The Word on Street Lit: Wahida Clark, K'Wan & T. Styles
By Rollie Welch, Cleveland P.L.Aug 12, 2010
This month's selections include top names in the street lit biz: Wahida Clark, Miasha, Nikki Turner, and K'Wan (read the review below for details about an ARC giveaway). But T. Styles steals the spotlight with a tale of drag queens hitting their groove in the DC hood.
What's the best way to market a book? Video book trailers? Flowing prose on jacket flaps? Fuhgetaboutit! Nothing sparks the imagination like a punch-to-the-gut title, and street lit publishers know the game. Here are five of my favorite titles, which all let readers know what's up before they even crack the book's spine.
The Face That Launched a Thousand Bullets by T. Styles
Flexin & Sexin by Erick S. Gray, Anna J., K'Wan, Brittani Williams, and Juicy Wright
Riding Dirty on I-95 by Nikki Turner
Thong on Fire by Noire
Thug Lovin' by Wahida Clark
Quick Quiz: Street Lit or Harlequin?
Each of the ten titles below is either from an actual street lit novel or a real Harlequin romance. Can you tell which is which? (*Answers at the end of this column)
1. Extreme Circumstances
2. In Too Deep
3. Before It's Too Late
4. Secrets, Lies...and Seduction
5. My Partner's Wife
6. Knowing the Score
7. The Ultimate Sacrifice
8. Twelve-Gauge Guardian
9. Trust No Man
10. Playing for Keeps
Pick of the Month
Styles, T. Miss Wayne & the Queens of DC. Cartel Pub. 2010. 281p. ISBN 978-0-9823913-4-1. pap. $15. F
Miss Wayne's crew at the House of Dreams (think of a fraternity/sorority house for cross-dressers) has cash flow problems. The "girls" have resorted to Hefty trash bags over the windows, which look superghetto. What else can they do when all extra funds go to drinkin' and druggin'? Simple solution: Charge customers $100 at the door before they sample the sexual goods. Wayne, who's all attitude, doesn't put up with mess in her House and brushes off Big Boody Brandy as a queen "with an ass so fat you know it was manufactured." But what about heartthrob Tyrone? He never has money but always comes to Miss Wayne for help, with one thing on his mind: himself. The bigger problem? Who is brutally killing off folks in Wayne's circle of queens?
Verdict Totally outrageous, this spin-off from Styles's Essence best sellers Black and Ugly and Black and Ugly as Ever bursts with attitude like a drag queen working the runway in stilettos. Biting trash talk, raw sex, and murder set against a backdrop of the DC drag-queen world make this flamboyant street lit title a smash hit.
Clark, Wahida. The Golden Hustla. Grand Central. Oct. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-446-17810-5. pap. $14.99. F
Atlanta's vibe is cool, but it's too bad Nina Coles works in the office of the damned. WMM Advertising (We Make Millionaires), a phone scam operation enticing wealthy folks to enter drawings for American Eagle gold coins. Her jerk of a boss demands WMM pull in a million a week. Big money means big risks, and when a client's nephew questions the scam, he ends up dead. Nina is caught up in the mess. Will one of her two lovers, possessive Akil or sizzling hot Rick King, rescue her? Fair warning: One of the guys goes all Ike Turner on her.
Verdict Clark's story pulls in characters and situations from her previous Thug books, but this is all Nina's story (first introduced in the urban anthology What's Really Hood!). The layered story line gets confusing, but oh my, the steamy sex between Rick and Nina on a crowded dance floor is worth the cover price. Talk about sweatin' and grindin'!
K'Wan. Welfare Wifeys: A Hood Rat Novel. Griffin: St. Martin's. Oct. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-312-53697-8. pap. $14.99 F
The latest installment in K'Wan's best-selling series (after Section 8) has the ladies wailing about their status as wifeys who put up with the kids, prison visits, and other women only to end up stressed out and on welfare. These wifeys are satellites locked in the orbit of Big Dawg Entertainment, a rap label that's booked a party at the New York nightclub Code Red. Thug-turned-rapper Animal and promoter Don B. wait for Rico's crew to muscle in for a piece of the action. Gucci, Animal's hot and willing wifey, just wants to sex up Animal, but she suspects he's got other women on the side. This is the hood, and collateral damage may hit anyone, including Malika, a single mom struggling to keep her son on the right path. Supporting characters steal scenes, especially Ms. Pat, a grandmother selling pot in the projects: " 'Fooling with these damn kids done got my pressure up,' Ms. Pat said, fishing around in her wig and producing a wrinkled joint. 'One of y'all kids give me a light.' "
Verdict K'Wan's unmatched ear for street slang and dialog rocks this story as tension between the players builds so thick you could cut it with a knife, or better yet, a razor blade. Buy lots of copies. Demand will soar. Library marketing. The first ten librarians to email library@macmillanusa.com get a free ARC.
Miasha. Til Death. Touchstone: S. & S. (Secret Society). Sept. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-1-4165-8988-4. pap. $14. F
In this final series entry (after Secret Society and Never Enough), Celess and girlfriend Si-Si are on the run from a murder charge stemming from an earlier L.A. mess. Landing in Genoa, Italy, the pair hook up with Andrew Coselli, a dude so wealthy he has not one but two Bugatti Veyrons, each worth $1.7 million. This Thelma and Louise duo severs connections to their prior lives by pulling the SIM cards from their cell phones, then setting up a call girl enterprise for wealthy clients. Si-Si and Celess live the high life by partying and shopping in Genoa, Rio, Cape Town, Mumbai, and Dubai. They don't realize things are going wrong: a shadowy figure from their past seeks revenge, and Celess starts hitting cocaine hard. Watch out, girls! Saying "Til death do us part" might be more than a trite vow.
Verdict Celess, a sassy and reckless transsexual, is a fresh take on the strong females found in street lit, and Miasha's pacing moves faster than a private jet. Still, this reviewer had problems with the work's rushed ending, but that won't slow patron demand.
Turner, Nikki. Natural Born Hustler. One World: Ballantine. Oct. 2010. 128p. ISBN 978-0-345-52360-0. pap. $13. F
In this novella's first 14 pages, Desember Day, an 18-year-old hustler, pats down her $300 weave and wiggles into a micro miniskirt, then sexes up her boo, Famis ("Fame") Marauder, in a movie theater. She also witnesses him being gunned down in a drive-by. From this slam-bang beginning, Turner's story flashes back between North Carolina and New York City following the two lovers. They're quite a pair. Fame robs drug dealers in an area where life isn't promising, or promised. Desember holds her own against a thug's insults. "I make money, money don't make me." Here's love, loyalty, and grand theft in one package.
Verdict There's no excess weight in Turner's trim story, which will leave readers panting for part 2. It ain't hip-hop, but this reviewer channeled up lyrics to old-school rocker Steve Miller's song "Take the Money and Run": "Two young lovers with nothing better to do." Fans of the Queen of Hip-Hop Lit (Forever a Hustler's Wife) will be lining up for this one.
Listening to Street Lit: Upcoming Audiobooks
Chunichi. The Streets Keep Calling. 8 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 9.3 hrs. Blackstone Audio. Dec. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4417-7205-3. $90; 8CDs. retail ed.; 1 MP3-CD.
K'wan. Welfare Wifeys. 10 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 11.7 hrs. Blackstone Audio. Sept. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4417-6216-0. $105; 10 CDs. retail ed.; 1 MP3-CD; 1 Playaway.
Miasha. Til Death. 7 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 8 hrs. Blackstone Audio. Sept. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4417-5928-3. $69; 7 CDs. retail ed.; 1 MP3-CD; 1 Playaway.
Zane. The Hot Box. 7 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 8.5 hrs. Griot Audio: Recorded Books. Aug. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4498-4197-3. $77.75; 7 CDs. retail ed.; 1 MP3-CD; 7 cassettes.
*Harlequin or Street Lit? Answers: The odd numbers are street lit titles and the even numbers are Harlequin romances.
