Omenana Speculative Fiction Magazine Issue 26

Editorial: It’s Been 9 Years And We Are Still Here

It has been 9 years of striving to stay live and serve the growing community of speculative fiction writers on the continent and the diaspora. We’ve taken it slow and steady and have had the pleasure of playing host to many of the brave new voices out there.

We are aware of the sense that the genre is really coming of age on the continent of Africa as more writers aren’t just embracing the genre, but the accolades are flowing.

We can talk about the Hugo Awards, Nebula, Utopia Awards, Ignyte Awards, etc, and mention the African names that are making one shortlist or the other, led by the brilliant Oghenechovwe Ekpeki, Wole Talabi, Tlotlo Tsamaase and others. Speculative fiction also made a fine showing in this year’s Caine Prize shortlist, with long time Omenana contributor and collaborator Mame Bougouma Diene breaking the mould by making the shortlist with a story he co-wrote with Woopa Dialo.

By the way, Omenana is also up for best anthology/collection for the 2023 Utopia Awards for our democracy special edition collaboration with the National Democratic Institute. Naomi Eselojor’s short story, Neyllo, published in the same edition and the art for the story by Jema Byamugisha, are up for best short story and best art.

Utopia Awards is decided by public votes via this link. Definitely check it out and give us a vote if you are minded.

So, with the history out of the way, what do we have to offer you in our second edition of 2023?

Well, as usual, we offer you writers from across Africa, telling African stories through diverse genres.

What did we think about the stories in this edition?

Let me start by confessing that I struggled to place Michelle Enehiwealu Iruobe’s Parody of the Sower. Don’t get me wrong, I love, love the hauntingly beautiful tale of plants serving as incubators/wombs/carriers of seeds that, when “harvested”, had developed into fully formed human babies. Or were they babies to begin with?

No, my sense of confusion stemmed from my inability to decide which subgenre of speculative fiction this story belongs. Is it horror? Is it science fiction? A mixture of both?

I still don’t know, but I know this is a story you will love absolutely.

Ask The Beasts by Masimba Musodza is a science fiction story that looks at what happens when man’s best friend climbs the evolutionary ladder and acquires human-like intelligence. Here, space-faring humans meet their rather ferocious match.

And Mame Bougouma Diene returns to Omenana as a contributor, following his hiatus from the editorial side of things, and his return is one for the times. His story, Mame Coumba Lambaye’s Stinky Pinky, should leave you looking for ways to save your stomach muscles from the pangs of laughter induced trauma. Yes, we do need a reminder that speculative fiction can be funny too.

Space operas from African writers are something I’ve always looked forward to since we published Wole Talabi’s Crocodile Ark in Omenana issue 1. Uche Nwaka’s story is also set in an ark travelling through space and deals with what reads like a very African political struggle, then… there was more.

Stolen memories by Mwanabibi Sikamo tells us of the many ways to see and what happens someone acquires the power to see through the eyes of others.

This edition also features tributes to Nick Wood, who was a keen supporter and promoter of SFF in Africa as well as being noted writer of the genre. Nick Wood’s final stories, set around the Table Mountain in his native South Africa, were published in Omenana. Nick Wood will be sorely missed. Omenana is grateful for the opportunity to be a home for his stories and to have received his immense support. May his memory endure.

Animation has taken a life of its own in Nigeria and it is finding a natural partner in the country’s established comic book industry. Spoof, one of the comic book pioneers in the country, recently premiered its first animated film Ayaka: Lost in Rome. Please enjoy the review of this ambitious animated movie.

We promise you that these titbits about the stories are just that…titbits. You just have to read them to see how outstanding they really are. I am sure the titbits do them insufficient justice!

Do enjoy until we come your way again.

Remember, you can support the omenana mission to keep African writing speculative fiction here.

Mazi Nwonwu