Mazywood

by Due, Tananarive · 2026

When acclaimed filmmaker Johnny returns to his late grandmother Mazelle Washington’s secluded cabin in the California mountains, he expects a quiet retreat—but the shadows of Old Hollywood are waiting. Mazelle, a Black star who dazzled alongside legends like Lena Horne and Clark Gable in the 1920s‑40s, left behind a secret rage that has festered for generations. As Johnny delves into family archives and flashbacks to Mazelle’s rise and the brutal politics of the silver screen, a hidden monster—born of that very fury—stirs in the woods of Mazywood. The novel weaves three generations of love, ambition, and trauma into a literary thriller that explores the cost of fame, the weight of inherited trauma, and the darkness that can linger long after the lights go out.