Life in the streets take on a whole new meaning in this urban anthology of "hood" tales compiled by New York Times bestselling author Wahida Clark. WHAT'S REALLY HOOD! Black Is Blue by Victor L. Martin delves into the life of a corporate woman who falls in love with a thug and finds out just how easy it is to stray from the straight and narrow. Eighteen and hungry Wiz's only addiction to drugs is the money it made. But Crystal changed all of that and shows him just how powerful a woman can be in The P is Free by LaShonda Teague. In The LastLaugh by Bonta, Bobo, a member of the infamous Eight-Trey street gang, learns that gang life isn't all it's cracked up to be as "street wars" take on a whole new meaning. Shawn "Jihad" Trump tells the story of loyalty, love and honor, when The Point Blank Mob is brought to its knees leaving the crew fighting for their lives and freedom in All for Nothing. And New York Times bestselling author, Wahida Clark, introduces Nina, a woman tired of being disrespected by men who takes revenge to the ultimate level in Makin' Endz Meet.

A story of hood life and love. Annette Brooks is an easygoing girl from the hood. She starts nothing she can't finish and never loses the fight. She is known for being a bookworm, so when she finds herself in the middle of a deadly battle, all things hood become a reality. Annette is soon faced with old enemies and new ones, while she struggles to balance school, first love, family, and the demands of the streets. When things don't go as planned, she finds herself in a few fight-or-flight situations. The incidents to follow will change her life forever. Christian James thrives in trouble, but when he sets his sights on Annette, he decides to keep her. He does not know the journey they will have. He didn't plan on loving her, after all, he lived for the streets. Christian feels like she is his peace and with her, anything is possible. Even getting out of the hood. When an attempt to make some easy money goes wrong, and strange incidents around them happen, he realizes he will protect her at all costs. Together, they stand in the face of many enemies. They battle jealousy, temptation, and hate. In the wake of it all, they find comfort in friends that will follow where ever they lead and cross off names on an ever-growing list of foes. While trying to survive, loyalties will be forgotten, and love is a question in their relationship. All the while, all they want is out, but, the streets always call them back. Will they make it out or just accept that It Is what it is.

Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we? The idea of a "self" has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this notion of the independent, coherent self is an illusion - it is not what it seems. Reality as we perceive it is not something that objectively exists, but something that our brains construct from moment to moment, interpreting, summarizing, and substituting information along the way. Like a science fiction movie, we are living in a matrix that is our mind. In The Self Illusion, Dr. Bruce Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. He explains that self is the product of our relationships and interactions with others, and it exists only in our brains. The author argues, however, that though the self is an illusion, it is one that humans cannot live without. But things are changing as our technology develops and shapes society. The social bonds and relationships that used to take time and effort to form are now undergoing a revolution as we start to put our self online. Social networking activities such as blogging, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter threaten to change the way we behave. Social networking is fast becoming socialization on steroids. The speed and ease at which we can form alliances and relationships is outstripping the same selection processes that shaped our self prior to the internet era. This book ventures into unchartered territory to explain how the idea of the self will never be the same again in the online social world.

HOOD LIVIN Ghetto Grace is about young black adults living in the hood from a realistic perspective. Its about pain, anger, and love. Hood Livin, touches on various aspects in which young adults are coming up in the so-called hood experience. Justice is twenty-four, and although its his last year of college, hes dealing with the problems of his ex-girlfriend leaving town with his young daughter and trying to come to terms with his mothers illness and his responsibility to his best friends little brother. At the same time, he falls in love with a young sister. Kisha is twenty-three and just broke up with her boyfriend when she caught him playing on her. Shes the third oldest of seven children. Her mothers early death forced her to become the woman of the house and to care for a drunkard father. Regg had his first year of college at eighteen. Hes trying to cope with his brothers death and being an adult teenager. He realizes its not all that easy, nor is it what he expected. Coco is Kishas best friend, and shes having her own issues. Her only brother is in prison, and shes caught up in a relationship that is not healthy for her. Her boyfriend is the leader of the local drug-selling gang who values the chase of that paper more than her life. Crime is the leader of the Bishops. He is all about that money and making sure he and his people eat. He doesnt care what he has to do to get it or who he has to kill in order to keep his spots up and flowing. As each deals with their own independent issues and drama, living in the hood, the streets of reality draw them together in one way or another. Ten years earlier, Justice witnessed the murder of his best friend and partner Rakim by a member of a rival gang. He took that as a wake-up call and reality check. Justice decided to get himself on the right track and try to avoid the calls of the streets. But when his late partners brother dies, the call can no longer be ignored.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “The fights against hunger, homelessness, poverty, health disparities, poor schools, homophobia, transphobia, and domestic violence are feminist fights. Kendall offers a feminism rooted in the livelihood of everyday women.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist, in The Atlantic “One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time “A rousing call to action... It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine A potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others? In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.

A mysterious woman draws Mike Shayne into a twisted murder plot The call comes just as Mike Shayne is pouring a much-needed cognac. A gangster’s voice warns, “Stay away from Wanda Weatherby.” Simple enough—except that Shayne has never heard of any woman by that name. A few minutes later, he receives another call, from a woman desperately worried about Wanda Weatherby. A third call then comes in from the woman herself: Wanda Weatherby begs Mike Shayne to save her life. He drives to her apartment, hoping that she’ll be able to explain just what is going on, but he’s too late. Wanda Weatherby is dead. Just who she was, and why every criminal in Miami seemed to know her name, will take some figuring out. By the time he’s done with this mystery, Mike Shayne will wish he had never picked up the phone. What Really Happened is the 22nd book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

"Strange how change brings no change." Explosive satirical novel indicting the System and '40s and '50s number kings- the folks who bankrolled Black businesses, then turned them into "legal state lotteries."