In 1957, his first novel Corner Boy was published and Simmons was awarded a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship.
The paperback edition, which also appeared in 1958, helped to make the book popular for a number of years, resulting in respectable sales figures.
[3] His second novel, Man Walking on Eggshells appeared in 1962, supposedly as part one of a trilogy titled Destined to Free.
However, parts two and three, tentatively titled Tough Country and The Land of Nod never appeared and it is not known whether Simmons ever completed them.
[7] Simmons' two novels paint a vivid picture of life in the black ghetto prior to the civil rights movement.