Publisher Synopsis:
From the
introduction by Gary Phillips: “Within these pages you’ll find stories of those
walking the straight and narrow—until something untoward happens. Maybe it’s
someone taking a step out of line, getting caught up in circumstances spiraling
out of their control. Maybe they’re planning the grift, the grab . . . whatever
it is to finally put them over. Other times the steps they take are to get
themselves or people they care about out from under. You’ll find the offerings
in these pages are a rich mix of tone—tales told of hope, survival, revenge,
and triumph. Excursions beyond the headlines and the hype.
The settings
herein reflect South Central today or chronicle its colorful past, such as the
days of the jazz joints along Central Avenue . . . From South Park to East
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, from the borderlands of Watts to the one-time
Southern Pacific railroad tracks paralleling Slauson Avenue, take a tour of a
section of Los Angeles that may be unfamiliar to you but you will get to know,
at least a little, by the time you finish reading this entertaining and
engaging anthology.”
Featuring
brand-new stories by: Steph Cha, Nikolas Charles, Tananarive Due, Larry
Fondation, Gar Anthony Haywood, Naomi Hirahara, Emory Holmes II, Roberto
Lovato, Penny Mickelbury, Gary Phillips, Eric Stone, Jervey Tervalon, Jeri
Westerson, and Désirée Zamorano.
