Jervey Tervalon

From award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author Jervey Tervalon comes a highly clever, twisting tale of suspense involving drugs, perverse sex, and poisonous celebrity worship, in which a man trying to rebuild his life becomes entangled in dangerous and deadly circumstances.

a novel

Monster's chef

Gary Phillips

The best fiction anthology of all-new cocaine-themed stories to blow through in years.

The Cocaine Chronicles

Jervey Tervalon delivered "a marvelous read" (USA TODAY) in Dead Above Ground, his national bestselling novel of a troubled Southern family—now his literary landscape shifts to the West Coast, in this compelling portrayal of a young black university professor living life on his own terms, a life entangled in the complex relationships with the women who desire him. All Jordan Davis wants is a smooth ride, speeding his Triumph along the 101, living the beautiful life among the beautiful people of Santa Barbara, in search of a broader world—one that isn’t defined by his race or class background. But trouble seems to find him at every turn in the road. There's Trisha, the seductive twenty-two-year-old virgin from the glamorous foothills; there’s Mary, the angry white girl whose defiance is a definite turn-on; and Daphne, an exotic, forbidden student from a college class he teaches, and keeper of shadowy secrets. They all want to define him, limit him, turn him into what they want him to be. But for Jordan, the ultimate question is what does he want out of life—and can a man truly create a destiny that isn't defined by his race or his past?

A Novel

All the Trouble You Need

This ambitious anthology of jaw-grinding criminal behavior is masterfully curated by acclaimed authors Phillips and Tervalon. Cocaine, that most troubling and fascinating of substances is the subject, the subtext, the whys and whereofs in Cocaine Chronicles, a collection of original short stories that are funny and harrowing, sad and scary, but at all times riveting. Cocaine Chronicles contains tough tales by a cross-section of today's most thought-provoking writers. In this bold anthology, we meet the casual sniffers, the heavy users, the dealers, the victims and the unsuspecting victims - hysterical romps, tragic characters and unfathomable lows - rendering cocaine a drug that is anything but glamorous. The Cocaine Chronicles is assembled in four sections that loosely dictate the varying degrees of addiction and the affects that cocaine has on its participants.

A new anthology of cocaine stories from the creators of The Speed Chronicles—“Caution: these stories are addicting” (Harlan Coben). This ambitious anthology of jaw-grinding criminal behavior is masterfully curated by acclaimed authors Gary Phillips and Jervey Tervalon. Cocaine is the subject, the whys and whereofs in The Cocaine Chronicles, a collection of original short stories that are funny and harrowing, sad and scary, but at all times riveting. The Cocaine Chronicles contains tough tales by a cross-section of today’s most thought-provoking writers. Featuring brand-new stories by: Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Emory Holmes II, James Brown, Gary Phillips, Jervey Tervalon, Kerry E. West, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and Detrice Jones.

An unsentimental novel depicts true-to-life characters in a south central Los Angeles community who struggle for integrity and self-respect in an environment of gangs, guns, drugs, and death.

Understand This

In this sequel to his acclaimed "urban masterpiece" (The Philadelphia Inquirer), the national bestseller Dead Above Ground, Jervey Tervalon's unforgettable heroine, Lita Du Champ, is at loose ends, trying to hold house and home together. Ten years after she, her husband, their children, and her twin sisters moved to Los Angeles, the past comes back to haunt her. An unwelcome phone call reveals that Lita's estranged father is on his deathbed and that her aunt has seen Lita's beloved mother -- never mind that the woman has been dead for a decade. Overwhelmed by long-suppressed memories, Lita realizes that she must return to New Orleans to come to terms with her history, but as she makes the journey a growing sense of dread takes root in her soul. She's certain there will be no simple return to the life she led in Los Angeles.

Lita

For feisty young Lita Du Champ, New Orleans is a place dominated by her prosperous, hardworking family -- in particular, her strong-willed mother, Helen, who rules with an unshakable sense of propriety. It is also where Lita struggles to reconcile her loyalty to her mother with love for her restless, married sister Adele -- and tries to establish a life of her own in the face of crushing family responsibility. But neither she nor Mama Du Champ are prepared when Adele falls in love with Lucien Faure, a smooth operator with "the devil's good looks" -- and a decades-old score to settle with Helen. As Lucien's revenge is set into terrible motion against all of the Du Champs, Lita uncovers her mother's mysterious past and the dark secrets that drive her: Lucien could possibly be Adele's father. From the forbidden elegance and wealth of the Vieux Carre through New Orleans' most sinister backstreets, Lita must confront her family's history in ways she never imagined -- and find one last, desperate chance to save the future of those she loves. Hailed as "a powerful new voice in American fiction" (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.), Jervey Tervalon has drawn from his own heritage -- and the twisting family story that has lived and breathed in him his whole life -- to create a rich and unforgettable novel in DEAD ABOVE GROUND.

Jervey Tervalon

About

Books

Join the club