Excerpt from Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Yes, sir!" snapped Hews.

"The Yankee buckra at Fortress Freedom just like those Copperheads in the North think all we're fit for is building up gun emplacements and hauling off their shit. Well, that ain't what you ran off from the farm to do. Today we show them different. Today we're soldiers. We wield the guns."

The Express rounded a bend just then and a wharf came into view. We all went quiet, for we'd arrived at the site of our mission.

Out on the prow, Wild and Draper scrutinized the landing spot. I pushed past my men and descended the narrow stairs to the hold and called into the splay-lit dark. "Ready up below! We land in ten minutes!"

Excerpted from Black Cloud Rising copyright © 2022 David Wright Faladé. Used by permission of Atlantic Monthly Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, Inc. All rights reserved.