The 1990s were a grand time for readers—specifically, Black readers. Teenage me was in heaven. I read Waiting To Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Invisible Life, Mama Day, Sister, Sister, Friends and Lovers, and Flyy Girl.
Then I had the joy of discovering Black romance novels because I stole my sister’s books. Do y’all remember Arabesque Books? She had them all. I remember reading Deborah Fletcher Mello, Brenda Jackson, Carla Freed, Eboni Snow, Rochelle Alers, and many others. And for those who know me, this next line may be surprising. I never thought I’d write romance.
My writing career started in journalism. I covered crime in Georgia and I needed something to take my mind off criminal behavior when I got home, so I read. If a Black person wrote it, I read it. Then I got the chance to move to Winston-Salem, N.C. I started working for The Winston-Salem Chronicle, a Black newspaper in a city that was filled with Black artists, I’m talking singers, writers, actors. It was glorious. Back in the day when you were a print journalist, you moved around looking for bigger markets, secretly hoping to be the editor of the New York Times by 40. Oh, wait, that was just me, but I digress.
In 2003, my first book, Revelations was released and I was a published author like my book was going to be in stores and on bookshelves and I was excited. Then I remembered going to my first event in Washington D.C. That day I met ALTonya Washington, Nikki Turner, Shannon Holmes, and Omar Tyree.
I was so excited to meet Omar. After all, he was one of my must-read authors at that time. His books were everywhere, in Borders, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and on my sister’s bookshelf. I wouldn’t say that I was star-struck, because I was thrilled to be in the room with all of the authors. It felt like an exclusive club. But Omar walked in like we should all bow down to him. Before the readers walked into the event and all of the other writers were mingling with each other, talking about their books, that dude walked in and didn’t say hi, just passed out his flyers to us. I’m like, whoa. No hello, no introduction or anything.
Immediately, I thought, this must be how writers act when they’re successful and I vowed to never do that to anyone. For the longest time, when I met authors, I expected them to act like Omar, stand-offish, arrogant. Boy, was I wrong, and thank GOD! Now, after that first meeting, I continued as a journalist and became the features editor at The Charlotte Post. By this time I’d met some of the best in the business, and I heard the stories about a certain author who was always an asshole. When five bestsellers say the same thing about one person, you have to believe there’s some truth to it. Allegedly, he once said he was the only real Black man in fiction, comparing himself to EJD and E. Lynn Harris. He was a genre jumper, even though he says he invented urban fiction. And while being a genre jumper isn’t a bad thing, you can’t get mad at the readers who don’t follow you. And they could be leaving you behind because they met you.
Back to me being a journalist in Charlotte. Once upon a time, there used to be a basketball event in Charlotte called the Legacy Classic. It was held on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. There were vendors and authors in the Charlotte Coliseum. And Omar was there with his book, Diary of A Groupie. I stopped by the table and picked up a copy of the book with every intention to purchase it. So, I asked him what was the book about. His reply was a terse, “what does the title say?”
So, I returned the book to the table and went on about my business. Then, the publisher sent a copy of the book to my office and because he lived in Charlotte, I got the assignment to interview him. Guess who showed up late to the interview with no apologies. And that was when I was like, you know what, this is bullshit.
And here we are in the age of social media, BookTok, Black BookTok, Book Threads, and a changing market of literature, yet this guy is still the same.
But this behavior also shows that society will let men get away with any damn thing. Being loud and misogynistic is celebrated, supported, and heralded. But remember when the author of Memphis got into an online argument with another writer and everyone wanted to cancel her?
But when people aren’t held accountable for their bad behavior, it doesn’t change. And you get interviews like this one:
Cheris Hodges 