Before the memories are totally faded, Western Michigan University scholars Walker (sociology) and Wilson (Africana studies) chronicle Idlewild, Michigan as one of the black towns and rural communities that emerged in various part of the US in the aftermath of the Civil War and in the early 20th century. They highlight selected eras in the black resort where residents from nearby cities sought relief from the heat and the racism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world. Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty--rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

Surreal and grotesque, the world presented here is a modern wasteland. In this dark testament, the human race is clearly God's mistake. The time has come for a new Messiah, whose mission is not to promise the salvation of humanity, but to enforce its cold extinction. The agent of this act is subject to horrific visions of a world torn by atrocity and holocaust and choked with industrial waste. A master of hideous illusions, Manheim is a dark magician, envisioning nightmare scenarios. Yet his madness reflects a mad world, which makes him an ideal agent for God's new purpose. In the story, reality and illusion merge, each reinforcing the vision of termination.

A Washington Post most anticipated fall book | One of Literary Hub's most anticipated books of 2024 A lyrical meditation on how Black Americans have envisioned utopia—and sought to transform their lives. How do the disillusioned, the forgotten, and the persecuted not merely hold on to life but expand its possibilities and preserve its beauty? What, in other words, does utopia look like in black? These questions animate Aaron Robertson’s exploration of Black Americans' efforts to remake the conditions of their lives. Writing in the tradition of Saidiya Hartman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robertson makes his way from his ancestral hometown of Promise Land, Tennessee, to Detroit—the city where he was born, and where one of the country’s most remarkable Black utopian experiments got its start. Founded by the brilliant preacher Albert Cleage Jr., the Shrine of the Black Madonna combined Afrocentric Christian practice with radical social projects to transform the self-conception of its members. Central to this endeavor was the Shrine’s chancel mural of a Black Virgin and child, the icon of a nationwide liberation movement that would come to be known as Black Christian Nationalism. The Shrine’s members opened bookstores and co-ops, created a self-defense force, and raised their children communally, eventually working to establish the country’s largest Black-owned farm, where attempts to create an earthly paradise for Black people continues today. Alongside the Shrine’s story, Robertson reflects on a diverse array of Black utopian visions, from the Reconstruction era through the countercultural fervor of the 1960s and 1970s and into the present day. By doing so, Robertson showcases the enduring quest of collectives and individuals for a world beyond the constraints of systemic racism. The Black Utopians offers a nuanced portrait of the struggle for spaces—both ideological and physical—where Black dignity, protection, and nourishment are paramount. This book is the story of a movement and of a world still in the making—one that points the way toward radical alternatives for the future.

An isolated town. A stalker in the dark. Can this family escape death? In the wake of his parents' crumbling marriage collapsing, reclusive teen, Eden, moves cross-country to a secluded town surrounded by decaying forest. But what should be a fresh start quickly turns into an unending nightmare filled with mystery, murder, kidnapping, stalkers, skeptics, and secrets. With nobody talking, he's left to his own devices to find out what really happens in Fracture after dark. Maybe he'll uncover the truth before it's too late, but, then again, maybe not.

Lavinia Williamson, born into an abolitionist family in the mountains of Virginia, falls in love with a handsome plantation owner from eastern Virginia, marries him, and becomes the lady of the manor. Viewing the social injustice of human bondage on their plantation, she becomes a friend to the family’s slaves. After the death of her own daughter, she is especially taken with one of her husband’s daughters by a beautiful slave. Lavinia is torn between the love/hate relationship she has with her philandering husband, the responsibilities of running a tobacco plantation worked by the slaves she begins to love as her own people, and the question of human rights. What can one woman do to change the world around her? Lavinia’s involvement with the Underground Railroad that secretly operates through Virginia gives her life meaning, but it also creates fear, secrecy, hope, failure, triumph, and the conviction that she is in the right.

A young, beautiful woman named Cara thought she had it all--career, fiance, and a bright future. Her life is thrown into a tailspin. Desperate for a fresh start, she retreats to her favorite place, which holds her favorite memories. She finds that not all is perfect there either. She must form new friendships and trust new people to find a way back to happiness. But trouble will follow, so she must uncover mysteries of her life that threaten a new beginning. The way out is to walk through darkness and danger to open a door to the light.

Belle's never seen her life much as a fairy tale, but here she is living a new kind of fairy tale she never expected to find when moving from New York to Ohio, making new friends after her father's death, and meeting the guy of her dreams. Or nightmares? Family secrets are discovered, and Belle discovers more about herself than anyone.