Real black men read fiction

One of the most famous questions ever asked by the legendary Sojourner Truth, during her 19th Century fight for equality, not only for black folks, but for the rights of her gender, was the question, "Ain't I a woman?"  Well, as a black man who calls himself a writer of so-called "fiction" in the 21st Century, I'm now forced to ask the opposing question of, "Ain't I a man?"

Why? Because a black male novelist is hard pressed to get much respect or attention from the thousands of men who still refuse to read a book, in particular, a book labeled "fiction." You know, because the creative ideas of "fiction" take a little bit more than a minute for us to read. And if a man's gonna use any of his television sports time, radio talk show time, bar scene drinking time, women chasing time, or hustle and grind time on a book, that book better tell him who, what, when, why, where, and how, and do it fast.

So what we male writers of "fiction" end up with is a majority of women readers, many of whom are more concerned with the issues of the heart, which are rarely considered as "manly" material. However, if you don't give the book club reading women what they want, and smile graciously for their cameras while you sign their paid-for books, then I would advise you to either keep your day job, or push your book to a Hollywood producer immediately.

It seems that the key for creative writing men who want to continue crafting manly characters and make a living while doing so, the visual and marketing aid of feature films, will definitely be needed commodities to maintain a writing lifestyle.

But me, I haven't been so lucky yet. I had the unfortunate occurrence of writing a book - over a dozen years ago - about a Flyy Girl, who comes of age during the 1980s era of old school hip hop. And the women fell in love with it, requiring me to have to come back to the book with two sequels just to keep my career going. In the meantime, several of my hard hitting books for men - Just Say No!, A Do Right Man, College Boy, Sweet St. Louis, One Crazy-Ass Night, and Cold Blooded, all fell by the wayside, due to a lack of testosterone to support them at the local book stores.

Nevertheless, a true hard-headed man refuses to quit. So last summer, I wrote another book for men, The Last Street Novel, one of the most manly brother books we've had on the market since Nathan McCall's Makes Me Want To Holler. But to be frank with you, since my new book will slated for the "fiction" section of the book stores, I was scared to death that it wouldn't sell. So I began to push the Hollywood button, calling for Mekhi Phifer and Tyrese Gibson to play the leading men in the production of the feature film.

If you can't beat 'em, then join 'em, right? But you know what, I think I've already run over my word limit for this article. Hell, I haven't even told you what my book is about yet. See how we creative writers do? We force you to pay attention for longer than what you're used to. So now I guess you'll have to visit my web site for more information. Or better yet, knowing how my career has gone in the past, maybe you should just ask a woman, and she'll tell you everything about me.