DEBUT

NOVEL

WATERMELON SUMMERS

A Ceremonial Autoethnography by MR. TOMONOSHi!
“EVERYTHANG’S SWEETER AND A LIL MO SPIRITUAL IN THE SOUTH.” 

WATERMELON SUMMERS
WATERMELON SUMMERS
$40.00

WATERMELON SUMMERS is a Southern Afrofuturist coming-of-age novel by MR. TOMONOSHi—a lyrical, ceremonial autoethnography blending fiction, memory, and Black theological imagination. Framed as a field journal, it explores family, ritual, and emotional inheritance through the eyes of Coltrane Johnson III. A sacred record of Black life in the South. A spiritual archive disguised as a novel.

“WATERMELON SUMMERS offers us a most unique perspective on black life and creativity.

MR. TOMONOSHi, moves between parable, reflections, hard truths and comedy to offer us a whole human being. His wit is a balm..”

— Theaster Gates

HIGHLY COVETED

Sermons the congregation refuses to let go.

THE TOMONOSHi WAY THE TOMONOSHi WAY
THE TOMONOSHi WAY
$28.00

  • The TOMONOSHi Way: A Philosophy for a More Playful Life

    The TOMONOSHi Way is a path for the seekers, the wonderers, and the adventurers—those who have never felt fully at home within the expected, and instead carve their own way forward.

    This philosophy invites those who color outside the lines, not in rebellion, but in the belief that life can be shaped into something more joyful, more curious, and more expansive.

    It is for the doers, the makers, the ones who see light even in the darkest corners—the individuals who weave beauty into existence, who find wonder in simplicity, who bring laughter to moments when only silence was expected.

    The TOMONOSHi Way is about embracing curiosity, exploring without hesitation, and daring to unearth meaning where others may not search.

    It is for those who create with their own hands—not waiting for the world to offer them what they seek, but choosing to build it themselves.

    This philosophy does not dictate what to think, but offers a more playful, expansive way to engage with life.

    It is not a rigid structure, but a perspective—one that sees possibility where others see limitation, one that welcomes adventure, one that embraces betterment not as an achievement, but as a way of moving through the world.

    If you’ve ever wondered about yourself—your place, your purpose, your journey—then The TOMONOSHi Way is already yours.

    This is the Way.

    • Publisher ‏ : ‎ TOMONOSHi

    • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 14, 2025

    • Language ‏ : ‎ English

    • Print length ‏ : ‎ 436 pages

    • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1948760037

    • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1948760034

    • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds

    • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 18 years

    • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1.09 x 8 inches

WATERMELON SUMMERS
WATERMELON SUMMERS
$40.00
BLACK THOUGHTS BLACK THOUGHTS
BLACK THOUGHTS
$22.00

  • MR. TOMONOSHi!’s BLACK THOUGHTS: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS is an uncompromising exploration of Black American Futurism, resistance, innovation, and the elevation of Black thought. This book does not seek permission—it reclaims the narrative, dismantles historical distortions, and reimagines the Black future on its own terms.

    Through a series of bold and thought-provoking essays, MR. TOMONOSHi! confronts systemic erasure, economic exclusion, and the persistent framing of Black genius within whiteness. From the mislabeling of Black innovators as secondary to their white counterparts, to the financial structures that keep Black businesses in perpetual development, this book exposes how systems work against Black success while affirming that Black futurism is the blueprint for radical transformation.

    This work does not simply reflect on history—it challenges perspectives, reshapes narratives, and demands new action. It examines the relationship between Black ingenuity and survival, Black ownership and liberation, Black consumerism and economic power, all while rejecting the constraints imposed by whiteness as the default measure of excellence.

    MR. TOMONOSHi! stands among the great Black thinkers who came before—Carter G. Woodson, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Angela Davis, and many more—and builds upon the legacy of their ideas. Yet, the future imagined decades ago is not the future we need today. This collection reclaims futurism as a living, evolving force, adapting to the demands of now and the possibilities of tomorrow.

    This book is not here to persuade—it is here to declare.
    This work is not a request—it is a demand.
    The future is brighter—because it is Black.

    • Publisher ‏ : ‎ TOMONOSHi LLC

    • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 11, 2025

    • Language ‏ : ‎ English

    • Print length ‏ : ‎ 222 pages

    • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1948760053

    • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1948760058

    • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.7 ounces

    • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.56 x 8 inches

  • Watermelon Summers

    A Ceremonial Autoethnography by MR. TOMONOSHi!

    Watermelon Summers is a Southern Afrofuturist coming-of-age hymn—tuned with mythic intimacy, lyrical surrealism, and emotional inheritance. Framed as a field journal from the TOMONOSHi! Storytelling Academy, it blends fiction and anthropology, memory and imagination, testimony and transformation.

    Through the eyes of Coltrane Johnson the Third, we enter a summer soaked in sweat, laughter, grief, and gospel. Cousins become comrades. Watermelons become metaphors. The bayou becomes a portal. What begins as a writing assignment becomes a sacred odyssey—where family rituals, arcade battles, and front-porch wisdom blur the line between the real and the divine.

    MR. TOMONOSHi writes not as a distant observer, but as a mythic participant—an ethnographer of the everyday, a witness to the sacred in the sweat. Like Zora Neale Hurston before him, he enters the story with reverence and rhythm, documenting how Black families pass down wisdom through food, labor, laughter, and love. Watermelon Summers is not just fiction—it’s fieldwork. A lyrical archive of spiritual inheritance, tuned with ceremony, memory, and Southern surrealism.

    Rooted in the tradition of Black theological imagination, Watermelon Summers explores how spirit moves through memory, family, and everyday ritual. MR. TOMONOSHi treats theology not as doctrine, but as lived inheritance—where laughter becomes liturgy, grief becomes gospel, and cousin-coded chaos becomes sacred choreography. He listens for the sermon in the labor, the scripture in the soil, and the divine in the details. This is theology as testimony. As rhythm. As ritual.

    Watermelon Summers is a cultural artifact.
    A sacred record of Black life in the South.

    • Publisher ‏ : ‎ TOMONOSHi LLC

    • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 7, 2025

    • Language ‏ : ‎ English

    • Print length ‏ : ‎ 828 pages

    • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1948760118

    • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1948760119

    • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.79 pounds

    • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 1.87 x 9.25 inches

SERMONS SERVED

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The TOMONOSHi! gospel has crossed borders and carried its rhythm into classrooms, living rooms, and sacred spaces around the world.

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0FFERINGS

ABOUT MR. TOMONOSHi!

MR. TOMONOSHi wearing sunglasses and a beanie hat with a pom-pom, dressed in a black long-sleeve shirt, crossing his arms against a plain wall.

MR. TOMONOSHi is a multidisciplinary author, illustrator, and educator whose pedagogical practice rooted in emotional inheritance, cultural ritual, and Black sociological imagination.

The founder of TOMONOSHi! Publishing—the home of his ceremonial philosophy, the TOMONOSHi Gospel.

His work is a celebration of the fantastical whimsy of Black life, a poetic excavation of ancestral memory through emotional archaeology, and a living form of Black American Futurism. Through books, performance, and ritual storytelling, MR. TOMONOSHi crafts mythic infrastructure for legacy, healing, and imaginative expansion—equipping generations to remember, imagine, and reimagine.