Bwana & Bully

by Mike Resnick

Book by Resnick, Mike

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Anthologies, Africa

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 15, 1991

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Tor Double #34, of a series of 36 double books published from 1988 to 1991 by Tor Books. It contains two novellas. Unlike most of the volumes in the series, this one is not bound tête-bêche (back-to-back and inverted). There is only one cover. In this case, both are by the same author.

Bwana, by Mike Resnick (1990) *****
This was originally published in the January 1990 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. It was nominated for 1991 Locus Award in novella category. It is part of the future history of Resnick’s 1998 novel Kirinyaga, and is included there as one of its chapters.

Koriba is an elder, Earth-born and western-educated, who has led descendants of the Kikuyu to the planet Kirinyaga, to resurrect the unspoiled ways of their African ancestors. The people must bring in a Masaai hunter to stabilize animal populations, but this act destabilizes their isolationist utopia. It is a story that predates the Afrofuturism sub-genre by a good twenty years, but sits squarely in the middle of it thematically.

Bully!, by Mike Resnick (1990) ***
This was originally published in the April 1991 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. It was nominated for 1991 Locus, Hugo, and Nebula Awards in their novella categories.

This is an alternate history novel in which former US President Teddy Roosevelt is established in 1910 as leader of a newly-formed anti-colonial nation in Central Africa.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read sci-fi, usually. I don't read short stories, usually. A dear friend encouraged me to read this book - two sci-fi short stories together - and I enjoyed it very much. Both are set in Africa, well sort of. One is set on another planet where Africans have fled to maintain their traditional way of life, and the other is an alternate reality where Theodore Roosevelt took the opportunity (apparently historically offered) to become the leader of the Congo Republic.
Both a lot of food for thought. Sci-fi can push some boundaries and lead to interesting conclusions.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tor double books didn't last as long or do as well as the famous Ace line, but produced some terrific volumes nonetheless. This was one of the best; two of Resnick's masterful novellas in which he addresses two of his favorite themes, Roosevelt and Africa.

[Dan Henne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Bwana, I'm not sure what to make of of Bully

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a signed copy of this for $12 at Powell's!!!