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Looker by Stanley Bennett Clay $13.00 15% off $11.05 BUY IT SOMETIMES LOVE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK Brando Haywood is a handsome, popular, and successful entertainment lawyer who seems to have everything but passion. Two years celibate and a prisoner of his routine, he goes through life quietly on the sidelines while his promiscuous best friend, Omar Stevens, thrashes through life and love with all the ups and downs Brando barely realizes he longs for. Brando's life takes a dramatic turn when he is asked to defend a female friend who has killed her rapist. The sensational and controversial trial that follows not only ignites Brando's fervor for his career but also helps him discover his passion and a true love that had been staring him in the face all along. "Looker" firmly establishes Stanley Bennett Clay's reputation as a writer who spins brilliant erotic entertainment even as he challenges his readers' sensibilities. So You Call Yourself a Man by Carl Weber $15.00 15% off $12.75BUY IT James Robinson and his wife have had their rough patches. But seven years into their marriage, things are better, and hotter, than ever--"until the not-so-distant past catches up with him. Meanwhile, James's best friend, Brent Williams, has got his own romantic complications. While he's found his match in a full-figured woman, he finds temptation in a third party. Sonny Harrison has missed his friends in New York, but now that he's back from Seattle, he expects life to be good again. But when the rekindling of an old flame turns into wildfire, his friends worry if the move also cost him his sanity. Three Sides to Every Story by Clarence Nero $12.95 15% off $11.00BUY IT Growing up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Johnny and Tonya meet in high school and fall for each other. Yet their romance falls apart when Johnny seriously injures Tonya's ex-boyfriend in an altercation. Johnny is imprisoned, and Tonya starts dating a rapper who fulfills her dreams of dancing in videos. Depressed and deflated in jail, Johnny comes back to life thanks to the help of Pandora, the prison's "den mother," and James, who helps Johnny study for his GED. What starts as a platonic friendship between the sexually repressed Johnny and the openly gay James soon develops into a tender love that's put on hold when James is released on parole. A year later, Johnny is freed as well, haunted by his feelings. Meanwhile, Tonya, no longer with the rapper, has a new dream of reuniting with Johnny. And James, who wows crowds as a legendary drag queen performer, is furious that Johnny hasn't reached out to him. Their lives soon become a twisting roller coaster--secrets are revealed and assumptions are shattered in ways never imagined. Inviting comparison to E. Lynn Harris, Clarence Nero has created a compelling story about the social and sexual challenges black people face today. Walk Like a Man Author: Laurinda Brown Price: $14.95 you pay $12.70 BUY IT Brown's characters explore every aspect of black lesbian life--whether it's first times, illicit trysts, cheating hearts, or longtime love. Sexy, witty, and hotter than hot, "Walk Like a Man" will keep readers coming back for more. Everything But Love: A Black Gay Man's Challenge Author: Jaleel Humphrey Price: $14.50 you pay $12.32 BUY IT Everything But Love: A Black Gay Man's Challenge to Keep the Love of His Life and to Raise the Child He Always Wanted "Love is just a misunderstanding between two fools" Kevin Davis finds his tumultuous relationship with his lover Daryl Harris in serious jeopardy. Pulled in diffrent directions, Daryl must choose between the the lover he's dreamed about and s new temptaion;both of whow have female lovers-past and present-who are angry about being betrayed. Parenting in today's world can be a challenge for everyone. For Quinton Harris, being a father proves to be the most difficult undertaking of his life. He wants more than to just hang out in the bars and clubs in New York that offer nothing more than casual relationships. He wants a family that includes a life-long partner and a child. Quinton''s life is about to be changed forever as he meets the love of his life, Spencer, and Andrew Anderson, a seven-year old boy who will become his foster son. He soon discovers that the life he''s always dreamed of may turn into a nightmare as a system of child-care workers ignore his cries for help and a justice system works to erase all his accomplishments. Chasin' It Author: Tony Lindsay Price: $14.95 you pay $12.70 BUY IT The life and loves of Terri Parish are filled with obsession, glamour, hot sex and very dangerous men. Once a Las Vegas headliner, she now lives on the streets of Chicago, an ex-convict, and junkie looking for any way to make a few dollars and score another hit. The trouble is, Terri still desires the lights of a Las Vegas stage and the adoration of fans. When she meets up with Mo-Red, an ex-lover and a chief in one of Chicago's largest street gangs, she sees an opportunity to regain some of her former, glamorous life. After all, a fool can see an opportunity, but a survivor figures out how to take it. Terri considers herself a survivor at the very least. She knows that stealing from royalty means death, but she has to take this chance of a lifetime. With Mo-Red's money and his drugs, only one question remains--will she get out of Chicago alive? Chasin' It is an urban story twisted with jealousy, addiction, denial, obsession and deception. From Las Vegas's Caesars stage to life on Chicago's mean streets, the lessons are hard and many for Terri in this rite of passage tale like no other. Chasin' It will keep you spellbound from the first pages and fascinate you with a story like nothing you've ever read before. It is truly the wildest street story of them all. Ain't Nothin' Down about It Author: P. R. Hawkins Price: $14.95 you pay $12.70 BUY IT When David and Val meet Mel, they hardly expect their entire marriage and outlook on life, love and sex to completely change. But what Mel introduces into their relationship is something undeniably tempting and completely irresistible.

Black Artists in Oakland by Jerry Thompson & Duane Deterville $19.99 15% off $16.99 BUY IT Oaklands famous and vibrant arts heritage is known throughout the country, but many people are unaware of the extent of this citys contribution to the national stage in terms of music, dance, visual arts, and literature. Black Artists in Oakland celebrates this amazing story over the past half century through vintage images, from the early days of Slim Jenkinss nightclub to the changing styles of Esthers Orbit Room and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. More than 200 photographs lift the curtain on many inspiring artistsmasters in their chosen aesthetic and neighbors to the community. Among the artists highlighted in these pages are Ruth Beckford, Raymond Saunders, Alice Walker, and E. W. Wainwright. Man With A Womb by L. A JohnTre $14.95 15% off $12.70 BUY IT A dominant lesbian shares her life and dating experiences. In Man with a Womb, she explains how she attempted to hide her homosexuality during her elementary and high school years by appearing to be promiscuous to male classmates. She gives details of her Atlanta childhood, her brief heterosexual marriage, a 4-year domestic partnership full of infidelity and betrayal and the numerous women that she would date in Atlanta from 1995 to 2006. Man with a Womb educates the heterosexual community on the challenges and similarities of living life as a dominant lesbian. Heterosexual men can actually relate to the dating experiences in this book. Man with a Womb is also to inspire and inform younger gays and lesbians that there are roles required of them from the people that they date. Also, that there is such a thing as being dubbed, "too gay"! So Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian by G. Winston James (Editor), Lisa C. Moore (Editor $15.00 15% off $12.75 BUY IT Spirited: Affirming The Soul And Black Gay/Lesbian Identity is a collection of essays that centers on the relationships between spirituality, religion and self-acceptance. Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology Author: Editors:Patrick E. Johnson, Mae G.Henderson Price: $23.95 you pay $20.35 BUY IT “Black Queer Studies makes a dynamic contribution to the shifting landscape of queer studies. This volume will surely transform our understandings of both black studies and queer studies, and it will create new idioms for the analysis and theorization of race and sexuality. Black Queer Studies is necessary and long overdue.”—Judith Halberstam, author of Female Masculinity “This fine collection of essays demonstrates the importance of black queer quests and questions.”—Jennifer DeVere Brody, author of Impossible Purities: Blackness, Femininity, and Victorian Culture “This fine collection of essays demonstrates the importance of black queer quests and questions.”—Jennifer DeVere Brody, author of Impossible Purities: Blackness, Femininity, and Victorian Culture About the Author E. Patrick Johnson is Associate Professor of African American Studies and Performance Studies at Northwestern University. He is the author of Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity, also published by Duke University Press. Mae G. Henderson is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the editor of Borders, Boundaries, and Frames: Essays in Cultural Criticism and Cultural Studies and coeditor of the five-volume Antislavery Newspapers and Periodicals: An Annotated Index of Letters, 1817–1871. The Fabulous Sylvester : The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco Author: Joshua Gamson Price: $15.00 you pay $12.75 BUY IT Imagine a pied piper singing in falsetto, wearing sequins, and leading the young people of the nation to San Francisco and on to a liberation where nothing was straight-laced or old-fashioned. And everyone, finally, was welcome--to come as themselves. This is not a fairy tale. This was real, mighty real, and disco-sensation Sylvester was the piper. Yale-trained sociologist Joshua Gamson uses Sylvester's life to lead us through the story of the 1970s, when a generation took off its shame. Celebrity, sociology, and music history mingle in this endlessly entertaining story of a singer who embodied the freedom, spirit, and flamboyance of a golden moment in American culture. Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America Author: Keith Boykin Price: $15.00 you pay $12.75 BUY IT Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America. Bolstered by national television exposure on Oprah and a cover story in the New York Times Magazine, the "down low"-a term used to refer to "straight" men who have sex with men-was thrust into the open in 2004. Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aide, goes beyond the hype with the first responsible, eye-opening look at the down low sensation. Unlike all previous accounts on the topic, Beyond the Down Low presents the DL not merely as a problem of gay and bisexual men living in the shadows, but more as an example of America's unwillingness to engage in critical but uncomfortable conversations about black sexuality. Boykin details how society has helped to create an environment where black gay and bisexual men feel compelled to lead double lives. Meanwhile, the dialogue that has taken place in the black community encourages an unhealthy battle of the sexes, ignores the complexity of the closet, demonizes bisexuality, disempowers women, and misdirects public resources and attention. This book is a timely and well researched answer to the question, "Why are so many black men on the DL?" More importantly, it is an essential tool to pry open the closet door in black America. Out of Bounds: Coming Out of Sexual Abuse, Addiction, and My Life of Lies in the NFL Closet by Roy Simmons $15.95 25% off $13.55 BUY IT The second NFL player ever to come out as gay and the first ever to come out as HIV-positive, Roy Simmons was an up-and-coming star offensive lineman who quit football after just four years rather than be exposed as gay. "Out of Bounds tells his compelling story-from his rape at age 10 to being plucked from his poor Southern background to join the NFL, from his first taste of pro football fame and sudden enormous wealth to his fast-paced, no holds barred nightlife of heavy drugs and countless sexual encounters with women and men. Simmons led a roller-coaster life that peaked in the late 1980s with his playing in the Superbowl. Ultimately, however, reckless living left him penniless, friendless, and on the brink of suicide. Finally in 1992, Simmons tapped the courage to come out as gay on national TV -- then coming out as HIV-positive 10 years later -- leading him to a healthy path of sobriety and self-acceptance.

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