The Ground Ain't Leveled Noway


Book Description

About the Book The Ground Ain’t Leveled Noway is a full-length play set in a neighborhood named Third Ward, a legendary community in Houston, Texas. At first glance, Third Ward appears to be a marginalized area concentrated with Black Americans and small mom-and-pop shops and diners. But upon closer examination, it translates to much more than that. It becomes a fine example of how a community is critical to shaping the lives and culture of any people. Through the eyes of the playwright, Donyail Linsey, we are introduced to a host of colorful characters who take us on a journey of self-discovery. Led by Clancy, we meet his family and friends, all of whom frequent a short-order restaurant affectionately named The Mudflat. In this restaurant, we are served up a large helping of more than just good food. Here, we learn why family and friends are so important to our lives and our development. When an illness strikes Clancy's older brother Sid, it both threatens to destroy as well as provides an opportunity for true unification. The language of the play is as colorful as its characters, providing a glimpse at the dialectical discourse of a rapidly vanishing way of communication between old friends. About the Author Donyail Linsey is a playwright from Houston, Texas. He has penned plays such as Black Crows and Spirits of The Mississippi River. At Texas Southern University, he serves as Professor of Technical Theatre, Director, and Scenic Designer. Professor Linsey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a Master of Arts, also in Theatre.




Spirits of the Mississippi River


Book Description

Spirits of the Mississippi River By: Donyail Linsey Spirits of the Mississippi River can be summarized into three topics: greed, the Blues, and the supernatural. In the 50’s era, the Delta blues is becoming the thing of the past and at this moment gives birth to a new genre of music: rock-’n-roll. Every decade of man’s existence, a new form of music always seems to emerge. This play, written about the deep history of Mississippi and its rich principles, lets the reader grasp hold of the dark memories of the past and rewrite the wrong.




Perfect Peace


Book Description

As seen on TikTok, Daniel Black’s Perfect Peace is the heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family’s attempt to grapple with their mother’s desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have—“a complex, imaginative story of one unforgettable black family in mid-twentieth century Arkansas” (Atlanta Magazine). When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain’t what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon’ be a boy. It’ll be a little strange at first, but you’ll get used to it, and this’ll be over after while.” From this point forward, Perfect’s life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events—while the rest of his family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment. “A morality tale of the consequences of letting our selfish needs trap the ones we love into roles they weren’t born to play. The characters here are as flawed, their sins numerous, as any living human being held under the lens, but the author brings a compassion and understanding to their plights.”—Mat Johnson, award-winning author of Invisible Things “Part cautionary tale, part folk tale, part fable, Daniel Black’s Perfect Peace is a complete triumph...In Emma Jean Peace, Dr. Black has created a character as complex, equivocal and unforgettable as Scarlett O'Hara.”—Larry Duplechan, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Got ’Til It’s Gone




The Prisoner's Tale


Book Description

Despising the corporeal communality, the prying of the psychiatrist and the cloying affections of the ugliest inmate in the Institution, the prisoner effects his escape. Irreverent, snide and amoral, the prisoner, throughout his fast-paced and Kafkaesque adventures, treats all, including the reader, with equal contempt.




This Ain't the Ritz


Book Description

It’s the mid-seventies and Rock is King. Every tavern in the land has live music and every kid who can play wants to be a Rock Star. Captain Nobody and the Forgotten Joyband are in the thick of it. After four years on the road, they know they are close to breaking in to the big city rooms, but has it come too late? Neil isn’t sure. Facing another week playing in yet another small-town bar, he struggles to find strength. As he sorts through his memories of life on the road, can he find the inspiration to go on?




Legend of the Dead 


Book Description

A THOUSAND YEARS AGO A PEOPLE'S BLOOD WAS SHED ON THIS PARCHED EARTH. NOW THE DYING HAS BEGUN AGAIN.... LEGEND OF THE DEAD A Sheriff Lansing Mystery HIGH ON A DESERT RIDGE, THE WATCHER AWAITS The body in the arroyo belonged to a man who'd made his living plundering ancient Indian sites. And the only witness to the crime would not change his story: a demon had killed his friend. Sheriff Cliff Lansing has an unexplained death on his hands, and it's only the beginning. In Las Palmas, New Mexico, a U.S. senator is on his way to meet a Zuni shaman who is holding up a land swap involving 150,000 acres in New Mexico and Arizona. Backed by a powerful businessman, the senator intends to push the deal through, but in a long, dark night on the high desert he is led into a storm of violence and shame.... Now Sheriff Lansing is headed out to the Anasazi Strip, where the truth awaits him-in the swirling dust of magic, greed, and murder....




Civil War Sergeant


Book Description

Sergeant Owen Young, a native of Gettysburg, is marching home to defend his hometown against the forces of the seemingly indomitable Robert E. Lee. He is among the first infantry soldiers to face Lee's army and later repulses the famous Pickett's Charge. His fighting is far from over though, as the continues to fight with the Army of the Potomac until Lee's surrender.




Ghostflowers


Book Description

The weekend of July Fourth, 1971 The jukebox is playing ”Everything is Beautiful”… Old Glory flaps against the blue, Southern sky… The aromas of burgers and hot dogs hang in the still air… Children laugh as they play with sparklers in the park… And the night fills with screams when a girl’s body is found, her throat torn out by savage teeth… Summer Moore is a waitress at the Dixie Dinette. Twenty, blonde and beautiful, Summer desperately needs to break free from her mother’s constant nagging and the dull monotony of life in the small mountain town of Stonebridge, Virginia. She wants out. His buddies in ‘Nam called him the Midnight Rider. Trager’s the name on his Army jacket, but a dark shadow of the unknown hangs over this Vietnam vet as he rides into town on a night-black Electra Glide, called on a quest that’s tainted by blood. Sheriff Buddy Hicks doesn’t like hippies in his town…especially not long-haired hippie bikers. As soon as the sheriff saw him, he knew the biker was trouble. Now something feels different in Stonebridge—something he doesn’t understand—and he’s not going to put up with radicals in his town…not some biker, and not some smart mouth like Summer Moore. There are secrets in the woods. Summer and the biker, locked in a waltz, an embrace of shadows, that has lasted for centuries… It’s a death-dance in the moonlight. It’s a love story. With blood.




Stoner's Crossing (Lone Star Legacy Book #2)


Book Description

Book 2 in the Lone Star Legacy series. Carolyn Killion comes to Stoner's Crossing looking for her father's legacy and finds the ominous truth.




North to Disaster


Book Description

Johnny Wainwright is a bush pilot repo man struggling to make a living in Seward, Alaska. When he reclaims stolen equipment from remote Johnstone Bay, the trouble begins. Bush airplanes, murdering thieves, and a beautiful Learjet pilot fill Johnnys days during a life and death struggle in Prince William Sound.