The Manchester Review's Special Issue on African Speculative Fiction

Issue 18 of the Manchester Review

In the introduction of the Manchester Review's special issue on African Speculative Fiction, Geoff Ryman writes,

'This is a collection of damn good stories - plus a complete comic and an excerpt from a film script'.

I am currently making my way through the issue, which contains 21 stories only available in print (21 Today) as well as links to an additional 21 stories that are available online and for free (21 Tomorrow).

21 Today is split into 7 parts, with stories published between 2003 and 2017: Part One: Lift Off with four stories from Lauren Beukes, Ayodele Arigbabu, Doreen Baingana and Peter Kalu; Part Two: Publishing Venues, Workshops and Awards with four stories from Irenosen Okojie, Nnedi Okorafor, Jonatham Dotse and Dayo Ntwari; Part Three: Superheroes: Gods and Politics, with one novella (from Nick Wood and Tade Thompson) and one graphic novel (from Ziphosakhe Hlobo and Lena Posch); Part Four: South African Conundrums, with two stories from Nick Mulgrew and Nerine Dorman; Part Five: Nairobi Beatniks with two stories from Clifton Gachagua and Mehul Gohil; Part Six: Living in an African Future with 4 stories from Shadreck Chitoki, Stephen Embleton, Tiseke Chilma and Muthi Nhlema and a script from Dilman Dila; and Part Seven: Should I stay or should I go? Publishing internationally with three stories from Wole Talabi, Masimba Musodza and Kofi Nyameye.

The issue ends with a pretty comprehensive year by year list of mostly fiction written in English. There are a lot of novels in the list, as well as comics and films ... and it's an impressive list. Starting with Chaka by Thomas Mofolo in 1909/10 and ending in July 2017 with the announcement of Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death being adapted fro TV. Here, I've pulled out some of the books, anthologies and comics on the list using the headings Geoff Ryman used to categorise them. Enjoy! And then check out the special issue.

All books covers via Google images.

from bookshy http://ift.tt/2v8MZI5

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The Sphere

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