Around the Way Girls 5

There's a saying in Brooklyn that if you come from my part of town, you're from around the way. Around the Way Girls 5, like its predecessors, is a fast-paced look at the lives of some street-smart women who think they know it all, but are about to get the lessons of their lives.

In Tysha’s “Keepin’ It in the Family,” Diamond, Essence, and Chanel are three motherless high-priced hookers and their father, Dallas Collins, is their pimp. At what point will his daughters finally get the courage to band together and break loose from being Daddy’s little girls?

In Mark Anthony’s “So Seductive,” best friends Cinnamon and Simone use their exotic looks and voluptuous bodies to lure men into numerous one night stands. However, these one night stands don’t end up in passionate sex; instead, with the help of two henchmen, they end up in violent robberies.

In Erick S. Gray’s “Pound Cake,” we bring you to Coney Island, where four friends deal with the daily life of growing up in one of deadliest parts of the borough. Pound Cake, a beautiful, fiery nineteen-year-old is the ring leader of the pack. Her homegirls are her family, and people in the streets know not to mess with Pound Cake or her family. When a local hustler impregnates and then abuses Minnie, the youngest in the group, Pound Cake won’t stand for it. She’s going to make him pay.

Tysha is the coauthor of Girls from da Hood 9 (with Amaleka McCall, Chunichi, and Meisha Camm) and the author of Young-Minded Hustler, The Boss, and more. Tysha’s own experiences of being born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, have influenced the fiction she writes. Her debut novel, The Boss, made Essence magazine’s bestseller list upon its release in 2008.

Queens native Mark Anthony is the author of several novels, including Dogism, Paper Chasers, Lady's Night, The Take Down, Reasonable Doubt, and the G-Unit book, Harlem Heat. He currently resides in New York with his family.

Erick S. Gray is a veteran of the urban lit scene. His first book, Booty Call, was published in 2003. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina.