try the beats (beatnik movement in the 60's)... kerouac, ginsberg, fante, etc... or edgar alan poe, emily [bleep]inson, tenessee williams, flanery o'connor(short stories) or hemingway, paul auster, anne rice, stephen king, hawthorne and thoureau (i dont like them, lol) or poetry books: sylvia plath, modern poets(lots of good african- americans) sry i listed too many, but im a literature teacher...