African Urban Fiction

The seventh child of one of Richmond, Virginia's, most ambitious hustlers, Seven is a talented poet and author with a true ear for the streets. In Gorilla Black, a boy with a love of Shakespeare and Langston Hughes struggles to thrive while growing up in the projects as the son of an alcoholic mother. In time, self-dubbed Gorilla Black will ascend to the top seat of a cocaine-fueled empire - and discover the truth about his beloved brother's death so many years before.

A New York Times best-selling author and award-winning journalist with publishing credits in Essence and Vibe, Aliya S. King uses her experience covering celebrity culture to create juicy tales of sex, ambition, and betrayal. In Diamond Life, Alex Maxwell’s rapper husband, Birdie, sees his album go multiplatinum - but life in the spotlight might be too much for his marriage to withstand.

Mother Doreen has left New Day Temple of Faith in Malvonia, Ohio, and moved to Kentucky to help her diabetic sister. Her sister's husband, a truck driver, pretty much lives on the road. Mother Doreen feels in her spirit that she's needed to intervene on her sister's behalf, especially when the assistant pastor of her sister's church seems to be there just a little bit too much. Her suspicions really grow when her sister's belly does too.

Who can Kiam trust when friends behave as ruthlessly as enemies and the person that he is most loyal to is the very one that has a gun aimed at his back? Reeling in a bloodthirsty rage, he takes to the streets with only one mission on his mind - vengeance. Blood-stained hands and deceitful hearts have destroyed an undying allegiance. As Kiam unleashes his vicious murder game on known adversaries, he overlooks the true enemy which is nearest. However, spilled blood will lead him to the truth.

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.

The story is told primarily through Andre's voice, but we also see things through the voices and points of view of his mother Ruby, a hard-working medical secretary, his older sister Nina, his mostly not-there-usually-drunk-and-high father Eddie, a halfhearted reggae musician, and Reggie and Smoke, the kingpins of competing drug crews.

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.

Persia Chandler doesn't know the meaning of the world struggle. After the arrest of her notorious father, she is whisked away from Harlem, the only place she has ever called home, to be raised in an affluent neighborhood in Long Island City. Her mother and stepfather shower her with the best that life has to offer. During her senior year in high school, she convinces her parents to let her transfer from Catholic school to attend public school. That is the start of her problems - but it's hardly the end.

With a unique style, Noire tantalizes readers with erotic tales and wildly entertaining urban dramas. Featuring one of her most unforgettable characters, Natural Born Liar follows the escapades of Mink LaRue - straight out of Harlem and looking to take a big step up in life. Mink’s got a taste for fine living, and when her resemblance to a missing oil heiress gives her an opportunity to take up residence in a 20-room mansion, you better believe she’s going to jump at the chance.

They say loyalty is everything, but beneath the surface of a promise lies betrayal and deceit. Taught by the best and given the keys to an empire, Kiam's loyalty is tested at every turn, as he strives to enforce his rule over those who ultimately can't be trusted. A deadly warning directs his course as he strives to carry out his orders. Complications set in when his mentor's beautiful, sexy, and rebellious daughter Lissha - who is as comfortable carrying a gun as she is carrying a Gucci bag - forces Kiam to decide between his sizzling desire for her and his immense loyalty to big Zo.

Teenage beauty Johnnie Wise has seen her share of hardship. Sold into prostitution at an early age, she is an accessory to a murder that sparks terrible race riots. Her boyfriend, Lucas, wants to give her a better life, but Johnnie has a powerful effect on men, and gangster Napoleon Bentley will stop at nothing to have her.

This raw and passionate novel from national best-selling author Tracy Price-Thompson is a provocative story of love across racial boundaries. Juanita and her best friend Scooter are both frustrated in life and love, Juanita because her light skin makes it tough to fit in, and Scooter because he is gay. When they meet two fine-looking Puerto Rican men, their lives head down paths they never anticipated.

When the identity of the traitor in Kiam's clique is revealed, justice is served swiftly - and with no mercy - sending a message to the others that betrayal will be met with death. But has Kiam really uncovered the treacherous one in his midst, or is the true culprit of disloyalty and larceny still hidden behind her beauty and guile, sacrificing her sister to save herself?

Trinidad-born Justin Peters is a Harvard-educated literature professor, whose focus on the works of "Dead White Men" receives little professional respect at the public Brooklyn college where he teaches. But whatever troubles he might have at work are eclipsed when he realizes his wife, Sally, is no longer certain about their life together.

Lorain is back from her sabbatical, and although God didn't reveal to her all that she wanted him to regarding her past, she refuses to just let things be. When all the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together, just how many lives will be damaged, and how many will be restored? The survivor of one of the most horrific experiences a person could ever endure, it appeared as though Sister Nita, as leader of New Day's Janitorial Ministry, was hiding behind a mop and a broom.

National best-selling author Keith Lee Johnson enjoyed breakout success for his novel Little Black Girl Lost. Now Johnson introduces Nelson Kennard, a former number-one NBA draft pick who blew his chance at the big time - and is about to lose the best thing that's ever happened to him, sexy school teacher Parris Stalls. Soon-to-be-dissed Nelson may have been a playa back in the day, but there's always another baller waiting in the wings.

When you're the top wolf on the continent with the backing of the Goddess, how does an enemy topple your kingdom? By challenging you to a fight? No: by changing the rules. After 300 years of fighting and service to the Goddess, Silas Knight is the patron, alpha to the alphas on the North American continent. As the top wolf, he fears little and has seen most things. But when he discovers someone or something has been quietly disturbing the natural order of things, he's surprised.

Now that Mink has pushed her way to the front of the line to capture the Dominion family's oil billions, her life has become a luxurious whirl of easy money, fine whips, and sparkling jewels. But she'll need to come out of a whole new trick bag in order to throw shade on her sizzling swerve with Suge, her uncle-by-marriage only. Meanwhile, Suge is going toe-to-toe with the Dominion's oldest adversary, whose shameless mudslinging could cast dirt on their family name and ruin their good fortune forever.

The lives of Frankie, Tommie, and Olivia (Livvy) haven't turned out quite as planned. Frankie has a pair of stalkers. The life that Tommie had dreamed of having with Blue has become anything but perfect, and Olivia, despite her efforts, hasn't been able to get over the psychological barrier caused by her husband's affair in Naughty or Nice.

Starr Fields sits in the Clark County jail after being released then re-arrested and held without bail. She uses her time wisely during her incarceration. After making examples out of a few of the other inmates and putting the squeeze on her unit Double Gs style, Starr recruits some new talent for a plan she intends to execute when she gets out. Queen Fem isn't happy about all of the sudden attention on the Double Gs organization.