Harare Review of Books

243 pages.

Expected publication date: Oct 24, 2023 (Caezik SF. & Fantasy, O. D. Ekpeki Presents)

Mixed anthology.

I’ve spent the whole week somewhere in/over/under some part of Nigeria, in the world created by Nigerian and West African cosmology. Ekpeki and Omenga introduce a new term for this (old) genre: Afropantheology, to show that the themes in this kind of writing are not fantasy to the main audience, rooted as they are in African belief systems—an argument I have found persuasive.

In between three essays from Ekpeki (some of which you will have encountered elsewhere)—on the rights of non-Westerners to our names, on firsts for writers and publishers from marginalised groups, and on dystopian fiction—are what Western fantasy would call fairytales: stories about spirits in neighbouring realms, ancestors, witches, gods, warriors, villages, university students, death matches where the winner receives oxygen credits, a horror magazine submission, and much more. So much imagination has gone into these stories, even for those based in existing folktales or mythology.

Reading African fiction that is not meant for the Western gaze is always refreshing, and Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology delivers. This is a wonderful anthology, well worth reading.

Thank you to Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki for this ARC.