When you do what your passion is -- your passion being what God gave you the zest and talent to do -- the rest falls into place.

Divine destiny is what motivates mother, daughter, author Laurinda D. Brown to do what she does -- write novels that portray real people in real life situations. "Growing up in Memphis, TN, and graduating from Howard University exposed me to the diverse sides of human nature and gave me the oportunity to observe people and their situations. I wrote to work through my own emotions, to find explanations for other people's circumstances, and to try to humanize thier idiosyncrasies. Writing expresses my take on the world."

Laurinda's books include Fire & Brimstone, the 2005 Lamda Literary Award finalist for Best Debut Lesbian Fiction, and Undercover.

The author currently resides with her two daughters in Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she continues to write about life -- not lifestyles. She firmly believes that one day we will love one another not for what we are, but for who we are.

Check out Laurinda online at: www.ldbrownbooks.com

Denise Campbell began writing using poetry as her entry into the literary world as a pubescent adolescent, but began publishing in 2001.  She is the author of Spanish Eyes, Love Thy Sister Watch Thy Back, Man Killer, Ebony Passion, and By Faith, in addition to which she is a playwright, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur.  Denise Campbell is active advocate for children and organizations working to bring attention to crimes towards women.  She currently resides in New York City with her daughter, Cheyanne Campbell, and is at work on her next novel. Look for A WOMAN'S WRATH coming spring 2006 from Q-Boro Books.

For more information, check out her website at www.DeniseCampbell.com.

Dejon was born in California, but raised in Queens, NY, where he started writing short stories for various school newspapers.  Dejon is in the process of producing a documentary film, which is titled Rules Of Engagement For The Inner City. Currently, he is working on two more novels, Ice Cold Vengence (the sequel to Ice Cream For Freaks) and My Skin Is My Sin (coming soon from Q-Boro) . 

Geavonnie Frazier is the youngest boy of 10 children, three brothers and six sisters. Two sisters are no longer with him. His eldest sister was tragically murdered when he was three and his second eldest sister died in December 2001 after a long fight with breast cancer. His mother moved from Mississippi to Detroit in 1956 with her husband to start a new life in the Midwest. Geavonnie's passion for writing started at a very young age. He began writing poetry in middle school to express anger that he was feeling when his teacher had unjustly sent to him to detention.

His move to Washington, DC opened new opportunities for the Detroit native. There, he expanded his creative talents and skills. He began modeling and doing fashion shows and along the way meeting some of the right contacts to help him pursue his career in the entertainment industry. He was eventually signed to a modeling contract but put it on hold in order to work on Time Out.

Currently, he mentors to his five teenage nephews. He believes family unity and prosperity is essential. He participates annually in charity fundraisers, including this year's Race for the Cure. In his spare time, he enjoys shopping, reading, cooking, dancing, going to comedy clubs, and spending time with loved ones. He is currently working on his second book, entitled Teenage Pimp.

While growing up in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia, Travis realized one thing. He realized that in order to make it out, you have to make it up. That's where his love of writing came from. While most of his friends were hustling, in jail, or dying around him, Travis stayed true to the things that mattered most in his life, his family and his writing. But he gave it up for the love of a woman. A broken heart has forced his hand, causing this modern day Shakespeare to write again.

Now writing only as The Black Poe, Travis has authored what is widely being considered a controversial urban masterpiece, Poison Ivy. Travis hopes that Poison Ivy will do for the African Americans in the literary world what actors like Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman have done for African American actors.

Check out Travis Fox online at: http://black-poe.tripod.com

TL Gardner was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA where he lives and works today. His love for writing began after the passing of his grandmother when he was 17 years of age. Poetry was his first love and held his attention for many years. He spent several years in the military in the US Army, traveling the world. Growing up in poverty, his young imagination became his only escape and now he is putting that over active imagination to use in his works of fiction.

Learn more about the Demon Hunter Series

Kiniesha Gayle is originally from Kingston, Jamaica. She is a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice where she holds a B.A. in Forensic Psychology. Her passion for the written word began with writing poetry at age nine and was further encouraged by Prof. Conrad Wynter just before completing her college studies.

After completing the first manuscript in 2002, she sent it out to several publishing houses and received a few rejections. The rejections only strengthened her desire to become successful. After experiencing a number of wrong turns and a few con artists, she was finally introduced to Lissa Woodson, a developmental editor who not only edited her first novel, but also restored her faith in becoming a published author. Later, she received a book deal from Mark Anthony, an author and publisher of Q-Boro Books.

Kiniesha Gayle currently lives in Bronx, New York with her son and is working on her second novel, Queen of Hearts - the sequel to King of Spades .

Visit Kiniesha's website at www.KinieshaGayle.com.

The author of the urban sexomedy BOOTYCALL has bee well thought out plots keeps the reader interested with every turn of the page.

This entrepreneur is also the owner/founder of Triple G publishing and is making moves in other markets as well.

Being born and raised in the south side of Jamaica, Queens, this 28 year-old young, gifted author has brought himself out on a high note with his first endeavor. He continues bringing you good stories as he shows in his collaboration with Mark Anthony, and Anthony Whyte, STREETS OF NEW YORK VOLUME 1, Ghetto Heaven, and his upcoming release, Money, Power, Respect.

Erick S. Gray is showing that young African-American males don't all fall into the same categories of drug dealer/thief/statistic. His future is filled with promises of more intriguing and diverse stories for the masses to digest.

Don't judge the book by its cover!

Gerald K. Malcom is the author of the tantalizing novel, The Last Temptation. Raised in Atlanta, Ga., he now resides in Albany, New York. Malcom fell in love with writing after successfully writing and publishing his book of poetry, The Naked Soul of a Man. After the touring the country, he released his debut novel, After the Games Are Played. He has also developed a program, Books By Us, where he teaches young students how to publish and write their own books. In the summer, he devotes countless hours to ACID (Asset and Character and Individuality Development) through writing, a program for students in summer camps in NY.

Malcom's writing is soulfully passionate and tickles your funny bone at the same time. His book signings have created quite a stir with "questions you've always wanted to ask a man" and conversations about the book, life, and love. He is fresh, raw, open, and different.

In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family and cooking soul food.

California transplant Michelle McGriff now writes using the lush green backdrop of the Great Northwest as her muse. Known to her family as the ‘best of storytellers' and with many novels and short stories under her pen, she excitedly joins Q-Boro Books with hopes of entertaining a new audience with her rule-breaking, cross-genre writing style that's sure to entertain the enlightened reader.

Michelle is the author of Majestic Secret, For Love's Sake, Obsession 101, and several other novels. She is currently working on her next enthralling tale of mystery, romance, and drama.

Learn more about Michelle by visiting her website: http:// www.wetaugust.com

A DC native who still works and lives in 'Da City', D is the new voice of Black Literature. After graduating from a highly esteemed arts school, D furthered his education by learning life lessons on the mean streets of the city. After years of trials, tribs, and procrastination, he has put writing back at the top of his priorities with his debut novel Chaos in the Capital City. The novel, branded as XCF (Extreme Christian Fiction), is Urban Fiction taken to the next level. Fans of good fiction will be impressed and thoroughly entertained by this talented young author's first offering.

Rochan Morgan was born and raised in Galveston, Texas. Rochan's love for reading began at the age of two while he sat each morning with his grandfather, drinking coffee, and listening as the morning paper was read to him. It was not long after that Rochan could read the paper on his own. But despite the academic potential Rochan demonstrated throughout his childhood, family instability during his teenage years contributed to an ill-fated decision to forego his final year of high school and enlist in the U.S. Navy.

In what was becoming a reoccurring pattern in Rochan's young life, he showed great promise as a seventeen-year-old sailor, earning meritorious advancement twice in the first six months of his enlistment, only to squander his naval career with more faulty decision-making.

The rollercoaster ride continued and Rochan became an enigma to all who knew him. While at times showing glimpses of the promise with which God had blessed him, continued poor judgment was threatening to destroy his life. Throughout it all, Rochan retained his deep love for reading, as well as a secret love for writing. Sometimes writing entire novel length manuscripts only to throw them away before allowing anyone to read them. When his penchant for poor decision-making finally caused him to hit rock bottom, it was writing that rescued his sanity. No longer ashamed of his passion, Rochan has decided to share his considerable talents with the world.

Check out Gangsta Lean

Philadelphia native Vonetta C. Pierce is making her creative debut with Shameless . After being inspired to write by Daaimah S. Poole (What's Real and Got a Man ), Vonetta started penning a story in the summer of 2004. Daaimah and other writers gave her positive feedback on a prologue she sent them, so Vonetta continued to write. She soon met Mark Anthony of Q-Boro Books at Unity Day in Philadelphia, purchased Dogism, and was intrigued by Mark's spiritual approach to urban lit. Over the next several months, Vonetta worked diligently on her manuscript, mailing queries off to several agents.

Remembering what Mark had told her about trusting her talent and ability, she did not let five solid rejections deter her.  She quickly received an offer from Q-Boro. Vonetta is a firm believer that with God anything is possible and that dreams really do come true. This is evidenced by the fact that she became inspired to write, finished a novel, and is being published - all in less than a year, an unheard of time frame within the literary industry.

Vonetta Pierce received her BA in Spanish from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, her M.Ed. from Temple University, and is at work on her M.Ed in School Counseling.  She is a high school Spanish teacher and has one daughter. She is currently working on some poetry and a second novel.

Visit her website at www.VCPierce.com.

LM Ross is a New York poet, novelist, and columnist. But his true heart is that of a poet, and most everything he composes contains a certain jazz-tinged rhythm. He was first published nationally while in high school, and in the succeeding years his work has appeared in well over 200 magazines, journals, and anthologies including: African American Review, Black Writer, Catalyst, Class, Essence, Free Lunch, Gypsy, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, and numerous others. He was featured prominently in the landmark “In The Tradition, An Anthology of Young Black Writers” and recently and excerpt from his latest novel was published in “Freedom In This Village.”

LM also records this life experiences, poetry, rants and reviews in an online blog called One Moanman In Time. You can peep him out at http://bluemoaner.journalspace.com/

Look for his book, The Longest Moan, from Q-Boro Books in Spring 2006.

Gayle Jackson Sloan is a native of Philadelphia, but has lived in Akron, Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. Gayle has loved to read and write since she was four years old. Growing up, she used to write volumes and volumes of poetry that was inspired by the syncopated rhythms of Maya Angelo and the freestyle of Nikki Giovanni. Life, however, has a way of sometimes getting in the way and she put aside her poetry to raise her daughter. When she picked up Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillan, she said to herself, “I can do this!” Encouraged by her mother and husband, she started two books that were still languishing in the bottom of a drawer. However, it wasn't until the passing of her beloved mother that she finally finished her first novel, Saturday's Child, which she first self-published.

Amid personal tragedies, upheavals, and general chaos, she struggled tenaciously to finish her second novel, Wednesday's Woes, which is a follow up -- not a sequel -- to her first novel. She attended Philadelphia University where she studied interior design. She is currently a legal assistant at a prestigious law firm. When she is not writing, reading or gardening, she is teaching her grandchildren to say "Nana is a Diva!"

You can read excerpts of her upcoming works at: www.gaylejacksonsloan.com .

She is currently working on her third and fourth novels, Dancin' In My Shoes and Let the Necessary Occur.

Brittani Williams was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, but she currently resides in New Jersey. She began writing when a school assignment required her to write a short play. This assignment showed her how far her imagination could go.

She started out writing short stories in play script form until deciding to take a plunge at changing the format to that of a novel. After doing some research and finding out how hard it was to get a publishing deal, she briefly gave up on writing. After attending college and switching majors a few times, she decided to get back to writing when she got an idea for an exciting story.

Next she self published a short story to get feedback and when each response was good she decided to write a novel-length version of it. After more research she came across Q-Boro Books' website and submitted her manuscript. They quickly responded and soon gave her a book deal.  

Brittani thanks Mark Anthony and the entire Q-boro staff for giving her the opportunity to show the world what her family and friends have raved about since day one.

She is currently majoring in Education and Fashion Design in Philadelphia. Brittani is the mother of a three year old and is also hard at work on her second novel. Stay Tuned!

Jersey girl Dynah Zale was born and raised in Deptford, New Jersey. She graduated with an Associate's Degree from Camden County College and then moved to Atlanta, Georgia to complete her studies at Spellman College. Her move to the Atlanta was short-lived, and she soon returned back to her home state, where she currently resides.

Dynah's love for books and the admiration she holds for the writings of Terry McMillan, Connie Briscoe, and Victoria Christopher Murray is what encouraged her to embark on her own professional writing career.