A
House Is Not a Home (B-Boys Blues Series)
Click to order via AmazonISBN: 0066212499
Format: Hardcover, 232pp
Pub. Date: May 2005
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Read an AALBC.com Book Review
In the sixth and final title of his groundbreaking, bestselling B-Boy
Blues series, James Earl Hardy brings his beloved couple -- Mitchell,
the Buppie from Brooklyn, and Raheim, the homeboy from Harlem -- into the
twenty-first century.
As they prepare for the birthday party of Raheim's fifteen-year-old son,
Errol (formerly known as "Junior" and "Li'l Brotha Man"), Mitchell and
Raheim both juggle their own midlife crises and consider once-in-a-lifetime
opportunities.
With the Big 4-0 just three years away, Mitchell is a little antsy: He
has a very successful freelance writing career, but he longs for something
more. And that something more finds him -- a dream job from a most unlikely
place. But he's gotten very comfortable working his own schedule and being a
stay-at-home dad -- does he really want to return to the daily grind of
punching a time clock again?
Raheim has just officially entered his thirties -- and, unfortunately,
has the one gray hair to prove it. And after years of coming this close to
getting roles won by the likes of Taye Diggs and Mekhi Phifer, he is finally
offered the lead in a film that could make him a star. But will he do what
no other Black actor has done before: play gay and come out in the process?
James Earl Hardy draws on the themes that put him on the map --
love, family, and high drama in tandem with media phenomena like same-sex
marriage, the down-low, gay adoption, and homo thugs -- to create another
vivid, vibrant, and saucy portrait of Black same-gender-loving (SGL) life
and love.
Love the
One You're With: A Novel
Click to order via
Amazon
ISBN: 0066212480
Format: Hardcover, 272pp
Pub. Date: May 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Edition Description: 1ST
Do men and monogamy mix? It's not a question Mitchell "Little Bit"
Crawford gave much thought to until his boyfriend of almost two years,
Rahein "Pooquie" Rivers, and All-American jeans model, heads to Hollywood to
make his first feature film. As Mitchell soon discovers, the temptation to
cheat is very real. It seems to be everywhere he goesat his job, his
lawyer's office, restaurants, the shopping mall, in the recording studio.
While intrigued, Mitchell chalks all the temptation up to "the married man"
syndrome: one is much more desirable when attached to someone else.
But as he continues to run into bisexual musician Montgomery "Montee" Simms,
the "look but don't touch rule" is put to the test. As he and Montee get
closer, Mitchell's idealistic beliefs about commitment are challenged. Will
he love the one he's with because he can't be with the one he loves?
If Only for One Nite
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 1555834671
Format: Paperback, 208pp
Pub. Date: May 1998
Publisher: Alyson Publications
Mitchell Crawford attends his high school reunion - and faces his past,
present, and future all at once. In addition to catching up with his
classmates, he also sees the man who broke his heart. Warren Reid was
Mitchell's gymnastics coach. Warren turned Mitchell, a student who detested
all types of sports, into a statewide champion - and during that two years
of training and triumph, they were lovers. For Mitchell, the affair was
everything he had dreamed it could be - and Warren was all that he, an
anxious and horny teenager just beginning to formulate a gay identity,
wished for in a man. Warren was his first love, and like those naive and
inexperienced in the game of love, Mitchell expected it to last forever. So
he was more than a little hurt when, after he graduated, Warren dumped him,
explaining, "I was not in love with you. How could I be? You're just a kid."
With this painful memory, Mitchell argues to himself and others (including
his lover of one year, Raheim "Pooquie" Rivers) that he couldn't possibly
have any feelings for Warren. But all those feelings come rushing back on
reunion night. Now 44, Warren's still got it goin' on: a regal six foot two,
a solid 225 pounds, and, despite a few gray hairs on his head, a
wrinkle-free, youthful face. Mitchell's best friend, B. D. (Barry Daniels,
a.k.a. Brain Dense), warns Mitchell, "Good Black don't crack," and that
despite his love for Raheim, he may find Warren too irresistible. And as he
and Warren exchange flirtatious glances and talk through the night, Mitchell
does. Naturally, Warren senses Mitchell's defense weaken and makes his move.
Will Mitchell fall for his charms - and be the same fool twice?