Yet Lazarus had been looking for something. He couldn’t articulate it, but in the bowels of his belly, in every pore of his being, he knew it was out there. The desire had tumbled around in his soul until, at age 50, it simply wouldn’t be denied. He discovered that the pain of life hadn’t been in pondering things; it had been in not knowing. Thus his dream: to spend his latter years knowing, creating things of substance, constructing a life of meaning. He’d had enough of emptiness and counterfeit joy. He wanted the real thing, and he wanted it now.

About the Author

About the Author

Photograph by Kenneth Thompson

Daniel Omotosho Black was raised in Blackwell, Arkansas, and now teaches at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned the Ph.D. in African American Studies from Temple University, then returned to Clark Atlanta as a professor with hopes of inspiring young black minds to believe in themselves. His heart’s desire is to write literature that celebrates the African American presence in America and teaches the world how to be more human. He is the author of Twelve Gates to the City, Perfect Peace, They Tell Me of a Home, and The Sacred Place. You can sign up for email updates here.

Other Books by Daniel Black

Also by Daniel Black

They Tell Me of a Home

The Sacred Place

Perfect Peace

Twelve Gates to the City

Praise

“The Coming is powerful. And beautiful.… This is a work to be proud of.”

—Charles Johnson, National Book Award Winner for Middle Passage

“Part homage to the proud and diverse cultures of Africa, part nightmare of the people stolen from those lands, THE COMING seduces us with poetry, then breaks our hearts, but ultimately inspires us to celebrate the indomitable soul of humanity.”

—George Weinstein, author of Hardscrabble Road

“History as horror story, horror story as fable, fable as fervent prayer. Daniel Black’s mesmerizing novel, The Coming, is all three simultaneously.”

—Victor LaValle, author of The Devil in Silver

“Dr. Black brings to life a clear picture of inhumanity and its far-reaching impact.”

—Clifton L. Taulbert, author of Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored and Eight Habits of the Heart

“This eloquent retelling sets the reader deep within the heart of enslavement’s trauma in a powerful recasting of our world’s monstrosity.”

—Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University

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