Editorial
When Dr Amy Johnson reached out to me and offered the opportunity for Omenana Speculative Fiction Magazine to collaborate with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on a democracy-themed special issue I didn’t think twice before saying yes.
Beyond the fact that doing the project would avail Omenana the chance to offer contributors a window through which to explore and expand their creativity, it also gave us a chance to pay them for the experience.
Omenana Speculative Fiction Magazine exists to serve writers of speculative fiction from or with roots in Africa, and we would never turn away from a chance to give them a bigger spotlight.
This edition comes as the world continues to be in upheaval, with a war in Europe threatening to change the world order that we know, and economic difficulties occasioned by hyperinflation becoming a commonality for both people in rich and emerging nations.
Now, we have 15 stories, from writers from across Africa and one from South America, that explore the theme of “Positive Visions of Democracy” in ways that excite and uplift and call to hope. During the course of working on this project, we learnt that what we are attempting can actually be captured under the banner of the speculative fiction subgenre: Hope Punk.
Hope Punk is relatively new and has not really been explored by writers of the speculative in Africa. Even in the global north where it was thought up, the landscape of Hope Punk is only being mapped. As such, we are thrilled with the entries we got, especially as many of the stories embodied the optimism that is at the heart of the Hope Punk subgenre.
The beauty of the subgenre is also reflected in the fact that it is genre-bending. As such, the stories in this edition are a mixture of African Futurism, Fantasy, Urban Legend and Magical Realism. Whatever is your pleasure, we do have it here and hope you enjoy reading the stories as much as we did while putting them together.
We also worked with some very talented artists to illustrate these stories and bring the characters to life.
For this special edition, we also brought back our pdf version, for your to download and read at your leisure.
Some of the stories in this special edition will form part of a global anthology edited by Dr Amy Johnson in late 2022. Stories for the anthology will be selected from Omenana and two other great SF magazines from South America (Mafagafo and A Taverna) and an SF magazine based in Asia (Mithila Review).
We called for contributors to let their creativity run wild. That’s what we got.
Mazi Nwonwu
In this edition:
- The Legend of Urgoro – Ephraim Orji
- The Path to the Future – Oghan N’Thanda
- The Third Eye Manifester – Ishola Abdulwasiu Ayodele
- Agu Uno – Chibueze Ngeneagu
- The Ghosts of the Manhole at Enem Junction – Achalugo Chioma Ilozumba
- The Coward of Umustead – Nnamdi Anyadu
- Oyarsu-Terraforming Earth – Dooshima Tsee
- Mindscaping the Esheran Liberator, One Hundred Years Later – Uchechukwu Nwaka
- A Ride for the Future – Mwenya S. Chikwa
- Earth, Fire, Air, Water – Manu Herbstein
- Hidden Figures – Plangdi Neple
- Jon Menzi – Nos Jondi
- King of Spirits – Tardoo Ayua
- The Birthing – Queen Nneoma Kanu
- Neyllo – Naomi Eselojor
Download the PDF version of the magazine here.
Omenana Positive Visions of Democracy issue was published in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute.
