WILD THANGZ by Winston Chapman (An Essence Magazine National Best Seller)

"Caught Up" - 2-Chapter Preview

FREE 2-CHAPTER PREVIEW#2 EssenceMagazine Best-Seller, "Caught Up!"

"Outstanding Debut ... The book does get you 'caught up' in the plight of the main character from the beginning. If readers are looking for high drama mixed with a glimpse of street life, they can't go wrong by checking this book out." ZANE, NY Times Bestselling Author

DESCRIPTION

When Raven Klein, a bi-racial woman from Iowa moves to Atlanta in hopes of finding a life she's secretly dreamed about, she finds more than she ever imagined.

Quickly lured and lost in a world of sex, money, power-struggles, betrayal and deceit, Raven doesn't know who she can really trust!

A chance meeting at a bus terminal leads to her delving into the seedy world of strip-clubs, big ballers and shot-callers.

Now, Raven's shuffling through more men than a Vegas blackjack dealer does a deck of cards. And

sex has even become mundane -- little more than a tool to get what she wants.

After a famous acquaintance winds-up dead -- On which shoulder will Raven lean? A wrong choice could cost her life! There's a reason they call it HOTATLANTA!

The Life CHAPTER ONE

I couldn't believe I had gotten myself into this situation. Was old enough to know better. My mom always said, 'The choices you make will determine the quality of your life'. I was looking straight in the face at the possibility of losing mine. Or at best the loss of any life that would even remotely be described as quality.

It's the middle of the night here I am scantily clad, sitting on a street curb wrapped in a borrowed jacket with the letters APD stenciled on the back, answering a detectives questions. While trying to shield the blinding glare of the squad car's flashing lights.

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This dreadful nightmare all began just two years ago. I'd stormed out of my mama's house in Des Moines, Iowa -- vowing I'd never come back. Took with me the $746.29 I'd earned over the past summer working at the same diner that my mom had schlepped greasy food for the past 19 years. Determined I'd not be sentenced to that same life, I headed straight to the Greyhound bus station and bought a one-way ticket to Atlanta.

Made my choice of city on-the-fly looking at a US Map, while standing in line at the ticket counter. Chose Atlanta because it was one of the places I was sure I'd connect with my roots. People who look like me. Understand me. Relate to me.

Thought about Chicago -- too dirty. Thought about New York -- too big. Washington D.C. was too hard to figure out, where it actually was on the map. Besides, Atlanta was a warm weather city. And, it didn't hurt that it was so close to Florida.

As a black girl growing up in Des Moines, I never felt I belonged. Felt like a permanent guest everywhere I'd go. Being adopted didn't help. And, being adopted by a white woman helped even less. Not to mention, I was obviously a product of an interracial relationship.

Though, everyone in town seemed to try to help me belong. It was just that, their need to make me feel at home, made me feel that much more like an outsider -- the Special Negro.

My soul and spirit, not to mention my smile had grown weary of pretending that I didn't feel different from everyone else. So, that was it. I decided I had to get out of there.

After graduation, I worked all summer at the diner. Listened to my customers, my neighbors tell crude racial jokes over the cup-of-joe I'd just served them. If ever I happened to wander by or be wiping off a nearby table just as they reached the racial-joke punch line, they'd simply turn to me and say, "Oh, no offense, Raven?!"