Africa Risen

A New Era of Speculative Fiction

by , ,

Hardcover, 528 pages

English language

Published Sept. 25, 2022 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.

ISBN:
978-1-250-83300-6
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OCLC Number:
1331178287

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3 stars (6 reviews)

Book Details "[A] magnificent and wide-ranging anthology . . . A must-read for all genre fans."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

From award-winning editorial team Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight comes an anthology of thirty-two original stories showcasing the breadth of fantasy and science fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

A group of cabinet ministers query a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors. A child robot on a dying planet uncovers signs of fragile new life. A descendent of a rain goddess inherits her grandmother’s ability to change her appearance—and perhaps the world.

Created in the legacy of the seminal, award-winning anthology series Dark Matter, Africa Risen celebrates the vibrancy, diversity, and reach of African and Afro-Diasporic SFF and reaffirms that Africa is not rising—it’s already here.

2 editions

reviewed Africa Risen by Sheree Renée Thomas

A rich sample of speculative and fantastical short fiction

4 stars

This is an extremely varied collection from African and African Diaspora writers of speculative and fantastic fiction. For whatever reason(s) I'm not a huge fan of short form fiction in general, but I did find some of these stories quite memorable/compelling.

The Blue House (Dilman Dila). IRL (Stephen Barnes) Mami Wataworks (Russell Nichols) A dream of electric mothers (Wole Talabi; nebula nominee) A Knight in Tunisia (Alex Jennings) The Sugar Mill (Tobias Buckell) When the Mami Wata Met a Demon (Moustapha Mbacke Diop) Some of the stories I found a bit tough going. In at least some cases (Peeling Time / Deluxe Edition by Tlotolo Tsamaase) this is arguably because they are too powerful at conveying certain horrors.

Other stories were quite whimsical and fable like. So there is probably something for everyone in the book, but perhaps will love everything.

reviewed Africa Risen by Sheree Renée Thomas

Review of 'Africa Risen' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Mixed bag, as with all collections. I am super picky when it comes to short stories, but I like to give collections a try when they expose me to a demographic I might not easily come across in SF otherwise.

Stand out stories for me:
IRL (favorite)
Mami Wataworks
The Soul Would Have No Rainbow
The Sugar Mill (another favorite)
A Soul of Small Places

It started stronger than it ended for me - I ended up skimming some or skipping them if they weren’t grabbing me.

reviewed Africa Risen by Sheree Renée Thomas

Review of 'Africa Risen' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Africa Risen is a great collection by new-to-me writers. Each story provides a fascinating take on common science fiction or fantasy plots, and I appreciated reading tales that weren't influenced by Western culture. There were many stories I enjoyed and only a few I didn't care for. What follows is a list of all the stories within this collection, listed in order of my preference:

IRL
The Lady of the Yellow-Painted Library
The Papermakers
A Soul of Small Places
The Sugar Mill
Ghost Ship
Biscuit and Milk
Air to Shape Lungs
When the Mata Wata Met a Demon
The Blue House
Mami Wataworks
A Girl Crawls in a Dark Corner
The Soul Would Have No Rainbow
Ruler of the Rear Guard
Exiles of Witchery
Door Crashers
Rear Mirror
Hanfo Driver
A Dream of Electric Mothers
Star Watchers
Liquid Twilight
A Knight in Tunisia
The Taloned Beast
The Carving of War …

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