Welcome to Street Fiction

Street Fiction is dedicated to reviewing street fiction, also known as urban fiction, street lit, or gangsta fiction. One of the fastest growing genres, these books expose the reader to drugs, violence, sex and and the gritty realities of street life in urban America.

Read more about Street Fiction…

Street Fight: Welcome to the World of Urban Lit by Amy Pattee

Street lit is controversial stuff. From the racy covers (think buxom babes and mouthwatering men) to the provocative titles (like Death Before Dishonor) to the assorted R-rated acts, it’s enough to make many librarians reach for the Advil. And they’re not the only ones. Continued… »

The Rise of Street Literature by Almah LaVon Rice

IN PERCIVAL EVERETT’S NOVEL Erasure, Thelonious Ellison is a college professor who writes novels that are more praised than read. His work’s engagement with French post-structuralists and ancient Greek literature impresses and baffles reviewers, who wonder what those subjects have to do with the African-American experience. Frustrated by his latest novel’s seventh rejection and angered by the success of the street-lit hit We’s Lives in Da Ghetto, Ellison dashes off a novella parodying the “true, gritty real stories of [B]lack life” that he has been advised to write. This satiric tale, which is included in Erasure in its entirety, is peopled with stock characters like the perennially scowling thug and the vapid baby mama. It is sent to Random House as a protest, but to Ellison’s amazement and chagrin he is offered a $600,000 advance for his “magnificently raw and honest” account. Compromised, disgusted and rich, Ellison creates a reclusive, ex-con writer persona that the literary world celebrates as a “real! live! scary! Black male!” writer in their midst. Continued… »

Street Fiction in Canada…

TORONTO, ON (August 2008) – With the release of her novel collection, the “Urban Toronto Tales,” Toronto-born writer Stacey Marie Robinson is poised to carve out a unique position for herself as the literary voice of first-generation Canadians.

“The Urban Toronto Tales will immediately remind readers of their friends, co-workers or classmates, and most importantly themselves,” said Robinson. “I cover topics from relationships to higher education to crime, all with an underlying theme of finding oneself and making intelligent choices. My characters speak and exist in a contemporary Canadian context that all readers can definitely relate to and appreciate.” Continued… »

York teens enjoy street lit

The first time 16-year-old Jordan Richardson critiqued a book that wasn’t for school was during a meeting of the DREAM Readers book club at Martin Library.

That was 18 months ago when the teen club was new and the library just building up its collection of “street lit,” a gritty genre of African-American writing often dominated by urban street life — fast cars, rap music, sex, drugs and varying degrees of crime and punishment.

“I thought it was cool to read and talk about them,” said the 11th-grader at William Penn Senior High School. Continued… »

Erotica and Noire

At Ballantine’s One World imprint, the biggest erotica author, says Guy, is “far and away Noire,” whose 2005 debut novel, G-Spot, continues to backlist strongly. Coming next month is a story collection, From the Streets to the Sheets: Urban Erotic Quickies ,which will be followed next spring by Hittin’ the Bricks, based on a screenplay by Noire. Noire’s popularity, says Guy, “stems from the fact that she combined two genres in a way that no one else had—street lit and erotica—and appealed to fans of both genres.” She also, Guy adds, has a team of fans across the country that helps to promote her books, and she has a significant online presence. Read More…

New Release: Crack Head II by Lisa Lennox

The notorious South Bronx characters are back, bringing to readers a mesmerizing, layered plot filled with cleverly placed twists and turns leading to the success of some – and the demise of others.

Laci, the privileged Riverdale girl, has spent the summer recovering from her nightmare of an addiction triggered by the relentlessly disloyal South Bronx Bitches. Laci and her new man Dink, the former head of the infamous South Bronx drug ring, leave their pasts behind and begin fall semester together at Boston University. Continued… »