Ivor W. Hartmann (Editor) is a Zimbabwean writer, editor, publisher, and visual artist. Awarded The Golden Baobab Prize (2009), finalist for the Yvonne Vera Award (2011), selected for The 20 in Twenty: The Best Short Stories of South Africa's Democracy (2014), and awarded third in the Jalada Prize for Literature (2015). His works have appeared in many publications. He runs the StoryTime micro-press, publisher of the African Roar and AfroSF series of anthologies. He is a founding member of the African Speculative Fiction Society.

AfroSF - Science Fiction by African Writers edited by Ivor W. Hartmann

AfroSF is the first ever Pan-African anthology of Science Fiction by African writers only. It is comprised of original works from stellar established and upcoming African writers.

Table of Contents
Ivor W. Hartmann Introduction
Nnedi Okorafor 'Moom!'
Sarah Lotz 'Home Affairs'
Tendai Huchu 'The Sale'
Cristy Zinn 'Five Sets of Hands'
Ashley Jacobs 'New Mzansi'
Nick Wood 'Azania'
Tade Thompson 'Notes from Gethsemane'
S.A. Partridge 'Planet X
Chinelo Onwualu 'The Gift of Touch'
Uko Bendi Udo 'The Foreigner'
Dave de Burgh 'Angel Song'
Biram Mboob 'The Rare Earth'
Sally-Ann Murray 'Terms & Conditions Apply'
Mandisi Nkomo 'Heresy'
Liam Kruger 'Closing Time'
Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu 'Masquerade Stories'
Joan De La Haye 'The Trial'
Mia Arderne 'Brandy City'
Rafeeat Aliyu 'Ofe!'
Martin Stokes 'Claws and Savages'
Clifton Gachagua 'To Gaze at the Sun'
Efe Okogu 'Proposition 23'

CURATOR'S NOTE

The inaugural volume of the AfroSF anthology series features the work of Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author, Nnedi Okorafor, as well as Tade Thompson and other stars of African SF. In this first ever exclusively Pan-African anthology, Ivor Hartmann has assembled an excellent introduction to and appreciation of some of the best speculative fiction written by African authors. – Tenea D. Johnson

 

REVIEWS

  • "AfroSF will serve as an admirable antidote for all those who have to be reminded that Africa is a continent, not a country. Both the stories and the authors are as diverse as any reader could wish...Looking over this broad assortment...it's clear that this anthology has lived up to its ambition...highly readable and enjoyable stories that take the raw materials of science fiction and give them a different spin...Although it is coming from a small press, it would be lovely if this anthology were to get some of the wider attention it deserves."

    – Karen Burnham, Locus December 2012

  • "Africa is in our future and AfroSF demonstrates that the same can be said of its authors. These stories have an energy and a vitality that is missing from much western science fiction today, and they're as varied as the continent itself. Read them and you'll find your new favourite authors. Recommended."

    – Jim Steel, Interzone’s Book Reviews editor and widely published short-story writer

  • "I'd like the repurpose the title of an old anthropological study to describe this fine new anthology: 'African Genesis.' The stories in this unprecedented, full-spectrum collection of tales by African writers must surely represent, by virtue of their wit, vigor, daring, and passion, the genesis of a bright new day for Afrocentric science fiction. The contributors here are utterly conversant with all SF subgenres, and employ a full suite of up-to-date concepts and tools to convey their continent-wide, multiplex, idiosyncratic sense of wonder. With the publication of this book, the global web of science fiction is strengthened and invigorated by the inclusion of some hitherto neglected voices."

    – Paul Di Filippo, co-author of Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010

  • "The stories in AfroSF feature all the things fans of science fiction expect: deep space travel, dystopian landscapes, alien species, totalitarian bureaucracy, military adventure, neuro-enhanced nightlife, artificial intelligence, futures both to be feared and longed for. At once familiar and disarmingly original, these stories are fascinating for the diversity of voices at play and for the unique perspective each author brings to the genre. This is SF for the Twenty-first Century."

    – David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award winning author of The Acacia Trilogy

  • "This is a book of subtle refractions and phantasmic resonances. The accumulated reading effect is one of deep admiration at the exuberance of the twenty-first century human imagination."

    – A. Igoni Barrett, author of Love is Power, Or Something Like That

  • "AfroSF is an intense and varied anthology of fresh work. Readers and writers who like to explore new viewpoints will enjoy this book."

    – Brenda Cooper, author of The Creative Fire
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Moom!

Nnedi Okorafor

She sliced through the water imagining herself a deadly beam of black light. The current parted against her sleek smooth skin. If any fish got in her way, she would spear it and keep right on going. She was on a mission. She was angry. She would succeed and then they would leave for good. They brought the stench of dryness, then they brought the noise and made the world bleed black ooze that left poison rainbows on the water's surface. She'd often see these rainbows whenever she leapt over the water to touch the sun.

The ones who brought the rainbows were burrowing and building creatures from the land and no one could do anything about them. Except her. She'd done it before and they'd stopped for many moons. They'd gone away. She could do it again.

She increased her speed.

She was the largest swordfish in these waters. Her waters. Even when she migrated, this particular place remained hers. Everyone knew it. She had not been born here but in all her migrations, she was happiest here. She suspected this was the birthplace of one of those who created her.

She swam even faster.

She was blue grey and it was night. Though she could see, she didn't need to. She knew where she was going from memory. She was aiming for the thing that looked like a giant dead snake. She remembered snakes; she'd seen plenty in her past life. In the sunlight, this dead snake was the colour of decaying seaweed with skin rough like coral.

Any moment now.

She was nearly there.

She was closing in fast.

She stabbed into it.

From the tip of her spear, down her spine, to the ends of all her fins, she experienced red-orange bursts of pain. The impact was so jarring that she couldn't move. But there was victory; she felt the giant dead snake deflate. It was bleeding its black blood. Her perfect body went numb and she wondered if she had died. Then she wondered what new body she would find herself inhabiting. She remembered her last form, a yellow monkey; even while in that body, she'd loved to swim. The water had always called to her.

She awoke. Gently but quickly, she pulled her spear out. Black blood spewed in her face from the hole she'd made. She quickly turned away from the bitter-sweet tasting poison. Now they would leave soon. As she happily swam away in triumph, the loudest noise she'd ever heard vibrated through the water.

MOOM!