Mr. Pender

It’s the summer of 2019, and Professor Pi Suleman is a Black man from Memphis with a lot to endure - not only as a Black man in Trump’s America but in his hard-earned career as an adjunct professor. Pi is constantly forced to bite his tongue in the face of one of his tenured colleague’s prejudices and microaggressions. At the same time, he’s being blackmailed by a powerful professor who threatens to claim he has assaulted her, when in fact the truth is just the opposite, trapping him in a he-said-she-said with a white woman that, in this society, Pi knows he will never win.

Dr. Cohen Carlson knows all about temptation. Twice before, he’d given in when Dee Lewis, his younger sister’s best friend, decided to seduce him. But he can’t let it happen again. As much as he wants her, he knows he can’t give Dee the love she wants, the love she deserves. He went down that road once before, and the pain left a deep scar. He refuses to give love another try. Not even for Dee.

They call themselves the Blackbirds. Kwanzaa Browne, Indigo Abdulrahaman, Destiny Jones, and Ericka Stockwell are four best friends who are closer than sisters, and will go to the ends of the earth for one another. Yet even their deep bond can’t heal all wounds from their individual pasts, as the collegiate and post-collegiate women struggle with their own demons, drama, and desires.

"Driver" is an ex-con trying to make his life right but who shares an expensive secret and a past affair with his boss' wife - a woman who is nothing but trouble. Dickey's rich characters make listeners feel as if they are present in the hustle-filled pool hall, the bedroom, and the Lincoln Town Car in which "Driver" chauffeurs his wealthy and notorious clients around.