African American Short Stories

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?

The reality of real love—passionate love—finds its way into the hearts and minds of people, differently, throughout one’s lifetime. On another note, sometimes what some may think is real love for so long, really isn’t. In book two of SA’ID: An Illicit Love, Sa’id goes to Yalina’s aid at the hospital, after hearing the unexpected, shocking news that she had been hurt by the hands of Ubah. When Yalina confesses her love to him through sedation, with reason, Sa’id finds it challenging to reciprocate. As the connection between Sa’id and Blythe grows stronger, he is there for ...

Returning to the city that inspired his first prize-winning book, Lost in the City, Jones has filled this new collection with people who call Washington, D.C., home. Yet it is not the city's power brokers that most concern him but rather its ordinary citizens.

Burri is a fashion designer and icon with a biochemistry background. Her latest pieces are African inspired and crafted to touch the heart. They enable wearers to absorb nanorobotic memories and recount the stories of Black lives and forgiveness. Wenda doesn’t buy it. A protest performance artist, Wenda knows exploitation when she sees it. What she’s going to do with Burri’s breakthrough technology could, in the right hands, change race relations forever.

Trent is the third son of a king. Born of his second wife after the king's first love and queen dies in childbirth. He nor his mother have ever received the love from his father the king that his first queen and two elder sons were freely given. So, Trent lives his life as likes. Away at his lands, he drinks, has many women and lives life as if one who will never be king. Until a war changes everything. With the death of his brothers, Trent is now heir to the throne. Will he be able to change his ways and lead his people when the time comes, finally earning the love of his father? Or will ...

With the same unforgettable and distinctive prose on display in his other books, Airtight Willie & Me is further evidence that Iceberg Slim was an expert at capturing the language of the streets. Always compelling, sometimes funny, and often bleak, Slim gives us six slices of city life that will leave you thirsting for more.

Take the bribe, and I’ll let you slide deep inside. I’m Officer Landon, a straight police officer who fantasizes about being with men. My weakness is black men. I desire to be with them intimately and romantically, but I never indulge because I’m straight, shy, and have a girlfriend who would kill me if she found out. I’m tempted daily because my colleagues and the criminals we arrest are mostly men with some of the most amazing physiques I’ve ever seen. I take my job seriously, follow all the rules, and never mix business with pleasure, even though it’s tough. One morning, my ...

A rural town finds itself under the authoritarian sway of a tree that punishes children. A pair of old friends navigate their fraught history as strange happenings escalate in a Mexican restaurant. A pair of narcissistic friends wreak havoc on an activist community. An aloof young man finds himself living through his lover’s memories. And a day of LARPing takes a cosmic turn.

My Confession: I love my husband, but my therapist touches parts of me that he can't. My husband is a gentleman, but he can't give me what my body needs. After we argued over his performance, he suggested we see a therapist. When we visited our new intimacy therapist named Dr. Lord, he did a demonstration and placed his masculine hand against my dark mocha skin, and at that moment, I knew he had the touch my body craved. I know my husband's therapist should be off limits, but it has always been my dream to be pleased by multiple tall, sexy men that can give my body the ecstasy it deserves. ...

"Nine Lives" by Kiki Swinson: Wild-card Aiden. Dead-shot Ava. Killing nine targets in 10 days will be this brother-sister hit team's biggest score yet. But as Ava sets up their final target, she falls hard for him and a chance at a normal life. "The Crushed Ice Clique" by Noire: At first all ghetto princesses Honore and Cucci want is quick cash-flow. But after sexing jewelry distributor Slimy Sam and learning his illegal tricks of the trade, they assemble a crack team of thieves for one dazzling scam.

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.

Karlie Houston hasn't seen a raise in forever, but the payday loan office she manages is raking in the cash. So why not get what she's rightfully owed by masterminding a heist? Once her lover Sidney's boys hit all the company's locations at one time, there's a fortune to split. But suddenly bodies start dropping - and Karlie better devise the perfect plan to survive.

Autumn, a young woman trapped in a world of the unknown, has the bright idea to move to Paris, the City of Love. " ...there I was, sobbing in-between hugs, farewells and well-wishes. It was almost too much all at once…” Autumn lost her dream job after the business cut off many staff members, and she became lost in her mind with no-one but herself; and a piece of paper. Although Losing her job is what drove Autumn to the city of Paris, love is what made her stay. Have you ever seen a man, and instantly your heart raced? Olivier is a handsome Frenchman; tall, toned body, has an ...

Danielle Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and X-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans zooms in on particular moments and relationships in her characters’ lives in a way that allows them to speak to larger issues of race, culture, and history. She introduces us to Black and multiracial characters who are experiencing the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting walloped by grief - all while exploring how history haunts us, personally and collectively.

New York Times best-selling author Zane presents a tantalizing short story collection, Zane's Sex Chronicles, which is now the basis of the Cinemax series Zane's Sex Chronicles - the first urban erotic series on television. The series calls for a sexual revolution and brings forth our favorite characters - Patience James aka Zane, Maricruz, Lyric, Eboni, and Ana Marie - as a force to be reckoned with as they balance common day-to-day issues, a slew of hot sex, and the fine men in the big city. Learn more about their backgrounds in this special tie-in edition.

Nathaniel is a well-intentioned, if naive, British cleric feeling blessed to educate a West African village about the benevolent power of God. But as slavers encroach, Nathaniel’s endeavor is daunted by the realities unfolding on the beautiful homeland of his congregation. It seems the Devil has power too. What follows for Nathaniel is a profound spiritual upheaval as he questions his purpose and even his humanity.

The true story of African American award winning writer and teacher living and working in China. This short story recounts the author's interactions with several very special students, including the death of the first student he befriends, a young man who adopts the last name of his hero, Michael Jackson. The author shares other touching stories about several female students including Rachel (pictured on the book cover) and his ministry to these students as he attempts to share Christ with students hungry for the truth.

In Episode 3 of Confessions of a Straight Football Player, Coach James saw his old flame Christian and his sexy friend of over ten years, Dean, getting busy on the balcony and immediately became filled with rage. But, when he confronted Christian about it, the truth came out, and their clothes and egos got left on the bedroom floor. My name is Dillon, and I’m straight, but I occasionally fantasize about doing sinful things to my older, muscular, and chocolate-toned football coach, Coach James. One day, he asked me to visit his office to discuss the game we lost last Friday. I prepared ...

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....