South African Fiction

You can’t spell challenge without change. Joseph “J-Rock” Henry is torn between his life’s focus, the most important trial of his career, and the woman who has proven to be his soulmate. But loyalty goes a long way with him, and he feels like she has shown, beyond the shadow of a doubt, where her loyalty is. Still, he can’t shake the feelings he has for her; to the point where it costs him his focus. With too much going on to deal with feelings, and too much at stake, he has to leave Char to fend for herself and focus on those he knows are on the right side. Charlotte “Char” ...

*** Full Standalone*** ***Re-release*** I put my feelings on safety. So I don't go shootin' where your heart be… Sa’Mia “Mia” King was the princess of her father’s empire. She ain’t have to do nothin’ but chill and spend her daddy’s money. She was the apple of his eye, and all he wanted was for her to get an education and stay as far away from the dope game as possible. But you can’t be raised by a kingpin and have a sweet tooth for the streets. She watched her daddy’s every move and even his back. But when she found herself meetin’ the man she was gonna marry, she ...

Imani Jones believed a man was meant to be nurtured into his true self. She often made the common mistake many women made of taking some dirt, adding blood, sweat and tears to turn it to clay, molding it, fashioning it, polishing it up and putting it in the window for display. Then, they went out and found a more refined piece of pottery to match the beauty she had bestowed in them. It was a Catch-22 and she had come to the conclusion that she was meant to be alone… A woman of affairs. Affairs that left a new scent lingering on her skin each night. Until Vincent Garvey entered the picture...

When a cold case dossier lands on Captain Benny Griessel's desk, he and his partner Vaughn Cupido, fellow member of the Hawks elite police unit in South Africa, reluctantly set to work reviewing the evidence of the disappearance - and possible murder - of ex-cop Johnson Johnson on the world's most luxurious train line. Two fellow travelers might have the answers Griessel and Cupido need - but they too seem to have disappeared into thin air, and the few clues that exist suggest a cover-up.

Corinne LaMer defeated the wicked jumbie Severine months ago, but things haven't exactly gone back to normal in her Caribbean island home. Everyone knows Corinne is half-jumbie, and many of her neighbors treat her with mistrust. When local children begin to go missing, snatched from the beach and vanishing into wells, suspicious eyes turn to Corinne. To rescue the missing children and clear her own name, Corinne goes deep into the ocean to find Mama D'Leau, the dangerous jumbie who rules the sea.

Southern Mozambique, 1894. Sergeant Germano de Melo is posted to the village of Nkokolani to oversee the Portuguese conquest of territory claimed by Ngungunyane, the last of the leaders of the state of Gaza, the second-largest empire led by an African. Ngungunyane has raised an army to resist colonial rule and with his warriors is slowly approaching the border village. Desperate for help, Germano enlists Imani, a 15-year-old girl, to act as his interpreter. She belongs to the VaChopi tribe, one of the few who dared side with the Portuguese.

Is anything truly beyond redemption, beyond the hope of repair, restoration, or renewal? Absolutely not! Jacqueline Vance might beg to differ, as her life spirals out of control. In her thirties, navigating the complexities of marriage and the ache of childlessness, she finds herself at the heart of a murder mystery in Southern Hills. Amidst the darkest betrayal, she discovers that no one, not even her occasional ally Yolanda, is beyond God's reach for redemption. Through this ordeal, Jacqueline learns to confront her current struggles with resilience, eyeing the possibility of what lies ...

Coming out has led to nothing but problems for Jordin, but it’s nothing she can’t handle… Jordin "Hops" Martinez found a woman who opened her up to her truest self. But when she finds herself kidnapped and stuck between a rock and a hard place, with the woman she thought was all hers pulling the strings, she has to make a decision on which side to choose. Briana Means didn’t intend to betray Hops, but her life was on the line, and it ended up being every woman for herself. She may have chosen the wrong one to cross, however, which she soon sees when Hops lets her savage side free. ...

Freedom isn’t just something you celebrate—it’s something you choose. After losing his brother Bradford, Martin Stynes had one mission: survive the grief and make sense of the life left behind. Love wasn’t even a consideration—until Shatora Horton, the no-nonsense Cajun queen with a heart as big as Louisiana, kept showing up with sweet tea, sass, and a kind of loyalty he didn’t know he still needed. Shatora’s whole life was built on helping others heal, but losing everyone she loved taught her to keep her own heart off-limits. Owning land, fortune, and wisdom didn’t stop ...

Keisha “Bussa” Taylor is happy as hell to be graduating from Miles College. Coming from Tulane Court in Montgomery, she’d moved to Birmingham when her high school sweetheart and then dope boy, Ra’el “Magnum” King, had broken her heart. She found herself stripping to pay her way through school and, on her last night her past comes looking for her. When tragedy strikes at the strip club, Bussa finds herself back in Montgomery looking for work. Taking a chance, she gets accepted into the Police Academy, and may end up going after the one man who once had her heart. Ra’el “...

On the first episode of Side Piece Chronicles... Sheila Price doesn’t look like what she’s been through. She’s a marketing exec who worked her way up to the top of her field. Her world revolves around her son and her job, and life is good, until she meets Anthony Bailey. Anthony seems to be everything Sheila’s ever wanted in a man. He's a loving, supportive entrepreneur who takes care of his kids. But when Sheila pairs him up on a business venture with her best friend, Delilah, a party girl whose motto is Seize the Day, she’s reminded of the thin line between friends and enemies. ...

In Kenan's fictional territory of Tims Creek, North Carolina, an old man rages in his nursing home, a parson beats up an adulterer, a rich man is haunted by a hog, and an elderly woman turns unwitting miracle worker. A retired plumber travels to Manhattan, where Billy Idol sweeps him into his entourage. An architect who lost his famous lover to AIDS reconnects with a high school fling. Howard Hughes seeks out the woman who once cooked him butter beans.

When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother, Emma Jean, tells her bewildered daughter, "You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain't what you was supposed to be. So from now on, you gon' be a boy. It'll be a little strange at first, but you'll get used to it, and this'll be over after while." From this point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events. Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.

It is 2003 – ten years since Spud Milton’s class of 93 matriculated and the boys went their separate ways. Despite their seemingly unbreakable bond, the Crazy Eight – Rambo, Mad Dog, Vern, Fatty, Garth Garlic, Boggo, Simon and Spud – have not kept in touch. Or at least, not as far as Spud knows. When he receives an invitation from the school to attend the ten-year reunion weekend, Spud is determined to avoid the event at all costs, but he hasn’t reckoned with the bombardment of intrusive messages and threatening phone calls from his former dorm mates.

Bear it or perish yourself. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateful night in her cousin’s outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. Spanning decades, Perish tracks the choices Helen Jean—the matriarch of the Turner family—makes and the way those choices have rippled across generations, from her children to her grandchildren and beyond. This family’s “reunion” unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame.

***Standalone*** ***Re-release*** When dealin’ with men with illegal dealings, it takes a true ridah to hold their savage down. After all the drama, making Birmingham hot, Elijah “Eli” Barns was more than ready to get the hell out of dodge. Right on time, his cousin Trouble called from Dallas, and said they were looking for someone with his specialty, artillery. Without a second thought, Eli packed up his fiancé Anita and her daughter, and was on the first thing smoking to Texas. Anita Bridges was a Bham chick through and through. She wasn’t feelin’ the move to Dallas, but there ...

Bad habits feel better than the pains of love and commitment to Imani. Maybe she’s just not the relationship type.Imani Jones bit off more than she could chew. After meeting Vincent, she found herself caught up in her feelings, something that she never let happen. What’s worse, the commitment-phobe in Imani led her to run for the hills when their one-night stand produced a pregnancy. After finding herself alone, again, Imani delves back into the bad habits that got her into all kinds of trouble in the first place. These habits could possible cause her to lose her daughter, Zion. Vincent...

When summoned to Georgetown, South Carolina, sisters Mariah Clark and Sabrina Holland both assume their ailing grandfather's health has gotten worse. Neither expects their grandmother's undeniable request—save the family restaurant. Mariah is at a crossroad in her life. After being dumped by her husband and forced to walk away from their diner that she helped rescue from bankruptcy, bitter feelings consume her. Even though the restaurant has been in the family for eighty-six years, giving her all to another struggling business isn't something she wants to do.

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.

Brina After escaping the suffocating grip of a toxic relationship, I’m finally piecing my life back together. My job at Jourdain’s Bridal is thriving, and the shared condo Mike bought for me and my cousin Lorielle feels like a sanctuary. For the first time in ages, I feel like myself again. But when it comes to love, my heart is still on lockdown. Trey Ashton, the charming cop circling my world, isn’t about to change that—not if I can help it. Lately, Trey’s been around, helping Mike to prepare for his big proposal to Lorielle. I think I’m starting to figure him out—steady, ...