African Fantasy

There are three important laws in Ezomo’s village: Do not go to The Valley, do not go out at night, and never, ever, ever open the magical door that protects them all. But when Ezomo encounters the leopard believed to have killed his father, he and his two best friends embark on a journey that leads them past the boundaries set by their elders. With his friends by his side, Ezomo chases after the leopard, certain that it has the power to cure all. But in the process, he discovers the truth about his village. And that cautionary tales exist for a reason.

She’s a princess. He’s a demon. Both are fighting for control. Princess Shanaki, second heir to the throne of Ya-Set, has journeyed to a foreign land to serve as a pawn in her father’s game. Ikenna, demonkin, has been betrayed by his own. When the demons make a target of the princess to claim what is rightfully theirs, Ikenna moves against her first. Caught between beast and man, how will Shanaki save herself from the dark?

How far would you go to see justice done? How far is too far? For Madisun, the answer is simple. There are people in this world who need killing, and she's just the woman for the job!

Cameron Battle grew up reading The Book of Chidani, cherishing stories about the fabled kingdom that cut itself off from the world to save the Igbo people from danger. Passed down over generations, the Book is Cameron’s only connection to his parents who disappeared one fateful night, two years ago. Ever since, his grandmother has kept the Book locked away, but it calls to Cameron.

The compelling saga of the Realm continues when a darkening sun threatens to destroy the world. Grand Wizard Kelm races to retrieve the Icon of Earth - an ancient relic with the magical power to counter the threat. However, mistrust and mishaps run rampant as he encounters unlikely allies and a technologically advanced enemy willing to stifle his efforts at all cost.

The battle for liberation continues.... A de facto state of war persists between the United States of America and man’s only space-based civilization: a community of African Americans inhabiting their own space station. Christopher Wright leads the separatists of the Black Space Colony in its endeavor to perfect sub-light travel through the mastery of technology while navigating the sociological challenges of becoming completely independent from Earth. With the arrival of new recruits from Earth comes the challenge of integration while charting their path.

The sequel to Negus volume one, Negus II continues with another compilation of African-American science fiction. With memories of the planet Earth not too far behind, Huey's journey on the new planet of Negus resumes with Rosa and Kwame. Rosa discovers another phenomenon related to the decalcification of pineal glands. Previously introduced in book one and the stand-alone book, The Melanins continue as visitors from another planet trek to the United States.

Gabrielle has always had a complicated relationship with her mother Tallulah, one marked by intimacy and resilience in the face of a volatile patriarch. Everything in their home has been bleached a cold white—from the cupboards filled with sheets and crockery to the food and spices Tallulah cooks with. Even Gabrielle, who inherited the ability to change the color of her skin from her mother, is told to pass into white if she doesn't want to upset her father. But this vital mother-daughter bond implodes when Tallulah is hospitalized for a mental health crisis.

Twelve-year-old Maya is the only one in her South Side Chicago neighborhood who witnesses weird occurrences like were-hyenas stalking the streets at night and a scary man made of shadows plaguing her dreams. Her friends try to find an explanation - perhaps a ghost uprising or a lunchroom experiment gone awry. But to Maya, it sounds like something from one of Papa’s stories or her favorite comics.

All the poet called Sleepy wants to do is spit his verses, smoke chiba, and stay off the COP’s radar—all of which becomes impossible once he encounters a professional protestor known as (120 Degrees of) Knowledge Allah. They soon find themselves on the wrong side of local authorities and have to elude the powers that be.

Ancient folklore and modern myth come together in these stories by author Craig Laurance Gidney. Here are found the struggles of a medieval Japanese monk seduced by a mischievous fairy, and a young slave who finds mystery deep within the briar patch of an antebellum plantation. Gidney offers a gay teen obsessed with his patron saint, Lena Horne, and, in the title story, an ailing tourist seeks escape at a distant shore but never reckons on encountering an African sea god. Rich, poetic, dark and disturbing, these are distinctive tales not soon forgotten.

Stepping Stone and Love Machine are but two of six fragments in the Crosstown to Oblivion short novels in which Walter Mosley entertainingly explores life’s cosmic questions. From life’s meaning to the nature of good and evil, these tales take us on speculative journeys beyond the reality we have come to know. In each tale, someone in our world today is given insight into these long pondered mysteries. But how would the world really receive the answers?

Dive into a magical mystery with the Curious Cousins in The African Unicorn & the Baddy Baboons. Meet Emilia Rose, Isla Mae, and Audrey Jane — three daring cousins who leap into their dream world to chase down the elusive 'African Unicorn'. In this enchanting adventure, the Curious Cousins team up with an unforgettable South African cast: a majestic acacia tree, a lightning-fast butterfly, a dazzling blue-headed lizard, a thundering herd of zebras and ostriches, a gentle giraffe and her calf, cranky Professor Crane and sweet Mrs.

Dhata Mays has become used to living on the fringes. Unlike most of humanity, the detective treats the synth population with the respect they deserve. But when a gruesome murder points to a synth as the perpetrator, Dhata must do everything in his power to discover an explanation before the case goes public. In a race against time, Dhata discovers a scheme involving cypher hackers, synth prostitutes, and a pair of rival gang bosses that could tear the city apart. For Dhata to keep the uneasy peace, he'll have to track down the murderers himself, but no one said he had to take them alive.

In his sharply crafted, unnerving first collection of speculative short stories, Courttia Newland envisages an alternate future as lived by the African diaspora. Robots driven by all-too-human urges set out to colonize space; Kill Parties roam the streets of a postapocalyptic world; a matriarchal race of mer creatures depends on interbreeding with mortals to survive; mysterious seeds appear in cities across the world, growing into the likeness of people in their vicinity.

In 2015, Tony Carpenter stumbled upon the plans for the Chronocar, a time machine conceived before it could be built by Dr. Simmie Johnson, genius, scientist, and son of a slave. Tony’s visit to 1919 to see the doctor and his lovely daughter Ollie turned into disaster, forcing the doctor to make a most difficult final decision. Now the timeline has worked its way back to 2012.

Named after the first man at the creation of the world in Malagasy mythology, Ietsy Razak was raised to perpetuate the glory of his namesake and expected to be as illuminated as his Great Ancestor. But in the chaos of modernity, his young life is marked only by restlessness, maddening insomnia, and an adolescent apathy.

Tiffany is trapped in a life she never wanted for herself. The man she fell in love with turned out to be a lazy, good-for-nothing womanizer. Night after night Tiffany comes home to Blake’s physical, mental, and verbal abuse. She’s tried leaving it in the past, but somehow he always finds her. Each time, she comes back and convinces herself things will get better. Then one day Blake beats her for the last time. Tiffany decides death is the only way out - and she’s not the one being buried. Her life takes a drastic turn as she attempts to live the life she’s always wanted.

It is the end of days. A nuclear strike hits New York. Alfie, a young black male, survives but with no memory of what has happened. The only thing he can remember with any clarity is how to play his guitar and a few snatches of old blues and folk songs. Another survivor, Meg, has taken refuge in the hills of Vermont, and she, too, is the victim of near absolute amnesia. Her only hope is to survive these darkest of days.

Just as Martine is settling into life on the wildlife game reserve, she is whisked away on a school trip. Her class is going on an ocean voyage to witness the Sardine Run, a spectacular natural phenomenon, off the coast of South Africa. What begins as an exciting adventure quickly turns perilous when a storm blows up and Martine and her classmates are thrown overboard into shark-infested waters. They are saved by a pod of dolphins, only to end up marooned on a deserted island.