P. was born in New York and spent most of his childhood in Houston. He is the author of the novellas The Black God's Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015, which have won awards and been nominated for Hugo and Sturgeon awards. His work has appeared in print anthologies such as Griots, Hidden Youth, and Clockwork Egypt, as well as online publications such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. He won a Nebula and a Locus award for his short story The Hidden Lives of the Nine Black Negro Teeth of Washington (Fireside Fiction). He's also a founder member of FIYAH Literary Magazine and a rare Strange Horizons reviewer.