y. blak moore profile picture

y. blak moore

CHICAGO'S BEST STREET LIT AUTHOR! My books are water, those of the great genuises are wine--everybod

About Me

Header Banner Made with MyBannerMaker.com! Click here to make your own! Blak spent his early childhood in various housing projects on Chicago’s Southside and at the age of five witnessed his mother’s murder. He subsequently moved around to live with various family members, but without any real supervision found himself caught up in the pitfalls of street life: drugs, gangs, and crime. Over the years Blak suffered two bullet wounds (one bullet is still lodged in his right leg), and a stab wound that punctured his left lung.Blak had always been interested in reading and writing and used it as an outlet for the pain he suffered as a child. He began a remarkable process of self-imposed rehabilitation and vowed to leave the life of crime behind him. Today he mentors disadvantaged youth growing up on the same unforgiving Chicago streets that he did.Y.Blak Moore has three children and is a lifelong resident of Chicago. His literary career started when he self-published three poetry chapbooks, THE ROSE AND THE ROTTWEILER, CIRCUMSTANCES & BULLSHIT, and CONCRETE MILK. He sold several thousand of these chapbooks from the trunk of his automobile while establishing his place in Chicago’s then burgeoning underground spoken word/poetry scene under the name: just Blak. As a spoken word artist, Blak has performed alongside many respected artists in and around Chicagoland and at several major universities including Indiana University, Columbia College, St. Xavier, and Southern Illinios University.Blak has also gained a following as a fiction writer in the increasingly popular genre of “street literature”. His first novel, TRIPLE TAKE, was published by Villard/Random House in 2003. THE APOSTLES, his second novel was published by Villard/Random in October of 2004 and his third published novel, SLIPPING, available in August of 2005, was also published by Villard/Random House.

My Interests

ABOUT TRIPLE TAKE: After serving ten years for armed robbery, Jonathan “JC” Cole is about to get out of the joint, and he has one thing on his mind: revenge against the three men-former childhood friends, now powerful crime lords-who betrayed him to save their own skins. Richard “Richkid” Kidman is a Playa with a capital P, at one time controlling a stable of twelve women. Alonzo “Zo” Johnson is one of the richest drug dealers in the Windy City. And Eugene “Lil G” Pierce ranks among the most successful con men on the East Coast.JC feels that the time has come for him to claim what is rightfully his. His misfortune was his ex-friends’ stepping-stone, and now it is time for them to pay up-in spades. He doesn’t want to kill them, he just wants to take everything away.He does this with the help of his woman, Champagne; his best friend, Rat; and Rat’s girlfriend, Shaunna. They form a family of sorts, with JC as the leader and Champagne as the fierce mother hen, together embarking on an exciting journey into the underworld of Chicago. “Triple Take explodes off the page-a blood-soaked, guns-blazing literary assault on the senses. In Triple Take, novelist Y. Blak Moore proves himself the reincarnation of Donald Goines. In the years to come, this literary prodigy may just prove himself the voice of his generation.” -David Isay, public-radio producer and co-author of Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago

I'd like to meet:

FANS OF STREET LIT/URBAN LIT/HIP-HOP LIT. Positive people on any level. Talented people. People that love and make good music. People that love and write good books. My people and others. An alien or two. A literary agent that's worth a damn. A publishing house that knows how to promote and believes in their authors.(Wishful thinking)

Music:

ABOUT THE APOSTLES: The Apostles run Chicago’s streets. Their leader, “Solemn Shawn” Terson, is the most revered-and feared-man in town. Because of his past exploits, the Apostles have a loyalty among its members that has reached mythic proportions.When Insane Wayne, a former member of the rival gang, the Governors, comes groveling for admission to the coveted Apostles, he’s quickly turned down. His reaction is violent: He shoots a Governor and plants evidence that lays the murder rap on the Apostles, setting off a bloody series of retaliations.Solemn Shawn is ready to give up the gang world. His pregnant girlfriend wants another way of life and the cops are hot on his tail; he knows the time has come to step aside. But he must fight one more street war before handing over the reins of his empire. The head of the Governors has a score to settle with Shawn that dates back to their prison days-and Shawn and the Apostles must fight or flee as the streets around them erupt in violence. . . . "Every nail-biting, adrenaline-laced, heart-racing page of The Apostles kept me on the edge of my seat." --Nikki Turner, author of The Hustler's Wife"Y. Blak Moore's The Apostles is the truth, naked and unashamed." -Solomon Jones, author of Ride Or Die

Movies:

ABOUT SLIPPING:Growing up in a Chicago ghetto, seventeen-year-old Donald “Don-Don” Haskill has nothing but time on his hands-time he rarely spends in school, choosing instead to smoke weed and hang out with friends. As a child, he witnessed his father’s suicide, and today Don-Don’s relationship with his mother, a worn-down cop trying to keep the family together is tenuous at best. Then Don-Don meets a girl with a taste for crack-and his delinquent life turns violently criminal.Consumed with chasing his next hit, alienating even his best friends, Don-Don works the streets like a pro. In pursuit of the demon, no deal is too shady. But when a huge drug transaction goes terribly awry, a bloody chain of events is set off, as Don-Don becomes a moving target, not just for the Chicago police force but for the ghetto’s most hardened thugs. . . .

Television:

I'm a Law & Order, CSI, Cold Case Files, First 48, Orange County Choppers, Biker Build Off, Forensic Files nut. I dig on the History Channel stuff too, checking out bogus dudes like Hitler and Saddam. As far as sitcoms, Everybody Loves Chris(when I can catch it) Will & Grace, Sanford & Son, A Different World, Spin City, and Seinfeld. Wish they'd bring back Samuria Sunday. Watch cartoons with my son too.

Books:

MY BOOKS: TRIPLE TAKE, THE APOSTLES, AND SLIPPING.(Shameless self-plug. What?!) .. I used to read anything that I can get my hands on, especially conspiracy stuff but I've lightened up lately. By that I mean, I only read for entertainment's sake or unless it's a requirement for something I'm working on. I don't mind having other people's regurgitated ideas in my head, but I had to get to the point when I needed to find out what I think about things like world policy or whatever for myself. FAVORITE AUTHORS: Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines. Hate them if you dare.

Heroes:

Never thought about heroes much. I admire many people like Malcolm X, Russell Simmons, Tyler Perry, the Hughes Brothers, Khari B, Zo the Alkhemist, Big Rob, people that stand for something and sacrifice much for their crafts and way of life. If I had to pick a hero or shero it would be like Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner.

My Blog

Top Friends Order

I didn't know that in Myspace etiquette the order in which a top friend is posted from left to right on your profile signifies that person's personal worth to you. In that case I have to apologize be...
Posted by y. blak moore on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:41:00 PST

Chicago ain't shit....

I keep hearing that Chicago ain't shit when it comes to supporting our own.  I'll be the first to admit that we are a bit supercool and lackluster when it comes to one of our own pursuing their g...
Posted by y. blak moore on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 06:40:00 PST

Rock music

For anybody that wants to know, yes I listen to rock music.  I listen to whatever in the fuk sounds good to me.  If there's a fly opera I like I'll listen to it.  You never know what yo...
Posted by y. blak moore on Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:25:00 PST

Psuedo cool kids

For the record some grown MFs still live like they're in high school.  Trying and hoping to be the cool kid.  Wanting to sit at the cool kid table at lunch.  Trying to hang with the coo...
Posted by y. blak moore on Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:18:00 PST

Blowing up!

Everybody that's doing something wants to blow straight up.  I've been around and seen some cats put hard work into their craft and they still aren't making it, but they're paying their dues.&nbs...
Posted by y. blak moore on Sat, 03 Jun 2006 09:46:00 PST

grown dudes messn wit lil girlz

These grown dudes messn wit these Babybops(lil girlz) really twists my niblets.  I'm 35 and there's nothin me and a teenager have in common.  Cats is so thirsty nowadayz they grown buttz are...
Posted by y. blak moore on Wed, 31 May 2006 07:13:00 PST