Paging all Lovers of African Sci-Fi | Ivor Hartman’s AfroSF Vol. 2 is Set for a December 1 Release

September 14, 2015

2015 is spilling over with African sci-fi, and we are NOT complaining. In a little over a year, Nnedi Okorafor alone has released three novels, the last of which is an alien warfare story set for a September 22 release. [see here if you missed it.]

Bent on spoiling us even more with yet another African sci-fi project is Ivor Hartman, who is releasing a new anthology titled AfroSFv2 (published by StoryTime).

3 years ago, Ivor Hartman broke uncharted grounds when he compiled the first anthology of African sci-fi stories titled Afrosf. The collection was a break out success.

It featured some of the best sci-fi writers on the continent—Sarah Lotz, Nnedi Okorafor, Chinelo Onwualu, and others. It gave African sci-fi global attention. But it also got Africans to begin caring about the genre—which, until Hartman’s anthology, was seen as a fringe genre practiced mostly by South Africans.

Hartman is on the roll again. The follow-up anthology is set for a December 1 release. AfroSFv2 features fewer authors, but the stories are longer—five novellas in all.

Efe Okogo, Tade Thompson, and Nick Wood are returning champions. Their works were featured in the first edition. We at Brittle Paper are particularly delighted about the inclusion of the Senegalese author Mame Bougouma Diene. He is one of our writers! His story titled “Girl With the Mami Wata Tattoo” was well loved when it came out a few weeks ago.

Going by the authors featured, we feel like we can trust Hartman when he says that AfroSFv2 “continues the groundbreaking tradition of the first volume.”

Here is the table of content for the new volume. Feast your eyes. If a teaser story is released before the big day, you’ll be the first to know.

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1. ‘The Last Pantheon“

Tade Thompson & Nick Wood

An epic superhero face-off thousands of years in the making.

2. “Hell Freezes Over“

Mame Bougouma Diene

Long after the last skyscraper has drowned who remains and how will they survive?

3. “The Flying Man of Stone“

Dilman Dila

When ancient technology seems like magic, legends live again in the midst of war and sides will be chosen.

4. “VIII“