named Boots step onto the scene, every player becomes a pawn in a war that is taking over the Trap.

Against all odds, Adirah Messa has been accepted to Billet University, a prestigious institution founded in the 1800s for people of color. Determined to excel, she arrives at the university intent on minimizing distraction and focusing on her studies. That goal is soon interrupted when she is noticed by members of the "in" crowd, who invite her to the most popular frat party on campus. Adirah finds herself smitten with someone of another race and is taken on a ride she can never return from. Unbeknownst to her, Adirah's newfound love is not only a master seducer.

Many young African Americans are disinterested in Christianity and others are leaving the church in search of what these false religious ideas appear to offer, a spirituality more indigenous to their history and ethnicity. Edited by Dr. Eric Mason and featuring a top-notch lineup of contributors, Urban Apologetics is the first book focused entirely on cults, religious groups, and ethnocentric ideologies prevalent in the black community.

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

Along the streets of Manhattan, a young Nigerian doctor doing his residency wanders aimlessly. The walks meet a need for Julius: They are a release from the tightly regulated mental environment of work, and they give him the opportunity to process his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past. Though he is navigating the busy parts of town, the impression of countless faces does nothing to assuage his feelings of isolation.

Meet Heaven: a young girl who is loving, submissive, and beyond appreciative of her husband, Ross. As a teenager, Heaven lived solely for her sister, Divine, and her daughter, Sunshine. Because her mother is mentally ill and her father ran off, Heaven had to do some unimaginable things just to feed the family. Then came Ross, and everything changed. He wasn't some filthy rich, dope boy that some young girls dream of, but Heaven felt like Ross was her blessing.

Thalia, a 25-year-old wild girl gone good, moves back to her old neighborhood after a failed engagement and manages to catch the eye of the town's most wanted man - the incredibly sexy, single, devoted, and charismatic Reverend Isaac. Not only is there a large age difference between Thalia and the middle-aged pastor, but he also happens to be the father of Madison, her best friend since junior high school. Madison isn't trying to deal with her father dating anyone after her mother's death.