In Convergence Problems, will need to lobby examines a future where climate catastrophe has happened. Almost every story holds a thread of grief, loss, transition, and Hope.

I enjoyed that the author played with narrative style and a couple of the stories: One is a chat post with replies one is a patent application and one breaks up a traditional Nigerian folktale with a corollary in the future present.

I also appreciated the author notes at the end of the book for each of the short stories. I found them fascinating, because they gave a glimpse into the author's writing process.

I'm definitely going to be picking up a copy for myself because I will be revisiting some of these stories.

People who like afrofuturism, Black speculative fiction are probably going to like this book.

Thank you Net Galley and Daw books for my advanced reader copy.

In his introduction to this collection, Wole Talabi writes that in mathematical modelling, convergence is “bringing an approximate (simplified) solution close enough to a true solution, within a given tolerance during an iterative procedure;” he notes that while this is often needed, “there are often difficulties in converging to a solution.” Convergence Problems, then, is a collection of stories about problems that arise in imagined futures, even apparently desirable ones; Talabi notes that such problems are not always bad and can “expose poor logic or inconsistent assumptions.”

Inevitably with a short story collection, some stories will stand out to each reader more than others. For me, “Saturday’s Song,” “An Arc of Electric Skin,” “Abeokuta52,” and “A Dream of Electric Mothers” are all standouts, but there is no filler here – this is a fantastic, thoughtful, wide ranging collection. I averaged out the star ratings I gave to each individual story and came out with a number over four, and I’m more than happy to round up. The inclusion of Author Notes at the end situating the influences and publication of each story is a nice inclusion. I definitely recommend this collection.

Content warnings: homophobia, war, violence, gun violence, accidental injury, classism, terminal illness, suicide attempt, death, gaslighting, murder

Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi is a collection of sixteen science fiction stories by the author of Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon (one of my most pleasurable reads lately). As with any story collection, Convergence Problems varies in impact of each individual piece, but if I wasn’t blown away by any of the tales save one, the collection as a whole is nicely consistent along the 3-4 scale, with no stories I’d call “weak” and most at the 3.5/4.0 level, making it in my mind a strong collection.

While the stories may incorporate familiar plots/subjects, they are freshened up by their (mostly) Nigerian setting on a surface level and more substantively by Talabi intermixing Yoruba folklore in several of the stories. As for those subjects, they range from several dystopic stories to stories that focus on grief, government corruption, freedom, AI, suicide, and more. Talabi also plays with form in a number of stories, while others are more traditional hard sci-fi with the level of detail one might expect from an engineer, which Talabi is (I’ll confess sometimes the technical detail were a bit much for me --- YMMV). Overall, I’d recommend the book for the consistency of its above average quality, it’s relatively fresh take on familiar elements, and its playful use of form and structure. A few specifics:

“Debut” A story about AI sentience and art creation that is just as long as it should be and no longer

“An Arc of Electric Skin” a thought-provoking story with a not-so-easy ending

“Saturday’s Song” My favorite in the collection (I wrote “great story!” at the end). A strong dose of folklore mixed in with question of forgiveness, vengeance, grief and the pain often engendered by family. A difficult, powerful tale

“Ganger” One of the few that felt its length (actually felt overlong) and felt overly familiar. The story isn’t bad, just not unusual or surprising in any way save for the folktale woven in and out, which was more interesting to me in its own right, Its connection to the sci-fi story was too on the nose for me, but I did like the conveyed idea that the old stories serve just as well as the new ones to make points about current and/or future society

“Ember” Another difficult story, one with a character whose horrible actions doesn’t make him any less tragic for the reader

“A Dream of Electric Mothers” another nice mix of myth, culture, and technology, probably my second or third favorite in the collection. Here, the political leaders of a country consult their ”collective digital memory . . . the memrionic copies of our citizens . . . an entity made up of the minds of citizens past that could process billions of input parameters . . and give advice on matters of national interest. An encoded and accessible electric voice of the ancestors.” What could have been merely political or technological is enhanced by Talabi’s deep dive into the personal.

BOOK: CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS
AUTHOR: WOLE TALABI
PUB DATE: 13 FEBRUARY 2024
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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This book filled with short stories, different characters, and cultures is the first I've ever read. I love, love the infusion of Nigerian, African culture with sci-fi, something that's not popularly seen. I loved his reimagination of Nigeria. I loved through the sci-fi journey, there was no Western countries. I liked the places in Nigerian I saw, the familiar lingo and names. I love the author's writing. He's a wonderful writer, wowing me in the different stories. I didn’t like all the stories in the book, but I liked most of them. The author's imagination is out of this world.
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1. DEBUT: At first, I didn’t understand this at first. I stopped it and went back to it. But, i liked the Nigerian futuristic setting, some African characters, and its unusual ending
2. AN ARC OF ELECTRIC SKIN: This was wonderful. I could definitely relate considering Nigeria's history of corruption in the past. I understood Akachi's decision. I loved the superhero act. Even though I didn’t read his POV
3. SATURDAY'S SONG: This short story was two in one, and I learned a lot of things. I learned some Hausas worship small gods and about Shigidi. I liked the entirety of the storyline and the ending. I liked the Days of the Week POV. It was really nice.
4. LIGHTS IN THE SKY: I loved this too, the storyline and the setting. It was emotional and raw and relatable. A favorite.
5. BLOWOUT: This was good, too. I liked the insertion of the familiar places. I liked Folake's story and her reunion with her brother. It was nice
6. GAMMA (OR: LOVE IN THE AGE OF RADIATION POISONING): Short but poignant and sad. Had a dystopian setting, and I liked it. Had young characters, too. A favorite
7. GANGER: My least favorite, it was the longest, and I was very confused when I started it. Consequently, I liked the setting, which is very dystopian. I didn’t like the ending, too. 8. ABEOKUTA 52: I liked this too. It was the most relatable story. but it ended way too soon. I was familiar with the lingo and the place. It was very good. I didn't like the ending, though.
9. TENDS TO ZERO; I didn’t really like this one because of the main character. But I liked the magical realism part. I liked the realistic Lagos setting.
10. NIGERIAN DREAMS: I could relate to this because the main character wanted to 'japa', some thing many Nigerians want to do. I could also relate to the Nigerian dream that was in the book.
11. PERFORMANCE REVIEW: This had just two scenes, and I was able to understand the fmc's situation. I liked it and the sci-fi genre.
12. SILENCE: Short and poignant story of love. I liked it. A favorite.
13. EMBERS: A sad story borne out of the desperation of the mmc. I didn't really like this because of the ending. I loved the Kawashida power supply, though.
14. THE MILLION EYES OF A LONELY AND FRAGILE GOD: I didn't really like this too, but it was probably because of how realistic it was. It packed a punch, though.
15. COMMENTS ON YOUR PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION FOR AN ETERNAL SPIRIT CORE: I didn’t really like this. It was confusing, but I later got the gist.
16. A DREAM OF ELECTRIC MOTHERS: I didn't really like the story line, but I loved the setting. Odua republic led by a Yoruba king, the re imagination of Babalawos. I liked it.
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I liked this book and the author's writing. You might not like all the stories, but you'll love most of them. You'll be blown away by the author's writhing and imagination. A must-read.

I am blown away by this collection. The stories have a common theme, a thread weaving through each of them, but yet they are varied in style, genre, voice and format. Ingenious storytelling. These stories bring alive different possibilities and futures, both dark and beautiful, with advanced technology and traditional African culture and traditions intertwined.

Each of these stories gave me something. Some of the stories were longer and thus more fleshed out and intricate. The shorter stories gave you glimpses into different realities, but still managed to leave their mark on you, often in a profound way. The collection awoke feelings of unease, horror, anger, love, helplessness and compassion. But it was also full of insightful ideas and lines that really stuck with me. Some that reflect the more general way of the world and some very personal.

I especially enjoyed the unique story formats of “Comments on Your Provisional Patent Application for an Eternal Spirit Core” and “Abeokuta52”. It’s inspiring how Talabi manages to convey a whole world, intricate characters and a moving story in formats such as a blog post + comments and a patent application form.

I genuinely cannot pick a favourite out of these 16 stories. They all speak to me and move me in some way. I am so happy I was drawn to this book by its gorgeous cover and interesting blurb. I will be rereading these stories over and over.

This is a collection of short stories that span different genres, formats and writing eras in Talabi’s life. “Tends to Zero” makes me think of Sandman and N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became. “Silence” feels like a minutes-long ad for a perfume. Others have profound moral depth and ethical reach. My favorites are the science fiction stories. I love “Debut” for the images of AI art disrupting the world, “Lights in the Sky” for pulling the reader into the narrative. “Performance Review” was thrilling, and I can totally see this as an episode in “Black Mirror” or “The Twilight Zone”. I enjoy the complexity of “Ganger” the most. The narrative moves so well, so fluidly between the folktale legend of Awori and the future tale of Laide. Talabi’s friend Bankole is credited with the story seed in the Author’s notes, which I find super cool– like other great writers, Talabi works well with creative collaboration, pulling from and riffing on legends, folklore, and his friend’s ideas. My second close favorite is the final story, “A Dream of Electric Mothers” where important decisions are taken to the collective memory, which has roots in the use of oracles as well as in a future where a collective memory can be stored and accessed. The author notes are a must read for this story. I think that’s what this collection ultimately brings us: connection between the critical tales that make up a culture and the same tales embedded in the future. Very cool.

For me, an anglo female living in the California Bay Area, this book was delightful as a window into another region of the world. I loved reading the science fiction stories because I got the same feeling reading Talabi as I did when reading Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles: a sense of awe and amazement and fear as well. Good speculative fiction should make you wary. I especially appreciate Talabi’s Author Notes at the end, where he explains the origins and some of the concepts he explores in each of the stories. In his notes on “Performance Review” he delves into his experiences with the ethics of AI in writing. I found this and the rest of the notes insightful and enlightening.

Reader Advisory: I looked up many terms to orient myself to the Nigerian geography and culture. I recommend reading Nigerian folktales, mythology and history for a better connection to the stories. Additionally, I am finally reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart thanks to Talabi’s story “Embers.” To summarize, do some research while you read. You’ll be able to enjoy the stories more if you do. AND DON’T SKIP THE AUTHOR NOTES!

My many thanks to DAW Books and Netgalley for access to the ARC. As I hope you can tell, any opinions presented herein are my own. I’m not receiving any kind of douceur for my review.

I'm not one for SF short stories because much of it tends to go over my head but truly enjoyed this. Some of my favorites were Saturday's Song, Lights In The Sky, Ganger and Performance Review. I will definitely read more of this author's work.

Initially, I was making a list of my favorite stories so that I could name the standout entries. All anthologies have some stories I like more and some I like less, but here's the thing... a list of the stories that were 5-star entries for me would pretty closely resemble the table of contents. This whole collection is really strong, and it's an easy five stars from me.

Not only was each piece quite solid, they worked well together. They vary pretty widely in length, too. "Lights in the Sky" is an excellent flash fiction, "Tend to Zero" is a fantastic mid-length piece with notes of NK Jemisin's stories of cities personified, and the novella at the core of this book, while not my favorite piece, touched on many of the larger themes that cropped up in the other pieces. Some stories have a more fantastical bent, others are classic scifi, and all of them have Afrofuturist components that would make this book a good fit for fans of Nnedi Okorafor and Tlotlo Tsamaase's utopias-turned-dystopian.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. I'm looking forward to reading Talabi's entry in Africa Risen when I read it sometime later this year. Definitely going to pick up more of his work in the future!

Imgur link goes to the Instagram graphic scheduled for Feb 11th
Blog post goes live Feb 7th
To be discussed in February Reads pt 1

TL;DR: A strong and varied collection of African centered SF stories exploring technology and it’s connections in our lives.

Convergence Problems is solid. I have to open with that. While it wasn’t mind blowing for me, I enjoyed most of these stories for how our author captured and explored these ‘convergence problems’ in short format. Each takes a different way of looking at how technology does or might intersect with our lives.

My favorite pieces in this were the shorter ones, the longer pieces struggled to hold my interest but the shorter, more dynamic pieces were great. This features at least one novella, which I found fascinating but a little dull to my tastes, as well. My favorite by far was Saturday’s Song. The dynamic way it was told, via song and different voice, made it fun and unique.

If you enjoy Science Fiction shorts this is a collection that’s worth the pick up. The ideas are interesting, and the execution solid.

3 out of 5 mercenary gods

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi is a collection of Africanfuturism short stories that range in length and style. Two of the stories, Abeokuta 52 and Comments on Your Provisional Patent Application for an Eternal Spirit Core, play with format and use an internet article and comments in the first and email in the second to tell a story.

My favorite of the collection was A Dream of Electric Mothers, a short story about a group of people consulting their ancestors over a border dispute. I loved it when I read it on Tor last year and I loved it even more when I read it again in this collection.

Another favorite of mine was Saturday’s Song where siblings sit around and tell a story as a group. The siblings as a device with very distinct personalities was well-written and I liked how they each impacted the story.

I would recommend this to fans of Africanfuturism or readers looking to dip their toes into this rich subgenre.

the collection of novellas, novelettes, and dystopian short stories is remarkable, as the previous works of the author set a very high plank for this collection, I am happy to say, that for me, this was an amazing read.
The reader just has to stop after each short story, to digest, take in the story, and let it sit for a while. I made an error of reading several back-to-back, however realized it is way more enjoyable to digest each of these unique stories slowly.
I am not a short story reader, but I thoroughly enjoyed this work of fiction. At this point, Wole Talabi is an auto-buy author.

Convergence Problems is a set of short stories that are all set in, or at least relating to Africa. The author is an engineer, and the stories ask the question, if there is some fantastical development like a new technology or power, what sort of problems would naturally arise? Some of the stories are definitely better than others, but all are interesting and makes the reader ponder the questions raised.

This is an excellent short story collection about grief, family, sense of self and artificial intelligence. The stories were all great (16 in total, some longer and some shorter), though there were some definite standouts.

My favorites were:

- Saturday's Song, about seven mysterious siblings named after the days of the week who chronicle humanity's stories and also about the story Saturday asks them to tell, which is about grief and revenge and duty and the terrible things we do for them.

- Ganger, one of the longer stories in this collection, this is alternates a Yoruba folktale about an old hunter who gains the power to transform into a jaguar and the story of Laide, a young woman in a dystopian society where everything is provided for her but where basic freedoms are denied, who finds meaning in her life when she gains the ability to transfer her consciousness in the body of a robot.

- A Dream of Electric Mothers. The last story in this collection, this was nominated for a Hugo and a Nebula, and for good reason. A young minister pushes for the consultation of the "Electric Mothers", an intelligence comprised of all the consciousnesses of the dead citizens of her country, while she deals with the loss of her own mother.

These three were my favorites, but all the others were fantastic as well. Absolutely recommended!

This is such a powerful collection of science fiction stories. Each one had my brain churning with questions and 'what it's. Certainly stories to think about and in some cases to keep you awake at nights. I will be looking out for more of this authors work.

All the stories in "Convergence Problem" are set in a futuristic Nigeria - from a near future where oil has recently been replaced by a new self-replenishing biofuel battery to a far future where apocalyptic climate changes have forced humanity to live in dystopian mega-towers under a protective dome.

I thought the shining point of this short story collection is the range of emotion in these stories. Some are happy and triumphant, others held bitterness, shame, or regret. It kept the collection from being one note and held some pleasant surprised, like a post-apocalyptic story with a hopeful ending, possibly a little different from most climate crisis stories.

Convergence Problems publishes 2/13 - I recommend picking it up for the scifi lovers in your life.

I’ve been following Wole Talabi’s recommendations for African short sci-fi and fantasy for several years now, and after loving “The Regression Test” and “A Dream of Electric Mothers,” I’ve found myself regularly seeking out the work of Talabi himself. So I was excited for the opportunity to read and review his newest short fiction collection: Convergence Problems.

Convergence Problems features sixteen works of short fiction—four I’d read previously and twelve new-to-me—with the Hugo and Nebula finalist “A Dream of Electric Mothers” headlining the thirteen reprints and three new stories offering readers something they can’t get anywhere else. The vast majority of the collection is sci-fi, though the nightmare god title character in his novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Olabufon makes a notable appearance in the fantasy novelette “Saturday’s Song.”

The capstone “A Dream of Electric Mothers,” a compelling story both of personal grief and of a nation relying too heavily on the words of their ancestors, is undoubtedly the jewel of the collection. I’m always a little disappointed when none of the new-to-me stories hit the level of one I’ve already read, but when that one is a story I’d nominated for a Hugo, it’s not much surprise to see it remain my favorite. But though nothing else quite hit that level, I was impressed by just how consistently enjoyable Convergence Problems was.

Typically, in a collection of sixteen stories, I’d expect to find at least two or three that I didn’t much care for. Given that a good quarter of the collection consisted of flash fiction, which I tend not to enjoy, I certainly would’ve expected a few misses in this one. And yet only “Tends to Zero”—not a bad story, but a bleak tragedy with a lead that didn’t move me—didn’t really click for me. The rest ranged from good to excellent.

Admittedly, the flash pieces probably won’t stick in my mind for long, but they were all good reads in the moment, with small-scale adventure, romances and betrayals serving up quality, bite-sized tales. Perhaps most notable here is the newest of the bunch, “Nigerian Dreams,” which leavens its brief—but gripping!—plot with musings on a fragmented and unnatural land never able to overcome the odds to forge a unified identity.

Continuing the theme, the other two new-in-2024 entries were my favorites among the longer new-to-me stories. “Ganger,” the issue’s sole novella, beautifully blends folklore and dystopia, with two different stories—one of magic and one of technology—interwoven to bring out a deep thematic resonance that makes them both the richer. The dystopian main storyline follows a girl chafing against her life as nothing but entertainment for the wealthy, with neither privacy nor freedom from the all-encompassing AI that ensures her physical needs are met while caring nothing for her sense of fulfillment. Life outside the city is a quick death sentence, but there may be one who can offer respite from the constant surveillance inside, for a price. It’s a story that’s bound to capture the attention of fans of dystopian fiction, though the main plot isn't one that breaks much new ground. Rather, it’s the snippets of folklore showing how an entirely different context can yield such a similar story that really makes the novella pop.

The novelette “Ember” also features a lead chafing against a world he can’t change, with the once-favored son of a small village struggling to cope with the death of the fossil fuel industry, and with it the value of his education and ambition. Unwilling to admit failure, he pours more and more into trying to revive an old refinery in hopes of bringing something to his people. It’s not a happy story, but it is a compelling one, with a refreshingly genuine portrayal of a tragic figure.

I’d read “Saturday’s Song” when it appeared in Lightspeed, but it’s another novelette that’s well worth the read, with a solid folkloric plot and an excellent frame narrative that’s truly a love letter to storytelling. And as someone who enjoys found document fiction, I also enjoyed “Abeokuta 52,” a story framed as a message board thread. There’s also a story about a space rescue interspersed with fraught family relationships, and another about the technology that increases productivity at the cost of personality. They’re not always happy stories, but they’re almost universally engaging and thought-provoking.

Readers who have been engaged in short sci-fi over the last couple years won’t be surprised to find that “A Dream of Electric Mothers” is the star of the show, but Convergence Problems is a strong collection that’s engaging from start to finish and really shows off the depth of Talabi’s catalog.

Recommended if you like: sci-fi centered on ideas and relationships, blending of sci-fi and folklore, Africanfuturism.

Overall rating: 15 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

3.5, really, only demoted from the 4-star rating because I don't care too much for the short story form. But, apart from that, Mr Talabi kept up the standard he set in Shigidi (one of my absolute favourites of 2023) - albeit I thought I might have to jettison at one stage in "Saturday's song", as it looked like Shigidi (who had made an appearance) might be a "baddie". Phew, spoiler alert, turned out not to be. But it will tell you how good a writer he is, that the author gets the reader so emotionally invested in a fictional character.
The stories in Convergence problems are a mixed bag, depending on your tastes, but the writing is always good, and always interesting. Talabi plays with form quite succesfully, but for me the most refreshing thing about the stories that involved space exploration or development of AI technologies was the alternative slant we get as the author weaves in Nigerian familial culture and old legends. In the West one gets so very sick of the urban, American, Hollywood version of our future in space, and it is great to get a different viewpoint. Much as the Russian sci-fi of the 50s and 60s was vastly different to that of the U.S., so too do the likes of Tade Thompson, Talabi, Okorafor etc paint a whole new way of thinking about space, our relationship with technology, and how it will mesh with those who will still live a "traditional" lifestyle. This is not just a book of pretty good stories, it is a blueprint to hope that we will not despoil other planets as we have done this one, if only we can put ego aside and communicate openly, with a desire for the betterment of everyone.
My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

A solid collection of SFF stories set mostly in Nigeria or among Nigerians that include topics like mining in space, the movement of human consciousnesses to robots, and social justice. I enjoyed "Ganger" in which a world dominated by automatons can only be escaped by becoming one, and "Blowout," in which a woman grapples with family history, the limits of machinery, and her own physical limits as she tries to save her brother on Mars.

I requested this shortly after starting Shigidi because I was vibing so much with Talabi's style that I wanted to see what a collection of short stories from him would look like. Honestly, the result was a pretty fantastic collection of stories that messes about with form and the how of how we tell stories, and have some real interesting gems of ideas that I'd love to see him expand on if he'd want to. We also get to see Shigidi pop up in a novella in here as well, which is also fun. If you liked Shigidi, definitely pick up this collection.

I liked it a lot. It's a collection of sixteen stories that investigate the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our lives as we search for meaning, for knowledge, for justice; constantly converging on our future selves. Wole Talabi is a gifted storyteller with clever ideas and the skills to translate them into pages with a flair. Highly recommended.