In downtown Houston, a teenage boy hustles for an older pimp and navigates an increasingly intimate relationship with one of his clients. He also keeps the pimp’s HIV diagnosis a secret from the rest of their crew.

When a young man attempts to prove himself to a gang he wants to join by stealing money from a local bar, he fails miserably multiple times and ends up involving other men in his failures.

A gang of mobsters runs a risky errand for their boss. After they botch an attempt to one-up their biggest rival, the men begin to turn against each other.

In order to pay off his debts to a Chinese triad, a gambling addict is forced to work as a deliveryman for the triad leader.

The stress of poverty drives a young man to commit a robbery. But when the deal goes south and someone is shot, he must hide from the law at his brother's place.

In the 1990s, a 19-year-old aspiring actor-turned-construction worker develops an affinity for crack cocaine, making him doubt the promise of his future.

Al Roosten, a local business owner always second-best to his competitor, Larry Donfrey, contemplates returning to an anti-drug charity event to ensure that Donfrey is able to help his disabled daughter.

In this excerpt from a longer piece of work, multiple characters' lives intersect near an interplanetary brothel.

In the suburbs of LA, a brother-sister duo hope to reach fame through appropriating Black hip hop culture. While at first successful, a series of missteps cause them to confront the tensions between their Asian identity and the Black people they seek to emulate.

A young man who went broke moves back to Chicago and lives in his aunt's basement. Meanwhile, he becomes a roofer where he is exposed to a spectrum of poverty, racism, and power among his colleagues.