The Awkward Black Man Spiral-Bound | September 15, 2020
Walter Mosley
The Awkward Black Man
A masterful collection of stories that showcases one of the country’s most beloved and acclaimed writers—award-winning author, Walter Mosley.
Bestselling author Walter Mosley has proven himself a master of narrative tension, both with his extraordinary fiction and gripping writing for television. The Awkward Black Man collects seventeen of Mosley’s most accomplished short stories to showcase the full range of his remarkable talent.
Mosley presents distinct characters as they struggle to move through the world in each of these stories—heroes who are awkward, nerdy, self-defeating, self-involved, and, on the whole, odd. He overturns the stereotypes that corral black male characters and paints a subtle, powerful portrait of each of these unique individuals. In "The Good News Is," a man’s insecurity about his weight gives way to a serious illness and the intense loneliness that accompanies it. Deeply vulnerable, he allows himself to be taken advantage of in return for a little human comfort in a raw display of true need. "Pet Fly," previously published in the New Yorker, follows a man working as a mailroom clerk for a big company—a solitary job for which he is overqualified—and the unforeseen repercussions he endures when he attempts to forge a connection beyond the one he has with the fly buzzing around his apartment. And "Almost Alyce" chronicles failed loves, family loss, alcoholism, and a Zen approach to the art of begging that proves surprisingly effective.
Touching and contemplative, each of these unexpected stories offers the best of one of our most gifted writers.
Winner of the NAACP Image Award forOutstanding Literary Work in Fiction
A NewYork Times Editors' choice
AWashington Post 50 Notable FictionSelection
A BostonGlobe Best Book of the Year
AKirkus Reviews Best Book of theYear
Praisefor The Awkward BlackMan:
“Thetitle of Mosley’s latest story collection, “The Awkward BlackMan,” is both a spot-on descriptor and yet one that only hints at thebroad range of people we find in the book’s pages…Reading these stories, youfeel as if you’re sitting with a gifted storyteller while he spins yarns about thestrange people living in his mind. The prolific Mosley delights in thewonderfully bizarre…Each protagonist seems simple and often shallow on thesurface, but as the story progresses he unfurls into greater and franklybreathtaking complexity.”—New YorkTimes
“Mr. Mosley is afamous crime writer, but this collection is nearer to the recent work of JulianBarnes and Roddy Doyle…In practiced, plainspoken prose, [Mosley] presents a galleryof old men facing divorce, illness or perhaps some more unnamable crisis ofexistence…The humble stories befit their soft-spokenantiheroes.”—Wall StreetJournal
“Mosley might be best known for his mysteryseries featuring Easy Rawlins, but in these short stories, we see the prolificauthor as a chronicler of Black life in America. As he overturns stereotypesand focuses on individual characters, Mosley asks us not to look away from menwho are isolated and awkward, but to see them as human beings infull.”—WashingtonPost
“Seventeen bold stories of brokenhearted Blackmen…The stories are tinged with sardonic humor and acerbic observations, manyechoing the pained, bristling voices of Ralph Ellison and JamesBaldwin.”—NewYorker
“The tough-minded and tenderly observant Mosleystyle remains constant throughout these stories even as they display variedapproaches from the gothic to the surreal. The range and virtuosity ofthese stories make this Mosley’s most adventurous and, maybe, bestbook.”—KirkusReviews, starredreview
“Despite the trailblazing work of writers suchas Toni Morrison and more recently Edward P. Jones, James McBride, and ColsonWhitehead, correcting the canon is an ongoing effort. In the brilliant andbracing The Awkward Black Man, Mosley has given usfood for the journey.”—Alta
“These stories tap into the vulnerability andindignity of the human condition, but also its remarkable, even irrational,commitment to hope.”—Buzzfeed
“Mosley delivers a vibrant collection of 17luminous stories, many with a focus on downtrodden and troubledprotagonists…Each entry is a testament to Mosley’s enduring literarypower.”—PublishersWeekly
“The Awkward Black Man” is a treasury of unsunglives, vignettes of the loves of unloved, praise of people who are out of placeand time but not out of mind or mortality. . . True to his mystery tradition,these stories are tiny murders of the soul, things that are seldom told fromthis point of view, showing the insight and talent of WalterMosley.”—New CityLit
“Walter Mosley is the kind of storyteller thatmakes his characters’ worst days into something you can recognize and relateto…Fans of Mosley don’t need to be told twice to go find this book. Just go. Ifyou’re new to Mosley but you love short stories, though, TheAwkward Black Man might be the best book for your life rightnow.”—North DallasGazette (syndicated)
“The Mosley voices cover the spectrum from dumbdespair to sublime wisdom, from sexual intimacy to orgasms on the Staten IslandFerry. The cities are old, and the jobs are ordinary, but he discoversways to find some truths and show how all life can playout.”—Bookreporter.com
“The cool Black guy stereotype is shattered inthis collective of stories about Black men saddled with as much humanity as therest of us. Follow nerds, weirdos, dorks and oddballs as they take the stage asheroes of their ownstories.”—Essence
“These 17 old and more recent stories...featuredistinctive characters, plus Mosley's jazzy prose and extraordinary insights.It's a tender, sad and grippingcollection.”—AARP
“Since Walter Mosley published his firstbook, Devil in a Blue Dress, in 1990, he’s beenexposing, dismantling and subverting stereotypes. Race, ethnicity, gender,class — he’s brought a fresh and discerning eye to all of them, in the midst ofwriting beautifully crafted fiction and thoughtful nonfiction…He does all thatagain in his new short story collection, The Awkward BlackMan.”—Tampa BayTimes
“This autumn, Mosley will be awarded theNational Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to AmericanLetters, which follows the PEN America Lifetime Achievement Award and theHarold Washington Literary Prize for the author of more than 50 books,including his bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series. As if tounderscore the range of his incredible talent, he is publishing an excellentcollection of short stories—17 first-person narratives that wrestle indistinctive ways with the experiences of Blackmen.”—National BookReview
“Fifty-plus books into his career,Mosley hasn't run out of inspired plots, and his interest in social issuesremains acute, although he editorializes with the lightest oftouches; The Awkward Black Man teems withsharp, quippy dialogue and not a sentence suffers the indignity of a frill…Thisprimo story collection by an author best known for his crime fiction reaffirmshis place in the literary pantheon.”—ShelfAwareness
“Masterstoryteller Mosley has created a beautiful collection about Black men who are,indeed, awkward in their poignant humanity…Mosley's is an essential Americanvoice and his portraits of Black men will have profound resonance.”—Booklist (starred review)
Praisefor Walter Mosley:
“When reviewing abook by Walter Mosley, it’s hard not to simply quote all the great lines. Thereare so many of them. You want to share the pleasures of Mosley’s jazz-inflecteddialogue and the moody, descriptive passages reminiscent of Raymond Chandler athis best.” ―Washington Post,on Down the River Unto theSea
“A daring, beautifullywrought story that incorporates elements of allegory, meditative reflection andthe lilt of lyric tragedy.” ―Los AngelesTimes, on The Last Days of PtolemyGrey
“With Mosley, there’salways the surprise factor―a cutting image or a bracing line of dialogue.”―New York Times Book Review,on And Sometimes I Wonder AboutYou
“Mosley’s invigorating,staccato prose and understanding of racial, moral and social subtleties are infull force.” ―Seattle Times,on Known toEvil
“Mosley is the Gogolof the African-American working class―the chronicler par excellence of thetragic and the absurd.”―Vibe
“[Mosley]has a special talent for touching upon these sticky questions of evil andresponsibility without getting stuck in them.”―NewYorker
WALTER MOSLEY is the author of more than fifty critically acclaimed books, including the major bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages and includes literary fiction, science fiction, political monographs, and a young adult novel. In 2013, he was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, and he is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, a Grammy, PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and an Edgar Award. He lives in New York City.