With a goal to become one of the world's greatest multi-genre African American female authors, T. Styles takes her swing at her true love, Urban Lit writing. Born in Southeast Washington, D.C, and raised in Houston, Texas, she now resides in Baltimore County, Maryland with her son.

She credits her creativity to God, the hundreds of DVDs she has in her collection and trailblazers such as Sister Souljah, saying that, "In order to be blessed, you have to pay homage to those who've paved the way." Although writing is her love, she is certainly multi-talented. Having worked as a Certified Massage Therapist, Model and Public Speaker for major companies/organizations such as The Office of the US Supreme Court, Marriot, Carefirst Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Eduserc, she has discovered that her true passion is writing.

In addition to working with companies and individuals regarding Health and Wellness issues, T spends her time speaking honestly about the issues she's experienced with the law as a juvenile. She is no stranger to the complexities and issues of the street.

"I believe urban writing doesn't glorify crime, it brings to light what really exists. It is my hope that through writing, I can steer as many young people away from this lifestyle as possible. To me, there's no harm in that."

With an excellent support system, including her son and best friend, she plans to use all of the tools at her disposal, as she strives to create the next greatest novel.

 

 

SoftSoft
Click to order via Amazon

by J.M. Benjamin, T. Styles, Danielle Santiago, Caroline McGill, Boston George

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Urban Books; 1 edition (September 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1601624638
ISBN-13: 978-1601624635
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches


New York Times bestselling authors Ashley and JaQuavis have put together a collection of street fiction�s finest. Caroline McGill, J.M. Benjamin, Boston George, and T. Styles present fresh new stories of money, murder, betrayal, and revenge. Their unique approach attempts to explain the allure of the dope game through the eyes of some unforgettable characters. Just when you think it's over, a new story picks up and takes you on a whole new journey! This is a sure classic and the beginning of a great series. Take a ride with the kings and queens of the street.

 

Lipstick DomLipstick Dom
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: The Cartel Publications (April 30, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984303022
ISBN-13: 978-0984303021


Lipstick Dom combines the 2005 previously released novel Rainbow Heart and its never before release sequel, Trying to Hide a Rainbow.

 

 

 

RaunchyRaunchy
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 356 pages
Publisher: The Cartel Publications (December 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982391374
ISBN-13: 978-0982391372
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches

Neighbors considered five year old Harmony Phillips, her father Cornell Phillips and her mother Estelle Pointer, to be upstanding citizens in their quiet little estate at Concord Manor. They turned a blind eye to the lavish lifestyle they lived, compliments of Cornell's involvement in the drug trade. When at the tender age of five, Harmony is abruptly taken away from her home by her scorned mother, her world is rocked. Without her father's protection, she doesn't just lose her expensive dolls she also loses any chance of a normal and healthy life.

Many years later, under the mental and physical abuse of her mother, Harmony develops a seething hate toward all women, including herself. She quickly develops into a cold, calculating, young and beautiful woman. What a deadly combination. After crossing the wrong people, Harmony is forced to relocate out of state. Before long, her fast sexual lifestyle causes her to breed kids of her own. Eventually she teaches her children every backbiting trick she knows. And if they go against her, she subjects them to abuse far greater than that she endured by the hands of her mother.

When Harmony discovers that she has inherited Concord Manor, she uproots her children from their new home in Texas, and moves them back to Maryland. Secrets come out within Concord's walls and somehow, her children gain the confidence they'll need to fight for their lives.

Raunchy is a heartbreaking, explicit story of failed mother and daughter relationships. And although hope looms in this tale, it can undoubtedly be said that if some women are not fit to be mothers, Harmony Phillips is the worst of them all.

 

Miss Wayne & The Queens of DC
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 230 pages
Publisher: The Cartel Publications (November 22, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 098239134X
ISBN-13: 978-0982391341

Miss Wayne from the Essence Best Selling novel Black and Ugly and Black & Ugly as Ever returns in this standalone spin-off!

When Miss Daffany s mothers risky lifestyle finally catches up with her, they all come back from LA, to Washington DC for her funeral. Once in town, Miss Wayne hooks up with his fabulous male friends and decides he misses home.

Both Parade and Daffany fear he might want to stay in DC and their suspicions are correct when he doesn t come back with them. With the Queens of DC, he can wear flashy clothes, live the glamorous and be around people like him. But when the novelty wears off, he realizes that there s a reason he never fully embraced his alternative lifestyle. But it s too late and he becomes a victim of the company he keeps. Murder. Hate. Revenge. All find places in his world and soon the life of those he cares about become endangered.

Miss Wayne & The Queens of DC is a fast paced, funny, heartfelt story. You ll enjoy flashbacks of his life growing up with Parade, Daffany and Sky, and see how he grew to become the diva his is today. But, will he survive?

 

The Face That Launched A Thousand Bullets
Click to order via Amazon

Perfect Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: The Cartel Publications (July 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982391323
ISBN-13: 978-0982391327

Two men.
Two feuding cities.
One woman.

One was born in our nations capital, Washington DC. The other is a native of Murder City, Baltimore. Despising the other's city made them rivalries before even meeting. It didn't matter that they both grew up on violent streets surrounded by drugs and poverty. Soon, need arises and they're forced to cross each other's paths. But when they do, hate from generations before them rises and their meeting becomes intense.

Many years later...an opportunity presents itself for them to put their dislikes aside to make millions. They agree, and quickly become the richest men on the east coast. One has a quick temper...the other has quick wit and this combination makes them unstoppable. There alliance unites soldiers from both DC and Baltimore as they solidify their empire.

Defying all enemies, their bond tightens and they become the best of friends. But what happens when a woman becomes involved whose beauty is so intoxicating, that to get another woman like her would be impossible? War.

The Face That Launched A Thousand Bullets is a classic love story. The love of money. The love of power. The love of a woman.

 

Black & Ugly As Ever
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: The Cartel Publications (August 31, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0979493161
ISBN-13: 978-0979493164
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches

The gang you fell in love with returns from the street classic Black & Ugly!

Parade Knight finally gets what she wants, a man of her own, despite hating her own dark skin. But as the nights grow longer and her sexual encounters become more frequent with her fiance Smokes, she wonders why she still can t seem to get her old flame Jay Hernandez off her mind. Faced with choosing between the man who proposed and the man she loves, she doesn t see a set-up coming, but it may be too late.

Daffany s heart is heavy as she battles with the disease that haunts her body, and the poison she places in her blood. But when she s unable to afford her drug of choice, she s given a cheap alternative and it takes her on an all time high.

Miss Wayne s colorful antics go to the next level as he fights to keep their friendship together. But when it becomes apparent that he s all alone in his efforts, he wonders if they ll ever be the same.

Black & Ugly As Ever is a warm street tale with a coldhearted truth. That if you don t pick yourself up when you fall, you ll be a doormat for others. You ll laugh, cry and feel a part of these childhood friends lives as they dodge danger to keep things together.
This beautiful sequel has finally arrived!

 

Black and Ugly
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Triple Crown Publications; 1st edition (January 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977880419
ISBN-13: 978-0977880416
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches

Parade Knight hates her complexion. As a result, she considers herself to be unattractive and condones the misuse of her body. Sky Taylor is beautiful, fly and wanted, and loves reminding Parade of her imperfections especially after suspecting that she may be sleeping with her man, Jay Hernandez. Miss Wayne is hilarious and a self-proclaimed girlfriend who enjoys the attention his friends bring. If you let Miss Wayne tell it, he s not a gay, he s just one of the girls. Daffany Stans uses her body for profit and hides a health secret so serious that it could endanger the lives of her friends, considering their sex partners are so closely related. Black and Ugly is a tale of four totally different friends from the same block, whose friendship is tested during a seemingly innocent game of Truth or Dare. When fatal secrets begin to surface, will Parade give up the friend whose shadow she has walked in all her life? And will Miss Wayne and Daphne abandon their friends to save themselves?

 

A Hustler's Son 2
Click to order via Amazon

Perfect Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: The Cartel Publications (December 5, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0979493153
ISBN-13: 978-0979493157
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches

Kelsi is more vicious than ever, as he returns in this gripping tale second only to the original, A Hustler s Son!

A few months after receiving what was said to be his mother s bloody heart on Christmas Day, Kelsi seeks revenge on those he feels are responsible for her vicious murder.

Believing that the culprits are in New York, Kelsi takes only a back pack and a heart full of hate as he bum rushes the city on the search for Kyope and Jarvis. He s so dead set on revenge, that he doesn t realize he s being set up by those he trusts. And by the time it finally comes to past, he s already way waist deep.

Just when you thought it was all over, a revelation so real is born, that this finale will leave you breathless!

 

A Hustler's Son
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Triple Crown Publications (March 13, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0976789493
ISBN-13: 978-0976789499
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches

Based out of Bladensburg, Maryland, 31-year-old Janet Stayley spent her life looking for a hustler. She never knew she would find one in her 15-year-old son, Kelsi. Surrounded by violence, drugs and lies, Kelsi murders in self-defense. Suddenly Kelsi becomes charged with the new-found feeling he associates with becoming a man, and feels he can take on anything, including his mother's cheating lover. The heat of murder ensues and Janet feels it's time to make a permanent move out of Maryland. Before doing so, she plans one last murder which, if goes as planned, could ultimately be worth millions. To top it all off, Janet has not revealed to her son the biggest secret yet.

 

Diamond Playgirls
Click to order via Amazon

by Daaimah S. Poole, Miasha, Deja King, T. Styles

Paperback: 356 pages 
Publisher: Dafina (December 18, 2007) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0758223560

Four beautiful, professional women, living on separate floors of a Harlem brownstone are about to discover they have a lot more in common than just their address'

Dior's name is no accident'she's got a taste for the finer things in life, and New York City is just the place to find them. So far she's got the job and the apartment. Now she needs the man'and she hopes she's found him on the Internet. Dior is prepared to find out on Valentine's Day...

Party promoter Tamara has been recruited from Atlanta to open a hot new club. All the women in her family are known for their great looks, great cooking'and the fact that they can't stay married. Tamara is hoping to break that tradition. But is dating three different men the best strategy?

With beauty, brains, and a hefty bank account, Chloe is a BAP on a mission: she wants to run a top magazine. But just as she's up for a big promotion her boyfriend gives her an ultimatum. Will Chloe choose to follow her ambition or her heart?

Casting director Mona-Lisa works hard and plays even harder. She's avoided relationships her whole life. When a tragedy opens her eyes to the possibility of true love, she's compelled to share a special day with a man from her past. But she's overlooked some crucial details.

One by one, each woman crosses paths at a local club on Valentine's Day'and the secrets about to be revealed will forever change their lives...

Daaimah S. Poole was born and raised in Philadelphia and graduated from Temple University in 2003 with a degree in journalism. She wrote her first novel, which became an Essence bestseller, at the age of 19 while working as a receptionist at her aunt's beauty salon.

 

Miasha, also a Philadelphia native, worked as a fashion model before graduating from Temple University in 2003 with a degree in communications. She has been featured in local and national magazines including Essence and Vibe, and on numerous radio shows including "The Wendy Williams Experience."

Deja King was born in Toledo, Ohio, and raised in California, Maryland, and North Carolina. Her first novel, Bitch, really struck a chord with young, hip-hop urban readers; it has gone back to press and is currently Triple Crown's bestselling book.

T. Styles was born in the southeast section of Washington, D.C. and raised in Houston, Texas. She learned about street life the hard way she lived it and now pours her experience into her writing.

 

Related Links

The Cartel Publications Official Website
www.thecartelpublications.com

The Cartel Publications on AALBC.com
http://writers.aalbc.com/the_cartel_publications.htm

Cartel Cafe And Books
www.cartelcafeandbooks.com

 

An AALBC.com Sponsor