MOSLEY'S OTHER BOOKS
RL's Dream (1995)
Always
Outnumbered, Always Outgunned:
The Socrates Fortlow Stories (1997)
Blue Light (1998)
Fearless Jones (2001)
Future Land (2001)
RL's Dream (1995)
"Yeah, he's good, like an angel is good," Mavis agreed. "But we ain't made to mess with angels, girl. Angels draw up to all the evil and all the hurt in the world. They watch babies dyin', that's what they do. They take all the pain and shout it out. Angels livin' with evil and with death. That's their stock in trade. Murderers and thieves and times so hard that you could cry blood. That's where you find angels. I'd no sooner spend a evenin' with an angel than I'd whore out here in these streets. I'd kill myself before I'd break bread with a angel."
Mavis is the long-ago former wife of Soupspoon Wise -- long-ago former blues guitarist and friend of the legendary Robert Leroy Johnson, the "R.L." of RL's Dream. Mavis is speaking of Wise to young nearly destitute Kiki Waters who recently had found Soupspoon, sick in fouled clothing, sitting in his armchair on the street in front of his Greenwich Village apartment building. Somewhat reminiscent of the 80s film Crossroads, this is Soupspoon's story of a dying former blues guitarist and friend of the legendary musician Robert (Leroy) Johnson, who is befriended by a in her own life.
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Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned:
The Socrates Fortlow Stories (1997)
Mosley introduces Socrates Fortlow, a rough-hewn yet thoughtful ex-con African-American who killed a Black man and woman as a youngster. Having spent 27 years in an Indiana prison and now living in Watts, Socrates is trying to redeem a misspent life while avoiding his own worst tendencies. Like his Greek namesake, Fortlow is prone to asking big moral questions. He decries the violence and drugs that infect the community like flesh-eating bacteria. He risks his safety to help a young boy struggling with his own conscience and tries to provide a measure of mercy to an old friend dying of cancer. When he attempts to help a dog run over by a callous motorist, Socrates gives in to his anger and suddenly finds himself on the verge of returning to jail.
Socrates Fortlow is featured in each piece of this collection of 14 short stories. He, like Rawlins, lives in Watts. The novel was the second of two Mosley books to be made into a film. Chapter One.
Blue Light (1998)
From an unknown point in the universe, an inscrutable blue light approaches our solar system. When it reaches Earth, it transforms those it strikes, causing them to evolve beyond the present state of humanity. Each person imbues with the light becomes the full realization of his or her nature and potential, with strengths, understanding, and communication abilities far beyond our imagining.
Future Land (2001)
Life in America a generation from now isn't much different from today: The drugs are better, the daily grind is worse. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened to a chasm. You can store the world's legal knowledge on a chip in your little finger, while the Supreme Court has decreed that constitutional rights don't apply to any individual who challenges the system. Justice is swiftly delivered by automated courts, so the prison industry is booming. And while the media declare racism is dead, word on the street is that even in a colorless society, it's a crime to be black.
But the world still turns and folks still have to get by with the hands they're dealt, folks such as: Ptolemy "Popo" Bent: This gentle backwoods child has a genius I.Q. - and a soul so pure that officials want him locked up forever... Folio Johnson: A hardboiled, cyber-augmented private eye who can see beneath the dark poetry of the metropolis, he will need an even greater edge than that to find out who's systematically murdering rich, young Nazis... Fera Jones: She's the boxing Queen of the Ring who must still fight all comers to save her dad, preserve her identity, and protect the fans who believe in her... Dr. Ivan Kismet: The world's richest man, Macrosoft's CEO is a tycoon, tyrant, and messiah who is evidently more powerful than God. So it's too bad for everyone that Dr. Kismet is utterly insane... Mixing cyberpunk with biting social commentary, and Matrix-style wonders with masterful literary skill, Walter Mosley brings to life the celebs, working stiffs, leaders, victims, technocrats, crooks, oppressors, and revolutionaries who inhabit a glorious all-American nightmare that's just around the corner. Welcome to FUTURELAND.
Whispers in the Dark (e-book)
A young African-American genius searches for God with the tools of cutting-edge science. From the Futureland series of speculative fiction short stories.
