Best african literature books according to redditors

It is by no means a new concept. The term originates from a century or two ago when being able to "pass" as white meant you could have the same rights if you hid your ancestry well. Shit, there's even at least one famous novel about the idea. Just because you're ignorant of a concept doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Some of the short story collections mentioned in the various articles are AfroSF, AfroSF v2, and Imagine Africa 500.

The Nommo Awards are run by the African Speculative Fiction Society; you can see their 2017 nominations here.

The entries for the speculative fiction week of The Writer 2016 contest can be found here.

> Shitting on your culture" by daring to cast actors of color.

Likewise, if we replaced some of the main actors in "The Memory of Love" with Arabs, Indians, Jamaicans or Polish people, it would be shitting on the culture of the author and country the story came from, which is Sierra Leone in W. Africa.

In case anyone else is interested in reading the actual stories, I spent some time digging them up.

There are three short stories mentioned in this article:

1. Tendai Huchu’s ‘The Sale’ (2013)
   
2. Abigail Godsell’s ‘Taal’ (2009)
   
3. Mandisi Nkomo’s ‘Heresy’ (2013)
   
   Numbers 1 and 3 are found in this collection AfroSF and the second is found in this collection Something Wicked Vol. 2

>Odufa by Othuke Ominiabohs

I'm in the uk and I found your book on amazon.com : https://www.amazon.com/Odufa-Lovers-Tale-Othuke-Ominiabohs-ebook/dp/B01G2KGQY0/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Odufa+by+Othuke+Ominiabohs&qid=1559067017&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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So it's on the dotcom site if that's what you're worried about.

I would think the key to revitalizing high fantasy is to do what Tolkien did but with other cultures as the cornerstone: research heavily, reinterpret, hold to the virtues, present with style.

Tolkien just took the Old English and Norse origins and re-contextualized them to fit a fantasy world he created. Nothing was wrong with that inherently. A problem now is that too many simply base their works on his works or other authors they enjoyed, creating a thematic and mythological feedback loop of the same ideas over and over.

We as fantasy fans need to read more high fantasy that does what Tolkien did, that which draws from mainly a culture, and preferably one that does not inform our current society as much. African fantasy, East and South Asian fantasy, Amerindian fantasy, Mesoamerican fantasy and so on.

As writers though, there needs to be less portrayal and more criticism in fantasy. Portrayal only means how you present something, but many fantasy writers hide behind it. ("I'm not encouraging nationalism, I'm just portraying how it helped these people in this very specific circumstance!")

Though I think it is important to draw from central cultures and portray them effectively, it is also important to raise questions about those cultures and how they treat certain other groups of people. Simply hand-waving these unsavoury aspects of world-building make for a woefully under-explored setting.


EDIT: In case anyone is looking for such works, a few I know are Ehdrigohr, a Lakota-cultured high fantasy RPG; Artesia, a Greek-cultured high-fantasy comic series with a woman of colour protagonist, as well as it's own RPG ruleset and one novel in the universe starring her brother; and although it's tough to find African High-Fantasy, Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi is a great surrealist fantasy set in Nigeria.

I'd stick with what you know. And ask people from the actual culture you're writing if you need help and don't want to insult anyone. But you know, you can have all black casts without it being weird. But as long as when you think of your stories you're not flinching away from an all black cast because you think no one will read it, you will do well.

It sounds like part of the issue you're having is that you want to make people "fit" their culture. But we know people live, work, and date in other cultures all day long. Don't worry so much about making a fit as long as you got the cultural details right and it's plausible (ex. Paul uses a katana not because he's japanese but because he was taught kenjutsu from a young age by a friend of his grandfather's. or something similar).

Also, for some black speculative fiction, try anthologies like Steamfunk! or AfroSF. I have Steamfunk and if you have Kindle i'll lend it to you. Or anyone that wants to read it.

My book just went live.

The Kishi (Tales from Esowon) (Volume 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999848313/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hGaGAbEWE32EW

Here is its blurb:

An African fantasy based on the Angola folklore of the kishi!

The Kishi—shape-shifting demons who lure young women to gruesome deaths.

They can’t be real, can they?

Something has slain a villager, and the locals point their fingers at Amana, a pacifist monk running from his dark past.

But Amana knows there’s something else, something much darker, lurking in the village.

Can he save the village, his name, and his principles? To save one would mean the sacrifice of the others, if he has the strength.

Or if you’re more visual here is it’s trailer:
https://youtu.be/CYeknY-3kl0

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes is a really fast and fun read. It has elements of dystopia and sci-fi which apparently you're a fan of and it has a lot of potential for discussion.

The book has attitude and is not a struggle to get through, I think you'd have fun with it.

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That's excellent!

If you're interested in some others, just to add to the TBR:

We See a Different Frontier is a great SF anthology (I'm not a fan of the cover, but the contents are terrific). On Amazon

And there's a big South African SF/F scene going on right now - folks like Charlie Human, Lauren Beukes, Sarah Lotz - and a few moresuggestions here.

AfroSF here and Afro SF 2 are both great anthologies as well, and Something Wicked is a badass magazine that you can get pretty cheaply in digital through various platforms - like Amazon.

AfroSF is a collection of short science fiction stories by African authors. The stories themselves can be hit or miss but all in all I liked it.

zoo city is really awesome, with a strong female protagonist. it's south african young adult cyberpunk; i think they would really enjoy it. also, it won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award!

I posted this a while ago when someone asked... what can we do to make SA better... I'm tempted to think the lizard people are ****ing up on the world stage on purpose so that we would eventually welcome such a system, when THEY are ready to implement it....

"

How about Kickstarting the development of rule by a computer softwarez. There's good reason a cellphone is called a CELL phone... (Read https://www.amazon.com/Moxyland-Lauren-Beukes/dp/0857660047, great book). Build a system capable of eliminating the entire government, that uses constant citizen voting to determine resource allocation and project priorities. Blockchain and crypto it all, bring in GPS and the phones to check verify EVERTHING. You could even should probably get more voting merits depending on your past social contributions and "good-for-nothings" get their votes taken away until they improve.

Initially politicians can even be coerced into "going transparent" (a la https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(2017_film), which is a shite movie BTW IMO.... like where's the punch line?) by allowing their every move regarding a project/s to be tracked by the masses 24/7. ONE GIANT DIGITAL BEAST encapsulating Government, Finance and the media, all rolled into one. Everyone will just be tapping in with their phones all day long and their acts will be verified by the users around them, and it all can be followed thread by thread, just like a Reddit. All taxes will be paid in crypto, will be released and TRACKED as it is used. Real Black Mirror type stuff, of course with the potential to be the world's greatest mess as well, but so with any other plan.

Take this current land issue .... how could a system like this potentially deal? The more I think about this question the more I get the impression that the people are led into not wanting land from the government, but land controlled by "the colonists", which will be a total stuff-up under this system IF it was initiated under "one man one vote" coding. If the systems phases in with data and weighting for PAST CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIETY ( taxes paid, for instance ) adding more votes, the notion will of "give us all your good land now" will hopefully fail, because anarchy sucks. Those who cried for this land grab will subsequently keep putting in more requests to get voted in, sobering these up into something that might be more do-able that will actually get voted into implementation. The "heavy-voters" might even put proposals in as well, helping things along.

E.g. "You want to own your squatting-stand?... If that land you're on is ex-gov, all in favour say aye...Send GPS....Its yours, congratulations"

E.g. "You want some farm land? To farm on? ( Check crypto balance and past....... beep bap boop ) You have or don't have enough to do this.... Come back later / You can do this.... Here's your choice of available ex-gov land to pick from, based on your $ balance you can pick x hectares...

Eg.. "You want enough crypto to be eligible for some ex-gov farmland... We currently have 9 850 000 jobs available as "block patrol guards"... apply by tapping this button... Beep Bap Boop.... Be at GPS loc tommorrow and tap peoples phones there, introducing yourself as new "block patrol guard" with your phone verification. You will be paid x crypto at the end of each verified shift... When you have xx crypto, apply for training into LEVEL 2 JOB TRAINING.... Continue on this path for yy/mm and you will be able to farm 1 hectare of free land."

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I ramble on... What's that Queen Song again... heaven something something?/// "

Part II

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If i can blame the masses for anything is for having a false consciousness which makes them docile for control and forgetful of their misery and overly eager to serve a higher national aspiration which hides in it the aspirations of the elites, this phenomena of false consciousness has been observed even in clan conflicts:

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>Communal or clan clashes are the most prevalent form of violence, accounting for about 35-40% of
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>all reported violence at present, and come in two distinct types. First, localised clashes over access to
>
>and control over land or wells, or employment and contracts, which are typically sporadic and
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>brought under control by clan elders. When not brought under control by elders, communal clashes
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>can spiral into a series of revenge killings that can trigger prolonged and bloody communal violence.
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>Second, and more pernicious, are communal clashes engineered by political elites to advance their
>
>own interests or weaken a rival. Somalis refer to these clashes as “remote control” violence, and
>
>observe that in some cases elites who orchestrate the attacks are residing in Kenya or even Europe
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>and North America. A critical factor in this violence is the ability of political elites to convince their
>
>people that the clan’s status is linked to the leader’s personal prestige and power. Politically
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>orchestrated communal violence was the main source of insecurity during the period before and
>
>during the Mbagathi talks, and, as discussed below, in some cases was directly linked to it. Today, it is
>
>most evident in armed clashes affecting the north of the country, including the disputed regions of
>
>Sool and Sanaag, and the disputed border areas of Galmudug and Puntland regional states. (source)

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If we are to reach greater heights we must free ourselves from this nationalistic theology and must embrace internationalism that's if our goals are human liberation and brotherhood.

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___Extra Reading Material___

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Nationalism and Culture by Rudolf Rocker

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Black Mans Burden: Africa and the curse of the Nation-State by Basil Davidson

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To Cook a Continent by Nnimmo Bassey

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Anarcho-Syndicalism by rudolf rocker