African American Short Stories

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.

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.

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.

Which One Are You? is a collection of 19 short stories that deal with a variety of topics, including family, life, friends, and making choices. The stories are told from a variety of perspectives, and they offer insights into the human condition that are both thought-provoking and inspiring.

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.

Showcasing the work of literary giants like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and authors whom listeners may be surprised to learn were "in the life", Black Like Us is the most comprehensive collection of fiction by African American lesbian, gay, and bisexual writers ever published.

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.

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.

Originally published in 1964, this collection of 16 stories includes three linked sets of stories about the Carey, Bedlow, and Dunford families. They represent the earliest work of William Melvin Kelley and provided a rich source of stories and characters who were to fill out his later novels. Spanning generations from the Deep South during Reconstruction to New York City in the 1960s, these insightful stories depict African American families - their struggles, their heartbreak, and their love.

Reesa's a savvy financial planner with one goal - to have a baby before 35. But to do that, she's got to do one of two things: dump her current man, Simon, and find another man more suitable to be husband and father, or settle with Simon and work overtime trying to train him for the starring role. At 33, getting rid of Simon to find Mr. Right is a chance Reesa's not willing to take. But when she's had enough of Simon's antics and kicks him to the curb, will her goal change?

I saw the ripples in his blue jeans before I saw the twinkle in his dark brown eyes. His deep brown skin looked smooth as silk, and his jeans hugged his hips so snugly they looked as if they had been constructed on him as he stood in place in an obliging tailor shop. Thus begins Brian’s adventure in the story Overnight to Boston. He’s just quit his office job. He’s heading to Boston by train for no apparent reason when he meets Nic, a teacher who likes music and men like Brian. In Prom Night, the second story, an 18-year-old high school senior learns that having sex with a beautiful ...

The battle continues in the spirit realm. Mary is back in this special place, but this time she encounters a kind of deception she never expected. As she digs deeper into the darkness threatening her small town, she has to get ready for a final showdown—all on her own. Don't miss these moving and powerful short stories about faith, redemption, and spiritual battles in the Sacred Kingdom: Fire and Faith series.

For over thirty years, The Journey Prize Stories has consistently introduced audiences to the next generation of great Canadian writers. The 33rd edition of Canada's most prestigious annual fiction anthology proudly continues this tradition by celebrating the best emerging Black writers in the country, as selected by a jury comprising internationally acclaimed, award-winning writers David Chariandy, Esi Edugyan, and Canisia Lubrin.

Gutta Mamis includes four novellas featuring cold-hearted women who get ahead in America's grimiest underworld: "Twisted Loyalty" by Kai, "Three the Hard Way" by C. J. Hudson, "The Face of Death" by Brandie Davis, and "Chasers" by N'Tyse.

In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. But America, as the couple and their two children learn, is far from the promised land. Excluded from society as Black immigrants, the family pushes on first through Hurricane Andrew and later the 2008 recession, living in a house so cursed that the pet fish launches itself out of its own tank rather than stay. But even as things fall apart, the family remains motivated, often to its own detriment, by what their younger son, Trelawny, calls “the exquisite, racking compulsion to survive.”

Previously titled "I Want Love", Daddy's Girl tells the tale of a young woman raised without a father, beginning from childhood.

Pick a master and serve. Serve them well and die. Marigold wants to die the right way. She wants a transformative bite from her master. Vampires have it all: the statuesque look, the immortal life, and the power to enchant others. All she has is debt, a distracted boyfriend, and a desire to be more than human. When unwanted holiday gifts are exchanged between two master vampires, Marigold’s wish might come true if she can survive until dawn. A perfectly sized introduction into the new paranormal worlds created by urban fantasy and paranormal romance author Azaaa Davis. Start reading Hiss,...

"No justice, no peace!" The crowd marched through the streets, chanting as their hearts and minds are weighed down heavily. Each individual’s soul has been tattered and worn. The Black and Brown faces that make up the group all house expressions of anguish, pain, and restlessness. The words—"We the Jury, find the defendant, Tyler Mitchell, not guilty"—sting as they fall upon the ears of those who have gathered on the courthouse steps. Another White male has mercilessly taken innocent and unarmed lives. When will it end?

DeShawn Watts has always followed the rules and obeyed law enforcement for as long as he could remember. But why does a life in the suburbs with a loving wife, a beautiful daughter, and a nice job feel so hollow whenever DeShawn talks to his jailbird brother, Darnell? Respectability is a short story detailing the lives of Black men and asking what it really means to be free today in America.

Precy Bee was only five years old when the civil war that devastated her country and claimed the lives of over two hundred and fifty thousand people ended. The Liberians sighed with relief and began to piece their economy together, but not for long. While Precy and her family humbly live their low standard lifestyle, Ebola slowly creeps into her country and deals them a fatal blow, shaking the very foundation of her family. Once again, her people are dying as they fight a different war against a fatal Virus more lethal than AIDS, and Precy doubts the possibility of her precious family ...