For African Monsters we have tried to work with writers and artists from or with a strong connection to Africa as much as possible.
Cover art is by Daniele Serra
“African Monsters is a fantastic anthology featuring many African writers at the forefront of the new wave of Speculative Fiction tapping directly into the deep and rich mythology of African cultures.” — Ivor W. Hartmann, editor for African Roar and AfroSF volume 1 & 2
Contents:
Nnedi Okorafor: On the Road
Joan de la Haye: Impundulu
Tade Thompson: One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sunlight
Jayne Bauling: Severed
Su Opperman: The Death of One
T.L. Huchu: Chikwambo
Dilman Dila: Monwor
S. Lotz: That Woman
Toby Bennett: Sacrament of Tears
Chikodili Emelumadu: Bush Baby
Joe Vaz: After The Rain
Dave-Brendon de Burgh: Taraab and Terror in Zanzibar
Nerine Dorman: A Whisper in the Reeds
Vianne Venter: Acid Test
Nick Wood: Thandiwe’s Tokoloshe
James Bennett (writer) and Dave Johnson (artist): A Divided Sun
The book also has illustrations from Su Opperman, Kieran Walsh, Vincent Holland-Keen, Eugene Smith and Benali Amine.
Author Blogs
The Tokoloshe by Nick Wood
A Mirror to a Tenebrous Sun by Su Opperman
Not just a vagina by Chikodili Emelumadu
Sunlight, Shadow and Ichitapa by Jayne Bauling
At River’s Edge by Nerine Dorman
Monsters by Dilman Dila
Behind ‘Sacrament of Tears’ by Toby Bennett
Behind the Scenes by Dave De Burgh
The Editors
Opening Paragraphs of African Monsters
ON THE ROAD by Nnedi Okorafor
A tiger does not proclaim its tigritude. It pounces.
– Wole Soyinka, Sub-Saharan Africa’s first Nobel Laureate
I slammed the door in the child’s face, a horrific scream trapped in my throat. I swallowed it back down.
I didn’t want to wake my grandmother or auntie. They’d jump out of bed, come running down the stairs and in a string of Igbo and English demand to know what the fuck was wrong with me. Then I’d point at the door and they’d open it and see the swaying little boy with the evil grin and huge open dribbling red white gash running down the middle of his head. Split open like a dropped watermelon.
My stomach lurched and I shut my eyes and rubbed my temples, my hand still tightly grasping the doorknob. Get it together, I thought. But I knew what I’d seen—jagged fractured yellow white skull, flaps of hanging skin, startlingly red blood and some whitish grey jelly… brain? I shuddered. ‘Shit,’ I whispered to myself.
The boy had been standing in the rain. Soaked from head to toe, as everything outside was from the strange unseasonable three-day deluge. He’d been smiling up at me. He couldn’t have been older than nine. I gagged. I couldn’t just leave him out there.
Reviews
African Monsters from Starburst This anthology does its damnedest to explore the myths and legends from one massive continent. Not only does it do this quite well, but it also showcases the talents of writers you may not have had the chance to read much of. Editor’s Margrét Helgadóttir & Jo Thomas have done a remarkable job of not only assembling a list of thematically strong stories, but also creating a book that flows from story to story in a solid and compelling way.