Blue, Treasure E.

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Blue, Treasure E.

PERSONAL:

Children: four.

CAREER:

Firefighter, writer, and screenwriter. New York City Fire Department, New York, NY, supervising fire inspector in the Bronx. Military service: Served in the U.S. military.

MEMBER:

American Studies Association.

WRITINGS:

Harlem Girl Lost: A Novel, One World Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

In his first book, Harlem Girl Lost: A Novel, Treasure E. Blue tells the story of Silver Jones and her prostitute mother, Jessie. Jessie tells her daughter about her life as a prostitute because she wants Silver to avoid similar pitfalls. Silver then winds up living with her pitiless grandmother after Jessie is murdered. Eventually, Silver leaves her grandmother's home to live with a friend who is a transvestite, and she ultimately finds herself living on the streets of Harlem while trying to help her troubled friend Chance. The two become a couple, but Chance leaves Silver when Silver wins a scholarship to college. As the years pass, Silver graduates from medical school and returns to her old neighborhood where she once again encounters Chance and becomes engaged to him only on the promise that he will stop dealing drugs. When Chance must face a rival drug dealer, Silver comes to his rescue with a daring plan carried out with the aid of some old friends from Harlem.

Critical response to the book was mostly positive. "Blue's story is another great addition to the urban-drama genre," wrote Lillian Lewis in Booklist. Referring to Harlem Girl Lost as "a lurid, gripping debut," a Kirkus Reviews contributor also noted that "it's hard not to root for his feisty heroine, who never once plays the victim." Writing in Publishers Weekly, another reviewer noted: "The episodic story line … moves briskly and assuredly."