AfroSFv2

AfroSF #2

by Ivor W. Hartmann (Editor), Tade Thompson, Nick Wood

Continuing the ground-breaking tradition of the first volume AfroSFv2 is the first Pan-African anthology of five original SF novellas.

Excerpt

'The Last Pantheon'
Tade Thompson & Nick Wood
An epic superhero face-off thousands of years in the making.

'Hell Freezes Over'
Mame Bougouma Diene
Long after the last skyscraper has drowned who remains and how will they survive?

'The Flying Man of Stone'
Dilman Dila
When ancient technology seems like magic legends live again in the midst of war and sides will be chosen.

'VIII'
Andrew Dakalira
A space shuttle crash, the numeral eight, serial murders, what connects them all could end humanity.

'An Indigo Song for Paradise'
Efe Tokunbo Okogu
Change is coming to Paradise city and it won't be pretty, but if this is paradise then heaven must be hell in need of a revolution.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks, Anthologies, Fiction

488 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2015

About the author

Ivor W. Hartmann is a Zimbabwean writer, editor, publisher, and visual artist. Awarded The Golden Baobab Prize (2009), finalist for the Yvonne Vera Award (2011), selected for The 20 in Twenty: The Best Short Stories of South Africa’s Democracy (2014), and awarded Bronze in the Jalada Prize for Literature (2015). His works have appeared in many publications. He runs the StoryTime micro-press, publisher of the African Roar and AfroSF series of anthologies. He is a founding member of the African Speculative Fiction Society, and on the advisory board of Writers International Network Zimbabwe.

Bibliography:

ZamaShort (short story series) (StoryTime, Ed. & Publisher, May 2025-)

AfroSFv3 (anthology) (StoryTime, Ed. & Publisher, December 2018)

'Emergence' (short story) (Brittle Paper, Oct 2016)

AfroSFv2 (anthology) (StoryTime, Ed. & Publisher, Dec, 2015)

'Last Wave' (short story) (Jalada 02: Afrofuture(s), January, 2015) (Tales From The Other Night: Contemporary African Speculative Fiction · Jan 1, 2023)

African Roar 2014 (anthology) (StoryTime, Editor/Publisher, September 2014)

'Catwalk' (short story) (Litro#137, September 2014)

'Our Fathers Are Gone' (poem) (Nigerians Talk Literature Magazine, November, 2013) (Zimbolicious anthology, Jun 2016)

African Roar 2013 (anthology) (StoryTime, publisher, October 2013)

AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers (anthology) (StoryTime, editor/publisher, December 2012)

African Roar 2012 (anthology) (StoryTime, Co-editor/publisher, December 2012)

'Funeral Gastronomy' (short story) (Munyori Literary Journal, July 2012)

'Size Matters' (short story) (Saraba#11, March, 2012)

African Roar 2011 (anthology) (StoryTime, Co-editor/publisher, octber 2011)

'Inviolable' (poem) (Sun and Snow Anthology 2011, November 2011, Rhythm International, Canada)

'In Pursuit of True AI' (essay) (Something Wicked#11, July 2011)

'A Mouse amongst Men' (short story) (StoryTime#152, August 2011) (finalist 2011 Intwasa Yvonne Vera Award) (Performance read by Rick Cook for Stories on Stage (Sacramento) African writers edition, June 2011) (African Roar 2012 anthology, December 2012) (Nigerians Talk Literature Magazine, November 2013) (selected for The 20 in Twenty: The Best Short Stories of South South Africa’s Democracy, July 2014)

'Diner Ten' (short story) (StoryTime#95 June 2010) (African Roar 2011 anthology, StoryTime, 2011)

'Chrome Rain' (short story) (Excerpt, Paulo Coelho's Blog, May 2009)

'Mr. Goop' (short story) (Awarded a Golden Baobab Prize, March 2009) (African Writing#7, April 2009, UK) (illustrated book, Vivlia Publishers, South Africa, 2010) (The Apex Book of World SF 2, Apex, August 2012)

African Roar (anthology) (StoryTime, Co-editor/publisher, July 2010)

Amelias Inheritance - Sarudzai Mubvakure' (review) (Sentinel Literary Quartley Vol.3. No. 3. June 2010)

'Lost Love' (short story) (StoryTime#22, February 2009) (anthology, African Roar, StoryTime, June 2010)

'Black Diamond - Zakes Mda' (review) (Wordsetc#7, March 2010)

'From Caves of Rotten Teeth - A. Igoni Barrett' (review) (African Writer, September 2009)

'Yvonne Vera: The Fearless Taboo Queen' (essay) (Munyori Literary Journal, March 2009) (Kubatana, April 2009)

'The Lottery' (short story) (StoryTime#13, December 2008)

'The Devil's Advocate' (short story) (StoryTime#11, October 2008) (Something Wicked#12, August 2011) (Something Wicked Anthology#1, September 2012)

'The Blue Flower Mountain' (short story) (StoryTime#2, August 2007)

'Earth Rise' (short story) (StoryTime#1, June 2007) (Something Wicked#7, August 2008) (finalist UMA Award March 2009)

Reviews

[Wole Talabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short 2-sentence thought on each story:

The Last Pantheon: I enjoyed this story for its clever concept, humor and approach to reviewing African political thought from the latter 20th century till now. I did think that some of the SF/historical elements were only thinly explained but overall I really liked the story.

Hell Freezes Over: I love the descriptions, the language and the world-building here. Can seem a bit slow and I think the second half-should have come first but still enjoyed it and think its a great story.

The Flying Man Of Stone: I liked the setting of the story and I think Dila was doing something clever here with the political commentary. However I think most of the SF elements of the story are poorly explained and that weakens the overall product.

VIII: The opening of the story is excellently tense and mysterious. It quickly shifts from a mystery thriller to an implausible action story that in my eyes doesn't really work with the opening and that ends way too abruptly to be enjoyable.

An Indigo Song For Paradise City: Its merits are also its weaknesses in that it is a wild, rambling, confusing, lyrical and unhinged ride though an alternative earth that has social problems much like ours and zombies invading it but that may also be a simulation observed by an alien race. I found myself enjoying the madness and I think it somehow manages to stay engaging despite the zaniness of the narrative.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivor W. Hartmann has collected five novellas in AfroSFv2, the sequel to the short story collection AfroSF Science Fiction by African Writers. The novellas are substantial enough that they each deserve their own brief review, so this review will be a bit long!

The Last Pantheon, by Tade Thompson and Nick Wood

This is the story of two men who currently go by the names “the Pan-African” and “Black-Power.” They’re like brothers, but they always seem to come down on opposite sides of the issues. They each want to help the people of Africa in their own ways, but they clash on how it should be done. This sometimes brings them into conflict. And given how powerful each man is, that can be devastating to those around them. This story works in a lot of African history here and there, in ways that don’t at all get boring or feel like a straight history lesson. It’s always done through the lens of what these two were up to at the time. The characters are wonderful, the explanation of where they got their powers is intriguing, and the contrast between them is fun to watch. There are a few other characters who help to add depth and dimension to the tale, and they’re all written very well. I loved this novella.

Hell Freezes Over, by Mame Bougouma Diene

This tale takes place sometime far in the future, when all the cities of Earth are under water. Humanity is divided into castes: Fish, Ants, Bees, Moles, Beasts, and Priests. The Fish police the others; they also scavenge the cities beneath the seas for needed technology. Moles used to be slaves, and now they work on the Divine Undertaking: the deadly winter is coming, and the Moles are the ones boring deep into the rock so the human race will have a place to live.

In the first part, we see that the Fish suffer from a strange sort of madness that causes them to go into fugues, and eventually surrender themselves to the ocean. One last late mission is set up, entirely too close to the time when the ocean will be too cold for the Fish to survive in it. It’s the Mole councilor who seems to be setting them up for failure and death. As we follow Ari’s experiences as a Fish, it’s hard to understand why the Moles would so desperately want them dead.

In the second part we follow Rina, a Mole–and oh boy do we come to understand why the Moles want the Fish dead. Rina’s brother is leading a rebellion, and Rina, when she’s determined to be barren, is taken in as a “comfort girl” by a system that has very few uses for Mole women. Eventually her brother saves her from that life, but is he really bringing her to anything better?

The Flying Man of Stone, by Dilman Dila

Forces have rolled into Kera’s village. They’re slaughtering many, and “recruiting” young men at gunpoint. Kera and his father Baba Chuma survive and hide, but they stumble into a cave with a terrifying creature in it. Kera gets away, but Baba Chuma does not. Once Kera returns to the village with the remaining villagers, Baba Chuma returns–changed. He starts building mysterious devices using equally mysterious rocks. Kera’s brother Karama has been taken by the army, and Baba Chuma creates two things to help Kera get him back: a flying machine, and a weapon, even though he knows full well he should not use this technology to provide weapons. He’s sure he can convince Kera to give the weapon back when the time comes. Unfortunately, there’s a growing divide in the town between the white Christian priest and Teacher, who wants to see a return to worship of the ancestors. This divide is about to grow violent. This is a powerful story.

VIII, by Andrew Dakalira

An American spaceship alters course on its return to Earth and crashes in an African lake. Somehow it has four astronauts in it rather than the three who went up–and three of them are dead with “VIII” branded into their foreheads. Both President Moto and the American President Wayne Barry are keeping in touch over this situation, and similar killings start happening in both of their countries. One killer is caught, but that doesn’t stop the deaths, and she promises the detective who managed to stop her that she will enjoy hunting him. Earth’s only hope may rest in the hands of a man who knew this was coming and exactly what it means.

The worldbuilding in this one is really cool. I can’t get into details, because it’ll ruin the surprise of why these killings are happening, which is a surprise worth waiting for.

An Indigo Song for Paradise, by Efe Tokunbo Okogu

This is the weirdest of the stories, in that it gets a bit surreal, particularly toward the end. Quite some time ago the last emperor left Terra in a spaceship with his court, scientists, athletes, and all the best technologies. Soon all that was left was one city–Paradise City (the PC, Amerika)–outside of which was a barren, blasted land occupied by mysterious xombies. TerraCorp operates with a lot of freedom, only occasionally getting caught when they screw with people. The elite “vampires” (white people, pretty much) live behind a forcefield.

Ecila is transported from his village to Paradise City by means of a strange structure unearthed in a storm. Babylove Brown is a renowned gunslinger, and she and her gang just stole a very odd device from TerraCorp. Unfortunately for her, one of the pieces of that tech went missing during the heist. Obram is a TerraCorp mecha operator and security officer, and he’s sent out with his team to go after the thieves. In a bit of perfect timing for Babylove and her people, a protest is currently marching against TerraCorp, providing the perfect cover as they look for the final piece of the device. Legs is the “businessman” who offered to pay Babylove’s group for the device, but he won’t come through until they find the final piece. This device is… unique. The phrase “reality displacement” was found in the room it was stolen from, and one person who comes across it believes it could be older than the universe.

The story winds from heists and chases and shoot-outs into a long, bizarre talk by a Guru about… uh, enlightenment, maybe? It was kept from being boring by the fact that it was very much done in an in-character voice, which could be amusing at times. But it was still an odd change to the pacing of the book.

Ultimately, this entire book was fascinating, original, and inspiring.


Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2020/06/r...

[Jouke Jong · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good idea to publish instead of short stories a series of Novella's. Check Binti if you want to see how well that can work out. I also knew the names of some of the writers from other books (Tade Thompson, Nick Wood, Andrew Dakalira to begin with) so I was stoked. Fact is though that the stories are wildly different. so best to say a few words on each.

‘The Last Pantheon' - Nick wood and Tad Thompson.
Honestly, this one made me almost stop reading the collection. Superhero stories with overly obvious meaning. It may be because I am a European, but I felt that this story lacked all subtlety. A comic book in sharp colours, that's what it reminded me of. IF that's what they were going for: well done. I know both writers have published réally good books. so..... I don't know.

‘Hell freezes over'- Mame Bougouma Diene
A story set far in the future, the world has drowned and is now freezing. The remaining humans are struggling with each other over power. I love, lóve, the worldbuilding in this story. This could be worked into a novel, though I felt the story had a beginning, middle and end. This apocalyptic yet hopeful story was my favorite.

The Flying Man of Stone - Dilman Dilla
This story was both a political/religious commentary and a rather dark sci-fi story. (side-note, most of the stories in this collection contained some reference, usually critical, of religion. Christians, specifically white christians, don't come across in a positive way. This is neither a criticism nor a praise, an observation) I enjoyed the journey of the main character. The dark ending though.....

VIII - Andrew Dakalira
Talking about endings: this was the most sudden ending of the novella's and honestly, after a lot of build-up, a big reveal, the conclusion was not satisfying. I am guessing Dakalira reached maximum word count.... That being said: the action, suspence and the setting in Malawi: I loved it.

An Indigo Song For Paradise City - An Indigo Song For Paradise City
I honestly don't know what to think of this story. It was a fever dream of a story: chaotic, confusing, surreal, but also oddly engaging. A heist, alternative realities, oppression, fake elections, capitalism gone berserk. Even zombies.
'read with caution'- I thínk it is worth it, but i honestly am not entirely sure :-p

[D J Rout · Rating 1 out of 5]

This collection of soliciited novellas has drawn me, begrudgingly, to the realisation that Africans—or at least the ones Ivor W. Hartmann knows—just can't write.

They range from the novelisation of a comic by Tade Thompson & Nick Wood, a history of African politics with a couple of black Marvel wannabes added in, through Dilman Dila's pocket history of Uganda with some aliens thrown in, to Efe Tokunbo Okogu's incredibly long mixture of rap music, pop psychology, numerology and bullshit that is absolute drivel.

The highlight of the anthology is 'VIII' by Andrew Dakalira. This novella has a story, action, competent writing and, while it falls over towards the end with its explanation of what's happening, at least ends on a positive note. I only hope he's not tempted to turn it into a novel, because that would be a bit hard to sustain.

It's all very well to have these anthologies to explore the 'African New Wave' but can we have some standards, please? Supporting poor writing doesn't encourage good writing, and AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers proves there's good writing in Africa. This anthology, though, isn't worth your time or money.

But hre's the contents so you can make up your own minds:

Introduction — Ivor W. Hartmann
The Last Pantheon — Tade Thompson and Nick Wood
Hell Freezes Over — Mame Bougouma Diene
The Flying Man of Stone — Dilman Dila
VIII — Andrew Dakalira
An Indigo Song for Paradise — Efe Tokinbo Okogu

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wide variety of novellas with some very cool settings and premises. While I thought most of the stories were just ok, “The Flying Man of Stone” was excellent.


Quotes from “An Indigo Song for Paradise”
- “The problem with any perfect plan is the unexpected.”

- “Fiction says when you’re inspired by the muse and discovering another world, anything can happen, including the impossible. And what is more impossible than the fact that we even exist at all? Is it not a genuine miracle?”

- “I have seen people lie, steal, cheat, and kill for money, as if it were a god and not a tool.”

[Too Many Toys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am happy to support the effort. The quality of the writing varied from nonsensical to very (very) engaging. While I was not aware of a lack of African heritage science fiction writers, I am happy to support the effort. At least one story was decidedly anti-white, which I felt was a poor choice for inclusion.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long form short fiction, from five different African authors. Of the five, my favorite was "The Flying Man of Stone." YMMV.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction A2587 2015