Going Back to Cali

African American Urban Fiction

by Omar Rashad

 

Book Details

The year is 1988. Chance Murphy, convicted of 1st Degree Murder, is paroled from Missouri to California. All his life he lived by the street code: “Anything worth living for was worth fighting for! Anything worth fighting for was worth dying for! Anything worth dying for was worth killing for!” Would his philosophy change and allow him to walk down 5 years of parole? Or would he become just another recidivism statistic or wind up with a California tag on his toe?

Going Back to Cali is the gritty urban tale of an ex-con released to the mean streets of LA in 1988. Imbued with all the racial tensions and cultural underpinnings of that time and place, author Omar Rashad's vision is a startling reminder of both how far we've come and how far we still have to go in the struggle for a truly color-blind society. At the same time, Rashad doesn't apologize for his characters and their often bad decisions and instead gives us a story of the struggle to do good while surrounded by bad. This is definitely a book worth reading and an author worth watching. "Judge, Writer's Digest 21st Annual Self-Published Book Awards"

 

Book Excerpt

New Year's Eve, 1972, crystallized in Chance Murphy's mind so clearly he could almost smell the gunpowder from the blue steel .38 caliber revolver he fired at the moon. He remembered the cold, chilling barrel pressed against his temple and the terrifying three clicks the chamber made when his trembling thumb cocked the hammer back. Seconds earlier he was mesmerized by the black hole of the barrel now nudged against his temple, that little black hole that at any second could fire hot lead into his brains and leave his body lifeless. His life was over, why not end it now! The .38 caliber muzzle felt cool against his seeping skin as the bullet waited for release. He had to pull the trigger...and he did!

 

About the Author

Omar Rashad

Omar Rashad received his Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Sociology from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO. The author attended Manual Arts H.S. in Los Angeles, CA during the Watts Riots. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, who now resides in Atlanta, GA.