2 Books Published by Blacksmith Books on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

A rare work where the literary novel and the mystery meet. Reporter Theo Pugh is obsessed with uncovering the facts surrounding the mysterious suicide of an enigmatic public school teacher from a newly gentrified Chicago neighborhood. The investigations peels away the community’s thin veneer, portraying the dire consequences that gifted African Americans suffer when they violate their community’s narrow conventions.

With its slick cover, solid editing, and often compelling work, Guildworks: Writings by the West Side Writers Guild bears few signs of self-publication, said the Literary Supplement of NEW CITY, Chicago’s arts and entertainment weekly. An unusual anthology of works by natives of Chicago’s toughest and poorest section, a locale that fosters people who gain strength from adversity, Guildworks’ highlights include poet Cranston Knight’s You Ain’t Got No Culture, in which he disses a friend for his lack of refinement, only to end by praising him for his loyalty; Boone’s A Visit to the Poe House, that recounts his harrowing search for the poet’s Baltimore row house located in the heart of a drug den; Irene J. Smith’s novel excerpt that sets the stage for the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington’s 1983 mayoral campaign; and Tina Jenkins Bell’s lighthearted account of the sexual harassment she encountered on the road as a publishing sales representative. —Literary Supplement of NEW CITY