African American Anthology

In this first ever short story collection, New York Times bestselling author Francis Ray takes us on five steamy, sexy adventures. From a timid, dowdy duckling who turns into a confident, sexy swan which sends her into the arms of a handsome artist; to a bridesmaid’s explosive encounter with the best man; to an unproven actress who is being wooed to the stage by a handsome Broadway director.

Make your heart merry and unwrap these delightful stories of seasonal romance.

Like Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place, Sidik Fofana’s electrifying collection of eight interconnected stories showcases the strengths, struggles, and hopes of one residential community in a powerful storytelling experience. Each short story follows a tenant in the Banneker Homes, a low-income high rise in Harlem where gentrification weighs on everyone’s mind. We root for these characters and more as they weave in and out of each other’s lives, endeavoring to escape from their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love.

From her first days at Virginia’s Hampton University, impressionable, creative Nia falls smitten with Chris Eidos Alleyne, an athlete and a scholar. “Love is sweet nothings and beautiful promises”, Nia writes in her journal. What her girlfriends know, and her mother doesn’t, is that Chris’s expression of love is deeply physical. Wielding powerful charisma, Chris soon has Nia abandoning innocence for experience.

With only two hundred dollars, Unique packed her suitcase and headed to New York City for a brand-new start. It's there that Unique meets big-time boxing promoter Kennard, and it is love at first sight.... After nine months of living in the lap of luxury with Kennard, skeletons from Unique's past show up, and it will cost her a cool million dollars to keep not only her relationship but her life.... Unique isn't about to lose it all. With the help of her best friend, she devises a major heist; to pull it off all she has to do is stay alive....

What if you were raised to be a hooker and, worst of all, your father was your pimp? In "Keepin' It in the Family", this isn't just a nightmare for the Collins daughters, this is reality. Raised without the guidance of their mother, Diamond, Essence, and Chanel were forced onto the streets at a very young age. They were expected to make that money by any means necessary or face the wrath of their daddy, Dallas Collins. Can the girls band together to free themselves from Dallas?

In Crush, three of today’s hottest romance authors offer tempting tales about crushes that compel women to risk it all for love. In Wanted: You by Lutishia Lovely features a man receiving erotic letters at his place of employment that shock his assistant. In White Mocha by Michele Grant, a woman who’s normally conservative about romance gets all fired up after enjoying an eyeful of a handsome coffee shop owner. And Cydney Rax’s From One Lover to Another stars a woman who shows her badgirl side when her ex refuses to take no for an answer.

A Lover's Embrace 2 by Skyy: Rayne has a new attitude. After taking six months to travel, Rayne is coming back to Memphis with a new job, a new love, and a new outlook on life. But coming home means coming back to the reality that she left behind. Can she stay strong in the presence of the man who turned her world upside down? Or will she fall back into the disastrous routine that made her run away to begin with?

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed best-selling black authors writing for teens today - Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.

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.

A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes. Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous while others are devastatingly poignant. Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship.

There's a sayin' that if you come from my part of town, that you're from around the way. Around the Way Girls 4 is a look at the life of some street-smart women who think they have the world in the palm of their hands but are about to find out that things aren't always what they seem.

Did Mark mean what Alison Lind hoped? Was her boss declaring his passion for her? Did he really feel the same way she secretly felt for him? Apparently not. Instead of asking her to be his lover, he was asking her to be temporary nanny to his baby niece. Not an ounce of desire in sight. Or was there? Living together, spending time in intimate surroundings, created a sensual tension too powerful to ignore. How long before this strictly business relationship turned into a strictly passionate predicament?

For successful African American businesswoman Zoe Reynard, finding the pleasure she wants, the way she wants it, is not worth the risk of losing everything she has: marriage to the man she has loved since childhood, a thriving company, three wonderful children. But Zoe feels helpless in the grip of an overpowering addiction—to sex.

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.

No question about it, I want her, and I always get what I want. A Persistent CEO Businessman Brett Collins knows what he wants, and he never wanted anything more than his alluring assistant. Rebecca was everything he desired in a woman. A Brokenhearted Woman Rebecca Woods had her heart stomped on years ago by an insensitive jerk who didn’t stick around when health problems arose. She has been leery with matters of the heart— until she noticed her boss in a new light. One night of love turns into more. But Rebecca may question if the relationship between her and Brett is happening too ...

Smart Erotica for Smart Readers. "SO so hot and spicy!!" ~ Erica Pillera Save 50% off individual purchase! Note: Dara Nichols is an erotica series; not a romance series. Please download responsibly. From New York Times and #1 Erotica bestseller, Marata Eros. Dara is a cougar on the prowl. When erotic circumstances present themselves, she takes advantage in every way possible. Best friend Zoe gets wind of the fun, and the pair experience sexual fantasies of epic proportions. Included titles are as follows: DARA NICHOLS (3.7): #1- A Hard Lesson: Dara Nichols gets "schooled" by a few students....

Following in the footsteps of its successful predecessors, Around the Way Girls Seven showcases three popular Urban Books authors and their versions of some very tough, street-smart girls. Nina and Mouse are a couple just trying to survive the hater nation. Only problem is Nina's a little paranoid when it comes to other women, and Mouse is usually guilty as charged. Fed up with Mouse's cheating, Nina begins to creep a little herself, but will her revenge blow up in her face?

SEX in the CITY meets 50 SHADES in micro-binge style! Smart Erotica for Smart Readers. Save 40% over individual purchase!From New York Times, USA TODAY and #1 Erotica bestseller, Marata Eros. Note: Dara Nichols is an erotica series; not a romance series. Please download responsibly. Dara is a cougar on the prowl. When erotic circumstances present themselves, she takes advantage in every way possible. Best friend Zoe and new traveling companion, Isabella, get wind of the fun, and the trio experience sexual fantasies of epic proportions. Included titles are as follows: DARA NICHOLS: #17- The ...

Henry Dumas' fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed only with wit, words, and wisdom. Championed by Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Quincy Troupe, Dumas' books have long been out of print. All of his short fiction is collected here, for the first time, and includes several previously unpublished stories.