A F R I C A R E V I S I T E D
AFROPANTHEOLOGY AND THE BEST OF
AFRICAN SPECULATIVE FICTION
Afropantheology is a portmanteau of Afro and Pantheology. Pantheology is the study of gods, religions, and the bodies of knowledge associated with them. Afropantheology, thus, is the study of African (and African-descended) religions, gods, and the bodies of knowledge associated with them. It captures the gamut of African works which, though having fantasy elements, are additionally imbued with the African spiritual realities.
African literary scholars and storytellers have long grappled with the incompatibility of stories of African mysticism with the extant literary labels which seem to erase or dismiss essential aspects of African mysticism in their definitions. Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology takes a stab at this age-old problem that cuts across the continent's non-monolithic literature rooted in religion and culture. Afropantheology encapsulates the essence and value of African mysticism and dystopia through its award winning and original stories that cut across forms—essays, short stories, novelettes and novellas. It acknowledges the continent’s history in its inexorable journey through time’s spiral, from its origins to the present and into the future. ‘Mother’s Love, Father’s Place’, captures a ‘dark’ moment in the history of certain parts of Africa where the culture forbade the birthing of twins. 02 Arena, on the hand, is a contemporary ‘dystopic’ reality. The Witching Hour reflects the apprentice system in the voodoo practice still extant in many parts of Africa. ‘The Deification of Igodo’ is a tale of creation of deities from among the ancestors in African cosmology. ‘A Dance with the Ancestors’ tells of the interconnection between the world of the living and the world of the dead. And ‘Land of the Awaiting Birth’ is a mystic tale of the link between the born and the unborn in African cosmology.
Publication Date: October 24, 2023
The world's first ever “year’s best” anthology of African speculative fiction. Edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction collects twenty-nine stories by twenty-five writers, which the press describes as “some of the most exciting voices, old and new, from Africa and the diaspora, published in 2020.”
The anthology includes stories from Somto O. Ihezue, Pemi Aguda, Russell Nichols, Tamara Jerée, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tobias S. Buckell, Inegbenoise O. Osagie, Tobi Ogundiran, Chinelo Onwualu, Moustapha Mbacké Diop, Marian Denise Moore, Michelle Mellon, C.L. Clark, Eugen Bacon, Craig Laurence Gidney, Makena Onjerika, T.L. Huchu, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Derek Lubangakene, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, WC Dunlap, ZZ Claybourne, and Dilman Dila. As Ekpeki notes, the announcement also includes a list of twenty-one additional notable stories from 2020—an excellent further reading list once you’ve finished the book.
Ekpeki is the author of “The Witching Hour,” which won a 2019 Nommo award, and the co-editor of two other forthcoming anthologies: the nonfiction collection Bridging Worlds: Global Conversations on Creating Pan-African Speculative Literature in a Pandemic (with Zelda Knight) and the speculative fiction collection Africa Risen (with Zelda Knight and Sheree Renée Thomas).
Publication Date: April 4, 2023
“You are bound to be wonderstruck.”—Lightspeed Magazine
“A must-read.”—Locus Magazine
“Highly recommended.”—The British Fantasy Society
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This is the follow up to the highly acclaimed The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021 which collected twenty-nine stories by twenty-five writers, which the press describes as “some of the most exciting voices, old and new, from Africa and the diaspora, published in the 2020 year.”
This new anthology introduces three two new editors who join award-winning writer and editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki of teh first to introduce readers to an ever more diverse set of writers associated with Africa.
Ekpeki is the author of “The Witching Hour,” which won a 2019 Nommo award, and the co-editor of two other forthcoming anthologies: the nonfiction collection Bridging Worlds: Global Conversations on Creating Pan-African Speculative Literature in a Pandemic (with Zelda Knight) and the speculative fiction collection Africa Risen (with Zelda Knight and Sheree Renée Thomas). For the new anthology he is joining forces with Eugen Bacon, a 2022 World Fantasy Award finalist and Milton Davis, an award-winning Black Speculative fiction write and editor.
Publication Date: August 1, 2023
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KEY CONTRIBUTORS/EDITORS
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is an African speculative fiction writer, editor & publisher in Nigeria. He has won the Nommo award twice, and an Otherwise and British Fantasy award. His novelette “02 Arena” won the Nebula award, and is a Hugo award finalist, making him the first African to be a Nebula best novelette winner and Hugo best novelette finalist. The thought-provoking piece was also a finalist for British Science Fiction, British Fantasy and Nommo awards. He edits The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction anthology series, which he's the first African Hugo award best editor finalist for Volume One. He’s the first BIPOC to be a Hugo award finalists in fiction and editing categories in the same year, and The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction Volume One anthology he edited and published is also a Locus, British Fantasy and World Fantasy award finalist. His works of fiction and non-fiction have appeared, and are forthcoming, in Asimov's, Tordotcom, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Galaxy's Edge, and more. He co-edited the Dominion anthology, Africa Risen anthology, and is a guest of honour at the forthcoming 2022 Cancon and 2023 International Conference for the Fantastic In The Arts (ICFA).
Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author of several novels and fiction collections. She's a 2022 World Fantasy Award finalist, and was announced in the honor list of the 2022 Otherwise Fellowships for “doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction.” Eugen's short story collection, Danged Black Thing by Transit Lounge Publishing was a finalist in the British Science Fiction Association, Foreword Indies, Aurealis and Australian Shadows awards. Her creative work has appeared in literary and speculative fiction publications worldwide, including Award Winning Australian Writing, Fantasy Magazine, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction. Her books in 2022: Mage of Fools (novel), Chasing Whispers (collection) and An Earnest Blackness (essays). Visit her website at eugenbacon.com and Twitter @EugenBacon.
Milton Davis is an award winning Black Speculative fiction writer and owner of MVmedia, LLC, a publishing company specializing in science fiction and fantasy based on African/African Diaspora history, culture and traditions. Milton is the author of thirty novels and short story collections: his most recent the Sword and Soul adventure Eda Blessed II. Milton is also a contributing author to Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, published by Marvel and Titan Books, and co-author of Hadithi & the State of Black Speculative Fiction with Eugen Bacon. He is the editor and co-editor of ten anthologies; Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL; Cyberfunk!; The City, Dark Universe and Dark Universe: The Bright Empire with Gene Peterson; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology, the Steamfunk! anthology, and the Dieselfunk! anthology with Balogun Ojetade. Milton’s work had also been featured in Black Power: The Superhero Anthology and Rococoa published by Roaring Lions Productions; Skelos 2: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, Steampunk Writers Around the World published by Luna Press; Heroika: Dragoneaters published by First Perseid Press, Bass Reeves Frontier Marshal Volume Two, and Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire. Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade won the 2014 Urban Action Showcase Award for Best Script. Milton’s story “The Swarm” was nominated for the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction and his story, “Carnival,” has been nominated for the 2020 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction. His story, “The Monsters of Mena Ngai,” appears in the Marvel Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda anthology. Milton is a 2022 recipient of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention Lifetime Pioneer Achievement Award.
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