Contemporary African American Fiction

Lawrence "LT" Palmer came from humble beginnings. Contrary to his past, LT is now a self-made billionaire, the mayor of a large metropolitan city, and about to marry the love of his life, Sapphire "Phire" Lassiter. Sapphire, the sassy-mouthed baby girl of a family of twelve children, brought life, passion, and love into his world. She is his inspiration for the games he designs and his biggest supporter as mayor. However, her wish for their wedding day is something he is not sure he can deliver.

With Yves carrying not one but two blessings, she wants to be the mother that she couldn’t be for her late daughter. Coming home from rehab, there are a lot of feelings that Yves can’t shake. Roddy is the love of her life, but why does everything in their relationship seem so hard? With their past, she wonders if they’ll be able to restore what they used to have. Or is it best to call it quits and focus on their kids?

Driven by the need to avenge the rape of her nine-year-old sister at the hands of drug lords, Monica Deitrich has spent a decade training for a career in law enforcement. When she is hired by the DEA, she receives her first assignment: Infiltrate and bring down King Kochese, a ruthless killer who controls the Texas drug trade. She soon finds her job is not so simple. Never mind the danger of working undercover—the simple fact is that King Kochese is a virile, complicated man whose attractiveness distracts her from the job at hand.

A Boss Needs a Boss Lady is the tale of twin sisters Taylor and Alexa. After leaving the comfort of their home in Miami and returning to New York City, the girls set out on a path designed by their father, Sebastian, a.k.a. Bash. Bash will stop at nothing until his daughters are sitting in their rightful spots: financially secure and at the top of his organization!

Being the daughter of a pastor, Erica Collins never got a chance to live a normal life. When she lost her mother at a very young age, she questioned her faith in the Lord. Pastor Collins tried to rescue her faith by tying her everyday life even more closely to the church. Now 21 years old, Erica’s only escape from her father and his Bible is when she hooks up with her best friend, Nicole. She finds a little freedom through Nicole’s wild stories, with most of them being about her boyfriend, Mekco. Erica is all in, craving the attention and the lifestyle that Nicole has.

What would you do if you were close to hitting rock bottom? Would you exhaust every possible option to better your situation? Or would you accept defeat and throw in the towel? Meet Pete and Terrence. Both fathers are of a similar age and live in the same city, but their lives are profoundly different. Though they share the unquestionable love a father has for their children, what challenges await them? Will they end up making the right decisions or make their situation worse?

Urban storyteller Dominic Brogsdale brings listeners tales of raw, intense authenticity. The following stories arise from urban reality, from what he and the people he's known have experienced.

Indigo Ace had a rough life growing up. Her mother is a prostitute and her father is a pimp who despises her. Solace Mack is the only pimp in Atlanta, but when Indigo’s mother dies and Solace kicks his only daughter out on the streets, Indigo is forced to boss up. She follows in her father’s footsteps and becomes a female pimp, infringing on her father’s territory.

Daquan loves his wife, Aviana, more than words can explain. Their life isn’t perfect, but it’s theirs, and he wouldn’t change any of it. That is until Aviana doesn’t return home from work one night. Daquan seeks out to find the love of his life, only to find out his wife has a secret life he knew nothing about. Is their love enough to save their marriage? Will it stop Daquan from taking their son and moving on with his life? Only time will tell.

Hustle, Virginia, is a small town full of dirt roads, fast-talking men, and people going nowhere fast. It is also home to the Fortune family - a connected band of boys and girls that grew up fluent in having less but craving more. Nestled comfortably between their reality and unspoken dreams, the Fortunes spend their days tending to the farm, keeping trouble at bay, and hoping for a brighter tomorrow.

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.

Lisette, the flawless beauty with the take-no-prisoners attitude, is back! Along with her partners, Marlene and Aida, Lisette continues to ruin marriages at the request of desperate, wealthy wives willing to pay large sums to stick it to their husbands. Control is what it’s all about, and that’s just what Lisette gives back to the wives.

Greed is defined as an excessive desire to possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially wealth and power. A gold digger is defined as a person who dates someone simply to extract money from them. Twenty-six-year-old Chanel Franklin fits both definitions to a tee. Her "Married to the Money" mentality leads her to make more than a few bad choices. On the road to riches, she gets caught up in a whirlwind affair with a certified baller.

When his father, one of Houston’s most notorious kingpins, is arrested and the money stops coming in, Chris King, not used to fending for himself, must learn how to rule the streets of Houston if he wants to survive another day.

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.

Chase Hidalgo has a good life. He works as a paralegal in his buddy Jacobi’s successful law firm and has a loving wife, Dawn. Yet he feels unsettled. Like he still has dreams left unfulfilled. When he meets Ava in a bar, she seems to know him, but he has no idea who she is. A spark ignites between them, but intrigued as he is, Chase stays true to his marital vows. But when Ava pursues him, the attraction is too powerful to resist, and a fiery romance ensues.

Keep your friends at a distance because it’s not always your enemies you need to be keeping close. The block is a microscope, and you’re always under it.

Flash, the son of Philadelphia drug queen pin Vickie Lopez, decides he isn't going to prison, not even for his own mother. When he’s arrested for a small amount of cocaine, he spills his guts to Philadelphia homicide detectives, resulting in the arrest and federal conviction, under the RICO Act, of his own mother. She’s staring down a life sentence.

Albie has had his fair share of disappointment. It's become clear that the word loyalty has lost all meaning. In fact, it's become nothing more than a word etched in his flesh, lost in the sea of tattoos decorating his body. Were it not for the hate seething from his soul, he'd all but given up. His thirst for revenge brings us to his own saga. A tale of a real savage with nothing to lose and everything to get back. Follow Albie on his journey to right the wrongs he feels have been cast upon him and witness the creation of the next Kingpin.

The streets pump blood through Rocko’s heart, but his women are the electricity that spreads and causes it to contract. Though he’s madly in love with his fiancée, Troi, he can’t keep his past mistakes with other women from catching up with him. Troi is tired of Rocko’s constant lies and cheating ways, while Heather and Mai find being Rocko’s baby mamas comes with more than they bargained for. Troi discovers she’s pregnant just as she’s wishing she could shake Rocko for the last time. Then it’s revealed that Rocko has yet another baby mama.