African Fantasy

Forced into a life of serving the queendom before she was old enough to deny them, Brandi was a cultivator of death and the queen’s own blade, reserved only for the disloyal and the blasphemous. Crafted by the queendom and forged in blood, she was nothing more than a tool.

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.

Haitian-American Vodou priestess Mambo Reina Dumond runs a healing practice from her New Orleans home. Gifted with water magic since she was a child, Reina is devoted to the benevolent traditions of her ancestors. After a ritual slaying in the French Quarter, police arrest a fellow vodouisant. Detective Roman Frost, Reina’s ex-boyfriend - a fierce nonbeliever - is eager to tie the crime, and half a dozen others, to the Vodou practitioners of New Orleans. Reina resolves to find the real killer and defend the Vodou practice and customs.

Seventeen-year-old Odessa has a heavy burden placed upon her. As her father grows sicker each day, she must take on increasing responsibilities. With her mother's mysterious disappearance, it is up to Odessa to care for her younger sister and ailing father at the same time. However, he soon takes a turn for the worse, and Odessa learns she has little time to find a cure.

Royal children no longer desire merely the throne of their kingdom. The prize they seek is a seat on the High Council as a God. The quake of footsteps from the divine shape the fabric of the realm. These All Beings walk among mortals and their children hold the titles of king and queen. When blessed blood is threatened, lines are drawn. Aron Barre II, a newly crowned ruler, is thrusted in the middle of a conflict between the rivaling kingdoms of the Fallows. The political journey he embarks on will change the course of Caldonia forever.

Chima is an outcast among outcasts. He's on the verge of giving up on life entirely when he encounters the sacred Biafran lion. Gifted with an incredible power and introduced to a world beyond belief, Chima thinks his life may finally be turning around. When a rival nation kidnaps Chima's father, his world is shattered. To save his family and the Biafran people, he must learn to believe in himself and his newfound power. As he fights back against a secret weapon, he wonders if his efforts to protect his adopted home could doom them all.

Mothersound is the first anthology of stories set in this fictional shared world based on a blend of African cultural worldviews. Edited by Locus Award-nominated editor Wole Talabi with contributions from around the African continent and diaspora, Sauúti is filled with wonder, mystery, and magic.

Charles’ life is split between two worlds: one real and one fantasy. In the real world, he is a lonely, bullied kid who can’t keep up with school when the letters refuse to stay still on the page, and is constantly in trouble for getting distracted. He lives with his mom in an apartment building, where Glory, the grumpy old superintendent, fills his head with stories about the Dream Folk. In his fantasy world, the Sanctuary, Charles adventures with faeries and sprites and his two imaginary best friends.

War is coming. Despite everything Maya and her father have done, the veil that protects the human world is failing. The Lord of Shadows has raised an army powerful enough to challenge the orishas. And it’s only a matter of time before he breaks through the veil and destroys Maya’s neighborhood and the rest of the world.

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.

Apophis, il serpente del Caos, minaccia di sprofondare il mondo intero nella tenebra eterna. Carter e Sadie Kane si trovano ad affrontare un compito impossibile: distruggerlo una volta per tutte. Da soli, perché i maghi della Casa della Vita sono impegnati in una terribile guerra intestina e nessuno degli dei può aiutarli a combattere contro le forze del Caos. L'unica speranza è un antico incantesimo che potrebbe trasformare la stessa ombra del serpente in una potente arma contro di lui, ma la formula è andata persa da oltre un millennio.

Salo’s queen has finally accepted his desire to be a mystic despite taboos concerning men’s use of magic. But her acceptance is not support; it is strategy. Under a disguise of the queen’s making, Salo enters Jungle City as a pilgrim to the Red Temple, only to find a magical barrier barring his entrance. Left at the mercy of the warring political factions that run the city, Salo faces a series of obstacles wrought by an unseen hand, knowing he cannot return home without completing his pilgrimage. But Isa, King of the Saire clan, has her own plans for Salo.

As the oldest of three girls, Renee at a young age knew she was born into a special family of women. These women are blessed with unique gifts from God but others may disagree. Although Renee, Leah, and Tiffany were born in Georgia, their family roots were planted in New Orleans where the Creole cuisine fills your soul, the swamps run deep with blood and voodoo is a religion to some. At the age of 13, Renee’s life is forever changed as well as her sister’s.

The Lebensborn Alliance begins 11 years after The Lebensborn Experiment ends. It is now 1956, and the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement. Former Sergeant Kapp Johnson gets enlisted as Dr. Martin Luther King's bodyguard and moves to Montgomery, Alabama. Hans has inherited millions from his uncle and buys the Vancouver Daily Times. As Managing Editor, Hans sends Adok to Montgomery to report on the bus boycott. When Adok gets involved with the local KKK and goes missing, Hans' prophecy he would one day meet Sergeant Johnson again comes true.

At 72, Johnny Ribkins shouldn't have such problems: he's got one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss or it's curtains. What may or may not be useful to Johnny as he flees is that he comes from an African American family that has been gifted with superpowers that are a bit, well, odd. Okay, very odd. For example, Johnny's father could see colors no one else could see. His brother could scale perfectly flat walls. His cousin belches fire. And Johnny himself can make precise maps of any space you name, whether he's been there or not.

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.

In this mesmerizing fantasy rooted in Urhobo and West African folklore, sixteen-year-old Naborhi longs for a life away from her small, traditional clan in Kokori. But as her rite of passage approaches and she is betrothed to an arrogant young man, Naborhi feels her dreams slipping away from her. Then Naborhi becomes bonded to a mysterious animal and begins having harrowing visions of a kidnapped boy. She soon meets Atai, the son of an Oracle from a rival queendom, and learns that she is being guided by the gods.

That clock can’t be right. When Elise wakes up the morning after her birthday celebration, she’s surprised to find herself in her bedroom. Last she can remember, she had fallen asleep next to her best friends at her slumber party in her basement, and it was October. But now she’s alone, and her phone says it’s April 8. Elise doesn’t understand. How could she have woken up six months later?

Hans van Rooyen is a former police general raised by two women who survived the 1899 South African War. He finds himself being cared for in an old age home by the daughter of liberation struggle activists. At 80, he carries with him the memories of crimes he committed as an officer under the apartheid government. Having eluded the public confessions at the TRC for his time in the Border Wars, he retained his position in the democratic South Africa, serving as an institutional memory for a new generation of police recruits.

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?