Black Page Turners

Fiction

When All Is Said and Prayed : Book One of the Forever Diva Series by:E.N. Joy
It ain’t easy being saved, sanctified, and single. Try being a once divorced, now widowed single mother of two on top of that. Thank God the Lord built Paige Vanderdale to be able to bear all of those titles without becoming weary to the point of giving up. From the outside looking in, that life looks good on her. On the inside, though, Paige is coveting what so many others around her seem to have, which is true love.

In the past, everything that she thought was love was either something far from it, or was taken away from her. Now Paige is afraid to let her hair down and open herself up to love again.

Paige struggles with the decision to reach out to an old flame to rekindle their spark. When the blaze gets too high, will Paige do what she always does, which is grab the nearest fire extinguisher and try to put it out? Or will she utilize her backup plan and run? The decision is abruptly removed from Paige’s hands when something else begins to pull her away—something that just might be the thing that finally breaks her.
Release: 9/29/15
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Every Closed Eye Ain’t ‘Sleep by:MaRita Teague
Having lost her one true love, the mature but stunning Isabella marries the starchy but well-respected pediatrician Langley Morrison, hoping he will care for her and her young daughter, Desiree.

For years, things look perfect from the outside for the Morrison women, but cracks in the surface appear when Desiree, now a thirty-something, single but sassy professional, holds secrets that affect her relationships with her parents and with men. Armed with the dismal marriage prospect statistics for African American women, Desiree decides that she needs to help God out by embarking upon a dangerous online dating escapade.

Isabella wonders if her faith can withstand her own broken marriage, revelations from her daughter, and a devastating diagnosis. Desiree questions if God really will give her the desires of her heart. Through it all, the mother and daughter journey to find the strength to push beyond the pain of the past, into an uncertain future with an all-knowing God.
Release: 9/29/15
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Carl Weber’s Kingpins: Miami by:Nikki Turner
New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber has brought together eight of the best Urban Street writers to participate in the most highly anticipated series of 2015, the Kingpin series. Every city has an underworld leader. In the Kingpin series, we will visit eight cities and ride along with that city’s kingpin as he rules the streets. The story starts out in Miami with Nikki Turner, and will end with a compilation of all kingpins, written by New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber.
Release: 9/29/15
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Heist 2 by:Kiki Swinson & De’nesha Diamond
The Last Heist by Kiki Swinson
Shannon Mitchell gambled that betraying her husband’s biggest heist ever was her way out of the game for good. Losing that bet put her in lockdown—and at the top of Todd Mitchell’s revenge-fueled hit list. Now she’ll work every seductive move and lethal play to survive. ’Cause when it comes to wreaking her own vengeance, this devious beauty isn’t taking any prisoners. . .

Caked Up by De’nesha Diamond
Harlem Banks already has twenty-five million reasons to break out of the federal pen. But saving his desperately ill daughter is at the top of his list, even as he’s racing his ex-partner-in crime to his stashed loot . . . while U.S. Marshals are hot on his trail. His only chance is the one woman he can’t stop loving—even if she’s the one endgame he’ll never escape. . .
Release: 9/29/15
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Thicker Than Water 3 by:Takerra Allen
Brick City’s sexiest divas are back, stirring up trouble from Jersey and Atlanta to Jamaica. But wherever they are, they’re ready to put loyalty to the ultimate test, push boundaries to the edge, and risk it all for love–if they can survive. . .

Jayde may look more super model than drug lord, but make no mistake, the daughter of a gangster legend, she’ll go to any lengths to get whatever–and whoever–she wants. She’s got the will, the connections, and an international drug money pyramid too tempting to resist. . . From loss and lockdown, and back to love, Tatum has been through it all for her man, Respect. Now Ree’s back on top and they’re engaged. But will Jayde’s shady ways finally break them for good?. . .Sasha’s got deadly secrets she’ll take to her grave, but she’s finally getting her life together with her man Chauncey. Except he’s MIA more and more–and she’s sure Jayde’s got something to do with it. . ..Now these ladies will have to hold on tight to make sure love doesn’t turn to hate, if they want to stay thicker than water. . .
Release: 9/29/15
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Anointed (Mitchell Family) by:Patricia Haley
Dave Mitchell is relishing the success of his start-up company, DMI. His accomplishments, however, have come at a tremendous price on the home front. The closeness he once shared with his wife of twelve years is gone. Dave spends most of his time working, while Madeline is struggling with balancing her job and home. When she elects to take time off and let Dave run the business, their lives are forever changed.

Revered by others as a man of strong faith, Dave is not above temptation. His professional relationship with his new secretary eventually crosses the line, and the two share a night of passion. Madeline is crushed when she discovers the affair, but she has sacrificed too much already to let go. She digs her heels in, refusing to give up her marriage, her family, her company, or her place in Dave’s heart.

Anointed is part of the Mitchell Family series. At the heart of the series is a family feud, bringing readers an explosive mix of sibling rivalry, marital discord, corporate intrigue, greed, faith, and a hint of romance.
Release: 9/29/15
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The Secret Life of Winnie Cox: Slavery, forbidden love and tragedy by Sharon Maas
1910, South America. A time of racial tension and poverty. A time where forbidden love must remain a secret.

Winnie Cox lives a privileged life of dances and dresses on her father’s sugar cane plantation. Life is sweet in the kingdom of sugar and Winnie along with her sister Johanna, have neither worries nor responsibilities, they are birds of paradise, protected from the poverty in the world around them.

But everything can change in a heartbeat…

When Winnie falls in love with George Quint, the post-office boy, a ‘darkie’ from the other side, she soon finds herself slipping into a double life. And as she withdraws from her family, she discovers a shocking secret about those whom are closest to her. Now, more than ever, Winnie is determined to prove her love for George, whatever price she must pay and however tragic the consequences might be.
Release: 10/1/15
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Black President by:Brenda Hampton
The world will never be the same! Get ready for something NEW, BOLD, SEXY and HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! Brenda Hampton Entertainment will be bringing you a novel series, made for television. In each fiery episode of Black President, Stephen C. Jefferson, and the First Lady are prepared to pull you right into the mix.

This is a new era, and things in the U.S. are not what they used to be. The man who now holds the keys to the Oval Office was born and raised in the rough streets of St. Louis, where he discovered how to silence his enemies with knowledge and power. Now, his enemies come in the form of a do-nothing Congress, an untrustworthy administration, and a wife with many issues. But the harm they intend to do to Mr. President will be no more than what he may inflict on himself. His brash words, no-nonsense attitude, and sexiest-man-alive status are going to heat up things on Capitol Hill, and mayhem will erupt like you’ve never seen it done before.
Release: 9/28/15
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Non-Fiction

Black Silent Majority by:Michael Javen Fortner
Aggressive policing and draconian sentencing have disproportionately imprisoned millions of African Americans for drug-related offenses. Michael Javen Fortner shows that in the 1970s these punitive policies toward addicts and pushers enjoyed the support of many working-class and middle-class blacks, angry about the chaos in their own neighborhoods.

Often seen as a political sop to the racial fears of white voters, aggressive policing and draconian sentencing for illegal drug possession and related crimes have led to the imprisonment of millions of African Americans—far in excess of their representation in the population as a whole. Michael Javen Fortner shows in this eye-opening account that these punitive policies also enjoyed the support of many working-class and middle-class blacks, who were angry about decline and disorder in their communities. Black Silent Majority uncovers the role African Americans played in creating today’s system of mass incarceration.

Current anti-drug policies are based on a set of controversial laws first adopted in New York in the early 1970s and championed by the state’s Republican governor, Nelson Rockefeller. Fortner traces how many blacks in New York came to believe that the rehabilitation-focused liberal policies of the 1960s had failed. Faced with economic malaise and rising rates of addiction and crime, they blamed addicts and pushers. By 1973, the outcry from grassroots activists and civic leaders in Harlem calling for drastic measures presented Rockefeller with a welcome opportunity to crack down on crime and boost his political career. New York became the first state to mandate long prison sentences for selling or possessing narcotics.

Black Silent Majority lays bare the tangled roots of a pernicious system. America’s drug policies, while in part a manifestation of the conservative movement, are also a product of black America’s confrontation with crime and chaos in its own neighborhoods.
Release: 9/28/15
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Way Too Cool: Selling Out Race and Ethics by:Shannon Winnubst
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of cool have informed the American ethos since at least the 1970s. Whether we strive for it in politics or fashion, cool is big business for those who can sell it across a range of markets and media. Yet the concept wasn’t always a popular commodity. Cool began as a potent aesthetic of post-World War II black culture, embodying a very specific, highly charged method of resistance to white supremacy and the globalized exploitation of capital. Way Too Cool follows the hollowing-out of “coolness” in modern American culture and its reflection of a larger evasion of race, racism, and ethics now common in neoliberal society. It revisits such watershed events as the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, second-wave feminism, the emergence of identity politics, 1980s multiculturalism, 1990s rhetorics of diversity and colorblindness, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as the contemporaneous developments of rising mass incarceration and legalized same-sex marriage, to pair the perversion of cool with the slow erasure of racial and ethical issues from our social consciousness, which effectively quashes our desire to act ethically and resist abuses of power. The cooler we become, the more indifferent we grow to the question of values, particularly inquiry that spurs protest and conflict. This book sounds an alarm for those who care about preserving our ties to an American tradition of resistance.
Release: 9/28/15
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My Life on a Plate: Recipes From Around the World by:Kelis
“My Life on a Plate” tells Kelis’ personal story through the food she creates. Her style has been molded by her culture, her travels, and all the people she met along the way. This book is a collection of her favorite recipes. It features a mix of foods from her Puerto Rican heritage, such as Pork Pernil and Arroz con Gandules, along with dishes she created after discovering them on her travels around the world.

Kelis’ love affair with food started as a child. A native New Yorker, her mother worked as a chef in her own catering business, run out of their home in Harlem. Driven by the speed and the intensity in the kitchen, Kelis’ passion behind watching her mother cook inspired her to roll up her sleeves, willing to do whatever anyone asked of her. Every detail was clear and defined: Red lips, red nails, perfume, earrings and a military demeanor; Kelis felt in the presence of a master while watching her mother work. At age 17, Kelis signed her first recording contract and began to travel the world. She discovered local outdoor markets and tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants and considered them the hidden treasures of her journeys. After 10 years in the music business, Kelis decided to attend Le Cordon Bleu. Attending the famous cooking school gave Kelis the confidence to call herself a chef and to write her first cookbook. “My Life on a Plate” tells Kelis’ personal story through the food she creates. Her style has been molded by her culture, her travels, and all the people she met along the way. This book is a collection of her favorite recipes. It features a mix of foods from her Puerto Rican heritage, such as Pernil (Puerto Rican Pork Shoulder), Arroz con Gandules, and Shrimp Alcapurias along with dishes she created after discovering them on her travels around the world such as Malay Curry Chicken and Swedish Meatballs.
Release: 9/28/15
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Voyage of the Sable Venus: and Other Poems by:Robin Coste Lewis
A stunning poetry debut: this meditation on the black female figure throughout time introduces us to a brave and penetrating new voice.

Robin Coste Lewis’s electrifying collection is a triptych that begins and ends with lyric poems considering the roles desire and race play in the construction of the self. The central panel is the title poem, “Voyage of the Sable Venus,” a riveting narrative made up entirely of titles of artworks from ancient times to the present—titles that feature or in some way comment on the black female figure in Western art. Bracketed by Lewis’s autobiographical poems, “Voyage” is a tender and shocking study of the fragmentary mysteries of stereotype, as it juxtaposes our names for things with what we actually see and know. Offering a new understanding of biography and the self, this collection questions just where, historically, do ideas about the black female figure truly begin—five hundred years ago, five thousand, or even longer? And what role has art played in this ancient, often heinous story? From the “Young Black Female Carrying / a Perfume Vase” to a “Little Brown Girl / Girl Standing in a Tree / First Day of Voluntary / School Integration,” this poet adores her culture and the beauty to be found within it. Yet she is also a cultural critic alert to the nuances of race and desire and how they define us all, including herself, as she explores her own sometimes painful history. Lewis’s book is a thrilling aesthetic anthem to the complexity of race—a full embrace of its pleasure and horror, in equal parts.
Release: 9/29/15
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I’ll Never Write My Memoirs by:Grace Jones
Legendary influential performer Grace Jones offers a revealing account of her spectacular career and turbulent life, charting the development of a persona that has made her one of the world’s most recognizable artists.

As a singer, model, and actress—a deluxe triple threat—Grace has consistently been an extreme, challenging presence in the entertainment world since her emergence as an international model in the 1970s. Celebrated for her audacious talent and trailblazing style, Grace became one of the most unforgettable, free-spirited characters to emerge from the historic Studio 54, recording glittering disco classics such as “I Need a Man” and “La Vie en Rose.” Her provocative shows in underground New York nightclubs saw her hailed as a disco queen, gay icon, and gender defying iconoclast.

In 1980, the always ambitious Grace escaped a crowded disco scene to pursue more experimental interests. Her music also broke free, blending house, reggae, and electronica into a timeless hybrid that led to classic hits such as “Pull Up to the Bumper” and “Slave to the Rhythm.” In the memoir she once promised never to write, Grace offers an intimate insight into her evolving style, personal philosophies, and varied career—including her roles in the 1984 fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and the James Bond movie A View to a Kill.

Featuring sixteen pages of stunning full-color photographs, many from her own personal archive, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs follows this ageless creative nomad as she rejects her strict religious upbringing in Jamaica; conquers New York, Paris, and the 1980s; answers to no-one; and lives to fight again and again.
Release: 9/29/15
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Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-seven Women Untangle an Obsession by:Elizabeth Benedict
These twenty-seven “hair pieces” offer up reflections and revelations about family, race, religion, ritual, culture, motherhood, politics, celebrity, what goes on in African American kitchens and at Hindu Bengali weddings, alongside stories about the influence of Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, and the Grateful Dead. Layered into these essays you’ll find surprises, insights, hilarity, and the resonance of common experience.

Marita Golden writes about her grief over what so many African American women still endure to obtain “good hair.” Patricia Volk itemizes her seventeen hair care products, each with a price tag. Myla Goldberg tells of how ill equipped she was to tend the hair of her adopted biracial daughter. And Suleika Jaouad describes the ravages of chemotherapy and the empowerment of shaving designs onto her head.

These writers know that a woman’s hair is her glory, her nemesis, her history, and her self-esteem. They know, too, that many things in life matter more than hair, but few bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo.
Release: 9/29/15
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Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound by:Andrea Davis Pinkney
From award-winning author Andrea Davis Pinkney comes the story of the music that defined a generation and a movement that changed the world.

Berry Gordy began Motown in 1959 with an $800 loan from his family. He converted the garage of a residential house into a studio and recruited teenagers from the neighborhood-like Smokey Robinson, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Diana Ross-to sing for his new label. Meanwhile, the country was on the brink of a cultural revolution, and one of the most powerful agents of change in the following decade would be this group of young black performers from urban Detroit. From Berry Gordy and his remarkable vision to the Civil Rights movement, from the behind-the-scenes musicians, choreographers, and song writers to the most famous recording artists of the century, Andrea Davis Pinkney takes readers on a Rhythm Ride through the story of Motown.
Release: 9/29/15
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Kongo: Power and Majesty by Alisa LaGamma
Artists from the kingdom of Kongo—a vast swath of Central Africa that today encompasses the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola—were responsible for outstanding creative achievements. With the influx of Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian merchants, missionaries, and explorers, Kongo developed a unique artistic tradition that blended European iconography with powerful indigenous art forms. An initially positive engagement with Europe in the 15th century turned turbulent in the wake of later displacement, civil war, and the slave trade—and many of the artworks created in Kongo reflect the changing times.

This comprehensive study is the first major catalogue to explore Kongo’s history, art forms, and cultural identity before, during, and after contact with Europe. Objects range from 15th-century “mother-and-child” figures, which reflect a time when Europeans and their Christian motifs were viewed favorably, to fearsome mangaaka, power figures that conveyed strength in the midst of the kingdom’s dissolution. Lavishly illustrated with new photography and multiple views of three-dimensional works, this book presents the fascinatingly complex artistic legacy of one of Africa’s most storied kingdoms.
Release: 9/29/15
Click the Version to Purchase: (Hardcover)

 

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