African Fantasy

Nelah seems to have it all: fame, wealth, and a long-awaited daughter growing in a government lab. But, trapped in a loveless marriage to a policeman who uses a microchip to monitor her every move, Nelah’s perfect life is precarious. After a drug-fueled evening culminates in an eerie car accident, Nelah commits a desperate crime and buries the body, daring to hope that she can keep one last secret.

In Bodyminds Reimagined Sami Schalk traces how Black women's speculative fiction complicates the understanding of bodyminds - the intertwinement of the mental and the physical - in the context of race, gender, and (dis)ability. Bridging Black feminist theory with disability studies, Schalk demonstrates that this genre's political potential lies in the authors' creation of bodyminds that transcend reality's limitations.

Magic doesn't exist in the broken city of Lkossa anymore, especially for girls like 16-year-old Koffi. Indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, she cares for its fearsome and mythical creatures to pay off her family's debts and secure their freedom. But when her loved ones' safety is threatened by the zoo's cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn't fully understand.

Issaka has returned home to Timbouctou and a devastating al-Qaeda raid. His only hope for survival is Faro, a stunning, blue-beaded supernatural entity who rises free from the flames of her imprisoning book as it burns. Compelled to follow Faro, Issaka is opening his eyes to their shared history and the ancestral wisdom of his own past.

Lace, white, everything frilly and pretty. The theme to Sara’s life used to be that of a princess, one she romanticized. But when her previously perfect world turned upside down, Sara became convinced that she was cursed. She hid herself in the shadows to spare others from the agony she brought along. The only person she could never hide from was her adopted brother.

From creation myths and foundation legends to fascinating stories of human relationships and animal tales, these stories provide a diverse look at the countries and cultures across the African continent. Noted folklorist Helen Nde provides context for history and colonial influences for the stories.

Destiny Montgomery has just landed the opportunity of a lifetime to write singer and dancer, Jacob River's biography. She's more than thrilled to be a part of his project and travel closely with Jacob on his concert tour. However, Destiny doesn't expect the sparks she feels whenever she's near him and is irresistibly attracted to the sexy superstar as he slowly reveals his life and himself to her.

In this anthology, everybody is Black. Filled with epic battles, complicated families, soft kisses, and sharpened blades, Magic in the Melanin is an adult fantasy anthology that showcases Black authors who write magical stories of all kinds.

Some temptations are just too tantalizing to ignore. Can't Help the Way That I Feel, edited by Emmy award-winning and Essence best-selling author Lori Bryant-Woolridge, is a collection of titillating stories, each exploring a delicious enticement. In "The Sangria Seduction," lemon sangria becomes the elixir of lust for a player trying to seduce the naughty out of one very nice girl.

As usual, death will always bring family back together. And with death, there are almost always secrets. Anika and Ebony find themselves on a journey that takes them from mourning to discovering that it’s “their time” with an ensemble of family and friends: a loving, sweet Geechee grandma, frenemies, and a not-so-endearing family. From Ravenwood’s own King of Rap and his wifey the Mouth of the South to a love that will never die, Bloodstone’s Jinx will have you questioning your own existence.

A dark story of love, paradise, and hell. This is the life of Mala’ik. An angel who was outcast from paradise for his love for a mortal. He has wandered the earth for centuries searching for the reborn soul of the women he had condemned to hellfire. This is his story. His life as an immortal imprisoned among humanity.

The head of US public relations at Kobayashi Motors, the largest automaker in Japan, is Cadence St. James that is, until she's forced to take on the dangerous new role of corporate whistleblower. Cadence's twin sister, Cushmeer Kincaid, is a human rights statistician who suffers from a fear of public speaking. When Kobayashi cars start spontaneously accelerating and the death toll rises, Toshio Nakamura, a company executive, heads due north to Minneapolis, Minnesota and pulls Cushmeer into the treacherous fray.

Now a guardian in training, Maya spends her days patching up veils with her father and cleaning up near-disasters like baby wormholes that her erratic powers create. But when Maya and her friends discover that something went terribly wrong during their journey to bring her father back to the human world, they are forced to return to The Dark and restore what they left behind, the one thing keeping the veil from falling: her father’s soul.

Erandus and his wife are on their last dragon run. One final dragon trade will set them on the path to their long-awaited dream of leaving the dragon islands for good. No trades. No more running for their lives. No more killing. However, when the two of them spot enemy ships docking off their coast, their hopes of a better life are soon put on hold. An unfortunate turn of events throws the two of them into the adventure of their lives. Now, with the dragon islands under siege, Erandus and his wife must decide if they will leave.

As African Swine Fever Virus, a deadly virus that infects pigs, is spreading in China and threatens to infect pigs in Western Europe - and may even reach America - the timing of this provocative novel could not be more perfect. As fears grow that the virus might be capable of infecting humans, this book raises troubling questions about the honesty and competence of public health officials.

As students at university of Makhanda, South Africa during the #RUReferenceList campaign, Langa and her lover Khwezi have a passionate and complex relationship. Puzzling gaps in her memory haunt Langa, yet her dreams are vivid with colors and symbols that hint at a nightmare of forgotten violations and losses. So many secrets—and Langa has had enough of secrets and silences. Who can she turn to? Her mother? Her grandmother? Khwezi? Or herself?

When Walt and his family relocate to Blackbird Bay, Walt thinks it’s the most boring place on earth. While his twin sister, Van, likes to spend her time skateboarding, Walt prefers to hide out in his room and work on his beloved map world, Djaruba. But shortly after their arrival, Walt discovers something extraordinary: He has the ability to make maps come to life.

When she entered school at a recently integrated college in North Carolina, Adirah Messa was looking forward to a bright future. Then she met a man of another kind who turned her world upside down. After being turned into a blood-sucking being and then giving birth to a child fathered by the King of Vampires, Adirah thinks that life can't get any stranger. But when her ancient past becomes a part of the present, she learns that her son has a destiny that is out of her control. The only way to protect him is for old enemies to put their differences behind them....

She’s a princess. He’s a demon. Both are fighting for control. Princess Shanaki, second heir to the throne of Ya-Set, has journeyed to a foreign land to serve as a pawn in her father’s game. Ikenna, demonkin, has been betrayed by his own. When the demons make a target of the princess to claim what is rightfully theirs, Ikenna moves against her first. Caught between beast and man, how will Shanaki save herself from the dark?

Named after the first man at the creation of the world in Malagasy mythology, Ietsy Razak was raised to perpetuate the glory of his namesake and expected to be as illuminated as his Great Ancestor. But in the chaos of modernity, his young life is marked only by restlessness, maddening insomnia, and an adolescent apathy.