Waiting in Vain

WAITING IN VAIN
A WASHINGTON POST CRITIC’S CHOICE

“Erotic and sensual … the prose is passionate, sexual, and honest.”

—Today’s Black Woman

“Channer’s novel is a wonderful read. It achieves what the best novels should: it takes you outside of yourself and into a world that has been crafted by the author, a world that engulfs you and fully engages you.… Channer is a writer of splendid technical gifted-ness—he relishes language, enjoys the seductive role of the storyteller, and weaves his tale with a certain glee and exuberance that is quite contagious.”

—Weekly Gleaner

“Colin Channer’s writing style … places him as a top contender in the category of contemporary writers.”

—Los Angeles Sentinel

“Channer [is] a writer endowed with a special gift of language; he possesses a painter’s eye … Like Jean Toomer, Channer knows how to tap the rhythm of the pastoral without becoming too somnolent; and unlike the traditional novels of the past, Waiting in Vain is a witty, contemporary book full of well-developed, believable characters.”

—New York Amsterdam News

SATISFY MY SOUL

“Channer’s writing is lushly descriptive … A richly textured love story, culminating in a shocking and unexpected turn of events, Satisfy My Soul explores themes of mysticism, eroticism, and spirituality.”

—Air Jamaica Skywritings

“Channer’s tale is wildly entertaining, erotic and sensual. It is not another black love story; it is a compelling exploration of the deeper meaning of love, the question of faith, and the long reach of history.”

—The Philadelphia Tribune

“Sizzling … wildly entertaining … a smoldering love story with tantalizing dialogue and gritty text … Channer’s mastery of descriptive verse and strong voice are compelling.”

—Black Issues Book Review

“A stunning novel of extraordinary power … highly recommended.”

—Quarterly Black Review

PASSING THROUGH

“Jumping into Passing Through, the third book by Jamaican American author Colin Channer, is akin to visiting a foreign country and sampling its exotic cuisine and unique culture. The communication of that shared experience, in all its perplexing, often disturbing beauty, is what Channer has clearly mastered here.”

—The Virginian-Pilot

“Colin Channer’s collection of short stories form a beautiful mosaic depicting the fictional Caribbean island of San Carlos, and how it transforms over the course of the twentieth century. Emotionally challenging and poetically rendered, Passing Through is a sexy getaway on every page.”

—Odyssey Couleur

“Set on the fictional San Carlos, ‘an island fascinated by the subtleties of blood,’ this imaginative collection chronicles 100 years in the life of a community of interrelated characters … Channer is a gifted storyteller. He marshals the weighty themes of love, sex, race, class and progress into an epic and vibrant narrative.”

—The Washington Post

“The work is a collection of linked stories that feel more sophisticated than anything else he has written, spanning the lives of men and women of various hues caught in the web of race over space and time … In Passing Through, and in all his work, Channer exhibits a remarkable ability to depict intimacy between black men and women. Probably no other novelist writing today produces such genuine and intoxicating portraits of black lovers. Indeed, it is difficult to find images of loving black couples anywhere in the media today.”