Between Dystopias: The Road To Afropantheology

by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Joshua Omenga

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.

Between Dystopias: The Road To 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.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Essays

243 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2023

About the author

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is an African speculative fiction writer, editor, & publisher from Nigeria. He is a Nebula, Nommo, Otherwise and British Fantasy award winner, and a Hugo, Locus, Sturgeon & BSFA finalist. He edited the first ever Year's Best African Speculative Fiction anthology, the Bridging Worlds non-fiction anthology, co-edited Dominion, & the Africa Risen anthology. He founded Jembefola Press and the Emeka Walter Dinjos Memorial Award For Disability In Speculative Fiction

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology is a unique blend of short fiction and essays that explore and are rooted in African mystical and spiritual traditions. As explained in the introduction, the term Afropantheology (pantheology meaning “the study of gods, religions, and the bodies of knowledge associated with them”) is coined here to describe stories that cannot rightly or respectfully be considered “fantasy” given that such stories present knowledges passed down by spiritual leaders and lore keepers.

I was very happy to receive a copy of this book having previously enjoyed two excellent collections edited or co-edited by Ekpeki: Africa Risen and The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021). The interspersing of short essays tackling such topics as supporting marginalized creators in their publishing endeavours and the politics of dystopia and ‘escapism’ in fiction with short stories, novelettes, and novellas invites reading the stories not only as stories (which are excellent), but with a thoughtful consideration of their context. Some prior knowledge of African religious and spiritual traditions would be an asset for a reader, but is not required to appreciate this collection.

An excellent collection all around — highly recommend.

Thank you to the authors, NetGalley, Arc Manor, & CAEZIK SF & Fantasy for providing an ARC in exchange for this review.

[Andrew Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ekpeki and Omenga, through their conceptualization of “Afropantheology,” exhibit brilliant original thinking about the relationships among different cosmologies originating in African contexts and their shifting within and across various African lifeways. (Did I mention that the stories here are top-rate?)

A must-read for SFF audiences, esp. Afrofuturists and African and Afrofuturist SFF fans.

[Lisa Grønsund]

I received an advanced digital copy of this book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review consideration.

RTC

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting collection of fiction and essays exploring fantasy and science fiction dystopias with a very African focus on mythology and culture. Informative and the stores are really great too. Highly recommended

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Emmanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an ARC for this great collection..

As a Nigerian, reading Ogenechovwe and Uchenna diving into the world of Afropantheology made me happy.
So here are my thoughts;
The witching hour: 3.5 🌟
Mannequin challenge: 3 🌟
City of the dead: 5🌟( I really love this one.)
Phial of Olodumare: 5 🌟 (this is beyond fantasy, time travel. This is metaphysics)
Ife-Iyoku: 4🌟 ( I've read this one before, and I am glad I read it again.
A dance with the ancestors: 2🌟( I couldn't understand what's happening.)
O2 Arena: 3 🌟( I do appreciate Ekpeki depiction of a nearby future but I felt some scenes were not needed.)

Not going to list the others but I loved the last two stories and the essay. I will really love to see more Afropantheology collections.
In summary. I rate the book 4🌟

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat of a mixed bag, as is so often the case with anthologies. Though in this case I can't blame it on simply liking or not liking a given author, since there are only two in the collection and both have some better and some worse works. Generally what I find appealing in the works is anything that provides insight into a different cultural perspective. Some of the stories manage to do that, but for some the perspective just feels too opaque, no way to bridge the gap in understanding. And even when there is interesting insight, the story containing it is often poorly constructed or somewhat confusing, or just awkwardly dumps a bunch of information at you.

Some other minor points: the title and the introduction strongly indicate a larger, pan-African focus; but there are only two authors, both based in Nigeria, so that is much more aspirational than actual. Also, I cannot find credit for the cover art. It isn't the greatest art ever, but I kind of like it and would want to know more about it, so it is disappointing that there isn't any credit for artist or cover design or anything that I can find in the book.

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What was really interesting was that even when the stories were grounded firmly in this world they felt both old and modern. This collection has a great variety of ideas, and the stories brought me to unexpected places. I appreciated the personal information about the authors just as much, because it was so new to me. I don't know much about modern Africa and this made it personal.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

[Fiona Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating volume, exploring, through fiction and essays, a new way of looking at fantasy/fantastika works from the African continent and diasporas. They provide context for works which can't really be described as "Afrofuturism", yet address global concerns from an African perspective through mythological and spiritual themes. Full disclosure: I received a review copy of this book.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read as usual. I love the short stories taken from our rich store of African folklore, and I dare say some are real. Hehehehe. Enjoy!

Pay no attention to the fake one stars.

[DIARRHEA BUBBLEBATH · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book

[Dorothy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ekpeki is always engaging. I look forward to reading more of his work as a writer, and his choices as an anthology editor, for many years to come.