Lana’s music and lyrics evoke images of a saturated Kodachrome photograph, so it would stand to reason that she’d now add “poet” to her artist’s kit. Even without music, her words work their way around you, pulling you into a world that’s not unlike a David Lynch movie.[from barnesandnoble.com]

    . . . Need is everywhere—in the unforgiving images, in lines so delicate they seem to break apart in the hands, and in the reader who will enter these poems and never want to leave."—Adrian MatejkaPhillip B. Williams investigates the dangers of desire, balancing narratives of addiction, murders, and hate crimes with passionate, uncompromising depth. Formal poems entrenched in urban landscapes crack open dialogues of racism and homophobia rampant in our culture. Multitudinous voices explore one's ability to harm and be harmed, which uniquely juxtaposes the capacity to revel in both experiences."Epithalamium":A kiss. Train ride home from a late dinner,City Hall and document signing. Wasn't coldbut we cuddled in an empty car, legal.Last month a couple of guys left a gay barand were beaten with poles on the wayto their car. No one called them faggotso no hate crime's documented. A beat downis what some pray for, a pulse left to count.We knew we weren't protected. We knewour rings were party favors, gold to stealthe shine from. We couldn't protect us,knew the law wouldn't know how. Still, hisbeard across my brow, the burn of his cologne.When the train stopped, the people came on.Phillip B. Williams has authored two chapbooks: Bruised Gospels (Arts in Bloom Inc.) and Burn (YesYes Books). A Cave Canem graduate, he received scholarships from Bread Loaf Writers Conference and a Ruth Lilly Fellowship. His work appeared or is forthcoming in Callaloo, Poetry, the Southern Review, West Branch , and others. Phillip received his MFA in Writing as a Chancellor's Graduate Fellow at the Washington University in St. Louis. He is the poetry editor of Vinyl Poetry.

    Not sure how or if I've helped many folks say yes to life, but I've definitely aided in a few folks dying slowly in America, all without the aid of a gun'Kiese Laymon grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. That was where he started to write and where he began to seek to create an honest account of living in the US, a country striving to declare itself multi-cultural, post-racial and mostly innocent. This is that account.Drawing on his own personal experiences, these essays are Laymon's attempt to deal with many issues occupying America today, from race, identity and writing to music, celebrity and violence. Through letters between his own disparate family members, pleas to performers whose voices will never be heard again, recollections of his own failure to become a world-famous emcee, analysis of the growing culture of fear in the media and detailed accounts of his clashes with an education system that has both advanced and failed the generation he grew up in, Laymon gets closer not only to the truth behind himself, but to the promises behind the promised land.Searing and passionate, this timely collection of essays introduces a vibrant new voice in US literature and offers a unique insight into the forces that are tearing America apart today.

    

    At work on a novel that is overdue to her publisher, spending long days alone with her restless terrier, corresponding ardently with fellow writers, the novel's narrator grows obsessed with the challenge of writing the present tense, of capturing time itself. Entranced by the work of Rilke, Dürer, Chantal Akerman, and others, she photographs the residents and strays of her neighborhood, haunts bookstores and galleries, and records her thoughts in a yellow notebook that soon subsumes her work on the novel. As winter closes in, a series of disturbances—the appearances and disappearances of enigmatic figures, the burglary of her apartment—leaves her distracted and uncertain . . . until an intense and tender disruption changes everything.A story of artistic ambition, personal crisis, and the possibilities and failures of literature, Drifts is a dramatic step forward for one of our most daring writers.

    Asian American Studies. "In YOU ARE NOT DEAD Wendy Xu breaks all the old rules that have never done us any favors anyway. She writes beautifully, noticing who we are, and letting us see ourselves with a little more humanity, a little more humor, a little more humility. I'm happy to have read this book."--James Tate"There's a wild and wondrous poet plundering-through our lives, collecting the oddest and most significant things, turning our thoughts toward things we couldn't have known before she turned us toward them. YOU ARE NOT DEAD is precisely how this book can get you to feel and that is an almost otherworldly power. The poet who imagines and builds these poems is irresistible."--Dara Wier"That fluctuating space between the temporary and the infinite is an erogenous zone made all the more enticing when articulated so eloquently. 'We have a lifespan and O how we live it out.' Wendy Xu's poems posit for us a future, a presence, a body resistant to the ravages of time. Mortality is a far planet. Here in Xu's work, we are passionately, and gratefully, alive."--D. A. Powell

    In fact, that was the last thing she wanted. However, a chance encounter with Jericko Cook, A.K.A. Ricko, might just change her mind. Then again, it might prove why she’s steered clear of bad boys in the first place. Between shoot outs, other women vying for his attention and a long list of deceptive characters lurking, Arianna might not be able to handle being a dope boy’s woman, or she could find out there’s a lot more thug in her than she thought. Ricko was living life and enjoying the fruits of his labor. As the man in charge, cars, money, hoes and clothes weren’t just a saying to him; it was his everyday reality. He didn’t realize that real love was the only thing he had been lacking, but it could be just what he needed. Mia had it easy. She got all the perks of a relationship except a title. Getting Ricko to commit to her was proving harder than she thought. When he pushes her to the side for what she thought was just the new flavor of the week, she realizes that Arianna isn’t going anywhere. But, Mia will stop at nothing to get what she wants, even if that means making sure no one else can have him. Sophia is Arianna’s best friend, and she is always down to ride. She’s no stranger to the street life like her friend, so when she gets the chance to get with a certified thug in Ricko’s brother, Jabari Cook, she jumps at the chance to be the Bonnie to his Clyde. Will she be prepared for the ride this young thug has in store for her, or will she have to give up? Jabari Cook is looking to get to the money, everything else is irrelevant. He is on a mission to take what he believes is rightfully his and will stop at nothing to claim his throne. Jabari will remove whoever or whatever is in the way of his money; family or not. Sophia wants to be his ride or die, but will she be used as a pawn to get him where he wants to be, or will he finally meet his match? Come take this ride through the streets of Chicago with these two brothers as they build their empire while juggling deception and love.

    

     Steven works overtime to prove to Imani that she is the only one for him and he whisks her off to Vegas. Meanwhile, Imani discovers that someone close to her has eyes for Steven. Just when Raina thought everything was smooth sailing for her and Jason, his ex-wife partnered with his mother and dropped a bomb on the happy couple. Will this break Raina and Jason apart or will it only solidify the love they share for each other. In this sequel of White Boys Packing Too, the couples are tested to see if what they have is the real deal when there are others out to tear them apart.

    Unfortunately, Davina isn’t one of them. With an unloving and dysfunctional mother her only choice is to take on the responsibility and fend for her little brother. Thinking that her life couldn’t get any worse she loses her job and her mother kicks her and her brother out on the grimey streets of Houston all in the same day. She runs into her longtime crush Nigel and he ends up helping her get back on her feet. Nigel is fresh out of the county jail scheming and scamming his way to the top and Davina can’t seem to resist him. Their chemistry is undeniable but to her he’s out of her league and to him; she’s just too average. They’re both on the come up but will they let their guards down and let love lead the way to the money and a relationship?

    Markus Grant lives by that phrase. He's consumed with holding his position in the streets and keeping his crew tight. But his heart yearns for someone to share his life with. However, there are new threats on the horizon and he can't afford to have his attention elsewhere. Not until a beautiful woman on the run, stumbles across his path. Reign is the epitome of pure love draped in fear and bruises. Her past life is in the rearview, and her future is in her grasp. For her and Markus, love happens without their permission. The euphoria of their bliss lessens the stress of what they're battling outside of the bubble they’ve created for themselves. With Reign by his side and being his peace, the need to protect everything becomes greater. Threats are now promised, and the crown on his head comes with a hefty price. Streetlife is all Markus knows. To preserve his life and the life of his family will he step down and leave the throne of New York up for grabs? Or will he fight ‘til the death? Find out in Dope Boys: Anything for the Crown *This is a re-release*