Gary Phillips

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About Gary Phillips

Weaned on the images of Kirby and Steranko in comics and Hammet and Himes in prose, Gary Phillips was born under a bad sign and only through writing does he hope to get out from under. For more of his work, please visit his website at: www.gdphillips.com.

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Titles By Gary Phillips

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The Faking of the President: Nineteen Stories of White House Noir Apr 21, 2020

by Peter Carlaftes, Gary Phillips, Alison Gaylin

( 30 )

$9.49

***Editor's Choice, NEW YORK TIMES*** A literary coup d'etat, that ponders "What would the White House be like if U.S. Presidents of the past were not restricted by the time-honored hallmarks and traditional behavior of the office, leaving them free to do whatever they wanted, anytime and anywhere?" THE FAKING OF THE PRESIDENT: Nineteen Stories of White House Noir pulls back the curtain on the “new norm” for America’s highest office, with a collection of bizarre new stories by a diverse group of renowned authors that take readers across the chasm of reality into an alternate universe—where Nixon takes a wacky psychedelic trip with Elvis Presley; where a time-traveling renegade targets members of the George Bush administration with disastrous results; where a spy seizes a sudden opportunity for power after Woodrow Wilson’s stroke. The stories are outlandish but—when it comes to the White House of today—no longer implausible.

The line-up of award-winning authors includes Eric Beetner, Peter Carlaftes, Sarah M. Chen, Angel Luis Colón, S. A. Cosby, Nikki Dolson, Mary Anna Evans, Adam Lance Garcia, Danny Gardner, Alison Gaylin, Christopher Chambers, Kate Flora, Greg Herren, Gary Phillips, Alex Segura, Travis Richardson, S. J. Rozan, Abby Vandiver, and Erica Wright.

In an era where the bar for what is acceptable has shifted beyond what the founding fathers ever imagined, THE FAKING OF THE PRESIDENT is a highly recommended unique creative act of resistance, and a must-have for fans of politics, noir, and speculative fiction.

Other Formats: Paperback

The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir Oct 10, 2017

by Gary Phillips, Walter Mosley, Christopher Chambers, Lise McClendon

( 29 )

$9.49

Winner, 2018 Anthony Award for Best Anthology and Winner, Bronze Medal, 2017 Indie Book Awards for Anthologies, Foreword Reviews. Noir meets diverse voices and transforms the genre into an over-the-top, transcendental psychedelic thriller ride of pulpy goodness in THE OBAMA INHERITANCE, a collection of fifteen stories of conspiracy noir curated by editor and award-winning African-American crime novelist Gary Phillips.  

In the tradition of satirical works of Swift and Twain, with nods to the likes of William Burroughs, Asimov and Philip K. Dick, these tales contain vigilante First Ladies, Supreme Court judges who can clone themselves, gear-popping robots of doom, and races of ancient lizard people revealing their true master plan … and these are just the tame ones mashed up in the blender of fake news bots, climate change is but a hoax by the Chinese and humans roamed with dinosaurs.

In an era where the outlandish and fantastic has permeated our media 24/7, where mind-bending conspiracy theories shape our views, THE OBAMA INHERITANCE writers riff on the numerous fictions spun about the 44th president of the U.S. Although Obama himself does not appear in most of these stories, contributors spin deliberately outlandish and fantastic twists on many of the dozens of screwball, bizarro conspiracy theories floated about the president during his years in office and turn them on their heads.

THE OBAMA INHERITANCE editor Gary Phillips is a critically acclaimed author of mystery and graphic novels (Peepland, Violent Spring, and Warlord of Willow Ridge). Raised in South Central Los Angeles, Phillips draws on his experiences from anti-police abuse community organizing and anti-apartheid activism. He was the chair of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color committee, and is president of the Private Eye Writers of America.

Contributors include famed crime-detective author and essayist Walter Mosley, professor and former Department of Justice attorney Christopher Chambers (Sympathy for the Devil), noir raconteur Andrew Nette, actor and novelist Danny Gardner (A Negro and an Ofay), former Maine assistant attorney general Kate Flora (Death in Paradise), award-winning playwright and novelist Désirée Zamorano, and the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Robert Silverberg.

Other Formats: Paperback

From Sea to Stormy Sea: 17 Stories Inspired by Great American Paintings Dec 3, 2019

by Lawrence Block

( 24 )

$17.99

Seventeen stories by seventeen brilliant writers, inspired by seventeen paintings. That was the formula for Lawrence Block’s two ground-breaking anthologies, In Sunlight or in Shadow and Alive in Shape and Color, and it’s on glorious display here once again in From Sea to Stormy Sea.This time the paintings are exclusively the work of American artists, and the roster includes Harvey Dunn, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton, Helen Frankenthaler, Winslow Homer, Rockwell Kent, Grant Wood, Childe Hassam and Andy Warhol. Among the star-studded lineup of writers you’ll find Jerome Charyn, Jane Hamilton, Christa Faust, John Sandford, Sara Paretsky, Walter Mosley, Charles Ardai, Barry Malzberg, and Janice Eidus. It’s an outstanding collection, with widely divergent stories united by theme and culture, and—no surprise—beautifully illustrated with full-color reproductions of the seventeen paintings.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Audio CD

The Be-Bop Barbarians: A Graphic Novel Feb 5, 2019

by Gary Phillips

( 4 )

$16.99

In the turbulent era of late 1950s Manhattan—with jazz, the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, and the Red Scare as the volatile ingredients—three groundbreaking black cartoonists defy convention and pay the price.

Cliff Murphy is matinee handsome, a light-skinned, straight-haired black man and a comics artist known for his glamour girl art. He’s black uptown and white downtown, and he has an eye for the ladies, and they for him—including his boss’ wife, who knows Cliff’s creation, the Phantom Avenger, is about to be stolen from him.

Though Stephaney “Stef” Rawls has her own romance-adventure strip for the largest black newspaper, she still has to work brutal hours as a maid to make ends meet. When she gets a lucrative offer to write and draw a “Negroes must reject agitation” flyer for the FBI, can she pass up the opportunity?

Then there’s Oliver “Ollie” Jefferson, a decorated Korean War vet who writes and draws editorial cartoons under the pseudonym Attucks, for the daily Red newspaper The Struggle. But when a cop beats him down while walking his pregnant Korean wife-to-be home one night, Ollie becomes a symbol of oppression and the streets threaten to explode.

These three friends will be tested and tried, will work in solidarity, and, just maybe, betray each other, in this explosive graphic novel—with prose by crime fiction author Gary Phillips and images by acclaimed artist-writer Dale Berry.

Other Formats: Hardcover

APB: Artists against Police Brutality Oct 28, 2015

by Damian Duffy, P. Djèlí Clark, Sofia Samatar, Bill Campbell, Jason Rodriguez, John Jennings

( 16 )

$9.99

An incredibly unique comic book benefit project featuring comic shorts, pin-ups, short essays, and flash fiction, the proceeds of which will be going to the Innocence Project

We’ve all seen the pictures: a six-year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted by U.S. marshals on her first day at an all-white, New Orleans school in 1960; a police dog attacking a demonstrator in Birmingham; fire hoses turned on protesters; Martin Luther King Jr. addressing a crowd on the National Mall. These pictures were printed in papers, flashed across television screens, and helped to change the laws of this nation, but not necessarily all of the attitudes. Similarly, we’ve seen the pictures of Michael Brown lying face down in a pool of his own blood for hours; protesters with their hands up, facing down militarized policemen. There are videos of Eric Garner choked to death, John Crawford III shot down in Walmart for carrying a toy gun, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice gunned down in broad daylight for the same reason. APB: Artists Against Police Brutality is a benefit comic book anthology that focuses on hot-button issues including police brutality, the justice system, and civil rights, with one primary goal: show pictures and tell stories that get people talking. The proceeds will go to the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people.

Bill Campbell is the founder of Rosarium Publishing and the author the novels Koontown Killing Kaper, My Booty Novel, and Sunshine Patriots as well as the essay collection, Pop Culture: Politics, Puns, and “Poohbutt” from a Liberal Stay-at-Home Dad. He is the coeditor of the anthologies Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond and Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany. He lives in Washington, DC.

Jason Rodriguez is an Eisner and Harvey Award–nominated writer and editor. He is the author of Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened and Try Looking Ahead, and his work has been published by Dark Horse Comics, Random House, and several small publishers. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

John Jennings is an associate professor of visual studies at the State University of New York–Buffalo. He is an award-winning graphic novelist and the author of Pitch Black Rainbow: The Art of John Jennings.

Other Formats: Kindle , Paperback

The Perpetrators Jul 29, 2011

by Gary Phillips

( 8 )

$4.99

With the clock ticking, the story jumps off in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico. A smooth cat who labels himself an expeditor must survive a gauntlet of hitters and freaks to deliver his client alive to their destination. She's a high maintenance drug queen who's made a deal with the top cop in California's state capitol, Sacramento. By all means of transportation and dodging devastation, and busting some heads themselves, the two make their way north while behind-the-scenes machinations go down.

Battered but not out, our man completes his assignment only to find out all ain't what it seems -- but then, he's not getting two million just to look good. And handling fools, no matter how they trip, comes with the territory.

Sample chapters from Milton Burton's Texas Noir, Bob Truluck's Street Level and J.L. Abramo's Catching Water in a Net are included.

Other Formats: Paperback

44 Caliber Funk: Tales of Crime, Soul, and Payback Dec 22, 2016

by Robert J. Randisi, Bill Crider, John Shepphird, Elaine Viets, Dan Brereton, Gary Phillips

( 3 )

$5.99

Return with us now to those purple haze days of platform shoes, rhinestone studded sunglasses, the Panthers, disco and Blaxploitation- in Forty-Four Caliber Funk, an anthology of street crime prose stories. From Daddy Cool by Donald Goines, Shaft by Earnest Tidyman, and the influences of Malcolm X , Timothy Leary and William Burroughs -- with a soundtrack by Donna Summer, James Brown, and The Rolling Stones. The editors are Chester Himes award winner Gary Phillips and Robert J. Randisi, winner of the 2016 Killer Nashville John Seigenthaler Legends Award.

Other Formats: Paperback

3 the Hard Way Feb 8, 2016

by Gary Phillips

( 1 )

$7.99

Three novellas by Gary Phillips in one collection.

Malcolm Cavanaugh Bleekston, MC Bleak, McBleak, enjoys hobnobbing with the one percenters and stealing from them. In The Extractors, he puts his life on the line to take a greedy man’s gain while wondering if his girlfriend sees through his façade.

Ned “Noc” Brenner is a drifter with an unusual skill set—he’s an extreme athlete good at whatever he does be it MMA fighting to riding a motorcycle off a mountaintop. After winning in an all-night poker game, this sets in motion a series of events in The Anti-Gravity Steal where Noc must use all his abilities to prevent wholesale destruction.

Part Shaft and part Batman sans the cowl, Luke Warfield, a philanthropist with a black ops background, the Essex Man, goes on the trail in 10 Seconds to Death of the villain who killed his foster father and uncovers not only ghosts from his past, but must stop a deadly plan of mass slaughter in his own backyard.

Bonus Essex Man short story, “Murder by Remote Control.”

Other Formats: Paperback

Occupied Earth: Stories of Aliens, Resistance and Survival at all Costs Oct 13, 2015

by Gary Phillips, Richard Brewer

( 35 )

$6.49

RESISTANCE IS ALL

For years, writers and filmmakers have speculated about the possibility of the Earth being invaded by aliens from another planet. But what if the aliens have been watching us, infiltrating us via human collaborators, or even surgically altering themselves to look human?

Occupied Earth is a groundbreaking anthology that explores the idea of what the world would look like years after its conquest. 20 years after a successful invasion by the Makh-Ra, humanity still exists, only it has become subservient to a race of occupiers who govern the devastated planet. But, as much at things continue with some sense of normalcy, something has happened in the Mahk-Ra’s empire. Earth, once considered a strategic beachhead of major importance to the Empire, has been downgraded in its value. Things are starting to degrade. Our planet is the last place any self-respecting Mahk-Ra officer wants to be assigned. Yet, despite everything, life continues.

These stories bring us face to face with annihilation and show how we can pull ourselves back from the brink. Featuring Rachel Howzell Hall, Lisa Morton, Matthew V. Clemens, Howard Hendrix, Nathan Walpow and more, OCCUPIED EARTH is coming. Stay safe. Stay strong. Survive at all costs.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , Audio CD

Day of the Destroyers Sep 1, 2015

by Adam Lance Garcia, Ron Fortier, Joe Gentile, Fernando Ferreiro, Gary Phillips

( 5 )

$5.99

Based on a real historical event during the Roosevelt administration!
Guest starring pulp heroes The Green Lama, The Phantom Detective, and The Black Bat!
Day of the Destroyers is an all-original linked prose anthology - each story is part of a larger arc wherein Jimmie Flint, Secret Agent X-11 of the Intelligence Service Command, battles to prevent the seditionist Medusa Council from engineering a bloody coup overthrowing our democracy.
Agent X-11 fights across the country preventing an aerial assault on Chicago’s rail lines, destroying a secret factory of gas meant to enthrall millions in New Mexico, racing to stop a machine of fantastic destruction in Manhattan, and so much more!
Written by pulp fictioneers: Ron Fortier, Adam Lance Garcia, Gary Phillips, Paul Bishop, Eric Fein, Tommy Hancock, Aaron Shaps, & Joe Gentile.
Introduction by pulp wordsmith Bobby Nash!

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback

The Extractors Mar 17, 2014

by Gary Phillips

( 1 )

$2.99

McBleak enjoys hobnobbing with the upper crust. Yet McBleak is never more alive than when he’s extracting wealth from the wealthy. He plans to take a greedy man’s gain while wondering if his girlfriend sees through his façade. But nothing ever goes as planned, and McBleak has to think on his feet or his life might be extracted from him.

The Anti-Gravity Steal Mar 17, 2014

by Gary Phillips

( 2 )

$2.99

Gifted drifter Ned Noc” Brenner, adept at MMA fighting, motocross riding to blitz chess, finds himself teamed with others of specialized skills to prevent a super villain from unleashing an anti-gravity device that would rain down death on untold millions. It all came so easy to Noc before, now he might just loose his life to prevent wholesale destruction.

Other Formats: Kindle

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