Guided by spirits, one overcast morning in October I picked up a copy of Right On! from the unread section of my bookshelf. A Black writing collection edited by Bradford Chambers and Rebecca Moon in 1970, it was a recent gift from a friend who knew well my weakness for African-American fiction anthologies, especially short […]
RERUN If we flip the channels fast enough, we can turn almost anyone Puerto Rican, blurring black and white into Boricua. When we can’t find a good show with a Puerto Rican actor, we make our own, turning the knob selector on the TV as hard and fast as we can, watching all the brown […]
Today, Black Books Live will present three of Hughes works of short fiction that were featured in “The Short Stories of Langston Hughes”, edited by Dr. Akiba Sullivan Harper, published in 1996. The stories are presented in the following order: “Rock, Church”, “Trouble With Angels”, and “Spanish Blood,” a short story by Langston Hughes first […]
How a Wolf-Woman LovesJeneé Skinner The widower’s wife wanted to die under moonlight in her natural form then be cremated before the townspeople could see the truth. The old man obliged, carrying her body toward the river and mountain. He watched her frail, sickly limbs transform one final time into their full power, skin melting, […]
Colonial Conditions Brandon Taylor THE ELECTION WAS ON TUESDAY, but first, the Halloween bonfire. When Carson and Roma arrived, Roma discreetly removed her mask and said that she had to find the host, who had spent most of the late summer and fall cycling across the Mountain West. Carson knew this because the host had […]
Behind My Back A story by Lisa Braxton My hairdresser has been talking behind my back. She’s been doing it for years. This might sound strange, but I actually don’t mind. In fact, I welcome it. It all started years ago when I was new to town and visited a salon looking for someone to […]
Dr. Sandman BY DEESHA PHILYAW Dr. B, what’s that called again?” From his hospital bed, Cody pointed his T’Challa action figure toward the monitor behind Reg. Reg laughed. “You just like to hear me say it. This time, I want you to say it with me. Ready?” Together, they enunciated each syllable in “polysomnographic monitor,” […]
IN THE CITY OF DRUNK BUTTERFLIES Tara Campbell Our flight was already erratic. You smiled, commenting on our fluttering path, admiring us as beautiful pollinators, but not as someone you would want behind the wheel of a car. So a bunch of us got together and said what the hell, let’s lean into this thing […]
Dismissal Amina Gautier She waits for me by the curb outside the public elementary school while other kids gather to walk home together. A lucky few get whisked away, ushered into cars far better than mine. It is after three; dismissal’s come and gone. I’m running late but on my way, almost there. This she […]
Perish An hour after teaching her last class of the day, Laura sat in her faculty office with her door shut to block out the noise of the English department’s late afternoon bustle. By now, she should have been on her way home to her wife and daughter, but instead of packing her things, Laura […]
