The Apostles run Chicago’s streets. Their leader, “Solemn Shawn” Terson, is the most revered–and feared–man in town. Because of his past exploits, the Apostles have a loyalty among its members that has reached mythic proportions.When Insane Wayne, a former member of the rival gang, the Governors, comes groveling for admission to the coveted Apostles, he’s quickly turned down. His reaction is violent: He shoots a Governor and plants evidence that lays the murder rap on the Apostles, setting off a bloody series of retaliations.Solemn Shawn is ready to give up the gang world. His pregnant girlfriend wants another way of life and the cops are hot on his tail; he knows the time has come to step aside. But he must fight one more street war before handing over the reins of his empire. The head of the Governors has a score to settle with Shawn that dates back to their prison days–and Shawn and the Apostles must fight or flee as the streets around them erupt in violence. . . .

The Apostles: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Moore, Y. Blak

United States

One World/Strivers Row

Growing up in a Chicago ghetto, seventeen-year-old Donald “Don-Don” Haskill has nothing but time on his hands–time he rarely spends in school, choosing instead to smoke weed and hang out with friends. As a child, he witnessed his father’s suicide, and today Don-Don’s relationship with his mother, a worn-down cop trying to keep the family together is tenuous at best. Then Don-Don meets a girl with a taste for crack–and his delinquent life turns violently criminal. Consumed with chasing his next hit, alienating even his best friends, Don-Don works the streets like a pro. In pursuit of the demon, no deal is too shady. But when a huge drug transaction goes terribly awry, a bloody chain of events is set off, as Don-Don becomes a moving target, not just for the Chicago police force but for the ghetto’s most hardened thugs. . . .

Slipping: A Novel

One World

Have you ever been betrayed by someone close to you? Someone you love like a brother? Jonathan "JC" Collins has, by not one, but three of his "best" friends. After having to serve a lengthy prison sentence because of their disloyalty, he's out of the joint and has revenge on his mind. The three friends that caused him to spend most of his adult years locked away will have to pay for their past sins against him. During the 90s while JC was in the penitentiary, they all rose to power on the Chicago streets and he knows they owe their success all to him. Now he's free and he doesn't want their phony apologies or a few bucks. He wants everything they have, and he's not asking; he's taking.

Triple Take

Genre Fiction

lulu.com

After serving ten years for armed robbery, Jonathan “JC” Cole is about to get out of the joint, and he has one thing on his mind: revenge against the three men—former childhood friends, now powerful crime lords—who betrayed him to save their own skins. Richard “Richkid” Kidman is a Playa with a capital P, at one time controlling a stable of twelve women. Alonzo “Zo” Johnson is one of the richest drug dealers in the Windy City. And Eugene “Lil G” Pierce ranks among the most successful con men on the East Coast. JC feels that the time has come for him to claim what is rightfully his. His misfortune was his ex-friends’ stepping-stone, and now it is time for them to pay up—in spades. He doesn’t want to kill them, he just wants to take everything away. He does this with the help of his woman, Champagne; his best friend, Rat; and Rat’s girlfriend, Shaunna. They form a family of sorts, with JC as the leader and Champagne as the fierce mother hen, together embarking on an exciting journey into the underworld of Chicago.

Triple Take: A Novel

Villard

Living in Chicago, a city affectionately known as Chiraq, sometimes you have to become heartless to survive. In Y. Blak Moore's latest young adult novel, we meet Pat and her four children. She has taught them, "ain't no love in these streets", for as long as they can remember. As her children grow, she watches them become street poisoned, as they transform into a scammer, shooters and someone that'll do anything for money. Her children's future is undecided, as Pat tries to keep them from caring too much, in a place that doesn't care at all.

Ain't No Love: A Heartless Chronicle

R & M Publications