6 Books Published by Door of Kush on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Click for more detail about Diary of a Lost Girl: The Autobiography of Kola Boof by Kola Boof Diary of a Lost Girl: The Autobiography of Kola Boof

by Kola Boof
Door of Kush (Feb 01, 2006)
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PLEASE ORDER AMAZON.COM’s 2007 "UNCUT" American edition of this book from Seaburn Books (’ 1592320120). Kola Boof’s long awaited autobiography "Diary of a Lost Girl" is nothing less than magnificent. Many will be spellbound by more than 90 pages detailing her terrifying experience as Osama Bin Laden’s former mistress, but the Sudanese-born Novelist/Poet writes even more profoundly about the hardships of being vaginally circumcised, about witnessing her birth parents killed in her presence as a small child, about slavery and Arabism in Sudan, about being adopted and raised in the U.S. by African Americans, about her quest for true love, and in one particularly daring chapter, about her hopes for the future of her sons. Add to that years of psychiatric treatment, a struggle with manic anger and quite a few daring romances other than Bin Laden and you’ve got the perfect ingredients for a feature film. Critically acclaimed for her powerful novels "Flesh and the Devil", "Pure Nigger Evil" and the classic short story collection, "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin"…I’m now convinced that there’s no way Kola Boof could ever create a fictional character in one of her novels that is more glamorous, sad, enigmatic and intriguing than she herself is in real life. Throughout the book, Kola speaks in a voice so utterly naked, truthful and unpretentious that it’s impossible not to fall in love with her. "Diary of a Lost Girl" is a powerful autobiography that you won’t soon forget.

ORDER THE 2007 "Uncut" American edition of this book from SEABURN BOOKS of New York (’ 1592320120)
—Kurt Rampling (editor)

Book Review

Click for more detail about Devil in the Mist: A Biological Thriller by Diane Dorce Devil in the Mist: A Biological Thriller

by Diane Dorce
Door of Kush (Jan 01, 2005)
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While Southern Africa struggles with a deadly plague, one lone detective and a cast of unlikely heroes discover the virus was engineered, specifically for killing. Zack Monstar is assigned a simple murder case that’s anything but simple. Two men dead, one black, one white, both associated with nations’ leading health organization. After, NBA All-star, Akewali Dimbi dies returning from Africa, Zack finds himself immersed in case that will leave a trail of bodies from Africa to Atlanta . Zack discovers an intricate plot, involving government agencies, biological agents and deadly immunizations. In this modern day tale of David versus Goliath, Zack risks it all to save the woman he loves, taking on the government, the world, and finally The Devil in the Mist.


Click for more detail about Long Train to the Redeeming Sin: Stories about African Women by Kola Boof Long Train to the Redeeming Sin: Stories about African Women

by Kola Boof
Door of Kush (Jan 01, 2004)
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"In the book of the women…they are dark and light, wide and shapely, thin as reeds…their hair eats the sun and their eyes swallow the moon…these are Black Women…the daughters of the earth’s first garden. The mothers of God. These are the stories that remind us where we came from and why we came…stories that make us laugh…make us mad as hell…make us want to cry…make us want to get up and eat. These are our reflections. Our love and dreams, our sexual longing and prayers. Our goodness. Our deep eternal beauty". IN JANUARY of 2003, unfortunately, the original African publisher of this book was firebombed by Arab Muslim fundamentalists who were outraged with Boof’s earlier works, as well as this one. The book went out of print and Kola Boof was let go by the publisher. Although more than 100 newspapers around the world reported the firebombing of Kola Boof’s publisher…only one (The New York Post) reported the story in the United States, and although the Sudanese born Kola Boof is an American citizen…there was virtually no concern for her situation from either the American writer’s community or from American media, including black media outlets such as Essence Magazine, Black Issues Book Review or BET. Cornel Chesney, an African American businessman in Southern California became aware of Kola Boof’s predicament through her sensational appearances on singer Stevie Wonder’s KJLH RADIO program "The Front Page" hosted by renowned radio journalist Carl Nelson and immediately offered to start a publishing company for the sole purpose of publishing Kola Boof’s works and bringing this important feminist, Afrocentric masterpiece back into print. This reissue of "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin" joins two other powerful works by Kola Boof, "Nile River Woman" and "Flesh and the Devil: A Novel"…as American raised author’s first books released in the United States, the nation of her citizenship. Other fine work by Kola Boof can be found in Stephen Elliott’s masterful short story collection, "Politically Inspired" where Boof appeared alongside Charles Baxter, Stuart O’Nan, Z.Z. Packer, Elizabeth Tallent, Anthony Swofford and Brian Gage.

Book Review

Click for more detail about A Vampyre Blues: The Passion Of Varnado by Chris Hayden A Vampyre Blues: The Passion Of Varnado

by Chris Hayden
Door of Kush (Jan 01, 2004)
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Our handsome hero…an African American vampire…falls in love with a married human woman, Sheba Ferguson. He pursues her against the backdrop of a war with rival monsters, the death worshipping Guhl, the quest to solve the mystery of a mythological being called “the Vampyre of the Light,” and his own doubts about whether he wants to make Sheba his love…or his victim.

Overall looms the menacing presence of Harry Halbert, Lord Baltimore, and a 300 year old Vampire whose loyalties and purpose are always in doubt.

A Vampyre Blues is cinematic, allegorical, silly seriousness in the vein of George Clinton. A clever, witty literary thriller of superb…taste.

High brow St. Louis novelist Chris Hayden’s literary debut cleverly mixes horror, suspense and comedy with an old school style and rythm that’s sure to thrill and entertain.


Click for more detail about Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems by Kola Boof Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems

by Kola Boof
Door of Kush (Jan 01, 2004)
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Released for the first time in the United States, "Nile River Woman" (a 2004 Black History Month Selection) is the provocative poetry collection that got its author, Kola Boof, kicked out of Morocco in 1997 and threatened with death by her former lover, Osama Bin Laden, in 1998. Widely regarded as a classic of Post-Colonial African literature, "Nile River Woman" (originally released as "Every Little Bit Hurts") tantalizes and engages the reader’s imagination as Kola Boof uses conversational motifs, both political and sexual to conjure a dreamily erotic and angry bossa nova type landscape. Most of Boof’s most famous poems are collected here—including the scary but poignant "Fly Away Sleeping", the sweetly hopeful "Black Beauty’s Totem", the understated but evocative "Ebrig: Gone Dry", the hauntingly triumphant "Bint il Nil" and countless other gems…from the freshly original "The Conquering Lion" (A poem honoring Malcolm X) to Kola Boof’s inclusion of Queen Nefertiti’s favorite menstration song—"The Written Words of Faceless Women"—which was originally sang in the 3rd Century B.C. by Black women of the Nile River Valley. The 28 brand new poems that have been added to the collection (college radio favorite "I Love My Man" is included here) only further prove the viability and strength of Kola Boof’s artistry. Boof’s willingness to flaunt a surprising vulnerability along with her trademark rage and sex tease infuses the book with a futuristic edge that only enhances an already solid and powerful anthology. —Hans VolloKerk, Editor of the original version of "Nile River Woman" ("Every Little Bit Hurts").


Click for more detail about Flesh and the Devil by Kola Boof Flesh and the Devil

by Kola Boof
Door of Kush (Jan 01, 2004)
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By turns…erotic…melodramatic…violent…and (sniff) "LITERARY"…Kola Boof’s 1995 Arabic novel finally arrives in the hands of the people she wrote it for…the Black Americans…thanks to Egyptian poet/activist Said Musa’s winning translation. Billed by the publisher as: "essentially the story of the Black Americans"…the novel unfolds like an tempestuous, languid snake dance, both in Africa and the United States…"abruptly" spanning several thousand years in the passionate, uncontrollable longing between one black man (Prince Shango Ogun) and one black woman (Princess Ife Ife). Encompassing everything from slavery to ancient homosexuality to women being raped by the Moon…the novel begins during West Africa’s Story of Creation and from there shows off the thriving kingdoms of West Africa before moving on to the Atlantic Slave Trade and finally…to modern day Black Americans in Washington, D.C. and Sag Harbor—at which point the dark skinned African Prince and Princess have now become "light skinned" Americans named Shane Roberts and RooAmber Childress—both married to white people. It’s a sensuous, melodramatic, brutally VIOLENT novel made high pitch by showy characters like the glamorous Queen Ambi, the heroic King Katanga, Shane’s modern day "white wife" Rosaria and RooAmber’s tender homosexual protector in both ancient and modern times—Dinari—who has a romance of his own. The book is not as literary as Boof’s now classic short story collection "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin", which has recently gone back into print, but as an early work it showcases both her campy qualities and her anger "undistilled" (Watch Out!). Only Kola Boof can remind one of Susan Sontag, Jackie Collins, Toni Morrison and Jacqueline Susann all at the same time. Kola Boof acknowledges in the book’s touching AFTERWORD that she is not a West African but a North African woman from Sudan, and that it’s her experience being raised by Black Americans in Washington, D.C. that moved her to write a book about their ancestors and the GREAT LOVE and NOBILITY that the Black Americans come from. Still, as a "Kola Boof book", it’s bound to cause controversy. It was refreshing but breath-stopping, for instance, to read detailed accounts of the American slave trade from an African woman’s viewpoint. Well, I’m off to visit the book’s enchanting Pink Lake in Senegal. Can’t wait to see it. —Ivan Richards, Editor