C.T. Rwizi | Musings of the Monster Librarian

This is not so much a book list as a list that will lead you to books.

I like to browse at the library (a pastime, unfortunately, that is on hold for the time being) and have discovered a lot of interesting authors that way. The new books section there is how I discovered Nnedi Okorafor, Rivers Solomon, and C.L. Polk. While I was encountering these authors for the first time, there was also a push for readers to deliberately work on including more diverse writers in their reading material. Both then and now there’s an argument made that readers should just read what they want, without considering the race of the author. It is valid to read just what you want to read, or to read the same kind of thing (or the same book) over and over– as Ranganathan says, every reader his book. But why not push your boundaries a little? If what you’re looking for is a good story, there are a lot of good stories you might miss out on if you aren’t deliberately seeking out Black authors. There is frequently a different aesthetic to their books, and the stories can catch you in ways you don’t expect. This difference leads to looking at speculative fiction genres through a new lens. In the case of Black people in the African diaspora, that aesthetic is generally referred to as Afrofuturism, a term first coined by Mark Dery. Nigerian writer Nnedi Okorafor recently differentiated that from the writing of Black Africans, which she identifies as Africanfuturism (you can read about that on her website, which I’ve linked to below, just scroll down to her name). Definitely, not everything Black writers come out with falls into this aesthetic. Considered althogether, Black speculative fiction covers a broad range of approaches to science fiction, fantasy, folkloric, and fluid fiction (a term coined by literary theorist Kinitra Brooks). If you haven’t tried it, look up some of these authors. I think you’ll find something you like.

I’m going to note that these are extremely brief and incomplete summaries, and it is a far from complete list. To learn more about these authors and their books click on the links. Enjoy!

Steven Barnes (Goodreads): Barnes writes alternative history, science fiction. horror, nonfiction, sometimes with Tannarive Due or other co-authors.

Tannarive Due (author website) : Due writes horror and nonfiction, sometimes with Steven Barnes. Due is an academic who teaches and writes about Black speculative fiction, particularly horror.

Jewelle Gomez (author website) : Jewelle Gomez is best known as the author of The Gilda Stories, about a black lesbian vampire. She has written poetry, plays, and essays.

N.K. Jemisin (author website): N.K. Jemisin writes Afrofuturistic science fiction and fantasy. Jemisin won three consecutive Hugo awards for Best Novel for the books in her Broken Earth Trilogy.

Walter Mosely (author website): mysteries, science fiction, nonfiction. Mosely is best known for his Easy Rawlins mystery series but has written in a variety of genres.

Samuel R. Delany (author website): science fiction, LGBTQ+ fiction, nonfiction. Delaney is the first Black person to be recognized as a modern science fiction writer.

Wrath James White (publisher website). interviews at Monster Librarian : extreme horror. Click on these links to see our reviews: Yaccub’s Curse, Succulent Prey, The Resurrectionist, Sacrifice, Sloppy Seconds,and Vicious Romantic

Sumiko Saulson (author website): horror, graphic novels, nonfiction on black women in horror. In addition to writing fiction, Saulson is the compiler of 100 Black Women in Horror (click here to see our review)and editor of the anthology Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters.

Octavia Butler (official website of the Octavia Butler Estate): science fiction, alternative history, dystopian fiction Butler was the first recognized black woman author of modern science fiction and an inspiration for many Afrofuturist authors. See our review of her Earthseed Trilogy, which includes Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents here.

Tomi Adeyemi (author website) : YA Africanfuturist fantasy. Adeyemi is the bestselling author of the Legacy of Orisha series.

Evan Winter (Goodreads), interview at Tor.com: Africanfuturist epic fantasy.

Nnedi Okorafor (author website), Goodreads: Okorafor is an award-winning Nigerian-American science fiction and fantasy author who defines herself as an Africanfuturist and Africanjujuist (visit her author website for her explanation)

P. Djeli Clark (author website): Clark is an academic who writes nonfiction on Black speculative fiction, as well as a writer of Black speculative fiction, including alternative history, science fiction, and fantasy.

Victor LaValle (author website): Lavalle teaches at Columbia University. He writes horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Lavalle has won the Bram Stoker Award for his novella The Ballad of Black Tom (for our review click here) and the graphic novel Victor Lavalle’s Destroyer (for our review, click here).

Nalo Hopkinson (author website): Born in Jamaica, Nalo Hopkinson describes herself as a writer of fantastical fiction. She’s written nine books, including the award-winning Brown Girl in the Ring. She’s a professor of creative writing at the Univeristy of California Riverside.

Alaya Dawn Johnson (author website): is the author of YA and adult urban fantasy and speculative fiction, including the Andre Norton award-winning Love Is the Drug at the Nebula Awards.

C.L. Polk (author website): C.L. Polk is the author of the Kingston Cycle, a fantasy which takes p;ace in a steampunk-like setting similar to Edwardian England. The first book, Witchmark, won the World Fantasy Award and was nominated for the Lambda, Nebula, Locus, and Aurora awards.

Daniel Jose Older (author website) : Daniel Jose Older’s writing includes historical fantasy for middle-graders, the award winning YA Shadowshaper series, and adult urban fantasy .

C.T. Rwizi: C.T. Rwizi is originally from Zimbabwe and Swaziland, lived in Costa Rica and the United States, and now resides in South Africa. His debut fantasy novel, Scarlet Odyssey, was just released. Read our review here.

L.L. McKinney (author website): McKinney is the author of the YA Nightmare-verse dark fantasy books, beginning with A Blade So Black.

Rivers Solomon (author website): Solomon’s first book, An Unkindness of Ghosts, was a finalist for the Lambda, Tiptree, Locus, and Hurston/Wright awards and won a Firecracker Award. Their novella, The Deep, a collaboration with the musical group Clipping (which includes Daveed Diggs, formerly of Hamilton) is an outstanding work of Black speculative fiction. Read our review here.

Valjeanne Jeffers (Goodreads), (author website): Jeffers is the author of the Immortals series. She has published fantasy, science fiction, and erotica, particularly in Afrofuturist subgenres such as steamfunk and cyberfunk

Justina Ireland (author website): Ireland is the author of the YA alternate history horror novel Dread Nation and its sequel, Deathless Divide. She has also written other YA fantasy novels and writes for the Star Wars franchise.

Nicky Drayden (author website): Drayden writes Afrofuturist science fiction and fantasy.

Andrea Hairston (author website): Hairston is a playwright, novelist, and professor of theatre and Africana at Smith College. She is a feminist science fiction writer who has published novels, plays, and essays. Her book Redwood and Wildfire won the Tiptree and Carl Brandon Society awards.

Rebecca Roanhorse (author website): Roanhorse is an award-winning speculative fiction writer who has both Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and African-American heritage. She has written post-apocalyptic urban fantasy and middle-grade fantasy, and writes for the Star Wars franchise.

Scarlet Odyssey by C.T. Rwizi ( Amazon.com )

47North, 2020

ISBN-13: 978-1542023825

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

C.T. Rwizi is a South African author who has drawn from African mythology and landscapes as well as more common fantasy and science fiction tropes to create a unique but recognizable epic fantasy that goes to some very dark places.

In the Red Wilds, among the people of the Yerezi Plains, gender roles are very rigid: men become warriors and hunters, and women become scholars and mystics. Salo is the exception. Before she died, his mother, a mystic, left him the tools to become a powerful mystic himself, but he has kept his talent hidden. Then his clan is attacked by a dark witch, the Maidservant, and her soldiers, killing many of his clan.

The Maidservant is compelled by a curse to serve Dark Sun, a warlord with ambitions to conquer all of the Redlands, but she has plans of her own. The Maidservant’s magic is fed by agony, blood, and hatred stemming from a similar attack on her own village in nearby Umadiland many years ago. Now she is forced to repeat the actions which drove her to revenge.

After the attack, in an effort to save what remains of his clan, Salo asks to be recognized as his clan’s mystic. When he claims his mystic power, the men of his clan feel betrayed. The queen of the Yerezi Plains decides it is too difficult for Salo to remain and sends him on a diplomatic mission to the faraway city of Yonte Saire (I received an ARC of this book and it did not have a map, which seems like a major omission for a story so geographically oriented, so I hope one was included in the final version).

The strict gender roles are also the reason Ilapra left the Yerezi Plains for nearby Umadiland. Her ability and desire to be a fighter was dismissed because she is a woman. As a paid guard and soldier, she has found herself on ethically shaky ground. Salo, traveling alone, hires her to be his guardian. The two join forces with Tuk, an atmech, part machine and part human, created in the more technologically advanced Empire of Light by a necromancer. Appearing and acting just as human as Salo and Ilapra, but with advanced abilities in language and weaponry, Tuk tells them he is traveling to discover the Redlands, which are mostly unknown in the Empire of Light.

Isa is the last member of the ruling family of the Kingdom of Yontai, the Saires, who were murdered in a bloody massacre by possessed soldiers. She has sought sanctuary in the temple while she solidifies her position and decides what her options are, as the head of the Crocodile clan has himself named prince regent. She does not know Salo is coming or that he is unaware that the political situation he’s walking into has changed.

The Enchantress is a mystic who has some kind of plan to destabilize the Kingdom of Yontai both economically and politically. It’s not totally clear what her agenda is, but she is ruthless.

The book’s storytelling alternates between these five point of view characters. A big chunk of the front end of the story involves Salo’s character development and world-building before he sets off on his journey to Yonte Saire, and the backstory of the Maidservant. It is mostly long and slow, partly because Salo, Tuk, and Ilapra are on a long, slow journey. However, Salo is being tracked by the followers of Dark Sun, including the Maidservant, who recognize that he has a unique talent and must be eliminated for Dark Sun to continue his conquest, so the story is broken up with solid action sequences involving impressive magic and considerable bloodshed. The limited technology means communication over long distances is difficult and uncommon, so the Yerezi queen, the Maidservant, and Salo and his friends don’t know what’s really going on in Yonte Saire.

Probably the most successful thing Rwizi accomplished character-wise was to give dimension to the Maidservant. It would be easy to make her a one-dimensional, evil character, but instead she is an example of what trauma can do, passed on to traumatize and victimize others who are in the same situation she was in. There is graphic violence and gore in the book- Rwizi’s black witches really are stained black.

The world building is impressive, and it’s interesting to see how the characters’ worlds widen as they travel. I think we will see this story spreading out onto a larger canvas regarding magic, technology, what constitutes civilization and power, and (possibly) climate change. I also suspect there will be a return to the Yerezi Plains as Rwizi left a number of loose ends.

Because this is a first book and the world building doesn’t have European fantasy tropes to fall back on, Scarlet Odyssey is long, but it isn’t entirely satisfying, because despite its length it ends just as the characters all finally began to come together. It feels like the story is finally picking up the pace and getting going… and then it’s done. Still, it’s a fine beginning to what looks to be an ambitious piece of African speculative fiction. Rwizi is a strong writer who does a good job establishing setting, developing characters, and creating some truly disturbing action scenes. I look forward to his next, hopefully faster-moving, volume in this series. Recommended for adult readers and older teens with strong stomachs.

Contains: large-scale murder, violence, gore, slavery.