I very much appreciate being gifted this copy of The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction from 2021, and the opportunity to read & review it. Thanks to the publisher.

A four star read. While I enjoy a well written story by a single author, sometimes you need to break things up. Not always am I in the mood or have the rime to devote to a novel or novella. This was right up my alley. I was able to read as many or as few stories in my sitting. Written in 2021, this is a book of 29 short stories by different authors. Stand out stories were 'We Come As Gods,' 'Are We Ourselves,' 'The Friendship Bench,' and 'Scar Tissue.' The various stories fall under cyberpunk, horror, sci-fi, and Afrofuturism to name a view. Various themes are explored as well as different points of views (queer and straight) are explored. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to reading another compilation such as this.

trigger warning (TL;DR: all of them)
<spoiler> death by fire, drug abuse, gun violence, police brutality, victim blaming, rape, trauma, memory loss, slavery, domestic violence, grief, death at childbirth, kidnapping, child disappearance, fat shaming </spoiler>

What it says on the tin: The best African speculative fiction in short stories from the year 2021.

You can see that it took me a while to start this, and then it took me a while to read through this. In some cases this would mean that I didn't enjoy the writing or the content of the stories, and... well the latter is true here, too, to some extent, but in the way that most stories had very, very heavy topics.
I was ill for a long time, still not haven't fully recovered, and I tended to go for lighter things.

What I really enjoyed was the diversity in tone and setting. We have sci fi stuff on space ships, we have a superhero stories, at least two vampire tales. Witches, changelings, post apocalyptic stories and moments from the lifes of normal people.
Of course, some I did like more than others, but there was not one story that had me irritated and asking for why it was put in here. The storytelling was awesome, and in a few cases I was kinda bummed by the end of the story because I could have spend so much more time in the world, with the author's words.

Once I find myself with a dwindling stack of books, I will look up a few of the creators featured in here to find new reads.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

It is phenomenal to see more inclusive fiction being released, and a collection like this does fantastic things for the genre and representation. I work in a high school - both as librarian and history teacher, with a very ethnocentric (sometimes bordering on xenophobic) student and parent body, and being able to introduce my students to these stories ideas has been fantastic. Keep it up!

This is a great collection, though like almost all anthologies it's slightly a mixed bag for any one reader's taste. I had encountered a handful of the stories elsewhere, and it was great to see them resituated in a new, expanded context, and I definitely discovered some new favorites as well.

I have a love/hate relationship with Year's Best anthologies in general. I can't think of a single one I've read where I enjoyed every story. But I love digging in to little shots of cool literature.

The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction is a solid collection of pieces showcasing a wide variety of topics and style. I enjoyed most of the stories in the collection (there were a few I either skimmed or left unfinished) and, in general, I really enjoyed reading this.

My favorite stories were "Scar Tissue", "Ancestries", "When the Last of the Birds and the Bess have Gone On", "Egoli", and "A Mastery of German".

I appreciated that the stories in this anthology ran the gamut of speculative fiction and I was introduced to several authors that I would like to spend more time with. I really enjoyed reading stories featuring so many different points of view and characters.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review

African Speculative Fiction stories in this book have a goal to tell African and black people's stories and realities

Each story focuses on one particular theme and tries to have conversations about it as regards to Africans

With each story written by different authors with different writing styles, it felt good to anticipate a new story because of the new experience it came with

A solid collection of stories. Unfortunately I didn't realize there was enough African Speculative fiction to make such a collection, but I'm glad to be wrong. I suspect most scifi fans will enjoy this.

Thanks very much for the free review copy!!

This is a fantastic and wide-ranging collection including stories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki has truly done a wonderful job in bringing together diverse themes – parenthood, grief, gentrification, technological change, scientific ethics, racism, guilt, sacrifice, environmental destruction – in a range of genres and styles. The majority of authors included in this collection I had not read before; I am thrilled to have discovered quite a few authors whom I absolutely must read more from. Inevitably with an anthology, I enjoyed some stories significantly more than others; some stories I found too short. Overall, I enjoyed this collection very much and highly recommend it. Some of my favourite stories included:
“Things Boys Do” by Pemi Aguda – disturbing horror as three men find reason to be afraid of their newborn sons.
“Giant Steps” by Russell Nichols – the reflections of a scientist on an incredible solo space voyage. A favourite in the collection for sure.
“A Mastery of German” by Marian Denise Moore – a thought-provoking story raising issues of epigenetics, the transferability of memory, and medical ethics. An absolute favourite.
“Disassembly” by Makena Onjerika – a woman who can come apart and rebuild herself. Thought-provoking; another favourite.
“Egoli” by T.L. Huchu – an elderly protagonist reflects on all the changes she’s experienced throughout her lifetime.
“And This is How to Stay Alive” by Shingai Njeri Kagunda – a moving story of grief and guilt after the suicide of a loved one.
“Red_Bati” by Dilman Dila – the story of a robotic dog with more awareness than those around it realize it has.
<i>Content warnings:</i> suicide, gun violence, implied sexual assault, toxic relationship, emotional abuse, gaslighting, death, death of a child, homophobia, transphobia, racism, racial slurs, blood, fatphobia (including in a medical setting)
<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Jembefola Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for this review.</i>

As someone more au fait with anthologies than me pointed out, this anthology doesn't have a introduction. So there's no discussion of what speculative fiction is, let alone what African speculative fiction is. Which means that the answer to both of those questions is: These stories. All of them. These authors write that.

A few of these names - Sheree Renee Thomas, Tobias S Buckell - were familiar to me, but most were not. Part of this is that I don't read a whole heap of short fiction these days, especially not the online magazines - it's too hard - but it's also partly about the speculative fiction scene that gets a lot of notice still being really white (I am not very wired into the whole scene these days anyway). Which makes an anthology like this excellent... because we're a long way away from not needing such a thing, so don't bring me the "but everyone's work should be judged on merit" nonsense.

Anyway: the stories! This is a truly diverse set of fiction. There's magic and there's robots and there's myths and there's so-close-to-reality, and there's horror (sometimes akin to the close-to-reality); there's stories set in recognisable places and future places and past places and nowhere-places. Women and men and ungendered and who cares, families and not, hope and not,

I didn't love every story, but I never do, with an anthology. And some of those were horror, which I pretty much always don't enjoy. There was only one story that I got impatient with and skimmed over, which is a pretty good hit-rate in 360 pages.

This is great. I hope it's the first in a long line of such volumes, as the cover page suggests.

I absolutely adore speculative fiction anthologies, so when I saw that both C.L. Clark and T.L. Huchu had stories in this one, I had to read it. This is a collection of twenty-nine stories from 2020 told by African or African diaspora writers, a good mix of science fiction, fantasy and horror. There are stories that deal with age-old problems like racism and parenthood and newer ones like climate change and gentrification, from robot revolutions to vengeful djinn. Most of the stories were a solid three or four stars, but there were a few stories that particularly stood out to me:

“Things Boys Do” – Pemi Aguda. A delightfully atmospheric horror story about three new fathers.

“She hates that word, destination. Too close to destiny. Too far from reality.”


“Giant Steps” – Russell Nichols. A journey of discovery for one scientist, from her childhood to her arrival as the first human on a new world.

“A robot can’t cry, but it can be worried.”


“Scar Tissue” – Tobias S. Buckell. My absolute favorite of the collection. Told in the second person, a deeply emotional exploration of trauma and parenthood, through the lens of a man who’s suffered an accident and now agrees to “raise” a robot in return for extra cash.

“A Love Song for Herkinal as Composed By Ashkernas Amid the Ruins of New Haven” – Chinelo Onwualu. Another heartwarming one, where after the collapse of most of the world, a family is running a hotel for supernatural creatures – even the not so pleasant ones. Absolutely fascinating and amazing world building.

“You always taught me that it’s easier to run forward than backwards.”


“A Mastery of German” – Marian Denise Moore. A story about racial memory and ethics. Very thought provoking.

“Desiccant” – Craig Laurance Gidney. I absolutely loved this one, about a woman who moves into a rundown apartment and discovers something is critically wrong, housing segregation as a horror story. My only complaint was that it was too short!

“Egoli” – T.L. Huchu. Told in the second person, a story about an elderly woman reflecting on technological – and other – advancements during her lifetime. Lovely.

“And This Is How to Stay Alive” – Shingai Njeri Kagunda. My (extremely close) second favorite. A gorgeous, bittersweet story about a gay teen, suicide, time travel, and a sister’s love.

Overall, a well-rounded collection with a little something for everyone. Highly recommended!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021)

[Blurb goes here]

I was pleasantly surprised at this collection of stories. Although, to be fair, some of them are a not that good. Still, you should give it a try.

Thank you for the free copy!

Anthologies like this are an excellent way to discover new authors and those featured were all new to me.
I liked the stories but I would preferred they were longer.
The authors are interesting and hope to read novels by them.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was a very well put together collection, and I really enjoyed the variety of the stories! Many of the stories were queer, and all of them focused on African characters or was set in African countries. Theres everything from science fiction to magical realism to horror, and every single story was good and well realized, even if I personally did not understand or like every single one of them (but that is the way it is with short story collections).
I was also exposed to a bunch of new authors I had not heard about before, which is always a great plus!


Some stories that really stood out to me was these:

“Things Boys Do” by Pemi Aguda: This one was just wow. Super creepy story about three fathers that each get a son that they're afraid of. The twist was so so so good!!

“Ancestries” by Sheree Renée Thomas: This one was hard to digest, but I really enjoyed its view on Gods and how ancestry stays in our blood.

“The Future in Saltwater” by Tamara Jerée: A story of growing up, Gods, and octopi. Really imaginative and interesting story.

“Scar Tissue” by Tobias S. Buckell: A very touching story about a disabled man that has to raise an android to pay off his future medical bills. This was just so sweet, and actually made me cry!

"Egoli” by T.L. Huchu: Very sweet and funny story about an old grandmother and the future. Very character-focused story from a perspective we don't often get to see.

“And This is How to Stay Alive” by Shingai Njeri Kagunda: Really amazing story about grief and time. I will be thinking about this one for ages.

I personally love anthologies as a way to introduce myself to new authors and this collection, edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and containing some of the best science fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories of 2020 by African and African Diaspora voices, more than met that mark for me. I am rather ashamed to admit I had never read from any of these authors previously, but that is sure to change soon because this collection blew me away.

The stories in this collection ranged from far future revolutions in space to robots/AI to gods and supernatural creatures. There was theming around police brutality and parenthood and conversations about home and community and so much more. Like with most anthologies, there will be some entries that don't connect to a reader as well, but for me none of the stories were individually lower than a 3 star (I liked it) and the ones that were at 3-3.5 stars were mostly just because they felt too short.

Some standouts to me were:

"Things Boys Do" by Pemi Aguda - an atmospheric horror short story following three men who each find their newborn child (all called Jonny) is ruining their life.
"Giant Steps" by Russell Nichols - a beautifully written story about staying true to yourself that mixes folklore with the science of space travel
"Scar Tissue" by Tobias S Buckell - an amputee decides to raise a robot/AI to get some extra cash and learns what it means to be a parent
"The Goatkeeper's Harvest" by Tobi Ogundiran - another piece of mild horror involving folktales/gods and goats
"Disassembly" by Maken Onjerika - a commentary on mental health and recovery as shown by a woman who can take herself physically apart
"Egoli" by T.L. Huchu - a lovely, thought-provoking story about a grandmother living in her remote village thinking about how much the world has changed in her lifetime
"And This is How to Stay Alive" by Shingai Njeri Kagunda - this story, involving time travel, suicide, and the relationships between a gay teen and his family, made me cry

As a whole, I don't think this is an anthology you should miss! I enjoyed reading each of the included stories and loved the way the theming flowed from one story to the next. This was the perfect collection to savor, reading a few stories a day throughout the week.

I have entered wanting to meet new authors in this anthology, but overall it has not convinced me. There are many stories, of varied topics and they are all very short, 10-12 pages, so you cannot go too deep into the environments they propose, although some propose very interesting things. I also have the feeling that there is a reiteration of some themes in many of the stories.

The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction edited by the phenomenal Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a comprehensive volume of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and slipstream fiction that collects the best of what African and African-descended writers have produced in the past year or so.

For those wanting more exposure and to broaden their reading of African writers, this is one of the most extensive volumes with writers both new and established including Tamara Jeree, Russell Nichols, Tlotlo Tsamaase, and many more. Some of the "new-to-me" writers included Tobi Ogundiran, Michelle Mellon, Makena Onjerika, and several others, which enhanced my reading experience.

Some of my favourite authors included within these pages were the incomparable Sheree Renée Thomas, ZZ Claybourne, and Craig Laurance Gidney. Having devoured Thomas's works in her short story collection, Nine Bar Blues as well as SLAY, edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz, it was a treat to be able to revisit some of those pieces again by one of the best short story writers today, period.

Some of the standouts for me included "Things Boys Do" by Pemi Aguda, which read to me like a fable. Cruelty didn't begin to describe what the three boys subjected the protagonist to, and the story stayed with me long after I had finished reading it.

"A Mastery of German" by Marian Denise Moore seemed at first to be about a Black man who may have participated in the jazz scene in Germany at the outset of the Second World War and into the 1940s, but quickly veered into a science fiction direction with discussions of consciousness transfer technology. The protagonist faced pressure to take on a very lucrative but stress-inducing project further complicated by issues of genetics, ethics, and even the history of Henrietta Lacks. It was an incredibly disturbing tale, and very memorable.

"Are We Ourselves?" by Michelle Mellon similarly explored notions of consciousness transfer technology, and included an interesting spin on a futuristic concept of reparations. As with many of the stories in this volumes, things were definitely not as they seemed.

"The River of Night" by Tlotlo Tsamaase was an erotic horror but also disturbing and visceral; not for the faint of heart.

It's impossible to pick a favourite in such a strong body of collected works, but one of the pieces that had the most visceral impact for me was "The Front Line" by WC Dunlap.
"Because no one cares what happens to a Black woman's body?"
"...women like you..."
"You need to lose weight."
The first part of this story connected straight to a nerve for me. The second part was horrific and harrowing, chronicling a scene we have watched and absorbed multiple times, each one an instance of racialized violence from predominantly white law enforcement which should not happen in a just society.

Libraries and bookstores should most definitely acquire this fantastic volume of short stories, masterfully selected, and I hope that as many readers as possible discover the wonders within here.