Dread and The Broken Witch

by Andrew Wallace

In the magical desert of an ancient, altered land called Zabardu, a nameless dread falls across the village, trapping a little girl. The villagers turn to their healer, Bambomiyi, the Broken Witch - a raucous transgender woman who lives in a strange wreck in the desert. She is a veteran of the endless war against invaders from the north, a battle which caused her to lose her powers.



What skills she has left, however, are valuable enough for the villagers to tolerate her promiscuity and outrageous behaviour. It helps too that she is a distant descendent of the godlike Daxu, who vanished long ago, leaving her with the gifts of above-average strength and knowledge of the uncanny.



And so the wheels of an epic journey are set in motion, as she vows to save the young child. 

90 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 21, 2021

About the author

Andrew writes and performs original, fast-moving science fiction and fantasy. His current novel is Celebrity Werewolf, for which he also narrated the audiobook.

His far-future Diamond Roads science fiction thriller series includes Sons of the Crystal Mind, The Outer Spheres and the forthcoming Beautiful Gun.

Andrew's new fantasy book, Dread & the Broken Witch will be published by Luna Press on 19 February 2021, and his next NewCon Press project is an eight-story collection of Black Mirror-style near-future nightmares called Deviant Database, which accompanies an exciting and innovative solo stage show.

Reviews

[Adri Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I DNF'd the last book I tried to read by Wallace because of the creepy sex, and this one ALMOST went the same way in the first ten pages: it seems to think that multi-page descriptions of its trans protagonist's genitalia and sexual interests make for a good opening novella chapter. After that very poor start it did get better and I think there was something here with a lot of potential (probably would be 4 stars without that opening!), but Wallace is not an author who has earned my trust with this kind of story and if it hadn't been part of a set there's no way I would have picked it up.

[ExLibris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fantasy novella is very intriguing. The thought of setting an adventure within a village worked really well. Wallace explores the relationships between characters well, giving us enough background to understand some of the more unconventional plot points.
The broken witch is an incredible character, well written, older but quite powerful. Her backstory was really interesting, and I would love to know more about that fabled battle...

[S. Naomi Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, blending elements of fantasy and sci-fi with a strong Afrofuturism feel.