Fallen

by Milton J. Davis, Kristopher Mosby (Illustrator)

Banished from the heavens for falling in love with one of the creatures she was tasked to protect, Shange roams East Africa in human form with her lover Mijoga, who is imprisoned on the body of a lion. Together they serve the whims of the Spirits hoping to one day earn their freedom to love each other as mortals. Fallen is a collection of stories chronicling their adventures accented with amazing illustrations by Kristopher Michael Mosby.

Genres: Fantasy

104 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2019

About the author

Milton Davis is owner of MVmedia, LLC , a small publishing company specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Sword and Soul. MVmedia’s mission is to provide speculative fiction books that represent people of color in a positive manner. Milton is the author of eight novels; his most recent The Woman of the Woods and Amber and the Hidden City. He is co-editor of four anthologies; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology with Balogun Ojetade and the Steamfunk! Anthology, also with Balogun Ojetade. MVmedia has also published Once Upon A Time in Afrika by Balogun Ojetade.
Milton resides in Metro Atlanta with his wife Vickie and his children Brandon and Alana.

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly sized stories to read in the car while waiting for someone at the store, or at the doctor’s office. Easily dipped into and out of, multiple times.

3 stars

[D.K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short stories surrounding a goddess (Shange) and her human lover (Mijoga). For the simple act of falling in love, the pair were punished by the gods; Shange transformed into a human, while her human lover Mijoga was changed into a fierce lion.

Following the bidding of the god, the lovers go on various adventures, hoping one day to win back the favor of those who punished them and be freed of their curse.

Milton Davis did a great job bring these characters to life and created a story that held my attention from beginning to end. Bravo!

[Erin Penn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fallen is a collection of five short stories following a cursed pair of lovers, Shange and Mijoga. A spirit who fell in love with a human man, now she is cursed to walk the Earth as a human and he a lion. The Spirits of the land send them tasks to resolve, tasks which hopefully will lead one day to their redemption, but the clock is ticking because Mijoga's soul resides within a lion and the lion is slowly taking over.

One of the stories, Walaji Damu (The Blood Eaters), has also been released separately on Kindle and as a comic book (The Blood Seekers). While reading the collection, I thought how good these would be as comic books.

Walezi (The Guardians) was the best of the collection of six stories; it was also double the length of the other stories, giving time to develop characters and plot more thoroughly.

Sacrifice - origin story
Mwanamke Tembo - elephant spirits
Walaji Damu - (would make a great D&D one-shot -- actually all these stories would)
Mkuu Wa Simba - A story focusing on Mikoga
Walezi - The best of the stories
Abasa Promise - Sometimes even the priceless has a price that is too high.

Bought at ConCarolinas 2024 directly from Author

Editing comments - most people don't careCopula is high, making the story less engaging. Sentence length, especially for the first two stories, do not vary much and ... again ... make the story less engaging.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories that follow Shange and Mijoga, a goddess and the human she fell in love with, after they have been turned into a mortal and a lion, respectively, as punishment. They travel throughout the land of East Africa hoping to earn the opportunity to live together as humans.

Milton Davis did a wonderful job bringing these characters to life through the stories. I listened to the audiobook version and through I greatly enjoyed the stories, I did not like the narrator, Darla Middlebrook. Her voice got on my nerves and, unfortunately, that made it easier for me to lose focus, which then meant I had to listen to parts over again and suffer through more of her voice. Should I choose to revisit this book in the future - and the stories were good enough that I want to - I will definitely be reading the ebook as opposed to listening to the audiobook.

[SHA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received a free copy of this audiobook. This is like a reminder of being at a family reunion and the "elders" are telling their tales/stories. The voices are very convincing and the overall concept is excellent.

[Angela]

Rec by Erika Hardison over at Book Riot - the description here has the feeling of LadyHawke one of my favorite movies.