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Michael Gonzales
Essayist/short story writer Michael A. Gonzales has written about books for Longreads, Catapult and The Paris Review. Once dubbed “the hip-hop Chester Himes,” his fiction has appeared in The Root, Art Decades Bronx Biannual, Crime Factory, The Darker Mask and Black Pulp. In addition, Gonzales has written about pop culture, visual art and film for The Village Voice, New York, Wax Poetics, HYCIDE, Pitchfork, Newark Bound and Vibe. Upcoming projects includes work in Sticking it to the Man: Revolution and Counter Culture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950-1980 edited Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre, Black Pulp II edited by Gary Phillips and Tommy Hancock, and Gimme the Loot edited by Gabino Iglesias.
A New York State of Mind: The Unexpected Bonding Powers of Billy Joel's Melancholy Noir
Michael Gonzales finds a lifeline to a city, a soundtrack for grief, and a way of remembering his father.
Bone, Blood & Bigots: On 'The Liberation of L.B. Jones'
A 1965 novel about racial injustice and police brutality in the Deep South was hailed by critics and made into a major movie. The story would haunt its author until the bitter end.
Money Ain’t a Thang: 'Paid in Full' and the Culture That Rose out of New York's Crack Era
In the 1980s, the city was ravaged by a new drug. But a new culture, born of the same streets, was on the rise, too.
Soul Assassin: The Brief Life and Death of Jerome Johnson
In 1971, somebody hired a young Black man to assassinate an Italian mafia boss. Five decades later, the mystery continues.
Brooklyn Bad Boyz:
The Night I Was Shot
In 2011, Michael Gonzales was shot on his doorstep in Brooklyn. Unexpectedly, the bullet traced back to a legendary hip-hop feud.
The Strange Story of Richard Wright’s Lost Crime Novel, Savage Holiday
In 1954, at the height of his fame, Wright published a thriller with a white psychotic hero. The literary world did not approve.
A Brief History of the Heroes of Black Pulp
Finding inspiration and representation in the slam-bang cool of Black Pulp, past & present.
The Groundbreaking Art of
Jim Steranko
How a maverick artist's dark vision transformed the comics world and ushered in the graphic novel
I Was a Teenage (Wannabe) Horror Writer
The world of 1970s horror comics was wild and strange. And a 14 year-old kid could get a meeting with just about anyone.
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