Award-winning Nigerian-American speculative fiction author Nnedi Okorafor just announced her newest Africanfuturist book series titled The Desert Magician’s Duology, published by DAW Books. The first book titled Shadow Speaker is an expanded edition of one of her earliest novels and will be out on September 26. The sequel named Like Thunder is forthcoming.
The publisher’s note describes Book One of The Desert Magician’s Duology as a “story of destiny, technology, and magic.” Shadow Speaker is a story about 15-year-old Ejii whose world shatters after she witnesses her father’s beheading in the year 2070 in Niger, West Africa. Ejii is a powerful character driven by vengeance to find her father’s killer, but she locates a greater purpose while traveling – to protect her people from a larger force and bring peace.
Read the synopsis below:
In an era of mind-blowing technology and seductive magic, Ejii embarks on a mystical journey to track down her father’s killer. With a newfound friend by her side, Ejii comes face to face with an earth turned inside out—and with her own magical powers. But Ejii soon discovers that her travels across the sands of the Sahara have a greater purpose. Her people need to be protected from a force seeking to annihilate them. And Ejii may be just the hero to do it.
The updated edition includes a new introduction from Okorafor, along with the original prose and compelling stories from the 2007 edition. If Shadow Speaker is this exciting, we cannot wait to see what Ejii gets up to in the sequel Like Thunder!
See Okorafor’s Twitter announcement about the book news below:
💥Announcement:
My novel SHADOW SPEAKER and its unpublished sequel LIKE THUNDER *finally* have a new home, @dawbooks!THE DESERT MAGICIAN’S DUOLOGY 📚
Book 1: SHADOW SPEAKER (Sep 26, 2023)
Book 2: LIKE THUNDER (TBA)#Africanjujuism#AfricanfuturismNow available for pre-order
— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD (@Nnedi) March 26, 2023
Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American speculative fiction author and holds a PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She has won multiple prestigious awards – the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2011 with her debut Who Fears Death, the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Binti (2015), the Locus and Lodestar Awards for Akata Warrior (2017), the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature for Zahrah the Windseeker (2005), and more.
Congrats to Okorafor on the duology! Preorder Shadow Speaker here.
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