Payback Press

The Payback Press was a specialist imprint of Canongate Books devoted to (initially) reprints of classic black crime novels, which later branched out into contemporary black fiction. Notable authors included Chester Himes and Clarence Cooper Jr and Iceberg Slim. As with Rebel Inc., after its successful foundation in the late 1990s, it was discontinued due to a financial crisis in its parent company.

Notable books published by Payback Press

Fiction

• Black, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
• The Farm, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
• The Scene, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
• Weed & The Syndicate, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
• Howard Street, Nathan Heard
• The Harlem Cycle (Volumes 1-3), Chester Himes
• The Lonely Crusade, Chester Himes
• Not Without Laughter, Langston Hughes
• One People, Guy Kennaway
• Under African Skies, ed. by Charles Larson
• Indaba, My Children, Credo Mutwa
• Portrait of a Young Man Drowning, Charles Perry
• Giveadamn Brown, Robert Deane Pharr
• The Nigger Factory, Gil Scott-Heron
• The Vulture, Gil Scott-Heron
• Corner Boy, Herbert Simmons
• Man Walking on Eggshells, Herbert Simmons
• Death Wish, Iceberg Slim
• Airtight Willie and Me, Iceberg Slim
• Long White Con, Iceberg Slim
• Mama Black Widow, Iceberg Slim
• Trick Baby, Iceberg Slim
• Doom Fox, Iceberg Slim
• The Jones Men, Vern Smith
• Panther, Melvin Van Peebles
• One for New York, John A. Williams
• Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes, ed. by Paula L. Woods

Non-fiction

• Fight the Power, Chuck D
• The New Beats, S.H. Fernando, Jr.
• Born Fi' Dead, Laurie Gunst
• Blues People, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
• Beneath the Underdog, Charles Mingus
• Black Fire, Nelson Peery
• Black Talk, Ben Sidran
• Pimp, Iceberg Slim
• The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim, Iceberg Slim
• Space is the Place, John F. Szwed
• Sweet Sweeback's Badasssss Song, Melvin Van Peebles

Poetry

• The Fire People, ed. by Lemn Sissay

External links

• Canongate index of reviews