Bestselling novelist Walter Mosley, in an effort to nurture independent black publishing, has once again chosen Black Classic Press, a small Baltimore-based reprint house, to release an upcoming title rather than his regular publisher, Little, Brown. In 1996, Mosley, then published by W.W. Norton, approached BCP to publish Gone Fishin', an unpublished prequel covering the early years of his popular Easy Rawlins character. BCP, whose printings of out-of-print African-American nonfiction classics rarely top 10,000, sold more than 100,000 copies of the novel.
This time, BCP will publish a nonfiction book, What Next: An African American Initiative Toward World Peace, which will explore black popular opinion on world peace, terrorism and the possibility of war with Iraq. In the work, Mosley will also examine his relationship with his father, a World War II veteran, in an effort to define the nature of American patriotism for black Americans. The 124-page hardcover, priced at $16.95, will be published in February 2003; a 40,000-copy printing is planned.
In a separate deal, Washington Square Press will reprint Mosley's six Easy Rawlins novels in trade paper, adding an original story to each reprint. The new stories will continue the narrative from his newest book, Bad Boy Brawley. And in January, Atria Books will release a hardcover collection of the short stories to be called Six Easy Pieces, which will also include an additional story.
