We're live!
My collection CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS hits shelves today.
These 16 stories have taken shape over a decade, tracing the outline of my professional writing career, showcasing the things that drive me. Its a joy to share this book with you.
The pain is real.
I had to take the IELTS to prove I can write and speak English the same week I was nominated for the Caine Prize in writing.
I laughed.
Applying to something & I have to prove I can speak English because I’m not American🙃even though I’m a whole author & graduate student teaching English to American college students🙃
Man, us science fiction writers spend hours concocting elaborate reasons to justify plots, meanwhile the writers of 2020 have just written "willful and deliberate stupidity" into every episode so far.
- We be burning (because)
- Temperature (is rising and...)
- (Climate change is) No Lie.
- Give Me The Light (to enlighten climate deniers and...)
- Get Busy (working on renewable and sustainable technologies)
- (As for CO2, you better) Give It Up To Me.
Rasclat.
There is something inside me that hates how big a part self-promotion plays in achieving success. Despite knowing better for years, there is some part of me that still wishes that simply doing quality work or creating something of value would be enough, able to speak for itself.
Right. I've playing this news relatively close to my chest for a while because that's just how I am but also because part of me didn't think it was real. But it is. So here we go. My debut novel "Shigidi" will be published by
@dawbooks
books next year.
Well now its official.
I'm incredibly honored to be a ⭐ Hugo award finalist ⭐ for my novelette "A Dream Of Electric Mothers".
Pretty damn awesome.
Thank you everyone that read, shared & campaigned for this story. You guys made this happen.
And congrats to my fellow nominees.
Writers don't give their work enough visibility.
Use this tweet to announce/promote your book, your new story, your new poems, and your forthcoming book.
Haha lets go
(1) Laos: Nothing. They didn't ask for anything, they just said Nigerians aren't allowed to apply for Visa to their country. I laughed and used black marker to remove their country from my map of the world.
You know what, let’s have that conversation.
What’s the weirdest/most annoying/most ridiculous thing an embassy has asked you to provide as part of a visa application? (Name the embassy too if you can.)
Its live!
My novel, SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON hits US shelves (+ global screens/streams) today! A dream come true.
I hope y'all enjoy meeting Shigidi & Nneoma as they take on gods, monsters, magicians and a supernatural heist.
@dawbooks
I'm incredibly happy & humbled that two of my stories are Nebula award finalists! SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON (best novel) & SATURDAY'S SONG (best novelette). Wow. To be nominated in 2 categories is surreal. Thanks everyone. And congratulations to my fellow finalists!
Absolutely thrilled that the
@washingtonpost
has listed my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON one of the 10 best science fiction & fantasy books of 2023.
What a wow.
I never expected it.
Read the list:
Get it here:
Damn. What a delight to wake up to news that I have 5 (five?!) works on the
@BSFA
awards longlist.
Best novel: Shigidi
Best short fic: Saturday's Song
Best collection: Mothersound
Best non fic: Prisoners in the Temple Of The Muses
I'm floored! Thank you!
Personally, I wish all of us African writers would just stop putting words from our languages, local slang and culture-specific terms in italics. If its a word, then just use it and move on. Context should be sufficient for understanding the use.
Whoa. How incredibly awesome to see my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON on the
@BSFA
awards shortlist for best novel beside titans of the field
@garethlpowell
@JulietEMcKenna
@geoffryman
& the late, great Christopher Priest. I'm stunned. Thank you everyone that voted
🚀 the BSFA Award Shortlist is now available right here!!! 👇
Congratulations to all those who have made it through, and a huge congratulations to all of you who made the long list — what an incredible celebration this is!
Well... wow.
SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON is a Locus Award finalist in the best 1st novel category!⭐️
Congratulations to all my fellow nominees, and thank you so much to everyone who voted. Pretty wild to see how much people have enjoyed and supported this novel. 🙏
So this is something we've been cooking for a while which I think could really be a game changer for African and African diaspora SFF writers and I'm really pleased to have it slowly make its way out in the world (1/6)
The Sauúti Shared World:
Alright. Here we go. Cover reveal and an excerpt from the opening of my forthcoming contemporary fantasy novel "Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon" from
@dawbooks
.
Really hope y'all enjoy this one when you get to read it.
via
@tordotcom
Well well well… look what it is.
A Starred Review for my novel SHIGIDI from
@PublishersWkly
!
- My very 1st starred review (yay)
- compares me to Neil Neil Gaiman and Harry Turtledove (both of whom I love)
- calls it a technicolor thrill ride (heh)
My novel "Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon" from
@dawbooks
is out on Aug 8, but you can already get a head start:
1. ARCs are on
@NetGalley
-
2. Add it as "want to read" on
@goodreads
-
3. Preorder-
🙏
It awesome to be a finalist for the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award which celebrates realistic science fiction stories focused on near future space exploration.
Cant wait for you all to read the story (Cant name it yet since they use blind judging)
Yep. My novel SHIGIDI was review bombed even before ARCs were out by a troll doing the same to books by African authors. So for a while the only rating for it was a 1-star. It was annoying (still is) but I just focused on other things and the book has gone on to acclaim.
as someone who’s been reviewed bombed before as a debut, my best advice is to focus your emotional energy on your next book. I know it’s hard, I know it hurts, but as POC, we *must* keep writing. others will want you to fail, but your greatest fight is to keep on.
I'm at a work event all day but jumping in to say I'm honored my story "A Dream Of Electric Mothers" is a finalist for the Nebula award. Thank you everyone who read, reviewed, voted for this story. I'll have more coherent thoughts once I'm done with work, but thank you all.
2022 Nebula Award for Novelette finalists (cont.):
-"Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness", S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld 12/22)
-"A Dream of Electric Mothers", Wole Talabi (Africa Risen),
and...2/3
Okay, its absolutely wild that my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON is on the longlist for the Wilbur Smith adventure writing prize. I never even expected it but I am so happy to see it. Shigidi and Nneoma's globetrotting, era-spanning adventure was a joy to write.
"You're thrown into the story and just have to go along for the ride. I would definitely recommend this book to people!" - Librarian Reviewer
Congratulations to
@WTalabi
on this mesmerizing novel. We're thrilled to have you on our longlist.
#AdventureWritingPrize
Now that
#AkeFest23
is over, I just want to say
@lolashoneyin
has her own gravity. It pulls things into existence and makes magic happen. Thank you so much for everything. You do so much for African literature and we appreciate you for it.
Well damn.
My novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON got a rave review in the
@washingtonpost
!
Super grateful to every reader and reviewer that has gotten what I tried to do with this book.
@dawbooks
@gollancz
Its finally out y'all.
My story about stories, storytellers and songs, about bori spirit possession and other Nigerian gods, about women-in-love and mothers and vengeance, "Saturday's Song", is now available to read for free online.
This is a dear story to me. Hope you like it.
Tips to increase your visibility:
-interact with people in your community genuinely
-maintain a regular social media presence
-cut out your still-beating heart & offer it to subscribers
-recite the six million lies of Qaergar the unmerciful before posting about your latest work
Everyone writes for different reasons. There is no greater or lesser motivation for writing. What matters is that you write, and write well enough to satisfy whatever drives you.
I'm thrilled to announce that I'm delighted and excited to finally be able to reveal that I am looking forward to being overwhelmed and very humbled and just extremely grateful for everything so I want to thank everyone who made things possible because its an absolute honor.
The amount of money and time and effort that I've spent dealing with visas and immigration as a Nigerian traveller is insane. Fees, forms, opportunity costs. There's a whole world of border restrictions against certain nationalities which most people are completely unaware of.
Oh look. It me.
Thank you
@sfwa
. Its nice to be celebrated.
And thanks to everyone who read/voted for this story, who read the Africa Risen anthology, and all who read and continue to support and celebrate African and African diaspora speculative fiction.
@africansfs
.
CELEBRATING WRITING EXCELLENCE at
#NEBULAS2023
: This tweet celebrates Wole Talabi, whose A Dream Of Electric Mothers is a finalist in the Novelette category. The novelette was published in the Africa Risen anthology. Congrats, Wole!
@WTalabi
MOTHERSOUND: The Sauútiverse Anthology is OUT NOW!🚀
I am incredibly proud of what we have built: the 1st ever African collaborative science-fantasy shared world -
@sauutiverse
& appreciate all our backers who made it happen!🙏
Never be impressed by awards, money, beauty, followers, degrees, and titles.
Instead, be impressed by kindness, integrity, humility, generosity and grand displays of telekinetic or pyrotechnic ability.
Yo!
I'm absolutely delighted to see my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON recommended in
@guardian
's best recent science fiction and fantasy books. ✨✨✨
They call it "a vivid, entertaining tale of love, power and revenge."
Wow.
I'll be teaching this class on writing speculative fiction (with a focus on Africa and Science Fiction) in collaboration with the good folks at
@Lolwe_
. Sign up at the link -
(Scholarships available for those who have financial challenges)
Here we go. The cover for my 2nd collection of stories - Convergence Problems - which will be out next year from
@dawbooks
.
16 stories, including new and acclaimed work
Pre-order at B&N using code PREORDER25 between Wed 9/6 and Fri 9/8 to get 25% off!
OK. Seriously. Did my books really just get 3 back-to-back starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly in 6 months?
Because I think my books just got 3 back-to-back starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly in 6 months.
2023 has been wild.
Contracts signed so its official. Just sold this story. I think its my most ambitious piece of short fiction yet. Set 3 million years in the future, it features AI, Yoruba proverbs, interstellar travel, quantum physics, ruminations on art and memory... more. Details coming soon
Working on this new story has reminded of everything I enjoy about creating science fiction. Research, learning, creating, crafting. Getting feedback and revising. Learning even more. The whole process is joyful.
Oh I won?!
And even better, its a tie, which means someone else won too. (congratulations
@AerospaceWriter
!)
Nice.
Very nice indeed.
My thanks to the judges, my editors and all the readers who saw beyond the skin of this story.
And we have liftoff! 🚀
MOTHERSOUND, the 1st anthology set in a fictional African collaborative science-fantasy shared world based on a blend of African cultures, is live.⭐️
Cool Planets🌍
Spiritual AI🖥️
Sound Magic🎵
More!
Please support the project:
Hello! My eligibility post for 2023.
-Novel: SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON
-Novelette: SATURDAY'S SONG
-Short Story: BLOWOUT
-Anthology: MOTHERSOUND: THE SAUÚTIVERSE ANTHOLOGY
If you enjoyed them, I'd appreciate your consideration.
Details:
🧵⬇️
I'm both glad and sad that SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON is completely SOLD OUT at
@akefestival
! Grateful for the love at home and thank you everyone that got a copy (and a signature + maybe a pin + bookmark). More copies available around the country from
@masobebooks
!
Ah. So I'm a Locus Award finalist for best short story. Pretty damn cool.
Thanks to everyone that voted for my story. And to
@Asimovs_SF
&
@apexmag
for sharing it with the world. Its in great company beside amazing stories and authors I deeply admire. Congratulations to us all
Alright. So contracts are signed and cash is in hand so I'm pleased to let you guys know this story will be appearing in
@Analog_SF
.
You want an African exploration team on Mars dealing with an unepxected technical issue? You'll get it. Plus sibling love, cool tech, and more.
It awesome to be a finalist for the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award which celebrates realistic science fiction stories focused on near future space exploration.
Cant wait for you all to read the story (Cant name it yet since they use blind judging)
Please support an anthology of the very 1st African collaborative science-fantasy shared world -the
@sauutiverse
.
A 5-planet, binary star system 💫
Intricate magic based on sound 🎵
Rooted in myriad African cultures 🌍
-
Reject hypercapitalism of art.
I finally unbox the book that launches a collective dream, the result of a lot of hard work.
MOTHERSOUND: The Sauútiverse Anthology launches the 1st African collaborative SFF shared world🚀
I am incredibly proud of what the
@sauutiverse
have built.
All my naija people.
My novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON is out now in bookstores around the country and West Africa. Grab your copy today and enjoy a fun globe-trotting story with juju, giants, heists, action and meditation on faith and belief.
Shigidi: Now Out‼️
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon” weaves a mythic tale of disgruntled gods, revenge, and an epic cross-world heist. Shigidi and Nneoma, are on a wild ride featuring rival gods, strange creatures, and manipulative magicians.
Its perfectly fine to listen to advice, seriously consider it and then discard it anyway. Its still useful advice because the process of thinking through it can help clarify your own internal objectives.
"So, there he was, barely conscious in the back of a black cab being driven down the Haymarket road on the spirit side of London by a man who died seventy years ago, when Nneoma finally told Shigidi that she loved him. He would have laughed if he wasn’t already half past dead."
I remember having a conversation years ago with a bookseller who told me speculative fiction didn't really sell in Nigeria, not even the major international authors. So seeing how well SHIGIDI is doing and to receive this message from my Aunt, means a lot to me. 🙏
First day of
@chengduworldcon
.
Gave a presentation on African Speculative fiction. Grateful for the live translators and the excellent fans who came for the first session of the first day.
Pretty damn awesome to appear twice on the
@BSFA
awards longlist.
1st for my story "A Dream of Electric Mothers" from Africa Risen (eds
@Penprince_
@AuthorZKnight
@blackpotmojo
)
2nd for my
@sfwa
essay "Preliminary Observations from an Incomplete History of African SFF"
Grateful
🚀 The BSFA Long List is now available to view! Check it out and see if your favourites made it!
Congratulations to the nominees. Voting for the Short List opens next week, so stand by!
Last year, while thinking about CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS I made a list of some of the best African single-author SFF collections but I knew there was more great work to recommend.
So, here are 5 (more) of the best single-author collections of African SFF >>
Its pretty excellent to find that I have been nominated for the 2020 Nommo Awards by
@africansfs
members in 2 categories.
-"When We Dream We Are Our God" for Best Short Story.
-"Incompleteness Theories" for Best Novella.
Thank you to all who voted.
For my naija people (and my people living in Africa), I can finally confirm that my novel Shigidi And The Brass Head Of Obalufon will be available in country from
@masobebooks
and in local bookstores. More details to come. Stay tuned.
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
Meet Shigidi, the disgruntled nightmare god trapped in the Orisha spirit company, and Nneoma, a secretive succubus with a troubled past. Together, they'll challenge destiny, escape divine shackles, and embark on an electrifying heist across two worlds.
Alright. As is now tradition, here's my top 10 African SFF stories of 2023.
I love reading. And I love doing this. Thank you all for the wonderful stories.
SFF fans and readers, let me know which African SFF stories you've read that had the most interesting/intriguing science fictional idea/concept you've come across.
So many people have said so many nice things about my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON, calling it one of their favorite books of 2023, I attempted to gather several of them in one place. Newspapers, magazines, booksellers, reviewers, bloggers...
Thank you all!
Well this is certainly a nice Christmas surprise.
My debut novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON was listed by
@republicjournal
as one of their favourite African books of 2023!
Thank you!
I appreciate all objective reviews of my work, but it hits different when its by my own people. Especially those that get it, because, yes, SHIGIDI is heavily influenced by my love for cinema (especially 90s Nollywood, Bond films, heist films, HK action films, anime, & more)
I review Wole Talabi's thriller Shigidi. The Orisas are going out of business and Olorun wants to save the day! A delightful fantasy novel; I call it "a cinematic world by itself" because this is a movie in book form. Read here:
There's a reason I tell my fellow Nigerian writers "we dey wait you for front" whenever I achieve anything. I want y'all to succeed too. A lot of what I do behind the scenes is to enable and promote African SFF as a whole. And I like for my hand to be invisible, but effective
There are several.
Hundreds even.
You can find a list of African horror stories in the
@africansfs
database (valid up to 2021) -
Just click on "sub genre" to sort by well, subgenre and you will see all the horror books and stories listed.
Hello all, are there African writers that write horror, horror-esque or horror-adjacent stories?
If you know one or are one, pls reply this tweet. Doesn't matter if you have a published story, a draft or a work in progress, reply🧏🏾♀️
RT as well, thanksss
Fallen gods partying in nightclubs. Vampires that are into crypto. Lawyers that are secretly sorcerers... we just love when fantasy mixes with the modern!
Author
@wtalabi
highlights 5 fast-paced African urban fantasy novels:
Alright. Contracts all signed. Sold Chinese translation rights for my nebula-nominated, Hugo-eligible novelette “A Dream Of Electric Mothers” to Future Affairs Administration
@faaoffice
. Glad to be able to share the story with Chinese readers. My 2nd story translated to Chinese.
Hbf run today.
12km in 1hr 9mins.
A decent time. I'm not breaking any records but was in the top 15%. Happy with my performance. And it was jolly good fun even though my right knee hates me a bit now.
Hey y'all, if you enjoyed my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON please help spread the word. It could use a boost in sales in the US & Canada. Word of mouth, reviews, social media, bookstore + library requests, all help. Thank you!
This weekend, the
@BSFA
awards will be announced. Someone said that if I win, I'd be the 1st African to win the BSFA for best novel and I thought "they must be wrong", given the history of African talent based in the UK. But I checked. Apparently no African has won before. Huh.
Happy Valentines day to Shigidi and Nneoma, the nightmare god and the succubus who might just be the coolest, weirdest, messiest romantic couple I have ever written. Haha.
It's funny how so many of the science fiction and fantasy stories written by African authors I've read recently include some discussion of immigration and visa issues. Whether na robot or spirit, last last all man must sha apply for visa.
Dropped by Dymocks bookstore in Brisbane and signed a few copies of my novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON. It's always a joy to seey book out and about in the world.
So many mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem, mandem...
Aye one time fi di gyal dem.