board a Philadelphia commuter train, intruding
their black proud selves in a space where they are
obviously being gazed on as outsiders, Weaver’s
speaker celebrates their pride, determination, and
refusal to be erased or merely denoted as “other.”
Perhaps more important, they remind him of his
own youth, causing him to identify with them:
“Into the train come the smooth faces / of young
black men with too big pants / and too little time.
They bring a din / with the bravado of wearing
dark skin.”
The founder of a small press and the literary
magazine Blind Alleys, as well as the editor of
Obsidian II, Weaver has received several awards,
including an NEA Fellowship, a Pew Fellowship,
a National Endowment for the Arts award, the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts award, and a
PDI Award for his play Elvira and the Lost Prince.
His short story “By the Way of Morning Fire” was
included in GLORIA NAYLOR’s Children of the Night.
Weaver is currently on the faculty of Simmons
College in Boston, Massachusetts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gabbin, Joanne V., ed. Furious Flower, African Ameri-
can Poetry from the Black Arts Movement to the
Present. Charlottesville: University of Virginia
Press, 2004.
Wilfred D. Samuels
Weber, Carl (1970– )
Together with ERIC JEROME DICKEY, MARCUS MAJOR,
E. LYNN HARRIS, ZANE, and COLIN CHANNER, Carl
Weber tops the list of a new group of African-
American best-selling authors whose propensity
“to tell it like it is” has made them appealing to
popular and hip-hop cultures. His inner-city love/
erotica novels satisfy the taste of readers who want
to read but, rather than undergo the rigorous en-
gagement demanded by novelists like TONI MOR-
RISON, prefer to laugh, be entertained, eavesdrop
on the couple next door, circulate gossip about the
pastor, and get the inside scoop on the real life of
a player. As he told Leah Mullen in an interview,
Weber caters to readers who want books with
“page after page of pure, unadulterated drama.”
The titles of his first three novels—Lookin’ for Luv
(2000), Married Men (2001), and Baby Momma
Drama (2003)—confirm that he is intent on meet-
ing their needs.
After receiving his B.S. degree from Virginia
State University in accounting and an M.B.A. de-
gree from the University of Virginia in marketing,
Weber opened his own bookstore, African Ameri-
can Bookstore, initially as a mail order business,
after an assignment related to starting a business
he had given his Riker’s Island students proved
to be filled with lots of possibilities. In fact, the
idea to write his first novels came from customers
who described the kinds of books they wanted to
read—books that were more relevant to their daily
experiences.
Weber’s first novel, Lookin’ for Luv, a modern
romance, was his immediate response. Lookin’
for Luv addresses the pros and cons of dating in
the 21st century through a 1–900 number. Four
friends with different tastes in women—23-year-
old Kevin (a physical education teacher who blew
his chances with the NBA), Antoine (the intellec-
tual in the group), Tyrone (a security guard and
former drug addict), and Maurice (a married man
who needs more than one woman in his life)—de-
cide to find the right partner through a phone ser-
vice, “1–900 Black Luv.” Each man’s search for a
soul mate further complicates his life in humorous
ways. This novel is filled with drama.
Married Men, his second novel, explores the ex-
periences of Kyle, Allen, Wil, and Jay, four fairly
successful married men and the various women
(mothers, lovers, girlfriends, and wives) who play
dominant roles in their lives, demanding com-
mitment and fidelity, which the four friends seem
incapable of providing. Baby Momma Drama re-
volves around the lives and loves of two sisters—
Jasmine, the older and more focused sister, and
Stephanie, who is more interested in having a good
time and maintaining various relationships. While
the older sister’s search for true love and long-termWeber, Carl 537