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MOTHERSOUND: The Sauútiverse Anthology
“The Sauútiverse is a mind-blowing, highly imaginative and deeply compelling sandbox. The wide range and excellent quality of these stories are a testament to that, offering yet another formidable trove of authors of African descent. In Mothersound, Talabi and company have offered us something seminal. This book will continue to influence the canon of Afrocentric futurisms for years to come.” — Suyi Davies Okungbowa, award-winning author of The Nameless Republic trilogy
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The Sauútiverse is the first in an exciting new Shared World series guaranteed to entertain readers and introduce them to a new world of science fiction and fantasy by talented African writers. Featuring stories set in Sauúti—an Africa-inspired science-fantasy secondary world created by Africans, for the world—this world is like Black Panther meets Wild Cards with all the rich spacefaring worldbuilding of Dune.
Sauúti, a five-planet system orbiting a binary star, is rooted deeply in a variety of African mythology, language, and culture. The Sauútiverse weaves in an intricate magic system based on the sounds of oral traditions and music, and includes science-fiction elements of artificial intelligence and space flight, including both humanoid and non-humanoid creatures.
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“Mothersound: the Sauutiverse Anthology, is a rare and distinct Afrocentric treat that hums in the unity of a collective enriched with universal storytelling and the many languages of Mother Africa.” - Nuzo Onoh, Queen of African Horror, and recipient of the 2022 Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Sauúti is filled with wonder, mystery, and magic.
Sauúti awaits you.
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“The Sauútiverse is a powerful original collective concept, and this debut anthology clearly shows collaboration can create more than the sum of its parts while remaining firmly true to its African heritage and taking that boldly into the future.” — Ivor W. Hartmann, writer and editor of AfroSF.
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Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology is first large scale production to come out of this shared world. The anthology contains short stories and novellas set in this fictional civilization based on a blend of African cultural worldviews. The anthology contains:
🪐120,000 words
🪐14 short stories and novellas
🪐Dozens of works of art
Contributing authors and artists include:
Eugen Bacon, Tobias S. Buckell, T.L. Huchu, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Somto Ihezue, Adelehin Ijasan, Stephen Embleton, Akintoba Kalejaye, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Xan Van Rooyen, Dare Segun Falowo, Eye Kay Nwaogu, J. Umeh.
Art by Stephen Embleton and Akintoba Kalejaye.
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"Fantastika at its best. The Sauútiverse invites a reader to drown in a poetic world, built with a Tolkenian attention to gripping detail, and full of creatures who excite the imagination in a dream-like rollercoaster. The illustrations are works of art in themselves, adding spice to the stories..." - Dilman Dila, internationally acclaimed and award-winning social activist, filmmaker and author.
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The Sauútiverse is the first in an exciting new Shared World series guaranteed to entertain readers and introduce them to a new world of science fiction and fantasy by talented African writers. Featuring stories set in Sauúti—an Africa-inspired science-fantasy secondary world created by Africans, for the world—this world is like Black Panther meets Wild Cards with all the rich spacefaring worldbuilding of Dune.
Sauúti, a five-planet system orbiting a binary star, is rooted deeply in a variety of African mythology, language, and culture. The Sauútiverse weaves in an intricate magic system based on the sounds of oral traditions and music, and includes science-fiction elements of artificial intelligence and space flight, including both humanoid and non-humanoid creatures.
----
“Mothersound: the Sauutiverse Anthology, is a rare and distinct Afrocentric treat that hums in the unity of a collective enriched with universal storytelling and the many languages of Mother Africa.” - Nuzo Onoh, Queen of African Horror, and recipient of the 2022 Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award.
----
Sauúti is filled with wonder, mystery, and magic.
Sauúti awaits you.
------
“The Sauútiverse is a powerful original collective concept, and this debut anthology clearly shows collaboration can create more than the sum of its parts while remaining firmly true to its African heritage and taking that boldly into the future.” — Ivor W. Hartmann, writer and editor of AfroSF.
-----
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology is first large scale production to come out of this shared world. The anthology contains short stories and novellas set in this fictional civilization based on a blend of African cultural worldviews. The anthology contains:
🪐120,000 words
🪐14 short stories and novellas
🪐Dozens of works of art
Contributing authors and artists include:
Eugen Bacon, Tobias S. Buckell, T.L. Huchu, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Somto Ihezue, Adelehin Ijasan, Stephen Embleton, Akintoba Kalejaye, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Xan Van Rooyen, Dare Segun Falowo, Eye Kay Nwaogu, J. Umeh.
Art by Stephen Embleton and Akintoba Kalejaye.
------------------------
"Fantastika at its best. The Sauútiverse invites a reader to drown in a poetic world, built with a Tolkenian attention to gripping detail, and full of creatures who excite the imagination in a dream-like rollercoaster. The illustrations are works of art in themselves, adding spice to the stories..." - Dilman Dila, internationally acclaimed and award-winning social activist, filmmaker and author.
Unknown Binding
First published November 19, 2023
8 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Wole Talabi
56 books200 followersWOLE TALABI is an engineer, writer, and editor from Nigeria. He is the author of the novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON (DAW books/Gollancz, 2023). His short fiction has appeared in places like Asimov’s Science Fiction, Lightspeed Magazine, Tor.com and is collected in CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS (DAW books, 2024) and INCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS (Luna Press, 2019). He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Nommo awards, as well as the Caine Prize for African Writing. He has edited five anthologies including a 2-volume translation anthology in Bengali, AFRICANFUTURISM (Brittlepaper, 2020) and the forthcoming MOTHERSOUND: THE SAUÚTIVERSE ANTHOLOGY (Android Press, 2023). He likes scuba diving, elegant equations, and oddly shaped things. He currently lives and works in Malaysia. Find him at wtalabi.wordpress.com and at @wtalabi on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Tiktok.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 28, 2025
The Sauútiverse is a fictional world – a solar system comprised of planets and moons in a binary star system – inspired by African mythologies, histories, and cultural ideas. It is simultaneously fantastical and science fictional, with an array of advanced technologies as well as a magical system that functions via sound. It was created by a collective of ten African authors as a shared world into which African and African diasporic authors can write and publish stories – short stories, novellas, novels – and this is the first edited anthology set in this universe.
Overall, this is a really, really good collection. Each story has a brief introduction situating it (which planet it is set on, when in the timeline it is set in relation to the other stories and major events) which helps to orient the reader – there are thousands of years spanned by the stories, and here and there they do refer to each other. There is a glossary (which I didn’t really find I needed) and a diagram of the solar system as well as a timeline diagram, and some of the stories include pictures (of main characters, ships, etc). I had read several of the authors included before and was happy to read some other authors for the first time. Inevitably, I liked some stories more than others, but there is absolutely no filler here. There is so much that I love in this collection – a compelling magical system, extraordinary world-building, diverse POVs (including some non-human ones), a wide range of themes.
Highly recommend. I’ve already picked up a novella set in the Sauútiverse and look forward to continuing to explore this world.
Check out the project and learn more about the contributors here: https://sauutiverse.net/
Content warnings: violence, death, abandonment, animal (alien) death, war, torture, murder
Overall, this is a really, really good collection. Each story has a brief introduction situating it (which planet it is set on, when in the timeline it is set in relation to the other stories and major events) which helps to orient the reader – there are thousands of years spanned by the stories, and here and there they do refer to each other. There is a glossary (which I didn’t really find I needed) and a diagram of the solar system as well as a timeline diagram, and some of the stories include pictures (of main characters, ships, etc). I had read several of the authors included before and was happy to read some other authors for the first time. Inevitably, I liked some stories more than others, but there is absolutely no filler here. There is so much that I love in this collection – a compelling magical system, extraordinary world-building, diverse POVs (including some non-human ones), a wide range of themes.
Highly recommend. I’ve already picked up a novella set in the Sauútiverse and look forward to continuing to explore this world.
Check out the project and learn more about the contributors here: https://sauutiverse.net/
Content warnings: violence, death, abandonment, animal (alien) death, war, torture, murder
Read
January 31, 2024Don't want to rate this since one of my own stories is included in this anthology, but if you're looking for an eclectic collection of science fantasy tales set in a unique and vibrant Afrocentric world, then I guarantee you'll find at least one story to love in this collection!
March 27, 2024
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology (edited by Wole Talabi) is a delve into a newly created shared world, a science-fantasy playground full of big events and small victories. Following in the footsteps of anthologies like Wild Cards and Thieves’ World, authors come together to write stories in a shared setting, this time one that spans a solar system of two stars, several planets and moons, and many millenia. Sauútiverse is unique in that it is written entirely by Africans and those in the African diaspora, with the rich culture, history and mythologies of the African continent as inspiration. It’s a bold anthology that sets the stage for thousands of potential future stories.
The Sauútiverse is built around the idea of the Mothersound, a shared mythology of the people who live there that bleeds into their magic and technology – that of the power of sounds and words to shape the world. The contributing authors manage to weave this into their stories in a variety of interesting and impactful ways providing a thematic bedrock for this setting.
The anthology starts with the creation myth, a diegetic story of how the worlds came to be (and Talabi aptly points out that there may be some narrative bias in that myth) then jumps ahead to the first cataclysm, a devastating series of solar flares that devastates the first civilisation that spread across the solar system. As the isolated planets reconnect, new power structures come into play, but most of these larger events play backdrop to more personal stories, even if one protagonist ends up directly responsible for the next disaster to befall the Sauútiverse.
The scope of the stories vary from personal journeys to powerful warriors fighting against dark forces beyond their universe, although most focus on a small amount of characters and their emotional journeys, even if they are caught up in events that might change the course of their world. It’s a great showcase of the setting as a whole, giving us glimpses or more of vastly different places, from the dangerous caverns of Ekwukwe, to earth-like Wimb-ó, to the moon of Pinaa where artificial intelligence rules and more. We meet musicians, mages (of a sort), non-human intelligences, artificial intelligences, spirits, griots and assassins, each story revealing new aspects of the setting and bringing a new tone and perspective to light. It’s this variety that makes it unique in the shared world anthologies I have read, and yet, there is a gossamer thread running through them all, the smallest of connections that while not creating a true story, make it feel a little like a world history told by a historian with indulgent favourites. As if a book on the history of humanity decided to devote a chapter to Mary Shelley or Archimedes.
As for favourites, I’m partial to The Way of Baa’gh by Cheryl S. Ntumy, the only story from the perspective of a character from a biological non-human sentient race, a character railing against the damage being done to the culture of his people by their drift towards humankind. Or Xhova by Adelehin Ijasan, the story of an AI realising the flaws within its objectives as it learns to care for the human child it is tasked with rearing. There’s also Kalabashing by J. Umeh, a story about music, a band on the brink of dissolution and what happens when they trust in themselves and each other.
One of the most exciting things about Mothersound and the Sauútiverse is the potential – the anthology and the majority of its stories stand alone, succeeding individually and collectively, but the seeds have been planted for something pretty special. I hope we see new anthologies, and maybe even full length novels and series in the Sauútiverse in the future. There are certainly many more short stories, the titles and authors of which are tantalisingly teased at the end of the book. I recommend this book to any fan of short stories or those looking for a new universe to get lost in.
Rating: 9/10
For reviews like this and more, visit my blog
The Sauútiverse is built around the idea of the Mothersound, a shared mythology of the people who live there that bleeds into their magic and technology – that of the power of sounds and words to shape the world. The contributing authors manage to weave this into their stories in a variety of interesting and impactful ways providing a thematic bedrock for this setting.
The anthology starts with the creation myth, a diegetic story of how the worlds came to be (and Talabi aptly points out that there may be some narrative bias in that myth) then jumps ahead to the first cataclysm, a devastating series of solar flares that devastates the first civilisation that spread across the solar system. As the isolated planets reconnect, new power structures come into play, but most of these larger events play backdrop to more personal stories, even if one protagonist ends up directly responsible for the next disaster to befall the Sauútiverse.
The scope of the stories vary from personal journeys to powerful warriors fighting against dark forces beyond their universe, although most focus on a small amount of characters and their emotional journeys, even if they are caught up in events that might change the course of their world. It’s a great showcase of the setting as a whole, giving us glimpses or more of vastly different places, from the dangerous caverns of Ekwukwe, to earth-like Wimb-ó, to the moon of Pinaa where artificial intelligence rules and more. We meet musicians, mages (of a sort), non-human intelligences, artificial intelligences, spirits, griots and assassins, each story revealing new aspects of the setting and bringing a new tone and perspective to light. It’s this variety that makes it unique in the shared world anthologies I have read, and yet, there is a gossamer thread running through them all, the smallest of connections that while not creating a true story, make it feel a little like a world history told by a historian with indulgent favourites. As if a book on the history of humanity decided to devote a chapter to Mary Shelley or Archimedes.
As for favourites, I’m partial to The Way of Baa’gh by Cheryl S. Ntumy, the only story from the perspective of a character from a biological non-human sentient race, a character railing against the damage being done to the culture of his people by their drift towards humankind. Or Xhova by Adelehin Ijasan, the story of an AI realising the flaws within its objectives as it learns to care for the human child it is tasked with rearing. There’s also Kalabashing by J. Umeh, a story about music, a band on the brink of dissolution and what happens when they trust in themselves and each other.
One of the most exciting things about Mothersound and the Sauútiverse is the potential – the anthology and the majority of its stories stand alone, succeeding individually and collectively, but the seeds have been planted for something pretty special. I hope we see new anthologies, and maybe even full length novels and series in the Sauútiverse in the future. There are certainly many more short stories, the titles and authors of which are tantalisingly teased at the end of the book. I recommend this book to any fan of short stories or those looking for a new universe to get lost in.
Rating: 9/10
For reviews like this and more, visit my blog
March 29, 2024
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, edited by Wole Talabi, is a collection of science-fantasy, shared-world/universe stories set in a universe created by African and African diaspora writers reflecting a combination of worldviews from throughout the African continent. The setting is also described as “Black Panther meets Wild Cards with all the rich spacefaring worldbuilding of Dune.” This first collection introduces readers to the world and its history through narrative, myth, and stories of the people living in this world.
Many of the stories I found most compelling were the ones dealing with the fallout of the destruction of Mahwé. Some of my favorites of these included “Xhava” by Adelhin Ijasan, which involved the AI that took over the moon Pinaa after the destruction of Mahwé, in the form of a letter from a parenting automaton to their child. Another was “The Grove’s Lament” by Tobias S. Buckell, in which a refugee from Mahwé makes a decision that impacts the planet of Wiimb-o, leaving the main character in this story to deal with the aftermath of that decision. Finally, I really loved Cheryl S. Ntumy’s “The Way of Baa’gh,” in which crab-like creatures who live on Mahwé before its destruction play an important role in that world’s fate. In addition to these, I also loved “Undulation” by Stephen Embleton, showing the ways in which history and the stories that come out of it and the truth are not always the same thing.
The collection ranges through quite long and some rather short stories, and while not all of them will be to everyone’s taste, I found the vast majority of them interesting and entertaining. I look forward to more stories set in the Sauútiverse!
A contributing author provided me with an advanced copy of this anthology for review consideration.
Many of the stories I found most compelling were the ones dealing with the fallout of the destruction of Mahwé. Some of my favorites of these included “Xhava” by Adelhin Ijasan, which involved the AI that took over the moon Pinaa after the destruction of Mahwé, in the form of a letter from a parenting automaton to their child. Another was “The Grove’s Lament” by Tobias S. Buckell, in which a refugee from Mahwé makes a decision that impacts the planet of Wiimb-o, leaving the main character in this story to deal with the aftermath of that decision. Finally, I really loved Cheryl S. Ntumy’s “The Way of Baa’gh,” in which crab-like creatures who live on Mahwé before its destruction play an important role in that world’s fate. In addition to these, I also loved “Undulation” by Stephen Embleton, showing the ways in which history and the stories that come out of it and the truth are not always the same thing.
The collection ranges through quite long and some rather short stories, and while not all of them will be to everyone’s taste, I found the vast majority of them interesting and entertaining. I look forward to more stories set in the Sauútiverse!
A contributing author provided me with an advanced copy of this anthology for review consideration.
February 10, 2026
Hettie Trahms: It is an anthology of a fictional universe, the Sauutiverse, created by a group of African writers, who wrote these stories from an African viewpoint, using African myths + life views, different from the Western way of looking at life. These writers are not bothered by myths. The very first story is a creation myth
It changed my perception of SF and Fantasy. This book is SF/Fantasy written out of an African perspective, incorporating the beliefs and myths of African writers.
In Nov 2021 a meeting between an American publisher, an African magazine and an African author, brought together a group of 10 African writers from 5 African nations. They created a new fictional world called the Sauutiverse, by and for Africans.
Mothersound is the book that was created by this group. The aim of this group and the genre they wanted to establish, was a SF/Fantasy genre whose stories was based on African mythology and wisdom. It wants to give SF/Fantasy an African character, away from the legacies of Western colonialism and individualism.
They want to promote Africa's place as a cultural force which has a place in world literature. The Sauutiverse is the first African speculative kind of it's kind.
The book itself is interesting to read. It is quite an experience to read a book so different from what I am used to. In the Sauutiverse myths and beliefs and African culture plays a big role. It is something to get used to for somebody who knows only the Western perspective.
I can recommend this book. It is quite a different experience from what I am used to. I found it difficult to read in the beginning till I got used to their views of the world and of life. These writers are not bothered by myths: the very first story is a creation myth!
It changed my perception of SF and Fantasy. This book is SF/Fantasy written out of an African perspective, incorporating the beliefs and myths of African writers.
In Nov 2021 a meeting between an American publisher, an African magazine and an African author, brought together a group of 10 African writers from 5 African nations. They created a new fictional world called the Sauutiverse, by and for Africans.
Mothersound is the book that was created by this group. The aim of this group and the genre they wanted to establish, was a SF/Fantasy genre whose stories was based on African mythology and wisdom. It wants to give SF/Fantasy an African character, away from the legacies of Western colonialism and individualism.
They want to promote Africa's place as a cultural force which has a place in world literature. The Sauutiverse is the first African speculative kind of it's kind.
The book itself is interesting to read. It is quite an experience to read a book so different from what I am used to. In the Sauutiverse myths and beliefs and African culture plays a big role. It is something to get used to for somebody who knows only the Western perspective.
I can recommend this book. It is quite a different experience from what I am used to. I found it difficult to read in the beginning till I got used to their views of the world and of life. These writers are not bothered by myths: the very first story is a creation myth!
January 9, 2024
Mothersound is the birth of a new fandom, a new passion, a new experience made of spirit, collaboration, and absolute awesomeness, through one book of stories. An infant of infinite potential, if the sounds of its deep, healing cries are heard by a rattling world.
A whole group of talented and visionary African writers have collaboratively and thoughtfully built a system of two stars and five planets: Sauúti.
Are you listening?
As a reader, this is a new, non-corporate fandom of global connection and hope. This is how we win. This is how we immerse into something anti-colonial, anti-capitalistic, filled with the joy and promise of reality and impossibility alike. What if the impossible is possible? What if we hold our powers, ourselves and together in a song of being?
As a writer and an editor, every story opens a cascade of story ideas of what could be explored through this structure, these worlds. I am on the edge of my seat to see what landscapes of the material and ethereal the writers of the continent and diaspora of Mother Africa create from these first seeds. I am a worldbuilder, and damn, this is worldbuilding at its best.
As a nerd, the nerd train is heading out of nerd station and you might wanna hop on. CHOO CHOO!
And yes, it's a book! Of stories! This first collection, Mothersound, edited by future legend Wole Talabi, lovingly, beckoningly introduces the Sauúti universe from its lost pasts through its epochs and into the ominous undulations of futures to come. Yes, these are stories, worthy in their own right, but they are so much more - they offer the promise of infinite stories to tell, and infinite ways to tell them.
A whole group of talented and visionary African writers have collaboratively and thoughtfully built a system of two stars and five planets: Sauúti.
Are you listening?
As a reader, this is a new, non-corporate fandom of global connection and hope. This is how we win. This is how we immerse into something anti-colonial, anti-capitalistic, filled with the joy and promise of reality and impossibility alike. What if the impossible is possible? What if we hold our powers, ourselves and together in a song of being?
As a writer and an editor, every story opens a cascade of story ideas of what could be explored through this structure, these worlds. I am on the edge of my seat to see what landscapes of the material and ethereal the writers of the continent and diaspora of Mother Africa create from these first seeds. I am a worldbuilder, and damn, this is worldbuilding at its best.
As a nerd, the nerd train is heading out of nerd station and you might wanna hop on. CHOO CHOO!
And yes, it's a book! Of stories! This first collection, Mothersound, edited by future legend Wole Talabi, lovingly, beckoningly introduces the Sauúti universe from its lost pasts through its epochs and into the ominous undulations of futures to come. Yes, these are stories, worthy in their own right, but they are so much more - they offer the promise of infinite stories to tell, and infinite ways to tell them.
April 19, 2024
The structure of this anthology fascinates me. A couple of pages before each story help to place it in a timeline, on a planet, and relative to perspectives offered in other stories. This allows various authors to lean into fantasy or science fiction, using mythic or more modern language, and build a shared world series with both magic and technology augmenting the power of sound and being heard.
“The Way of Baa’gh” by Cheryl S. Ntumy offers double-takes on culture from an elder’s point of view, and in this case, the elder is a crab-like extraterrestrial. “Undulation” by Stephen Embleton explores motherhood layer by layer while overturning other assumptions. “Lost in Echoes” by Xan Van Rooyen won me over with a protagonist I would happily follow for the length of a novel, even if he never left the dance club. That said, each of these gems shines brighter when read within the intricate storytelling framework of the full anthology.
“The Way of Baa’gh” by Cheryl S. Ntumy offers double-takes on culture from an elder’s point of view, and in this case, the elder is a crab-like extraterrestrial. “Undulation” by Stephen Embleton explores motherhood layer by layer while overturning other assumptions. “Lost in Echoes” by Xan Van Rooyen won me over with a protagonist I would happily follow for the length of a novel, even if he never left the dance club. That said, each of these gems shines brighter when read within the intricate storytelling framework of the full anthology.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews