It seems to me the phenomenon is predominantly black. Rodriguez's
Devil's Mambo was marketed as a conventional crime fiction novel and,
in any event, I don't think there are enough authors from other
ethnic groups deliberately writing "ethnic genre fiction." Likewise,
they are not being marketed as such nor they have their own section
at Borders and other bookstores like "urban fiction" does.
Based on what I've seen -titles like "Gangsta 4 Life" and authors
like "Thugalicious," not to mention the covers and overall
presentation- I'm not really impressed. Nonetheless, if these books
are being read by someone, especially an untapped market, I think
it's a welcome development.
-Gonzalo.
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "jacquesdebierue"
<jacquesdebierue@...> wrote:
>
> From this Wikipedia description, it not only involves blacks but
also
> people from other groups. If it were called "street literature"
there
> would be no euphemism, I think. Urban still means from the city,
> though given the state of many American cities... maybe these kids
are
> on to something.
>
> Wiki:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fiction
>
> If there are worthy or promising hardboiled or noir authors of
street
> lit, perhaps we should take a look, no?
>
> Best,
>
> mrt
>
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