This is the follow up to the highly acclaimed The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction 2021 which collected twenty-nine stories by twenty-five writers, which the press describes as "some of the most exciting voices, old and new, from Africa and the diaspora, published in the 2020 year." This new anthology introduces three two new editors who join award-winning writer and editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki of teh first to introduce readers to an ever more diverse set of writers associated with Africa. Ekpeki is the author of "The Witching Hour," which won a 2019 Nommo award, and the co-editor of two other forthcoming anthologies: the nonfiction collection Bridging Worlds: Global Conversations on Creating Pan-African Speculative Literature in a Pandemic (with Zelda Knight) and the speculative fiction collection Africa Risen (with Zelda Knight and Sheree Renée Thomas). For the new anthology he is joining forces with Eugen Bacon, a 2022 World Fantasy Award finalist and Milton Davis, an award-winning Black Speculative fiction write and editor.

Winner of the 2023 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology Winner of the 2023 Locus Award for Best Anthology A 2023 NAACP Image Award Nominee A 2023 British Fantasy Award Nominee A NPR Best of the Year pick A Book Riot Best SFF of the Year pick "[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. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

WINNER BEST ANTHOLOGY, WORLD FANTASY AWARDS "You are bound to be wonderstruck."--Lightspeed Magazine "A must-read."--Locus Magazine "Highly recommended."--The British Fantasy Society The world's first ever "year's best" anthology of African speculative fiction. Edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction collects twenty-nine stories by twenty-five writers, which the press describes as "some of the most exciting voices, old and new, from Africa and the diaspora, published in the 2020 year." The anthology includes stories from Somto O. Ihezue, Pemi Aguda, Russell Nichols, Tamara Jerée, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tobias S. Buckell, Inegbenoise O. Osagie, Tobi Ogundiran, Chinelo Onwualu, Moustapha Mbacké Diop, Marian Denise Moore, Michelle Mellon, C.L. Clark, Eugen Bacon, Craig Laurence Gidney, Makena Onjerika, T.L. Huchu, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Derek Lubangakene, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, WC Dunlap, ZZ Claybourne, and Dilman Dila. As Ekpeki notes, the announcement also includes a list of twenty-one additional notable stories from 2020--an excellent further reading list once you've finished the book. Ekpeki is the author of "The Witching Hour," which won a 2019 Nommo award, and the co-editor of two other forthcoming anthologies: the nonfiction collection Bridging Worlds: Global Conversations on Creating Pan-African Speculative Literature in a Pandemic (with Zelda Knight) and the speculative fiction collection Africa Risen (with Zelda Knight and Sheree Renée Thomas).

"[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.

This is the third volume in this highly praised series (the first won the World Fantasy Award). Previous works been praised for their eclectic mix of stories, offering a panorama of themes and styles. For instance, the 2021 edition included a story about a woman struggling with her identity and relationship in the face of a thought-recording device, a tale of a man fostering a rapidly evolving robot, and an adventurous narrative about a sentient robot dog engaging in space piracy. These stories not only explored advanced technologies and speculative scenarios but also delved deep into human emotions, relationships, and societal issues. Themes of personal struggles, such as dealing with depression, anxiety, and feelings of alienation, were also prominent. These were manifested through unique and powerful metaphors, like a woman whose detachable body parts symbolized her sense of disintegration and invisibility, or a story that portrayed the torment of self-contempt through the constant barrage of negative thoughts from imaginary entities. The anthology also ventured into mythic dimensions, echoing the voices and histories of entire cultures through concise yet profound storytelling. For example, flash fiction pieces in the collection reached the heights of epic poetry, encapsulating the journey of human life and cultural evolution. With such a backdrop, the 2023 volume can be expected to continue this tradition of blending speculative elements with deep human experiences and cultural narratives. It's likely to feature stories that push the boundaries of imagination while staying grounded in the complexities of the human condition. Readers can anticipate a collection that not only entertains but also provokes thought and offers new perspectives on both the future and the present. The anthology is not just a showcase of speculative fiction; it's a celebration of African storytelling, creativity, and the endless possibilities within the realm of speculative fiction.

The first ever Year's Best African speculative fiction anthology with works from some of the most exciting voices in Africa and the diaspora, published in the 2020 year."Where You Go" by Somto O. Ihezue"Things Boys Do" by Pemi Aguda"Giant Steps" by Russell Nichols"The Future in Saltwater" by Tamara Jerée"The ThoughtBox" by Tlotlo Tsamaase"The Parts That Make Us Monsters" by Sheree Renée Thomas"Scar Tissue" by Tobias S. Buckell"Ancestries" by Sheree Renée Thomas"Breath of the Sahara" by Inegbenoise O. Osagie"The Many Lives of an Abiku" by Tobi Ogundiran"A Love Song for Herkinal as composed by Ashkernas amid the ruins of New Haven" by Chinelo Onwualu"A Curse at Midnight" by Moustapha Mbacké Diop"A Mastery of German" by Marian Denise Moore"Are We Ourselves?" by Michelle Mellon"When the Last of the Birds and the Bees Have Gone On" by C.L. Clark"The Goatkeeper's Harvest" by Tobi Ogundiran"Baba Klep" by Eugen Bacon"Desiccant" by Craig Laurance Gidney"Disassembly" by Makena Onjerika"The River of Night" by Tlotlo Tsamaase"Egoli" by T.L. Huchu"The Friendship Bench" by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu"Fort Kwame" by Derek Lubangakene"We Come as Gods" by Suyi Davies Okungbowa"And This is How to Stay Alive" by Shingai Njeri Kagunda "The Front Line" by WC Dunlap"Penultimate" by ZZ Claybourne"Love Hangover" by Sheree Renée Thomas"Red_Bati" by Dilman Dila

Dominion is the first anthology of speculative fiction and poetry by Africans and the African Diaspora. An old god rises up each fall to test his subjects. Once an old woman's pet, a robot sent to mine an asteroid faces an existential crisis. A magician and his son time-travel to Ngoni country and try to change the course of history. A dead child returns to haunt his grieving mother with terrifying consequences. Candace, an ambitious middle manager, is handed a project that will force her to confront the ethical ramifications of her company's latest project—the monetization of human memory. Osupa, a newborn village in pre-colonial Yorubaland populated by refugees of war, is recovering after a great storm when a young man and woman are struck by lightning, causing three priests to divine the coming intrusion of a titanic object from beyond the sky. A magician teams up with a disgruntled civil servant to find his missing wand. A taboo error in a black market trade brings a man face-to-face with his deceased father—literally. The death of a King sets off a chain of events that ensnare a trickster, an insane killing machine, and a princess, threatening to upend their post-apocalyptic world. Africa is caught in the tug-of-war between two warring Chinas, and for Ibrahima torn between the lashings of his soul and the pain of the world around him, what will emerge? When the Goddess of Vengeance locates the souls of her stolen believers, she comes to a midwestern town with a terrible past, seeking the darkest reparations. In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by nuclear war, survivors gather in Ife-Iyoku, the spiritual capital of the ancient Oyo Empire, where they are altered in fantastic ways by its magic and power.

In this vibrant and approachable book, award-winning writers of black speculative fiction bring together excerpts from their work and creative reflections on futurisms with original essays. Features an introduction by Suyi Okungbowa. Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction showcases creative-critical essays that negotiate genre bending and black speculative fiction with writerly practice. As Afrodecendant peoples with lived experience from the continent, award-winning authors use their intrinsic voices in critical conversations on Afrofuturism and Afro-centered futurisms. By engaging with difference, they present a new kind of African study that is an evaluative gaze at African history, African spirituality, Afrosurrealism, "becoming," black radical imagination, cultural identity, decolonizing queerness, myths, linguistic cosmologies, and more. Contributing authors – Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Dilman Dila, Eugen Bacon, Nerine Dorman, Nuzo Onoh, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Stephen Embleton, Suyi Okungbowa, Tobi Ogundiran and Xan van Rooyen – offer boldly hybrid chapters (both creative and scholarly) that interface Afrocentric artefacts and exegesis. Through ethnographic reflections and intense scrutinies of African fiction, these writers contribute open and diverse reflections of Afro-centered futurisms. The authors in Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction feature in major genre and literary awards, including the Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Locus, Ignyte, Nommo, Philip K. Dick, Shirley Jackson and Otherwise Awards, among others. They are also intrinsic partners in a vital conversation on the rise of black speculative fiction that explores diversity and social (in)justice, charting poignant stories with black hero/ines who remake their worlds in color zones of their own image.

For decades, science fiction has compelled us to imagine futures both inspiring and cautionary. Whether it’s a cryptic message encountered by a survey ship, the discovery of alien life in the distant reaches of space, a window into a future Earth, or the adventures of well-meaning AI, science fiction inspires our imagination and delivers a lens through which we can view ourselves and the world around us. At the very heart of the genre is short fiction, the secret lab that has introduced many of the new ideas, techniques, and voices prominent across all other media. In The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Eight, Hugo and Locus Award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a comprehensive year-in-review of 2022's short fiction markets and selects thirty-one of its best stories from the wealth of magazines, anthologies, podcasts, and collections that make up the field. In these pages you'll find works by both the new and established authors who are setting the pace for science fiction today and into tomorrow. Start your journey here.

Danged Black Thing is an extraordinary collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, patriarchy and womanhood, from a remarkable and original voice. Traversing the West and Africa, they celebrate the author's hybridity with breathtaking sensuousness and lyricism. Simbiyu wins a scholarship to study in Australia, but cannot leave behind a world of walking barefoot, the orange sun, and his longing for a "once pillow-soft mother." In his past, darkness rose from the river and something nameless and mystical continues to envelop his life. In "A Taste of Unguja" sweet taarab music, full of want, seeps into a mother's life on the streets of Melbourne as she evokes the powers of her ancestors to seek vengeance on her cursed ex. In the cyberfunk of "Unlimited Data" Natukunda, a village woman, gives her all for her family in Old Kampala. Other stories explore what happens when the water runs dry-and who pays, capture the devastating effects on women and children of societies in which men hold all the power, and themes of being, belonging, and otherness. Speculative, realistic, and even mythological, but always imbued with truth, empathy, and Blackness, Danged Black Thing is a literary knockout.