After her mother's tragic death, Shayla is left to navigate her teenage years with little help from her neglectful, playboy father. Used and abused by the adults around her, Shayla makes some risky choices, taking a job as a waitress in one of Harlem's top strip clubs before she's even of legal age. She makes ends meet by running scams on unsuspecting patrons, but her luck soon runs out when she is raped and left for dead one night after work.Confused and scared, Shayla concocts a lie that leads to an arrest. A man is convicted and sent to prison for the crime, though he insists he's innocent.Shayla goes about putting her life back together, and with the help of a great mentor, she makes some big changes. Now a graduate of Howard University, she's ready to begin a new career and put her old life far behind her—until an unexpected twist turns everything upside down. New DNA evidence leads the court to reopen the rape case, and Shayla will be forced to confront the...

Lance Thomas is a sexy, young black male who has it all: a high-paying blue collar career, a home in Queens, New York, two cars, a son, and a beautiful wife. However, after getting married at a very young age he realizes that he is afflicted with DOGISM, a distorted sexuality that causes men to stray and be unfaithful in their relationships with women. You will not stop turning the pages as you read and witness Lance as he juggles God, a wife, a son, and a new mistress, all the while trying to end his dealings with a past drama-filled stripper who is obsessed with him. In the midst of drama and deception, Lance realizes that eventually every dog has his day. This must read novel takes you through a journey in the life, mind, and emotions of a man, showing that at times even dogs, with their distorted sexuality have a conscience.

From a brilliant fantasy master comes a tale of astounding magic, unrelenting evil, and redemptive courage.Travis Wilder and Grace Beckett have returned to modern Earth to get medical help for Beltan, a knight from the otherworld of Eldh. But as Beltan lies unconscious in the ICU of a Denver hospital, a shadowy organization plots to kidnap him, and sinister forces of dark magic cross the boundary from Eldh in a murderous search for Travis and Grace.Meanwhile, in Eldh, a young baroness, her witch companion, and their mortal and immortal friends journey to a dying city, there to confront a nameless evil that has begun to annihilate the very gods.Somehow Travis and Grace must save Beltan and themselves, then make their way back to Eldh. For only there can they hope to defeat a demonic enemy that can shatter time, devour space, and turn existence into nothingness.From the Paperback edition.

A strange rift in ordinary reality draws saloon owner Travis Wilder and ER doctor Grace Beckett into the otherworld of Eldh--a land of gods, monsters, and magic that is sorely in need of heroes. From the Paperback edition.

To rescue a missing noble, Artek the Knife must venture deep into the Undermountain, a vast and lethal labyrinth created by a crazed wizard, a place that is not only difficult and dangerous to access but nearly impossible to escape.

The Pale King has been defeated, his legions decimated. The Dark God Mohg has been destroyed. And the evil corporation, Duratek, has been disbanded, foiled in its efforts to strip-mine the world of Eldh. And for our heroes, three years have passed in relative peace. But only relative, because every one of them know in their hearts that their duties are not yet ended. For perihelion approaches, as the two worlds continue to grow nearer. And bad things are coming in its wake. In the skies over Earth, astronomers have noted an anomaly which seems to be swallowing stars whole. On Eldh, these rifts in the sky are appearing as well--and the dragon Sinfathisar tells Grace Beckett that, if left unchecked, these holes of anti-being will annihilate all of creation forever. He adds that only Travis Wilder--whom the Mournish believe is fated to raise the lost city of Morindu the Dark from the desert sands that hide and hold it--can save the world. But what is the connection between the lost city of the sorcerers and the wounds that rift the heavens? As Grace goes in search of Travis and Travis goes in search of his kidnapped daughter, all the threads of fate begin to pull together, revealing ancient mysteries on both worlds, and connections within connections that carry all the way back through time. With both worlds increasingly wracked by tempests and earthquakes and a palpable sense of hopelessness and despair, and with magic sputtering and dying around them, can our heroes patch together the missing pieces of the puzzle before all of life is annihilated?

During the summer of 1991, the crack epidemic is destroying lives in cities across the U.S., and New York City is no exception. The members of Fourth Crew live in Queens, where crack addiction has swept through the ghetto and the dealers rule the streets. These young thugs come from middle-class homes in a middle-class neighborhood, but this doesn't make them immune from the lure of fast money and power. They enter the game with dreams of living the high life, but are soon swept up in the violence and betrayal that come with the territory. It doesn't take them long to understand that there are serious repercussions to chasing paper.Loosely based on the author's life, Paper Chasers takes us into the minds of these young hustlers and gives readers a realistic portrait of life on the streets. It's a tale of good and evil that chronicles the ways in which money can destroy friendships, challenge morals, and corrupt even those sworn to serve and protect. An Essence bestseller...