Showing titles in African American

Whether weaving family life and history into dark fiction or writing speculative Afrofuturism, American Book Award winner and Essence best-selling author Tananarive Due’s work is both riveting and enlightening. In her debut collection of short fiction, Due takes us to Gracetown, a small Florida town that has both literal and figurative ghost; into future scenarios that seem all too real; and provides empathetic portraits of those whose lives are touched by otherness. Featuring an award-winning novella and 15 stories, Ghost Summer: Stories is sure to haunt and delight.

From sissies who are brave enough to go search out the men of their dreams, through to those who need a little help from their wives or female friends, this book sees sissies get all dolled up and then down and dirty!

Trapped in a relationship that has become her prison, Adelle Roberts has learned to survive by making herself invisible. Alonzo controls every aspect of her life—who she sees, where she goes, even what she wears. His charm conceals a monster who punishes the slightest perceived betrayal. When Alonzo forces Adelle to join a gym to lose weight, she stumbles across a kickboxing class and glimpses a possible escape. Except Latifa, her trainer, seems to be harder on her than Alonzo has ever been. What's more is that Latifa seems to be holding a few dark secrets of her own.

Smack in the middle of a cascade of unfortunate events, Amelia finds Calvin (derogatory)—cocky, annoying, too-often shirtless, and right next door (bummer). Sparked by an unfortunate habit of inside thoughts not staying that way (she’s working on it!), their petty back-and-forth banter easily—and a little too quickly—slides into something neither of them shake.

When souls are tied, it's never goodbye. A boy I was that summer evening I met you, pulling your belongings out of the truck and into your new home. I knew it was love then. A whole man I was the day that you met me at the altar and agreed to love me until death do us part. A shell of a man I've become since it did, unable to move on, move forward, or progress in any way until I discovered that not even death was permanent enough to keep us apart. A better man I'm destined to be, knowing that, at some capacity, you're still with me. Our love is one that never dies.

Like her father before her, Joan Matthews is a witch. For generations, their family of binder witches has protected Calvert, Oregon from vampires by strengthening the land with spellcraft. Pushing back against tradition, Joan defied her father and left town to become a war witch, one who fights the monsters hand-to-hand. But when her father dies, Joan returns to find her hometown assailed by a vampire lord's endless attacks—and the answers lie with the one woman who chose a rival over Joan.

Being the girlfriend of a successful rapper isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Rhythm Baker, a successful occupational therapist, held it down for Raheem, her boyfriend of three years, without much complaining. After moving across the country to support his career and their relationship, Rhythm has grown increasingly uncomfortable with Raheem's inappropriate behavior and inflated ego. Feeling disrespected, unappreciated, and unheard, she moves out of the home they share, ending their relationship. Despite his recent moves, Raheem isn’t willing to let her go so easily.

Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has.

From the moment forty-eight alien superheroes crash-landed on Earth, photographer Monika Neumann had a favorite. She’s been crushing on the literally electrifying Taranis ever since she saw the cutie crawling out of his pod. Unfortunately, his popularity isn’t exactly crackling these days. He could use an image boost. Monika is in. One right photo op and she’ll put her ridiculously hot lightning-bolt-wielding hero back in the public’s favor. The best part is, the mission will bring her closer to Taranis.

Ellie, Sloan, Courtney, and Shy have been friends since they were teenage girls, and they have seen each other through many seasons of womanhood. They are now entering their 40s, and they have experienced everything together. They have gossiped over their first kiss. They have jumped bi$%@$ and been jumped on. They’ve survived college. They’ve been each other’s bridesmaids. They’ve consoled each other through divorces.

Touré Wallace and Niomi Spencer were close friends at Finley College, the prestigious HBCU they attended. The attraction that simmered between them every semester was a question they never got to ask or answer before soaring ambitions launched them to opposite corners of the world. Both chased their dreams of grit and glamor as high-profile journalists. They got it all...except a shot at being more than friends. Years later, Touré is an award-winning investigative journalist and Niomi is America's most popular morning-show host, but they both feel like something’s missing.

In this original and trenchant work, Christina Sharpe interrogates literary, visual, cinematic, and quotidian representations of Black life that comprise what she calls the "orthography of the wake". Activating multiple registers of "wake" - the path behind a ship, keeping watch with the dead, coming to consciousness - Sharpe illustrates how Black lives are swept up and animated by the afterlives of slavery, and she delineates what survives despite such insistent violence and negation.

Salima Navarro, a driven young woman with dreams larger than her current circumstances, takes a job at the upscale Aura nightclub to support herself and her recovering mother. This decision unexpectedly propels her into an unfamiliar world. Deuce Dillinger, the commanding heir to a powerful family empire, is accustomed to control in all aspects of his life. Upon seeing Salima, he resolves to make her his, despite her initial resistance to his domineering personality and lifestyle.

There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.

For Nalani Stark, legacy matters… maybe more than most things. Important enough that when that legacy — inextricably tied to her mother’s memory - is challenged, she’s forced to consider even the most undesirable options… Such as a match made in hell with Orion Sterling. The heir to the competitor she grew up being warned about. Orion is a man well-accustomed to getting exactly what he wants. Other than opportunities to grow the family business, he’s moved by very few things.

Aisha owns her own printing company, creating custom shirts, mugs, and other things. She's guarded and has a hard time allowing men to get close to her on a serious level. One heartbreak was enough for her. She eventually learns the only one who can heal that hurt she felt years ago is the same guy who caused it. But is that possible knowing the secret she's holding onto?

Rule #1: No fraternizing. That was the main rule you had to follow if you wanted to stay employed at Danger Inc. For four years, Dymon Danger never worried about breaking that rule until the day his new assistant, Quinci Everly, walked in his office. Withstanding Dymon’s tactics to make her quit, he realizes that neither Quinci nor his intrusive thoughts were going anywhere anytime soon.

A FINALIST for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the VCU/Cabell First Novelist Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the NYPL Young Lions Award, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award “A blistering coming of age story” —O: The Oprah Magazine...

All the Sinners Bleed meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this literary thriller following the grandson of a famous Black actress from the 1940s and 1950s, now a filmmaker himself, who returns to his grandmother’s cabin retreat in the California mountains only to encounter the legacy of her...

From the author of the multi-award-winning, National Book Award–longlisted, “vivid, fast, funny, way-smart, and verbally inventive” (George Saunders) story collection Heads of the Colored People, comes a sly, spry, tall tale of a debut novel about the murder of an infamous moonshiner and...