Hot Fun in the Summertime–Donald Goines, Godfather of Street Fiction
By APOOO • Aug 14th, 2008 • Category: APOOO Features, Hot Fun in the Summertime •
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In honor of Hot Fun in the Summertime, APOOO is proud to salute Donald Goines, ‘Godfather of Street Fiction.’
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Any Donald Goines fans in our midst?
When did you discover Goines works?
What’s your favorite Donald Goines book?
Provided below are 10 facts about Goines; all of them are true except for one. Which one is the outlier?
- Donald Goines was born December 15, 1937 and he and his girlfriend were murdered in his apartment on October 21, 1974.
- He was raised in a middle-class family, by his father and mother, but during his teens the mean streets of Detroit called his name.
- During his lifetime he was a pimp, gambler, bootlegger, car thief and armed robber.
- He could never kick his habit and was always a heroin addict.
- His first novels were Westerns.
- He wrote 16 books in five years.
- His writing was inspired by Iceberg Slim.
- His best-sellers include Whoreson, Black Girl Lost, Street Players, White Man’s Justice but his most popular book is Dope Fiend.
- His storylines include pimps, prostitutes, gang bangers, drug dealers and addicts, prison life, ghetto living and violence, and revenge killings…but never end on a happy note.
- In 1974, he began writing a new series titled Kenyatta under the name of a friend and as a pseudonym, Al. C. Clark.
Even tho’ hip hop artist including Nas, 2Pac, Ludacris and Ghostface Killah have been influenced by Goines work, Donald Goines gets very little recognition in the literary world; but, with over 5 million books sold, he is touted by his publisher, Holloway House, as ‘America’s best-selling black author.’ Can you think of any black authors who have sold more books than Goines? Goines lived life hard and on his terms, and unfortunately he left us too soon, may he RIP.
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I didn’t read a Donald Goines book until my brother showed me one of his books. I still haven’t read all of his books yet.
Shelia’s last blog post..Friday Funny
I have read many of them back in the day, not sure about a favorite. Last summer I bought all of them for my son, he was away at school, immersed in tough language courses and I figured they would provide some relief!
angelia
Hey Angelia did your son ever get around to reading it…and if so what did he think?
He did read them, several copies and found them entertaining, I think it’s like living crazy vicariously without doing any of of that stuff….hmmm hmmm, maybe that is why young people love Street Lit, they get to keep it real, without doing any of that stuff….well darn, who knew?
angelia
Hey Angelia that’s a good analogy regarding street lit…now is that saying true for the ole heads who also read it…hehe.
xoxo
Arrested Development? Just playing,,,
angelia
Angelia–rotflmao!
Any Donald Goines fans in our midst?
ME!!
When did you discover Goines works?
I don’t remember the year, but I was living with my parents, snooping around in the attic and found a few of his books (along with some Bronze Thrills–or something like that..lol)..snuck and read them.
What’s your favorite Donald Goines book?
Black Girl Lost
Darnetta’s last blog post..I’ve been TAGGED!!!
Hey Darnetta aka fan…so which one of the statements above is false.
I’m a Donald Goines fan, but not a die-hard fan. I started reading his novels when I was in my early twenties.
Dopefiend is one of my favorites.
I’m not 100% sure but I think number one is wrong. I think he and his wife were killed, not his girlfriend.
Hey Theresa and thanks for stopping by and actually number 1 is correct; she was his girlfriend.
Okay. I’ll try again. #2 is incorrect. He joined the Armed forces and that’s when he got addicted to heroin.
LOL actually number 2 is correct…you get one more try…it’s very subtle and a lot of folks overlook it because they don’t think he was ever able to do this.
Thanks for giving me another try!
All of them seem true, but I’ll guess #9 for my final answer. I haven’t read all of his books, so I don’t know if they all had unhappy endings.
Wrong answer but since you were a good trooper here’s the answer…#4…he actually had no choice when he went to jail so he had to give up his habit because he couldn’t get heroin (surprisingly) while he was in prison.
Okay. I guess he’d have to quit since he couldn’t get the drugs.