Reading While Black

The August issue of RT lists a new mystery series authored by Kayla Perrin and Brenda Mott whose first entry is entitled How to Kill a Guy in 10 Days. It looks like a hoot and I can’t wait for its release, but how will this book be shelved? You see, Kayla is black and Brenda is white. When I wish-listed on amazon, the “Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought” part lists black-authored fiction from Eric Jerome Dickey, Shannon Holmes, etc. Perrin is a USA Today bestseller and I think is a bit more well known than Mott — but will the series be shelved in the mystery section based on its content, or will the booksellers place it in “African-American Fiction” because of Perrin’s name?

I’m also eager to see what happens when this book is released because it is rare for black and white authors to share publishing credits–whether it be a collaboration such as this, or an anthology. Perrin, Sharon Cullars, and L.A. Banks are the only women’s fiction authors I’ve see involved in anthologies based in their respective genres of contemporary romance, erotic contemporaries and urban fantasy.

Even though it seems you’ve got to be a Big Name to pitch an anthology or be published with the risk-taking imprints of Kensington and Dorchester, I’d like to see more authors reaching out and crossing the gulf that exists between ethnicity and the romance genre.