These stories are not fables or fairy tales. They are severe chronicles of gangstas, written by men and women who have starved and bled and survived by the code of the streets.

Essence Magazine's #1 bestselling author Nikki Turner has earned her rep as "The Princess of Urban Literature," with gritty urban novels like A Hustler's Wife and The Glamorous Life. Now she lends her considerable street cred to this anthology, the first of its kind-an explosive collection featuring edgy new writers Turner handpicked for their ability to evoke the street, and the people who live by its rules, in hot, hyper realistic stories.

Turner scoured the ghetto, the prisons, and every crack and crevice around the country to bring you these impressive new fresh-from-the-street voices. Never one to disappoint her fans, Turner even throws in a raw gangsta tale of her own. From a buppie who risks her entire well-groomed world when she's suddenly turned on by a thug ("Gotta Have a Ruffneck"), to a lesbian pimp who gets what she deserves from the women she's turning out ("Big Daddy"), these stories will shock, entertain, and make you fly through the pages.