African American Short Stories

A young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, a young woman battles with the cancers draining her body and her family, menacing undercurrents among a group of teenagers explode in violence on a winter night, a little girl tears through a house like a tornado, driving her babysitter to the brink and couples feel out the jagged edges of connection, comfort and cruelty.

The dating world is hard enough as it is. Meet Natasha Murphy: a 30-something serial dater secretly coping with borderline personality disorder.

Justin Allen and Kesha Jones are the perfect couple until he gets drafted to the NBA and becomes unfaithful. With the pressure from his new found popularity, he forgets what matters most to him. Kesha. To keep him, she begins to compromise what she believes and the promises that were made to God. Eventually Kesha gets fed up and decides to decline a life of fame and fortune with Justin and chooses a life of faith and holiness instead. Snow Series: The Player The Snow's Meltdown Don't Rescue Me Seed of Discord Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places Temptation

Welcome To the Tantalizing Tales Collection: Toya’s Titles of Terror, Treachery, And Suspense Shorties Volume Three--Enjoy the ride! Story One: The Demons Tricia Newman moves into her new apartment to find out that she is not the only one occupying residence there. At first, she believes she is just burdened by unwelcome four-legged guests of the rotund kind to find out something more sinister is lurking behind the scenes. Mice and rats are the least of Tricia’s problems when she discovers a host of monstrous creatures running around to horrifyingly wreak havoc and wrestle her into ...

Welcome To the Tantalizing Tales Collection: Toya’s Titles of Terror, Treachery, And Suspense Shorties Volume Four In this fourth volume and final installment there are four entertaining tales— in the beginning, find out what happens to the characters from the first story in volume three before the chapters enter and develop into its own addictive chaos. Afterward, two more tormenting tales to indulge in. Enjoy the ride! Story One: Ersha’s Eyes Haunted by puzzling, cryptic, tormenting visions Ersha Bigelow becomes a victim of circumstance. Something chillingly hovers over her in the ...

In Even Sinners Have Souls, each gritty and profound story is told in a raw and real voice, luring the listeners in by the poignant story lines, themes, and the genuine talents and abilities of each of these prolific authors. The stories have characters who face the same struggles and tragedies that any other person growing up in the hood might endure.

In this singular collection, John Edgar Wideman, the acclaimed author of Writing to Save a Life, blends the personal, historical, and political to invent complex, charged stories about love, death, struggle, and what we owe each other. With characters ranging from everyday Americans to Jean-Michel Basquiat to Nat Turner, American Histories is a journey through time, experience, and the soul of our country. Navigating an extraordinary range, Wideman challenges the boundaries of traditional forms, and delivers unforgettable, narratives that touch the core of what it means to be alive.

Aisha is a young girl forcefully married to a wealthy forty-year-old man.The poverty in her family is heightened by the drought in her country. Daily, she visits her mother’s dry farmland, praying for rain to fall and moisten the soil. She knows all hope is lost. Having sustained her family for as long as he could, after her father’s sudden disappearance, her uncle decides the marriage is their last resort. She must marry her old suitor, or bear the responsibility should her mother and younger ones perish in poverty. Aisha weighs her options and decides to marry, with a hidden agenda ...

Gayl Jones, who was first edited by Toni Morrison, has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century and was recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. This new collection of short fiction is only the second in her rich career, and one that displays her strengths in the genre in many facets. Opening with two novella-length works, “Butter” and “Sophia,” this collection features Jones’s legendary talents in a range of settings and styles.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of An African Love Story, Daphne Sheldrick's touching memoir about romance, life and elephants from Africa's greatest living conservationist. Read by Virginia McKenna, the star of Born Free and the Founder Trustee of the Born Free Foundation. An African Love Story is the incredible memoir of the life of Africa's greatest living conservationist. It tells two stories.

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.

When writer John Chapter is found dead, it's the words he didn't write that might hold the key. In the heart of the roaring twenties, Harlem is a nexus of intellectual verve and literary prowess. Esteemed writers hold court at elegant soirées, critics debate the merits of the newest works, and ambition is the lifeblood of every aspiring novelist and poet. But as autumn casts its golden-red spell over the city, Harlem murmurs with mysteries that remain unseen beneath its vibrant surface. Lanie Price, a society reporter with unparalleled access to Harlem's elite, is accustomed to uncovering ...

In his sharply crafted, unnerving first collection of speculative short stories, Courttia Newland envisages an alternate future as lived by the African diaspora. Robots driven by all-too-human urges set out to colonize space; Kill Parties roam the streets of a postapocalyptic world; a matriarchal race of mer creatures depends on interbreeding with mortals to survive; mysterious seeds appear in cities across the world, growing into the likeness of people in their vicinity.

The first collection in the ongoing series of fantasy stories from the world of Esowon. You'll find dastardly beasts, tortured monks, and unexpected lovers in a set of tales that'll transport you to lands lost to time. Delve into these companion novellas to The Kishi, an African fantasy based on Angola folklore.

Poet Jean Toomer’s short-story and poetry collection.

Best Black Women's Erotica 2 showcases the hottest, most arousing and surprising erotic literature by African American women writers. Representing a wide range of styles and voices, these 20 stories offer a steamy assortment of fiction from popular authors, including C.C. Carter, T'Ashia Asante, Dorothy Randal Gray, Carol Smith Passariello, Kiini Ibura Salaam, Shawn F. Rhea, Opal Palmer Adisa, R. Erica Doyle, Tara Betts, and Tracy Price-Thompson among others.

Life after heartbreak isn't always peachy keen and Yachri Moore was still feeling the effects of the day her boyfriend of three years, Derrick Lanely, allowed her to run away without chasing her when he was the one deciding to walk away. A single's retreat with her bestfriend Eva, a vow to remain celibate until marriage, her ex Derrick, and her new date Theo Jackson, all led to Yachri experiencing just how life could really be after heartbreak and all he twist and turns that leads to the path of healing, love, and happiness.

Sasha is a single mother and the youngest of her two sisters. Drama followers her everywhere and her sister, Stacey and Randi are fed up with her short temper and untamed tongue. Their relationship with Sasha seems toxic due to her unbearable irresponsible lifestyle. She faces many trails but relies on her good looks to get her out of trouble. Until she finally gets a wake up call.

A civil rights activist and key figure in African American literary history, Alice Dunbar-Nelson made her mark during the emerging Harlem Renaissance. Violets and Other Tales is her debut (included here in full, save for three stories later updated in The Goodness of St. Rocque). The collection includes poetry, short stories, and essays offering a varied examination of class differences, racial identity, oppression, intolerance, and women’s societal roles. The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories assembles 14 of Dunbar’s short works of fiction.

Our True Mahogany Series features stories compiled with the African American woman in mind, but that will also appeal to women of all cultures interested in an intimate and often sensual account of the female experience. Women facing temptation, suffering heartbreak, finding their first true love or romance at long last are just a few of the fascinating themes of these collections. How do you know when you're falling in love? There's that warm, tingly feeling when you see him, the flying sparks, the sweaty palms and butterflies in your stomach to let you know it's true love. Relive the ...