Black Page Turners

The Game Changers: Abner Haynes, Leon King, and the Fall of Major College Football’s Color Barrier in Texas by:Jeff Miller
The accepted narrative in football-crazy Texas is that racial integral came to the state’s “national sport” in the mid-1960s, generally associated with Jerry LeVias’ celebrated arrival at SMU in Dallas. But the landmark achievement actually took place quietly almost a decade earlier only about an hour north of Dallas. In the town of Denton, two black football players from Dallas’ segregated public school system boldly walked on to play for what was then called North Texas State College—known today as the University of North Texas. Abner Haynes and Leon King didn’t know what to expect, and neither their dozen or so teammates on North Texas’ freshman team.

The players’ arrival came only a few months after North Texas first welcomed a black undergraduate student in February 1956. The school worked its way through both that episode and the integration of its most public face—the football team—with no fanfare and without the hostility on campus that accompanied similar events at many other colleges and universities across the South. There were, though, tense situations when a racial integrated football team played road games in small, segregated Texas towns. Jeff Miller, a veteran Texas sports journalist, has visited with those who lived through it—from the mixed welcome that Haynes and King initially received from their white freshman brethren to those same teammates standing with them after the two blacks were denied service at eateries on the road to a squad that grew into a Bowl team.

In The Game Changers, Miller ties the tale of what happened at North Texas beginning in 1956 to contrasting events that took place not far away that reverberated into national relevance. He also chronicles the continued racial integration of major college football in Texas throughout the 1960s.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.

Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Release: 10/25/16
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Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by:Javaka Steptoe
A visually stunning picture book biography about modern art phenomenon Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award winner Javaka Steptoe.

Jean-Michael Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocked to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art work had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe’s vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat’s own introduce young readers to the powerful message and art doesn’t always have to be neat or clean–and definitely not inside the lines–to be beautiful.
Release: 10/25/16
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Perfect Pleasures by: Deborah Fletcher Mello
World famous MMA champion Zachary Barrett has returned to his home in Phuket, Thailand, and his elite training camp, Revolution. Thanks to his twin brother, a renowned pro trainer in Colorado, Zachary is primed and ready for his next title bout—but his toughest match may be with the sports journalist assigned to write an exposé on him. Not only is she gorgeous, she’s after a well-guarded secret that Zach soon realizes makes her off limits in every way…

It’s true that Kenzie Monroe has an ulterior motive for pursuing Zachary. The half-Asian beauty believes he’s connected to her estranged father, a former MMA fighter who disappeared years ago. And the more Zachary avoids her, the more determined she is—and the hotter their game of cat and mouse becomes…until they both surrender. But as lust, love, and friendship combine, Zachary knows he has to answer all of Kenzie’s questions—because outside of the ring, the heart makes the rules…
Release: 10/25/16
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The Thunder Beneath Us by:Nicole Blades
To the world, Best Lightburn is a talented writer rising up the masthead at international style magazine James, girlfriend of a gorgeous up-and-coming actor, and friend to New York City’s fabulous. Then there’s the other Best, the one who has chosen to recast herself as an only child rather than confront the truth.

Ten years ago, on Christmas Eve, Best and her two older brothers took a shortcut over a frozen lake. When the ice cracked, all three went in. Only Best came out. People said she was lucky, but that kind of luck is nothing but a burden. Because Best knows what she had to do to survive. And after years of covering up the past, her guilt is detonating through every facet of her seemingly charmed life. It’s all unraveling so fast: her new boss is undermining and deceitful, her boyfriend is recovering from a breakdown, and a recent investigative story has led to a secret affair with the magazine’s wealthy publisher.

Best is quick-witted and headstrong, but how do you find a way to happiness when you’re sure you haven’t earned it—or embrace a future you feel you don’t deserve? Evocative and emotional, The Thunder Beneath Us is a gripping novel about learning to carry loss without breaking, and to heal and forgive—not least of all, ourselves.
Release: 10/25/16
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Carl Weber’s Kingpins:ATL by:Brick & Storm
The saying goes you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you, but maybe you should if that same hand prevents you from feeding yourself.

Every territory has a king, and Metro Atlanta is no exception. Gang lords Blanket and Guerilla have been growing their numbers, never beefing until Guerilla decides to expand, thanks to the help of his enemy’s own rook. Caught in the middle of this battle from different sides of the track are London and Saint.

Spoiled rich Roanoke girl London Royal is no exception to the old saying that every girl loves a bad boy and his ways. When she visits the downtrodden Jonesboro neighborhood of Goodman with her best friends, her privileged world changes drastically with one party and later, a tow-truck pickup by bad boy Santana Black.

Santana “Saint” Black is anything but a saint. Caught up in the drug game, Saint is a runner and enforcer for Blanket—not to mention he’s from the wrong side of the tracks to have his sights set on London.

Can they find love in the middle of a kingpin war, or will both fall to the game of the streets?
Release: 10/25/16
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Country Girls 3 by:Blake Karrington
Welcome to the South, where women are raised to be mothers and wives, and to stand by their man no matter what. It’s a place where, if you’re a size 8, you’re too small.

When Niya, the head of MHB (Money Hungry Bitches) decided to put her family’s future first, nothing and nobody else mattered. You were either going to stand behind her or be the one standing on the other end of her gun. Any and every nigga known to get money in North Carolina was a target. MHB began as a small movement but quickly became an organization.

Take a walk with Blake Karrington and see how Southern hospitality can become deadly for anyone who doesn’t understand how Country Girls roll!
Release: 10/25/16
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Young and Hungry by:Ms. Michel Moore & Marlon PS. White
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .

Not only is the city of Detroit bankrupt, but it has one of the highest murder rates in the country. When government-enforced power restrictions are applied, hell on earth becomes hotter in the already anything-goes, cutthroat city. Even the predators become prey. No loyalty, no respect, and no limits! It’s now neighbor against neighbor, sister against brother, friend against friend, and people’s true colors are tested and revealed by nightfall.

The only thing that could help Detroit at this point is a miracle, and even God is scared to visit the Devil’s playground.

Ms. Michel Moore and Marlon P.S. White deliver a gripping tale of disloyalty, murder, and mayhem against the backdrop of one of America’s most troubled cities.
Release: 10/25/16
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The United States and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the Americas, 1776-1867 by:Leonardo Marques
An investigation of US participation in the transatlantic slave trade to the Americas, from the American Revolution to the Civil War

While much of modern scholarship has focused on the American slave trade’s impact within the United States, considerably less has addressed its effects in other parts of the Americas. A rich analysis of a complex subject, this study draws on Portuguese, Brazilian, and Spanish primary documents—as well as English-language material—to shed new light on the changing behavior of slave traders and their networks, particularly in Brazil and Cuba. Slavery in these nations, as Marques shows, contributed to the mounting tensions that would ultimately lead to the U.S. Civil War. Taking a truly Atlantic perspective, Marques outlines the multiple forms of U.S. involvement in this traffic amid various legislation and shifting international relations, exploring the global processes that shaped the history of this participation.
Release: 10/25/16
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The Progressives’ Century by:Stephen Skowronek
A landmark work on how the Progressive Era redefined the playing field for conservatives and liberals alike.

During the 1912 presidential campaign, Progressivism emerged as an alternative to what was then considered an outmoded system of government. A century later, a new generation of conservatives criticizes Progressivism as having abandoned America’s founding values and miring the government in institutional gridlock. In this paradigm-shifting book, renowned contributors examine a broad range of issues, including Progressives’ interpretation of the Constitution, their expansion and redistribution of individual rights, and reforms meant to shift power from political parties to ordinary citizens.
Release: 10/25/16
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and American Slave by:Frederick Douglass
A new edition of one of the most influential literary documents in American and African American history.

Ideal for coursework in American and African American history, this revised edition of Frederick Douglass’s memoir of his life as a slave in pre-Civil War Maryland incorporates a wide range of supplemental materials to enhance students’ understanding of slavery, abolitionism, and the role of race in American society. Offering readers a new appreciation of Douglass’s world, it includes documents relating to the slave narrative genre and to the later career of an essential figure in the nineteenth-century abolition movement.
Release: 10/25/16
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The Freedom Summer Murders by:Don Mitchell
In June of 1964, three idealistic young men (one black and two white) were lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. They were trying to register African Americans to vote as part of the Freedom Summer effort to bring democracy to the South. Their disappearance and murder caused a national uproar and was one of the most significant incidents of the Civil Rights Movement, and contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Freedom Summer Murders is the first book for young people to take a comprehensive look at the brutal murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, through to the conviction in 2005 of mastermind Edgar Ray Killen.
Release: 10/25/16
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Spill by:Alexis Pauline Gumbs
In Spill, self-described queer Black troublemaker and Black feminist love evangelist Alexis Pauline Gumbs presents a commanding collection of scenes depicting fugitive Black women and girls seeking freedom from gendered violence and racism. In this poetic work inspired by Hortense Spillers, Gumbs offers an alternative approach to Black feminist literary criticism, historiography, and the interactive practice of relating to the words of Black feminist thinkers. Gumbs not only speaks to the spiritual, bodily, and otherworldly experience of Black women but also allows readers to imagine new possibilities for poetry as a portal for understanding and deepening feminist theory.
Release: 10/28/16
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The Child Snatcher by:Aria Johnson
With the same gripping tension of The Girl on the Train and The Good Girl, The Child Snatcher tells the suspenseful story of a mother trying to save her lazy son from himself and then from an enigmatic woman of dubious character who seems determined to systematically destroy her small family.

Claire Wilkins is at her wits’ end with her son, Brandon, a college dropout who spends his time lounging around the house. Claire, tired of seeing him waste his life playing video games and trolling the Internet, gives him an ultimatum: get a job, get back to school…or get out.

Brandon decides to move in with a total stranger that he met in an online porn chatroom. This mysterious young woman, Ava, abruptly leads him down a dark path into a dangerous world. Terrified for her now distant son, Claire tries to entice Brandon to return home and discovers the true nature of his toxic and abusive relationship with Ava.

But her world explodes when Brandon does the unthinkable. Her only glimmer of hope is discovering that Brandon and Ava are expecting a child. Claire believes she coddled Brandon too much and that she was a terrible mother. But maybe she can get a second chance and be a much better grandparent. Unfortunately, Ava’s plan for hers and Brandon’s child does not include Claire. In fact, Ava’s plan is so nefarious that Claire is willing to risk everything, including her life, to save her innocent grandson.

A spellbinding race against time, The Child Snatcher is a timely and terrifying thrill ride that will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.
Release: 10/25/16
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Waking Savannah (Bitterly Suite) by:Teri-Lynne DeFino
Bitterly, Connecticut, has been a haven for a woman shattered by painful memories—until a handsome stranger appears and threatens to awaken the ghosts of her past…

For the last eleven years, Savannah Callowell has led a peaceful existence in Bitterly. As the owner of an old farm, she’s mostly kept to herself, not daring to let anyone get too close. None of her neighbors know that she’s haunted by tragedy, and she’s done everything possible to escape her ghosts. She thinks she’s succeeding, until her new foreman shows up—and he’s far from being the college kid she was expecting…

A worldly former professor, Adelmo Gallegos has his own reasons for wanting to hide out on Savvy’s farm, and he isn’t about to share them with anyone, not even his enticing new boss. Still, Ade can’t help himself, the more time he spends with Savannah, the more he longs to lure her out of her protective shell. But how can he convince her that opening her heart is the only way to heal? Especially since he too has secrets he’s unwilling to share? Only when the past catches up with them may they be able to free themselves of it…
Release: 10/25/16
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Black Against Empire by:Joshua Bloom,Waldo E. Martin
This timely special edition, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party, features a new preface by the authors that places the Party in a contemporary political landscape, especially as it relates to Black Lives Matter and other struggles to fight police brutality against black communities.

In Oakland, California, in 1966, community college students Bobby Seale and Huey Newton armed themselves, began patrolling the police, and promised to prevent police brutality. Unlike the Civil Rights Movement that called for full citizenship rights for blacks within the United States, the Black Panther Party rejected the legitimacy of the U.S. government and positioned itself as part of a global struggle against American imperialism. In the face of intense repression, the Party flourished, becoming the center of a revolutionary movement with offices in sixty-eight U.S. cities and powerful allies around the world.

Black against Empire is the first comprehensive overview and analysis of the history and politics of the Black Panther Party. The authors analyze key political questions, such as why so many young black people across the country risked their lives for the revolution, why the Party grew most rapidly during the height of repression, and why allies abandoned the Party at its peak of influence. Bold, engrossing, and richly detailed, this book cuts through the mythology and obfuscation, revealing the political dynamics that drove the explosive growth of this revolutionary movement and its disastrous unraveling. Informed by twelve years of meticulous archival research, as well as familiarity with most of the former Party leadership and many rank-and-file members, this book is the definitive history of one of the greatest challenges ever posed to American state power.
Release: 10/25/16
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Soars of Salem by:Niles Manning
Detective Grainger has finally recovered from a shaky career by closing a major case in the small town of Rock City. He goes from the fringe of being kicked off the force to a local hero. During his fifteen minutes of fame, bodies with familiar faces start to turn up. In Grainger’s world, there were no such things as coincidences, so he immediately starts a back-door investigation. When he finally starts to piece together the pattern, Grainger realizes that a childhood secret he thought long buried is threatening to come to light. Some scars never healed, and a nasty wound is about to be reopened that could cost Grainger his job, if not his life.
Release: 10/25/16
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Menage’s Way by:Victor L. Martin
Menage Unique Legend’s life, though it continues to be filled with material possessions and easy sex, spirals steadily out of control in this action-packed, page-turning sequel to A Hood Legend. Through it all, he pretends to be in control and keeps his game face on, even after experiencing personal losses and tragic events. In the midst of insisting on having things his way, he questions the meaning of life and love. Finally, he comes up with a solution that is as unique as he is. It is the answer to his misery—and what will ultimately make his heart content.
Release: 10/25/16
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From Reconciliation to Revolution by:David P. Cline
Conceived at the same conference that produced the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) was a national organization devoted to dismantling Jim Crow while simultaneously advancing American Protestant mainline churches’ approach to race. In this book, David P. Cline details how, between the founding of SIM in 1960 and its dissolution at the end of the decade, the seminary students who created and ran the organization influenced hundreds of thousands of community members through its various racial reconciliation and economic justice projects. From inner-city ministry in Oakland to voter registration drives in southwestern Georgia, participants modeled peaceful interracialism nationwide. By telling the history of SIM–its theology, influences, and failures–Cline situates SIM within two larger frameworks: the long civil rights movement and the even longer tradition of liberal Christianity’s activism for social reform.

Pulling SIM from the shadow of its more famous twin, SNCC, Cline sheds light on an understudied facet of the movement’s history. In doing so, he provokes an appreciation of the struggle of churches to remain relevant in swiftly changing times and shows how seminarians responded to institutional conservatism by challenging the establishment to turn toward political activism.
Release: 10/24/16
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Hope: My Life in Football by:Hope Powell
Hope Powell was a skinny little black girl from South London who only ever wanted to play football. Brought up in a violent home, she was actively discouraged from playing. The original Bend It Like Beckham girl, this is the amazing story of how a kid from a Greenwich housing estate became one of the most influential women in world football.

A revered international footballer and then, for fifteen years, manager of England, Hope Powell will forever be the face of English women’s football. She took the national game from amateurism to top-flight performance – and dedicated herself to opening up the sport to hundreds of thousands of girls and young women at the grassroots level.

A black, gay woman who’s been a relentless pioneer for equal rights, the story of her battles against authority are an object lesson in how determination and bravery can make a lasting change.
Release: 10/25/16
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O’s Little Guide to Starting Over (O’s Little Books/Guides) by: O, The Oprah Magazine
An inspiring collection of personal stories and wise words that celebrate the power of a fresh start.

Some of us start over willingly, and others are forced by circumstance—but everyone who finds herself back at square one could use a dose of courage and comfort. Readers will discover both in O’s Little Guide to Starting Over, a collection of stirring pieces on the topic of beginning again. Just a few of the compelling writers and astute thinkers in the mix: Martha Beck, who advises us that embracing failure may lead to our greatest successes; Kelly Corrigan, who writes that accepting our lack of control can be both freeing and healing; and Junot Diaz, who offers reassurance that pushing ahead, even when it feels impossible, is the way to become the person we were meant to be. With moving stories, practical insight, and unforgettable voices, O’s Little Guide to Starting Over is an essential road map for those who are breaking free, rising above, and making their way forward.
Release: 10/25/16
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Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant by:Roland Lazenby
Eighteen-time all-star; scorer of 81 points in a game; MVP and a shooting guard second only to Jordan in league history: Kobe Bryant is one of basketball’s absolute greatest players, a fascinating and complicated character who knew when he was a mere boy that he would be better than Jordan on the court.

The debate about whether he achieved that is a furious one–but Kobe has surpassed Jordan on the all-time scoring list and has only one less championship than Jordan (5 to Jordan’s 6). He is set to retire after the 2015/16 season, just in time for Roland Lazenby’s definitive biography of the player and the man.

The Lakers are the flashiest team in all of sports, and the context in which Bryant played is salacious and exciting. Provocative stories mixed with good old fashioned basketball reporting make for a riveting and essential read for any hoops fan.
Release: 10/25/16
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Along Came Love by:Tracey Livesay
When a silly, impulsive decision lands free-spirited India Shaw behind bars in San Francisco, she has no choice but to call the only person she knows in the unfamiliar city—the very man she abandoned after a steamy two-day fling. The fact that she’s pregnant with his child is something she’d rather not divulge.

Tech executive Michael Black never thought he’d hear from the quirky beauty after she left his bed four months ago, much less be called upon to post bail. He’s got his hands full with a corporate merger that could make or break his career, but his honorable nature—and an overwhelming need to see her again—means he can’t just leave her in jail. And when India reveals the truth about her pregnancy, Mike insists she stay with him until the baby is born.

India doesn’t want to depend on him for anything, but their constant proximity stirs up feelings she can’t ignore. She’s never desired a family before and she knows a future with Mike isn’t possible . . . but then along came love to shake up all her plans.
Release: 10/25/16
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No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies by:E. Patrick Johnson
The follow-up to the groundbreaking Black Queer Studies, the edited collection No Tea, No Shade brings together nineteen essays from the next generation of scholars, activists, and community leaders doing work on black gender and sexuality. Building on the foundations laid by the earlier volume, this collection’s contributors speak new truths about the black queer experience while exemplifying the codification of black queer studies as a rigorous and important field of study. Topics include “raw” sex, pornography, the carceral state, gentrification, gender nonconformity, social media, the relationship between black feminist studies and black trans studies, the black queer experience throughout the black diaspora, and queer music, film, dance, and theater. The contributors both disprove naysayers who believed black queer studies to be a passing trend and respond to critiques of the field’s early U.S. bias. Deferring to the past while pointing to the future, No Tea, No Shade pushes black queer studies in new and exciting directions.

Contributors. Jafari S. Allen, Marlon M. Bailey, Zachary Shane Kalish Blair, La Marr Jurelle Bruce, Cathy J. Cohen, Jennifer DeClue, Treva Ellison, Lyndon K. Gill, Kai M. Green, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Kwame Holmes, E. Patrick Johnson, Shaka McGlotten, Amber Jamilla Musser, Alison Reed, Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, Tanya Saunders, C. Riley Snorton, Kaila Story, Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley, Julia Roxanne Wallace, Kortney Ziegler
Release: 10/28/16
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Lady of the House: Book Three of the Forever Divas Series by:E. N. Joy
The man might be the head of the family, but the woman is definitely the head of the house. Pastor Margie has been doing just fine running her house, as well as the house of the Lord, New Day Temple of Faith, all by her lonesome. As a matter of fact, her motto has been, “I can do better all by myself.”

Well, certain members of the congregation beg to differ. Some of them have been nagging at Margie for so long about finding a help mate that she just might be crazy enough to give it a try. Once her congregation learns the method in which she goes about seeking a man for the house, they might worry for her sanity. After all, a woman of the cloth would have to be certifiably nuts to agree to go on a reality dating show in order to find a husband.

Margie assures her members that she will be just fine, because the Lord will guide her. That may be so, but a former member comes across the miles to offer her help as well. Usually the voice of reason who can speak truth and sense into any situation, even Mother Doreen might not be able to handle this situation.

As Margie and Doreen navigate the pitfalls of reality television, will the voices of the producers, production team, and not to mention the men—some of whom aren’t even saved—drown out the voice of God?
Release: 10/25/16
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