Jacana Media has launched a new imprint called Mother for thrilling tales in fantasy, speculative fiction, Afrofuturism, and horror fiction.

Jacana Media is an independent South African publisher, producing books in the fields of the arts, natural history, lifestyle, fiction, South African history, current affairs, memoir and biography, children’s books and public health. These books respond to the challenges of the moment and inform the national conversation.

Jacana’s new imprint is designed for readers of all ages and offers a blend of genres. From epic adventures to futuristic landscapes and haunting mysteries, Mother will cater to every reader’s craving for excitement.

The logo for Mother is an M with three points that reflect the three genres – fantasy, sci-fi and horror – that will be the backbone of Mother, a home for writers who write beyond the horizon. According to the publisher, within the logo lies the story of Mother books:

It has the form of a space craft, the silver badge on the uniform of space pioneers (not Musk & Bizos), the teeth of the Moholi, the pointed ears of an elf, the wings of a dragon, the defiant (or secret) graffiti emblem sprayed on buildings during a pandemic or alien invasion, the secret patch sewn inside a jacket, the sign of the apocalypse, the logo on the door of a lab filled with biological weapons (why is there always a logo at the entrance to a secret laboratory?), a brand carved into a serial killer’s victim and a portal to multiple stars.”

Mother’s debut publication is Langabi: Season of Beasts, crafted by the author Christopher Mlalazi. This gripping tale is the first in a trilogy about an African epic fantasy.

Read the publisher’s synopsis below:

“‘There is something I’ve never told you about our king,’ Father was saying as we walked around the palisade. We were three abreast, and I was in the middle. He looked at me. ‘Even Guduza doesn’t know about this too, Owethu, but I think this is the right time for both of you to know about it, as there is now something else happening in the kingdom which I can’t right now give you the full details of, and please don’t ask me what it is.’”

Owethu, a young man from a family of respected ironworkers, and his father are attacked one morning by supernatural creatures, the Mihlolo.

In this mythical past, a missing queen and a brutal king form the stunning backstory of this first tale from the Blademakers of the Langabi series.

Christopher Mlalazi has produced an African epic fantasy. Fast paced and vivid, the richly detailed people of Langabi, in love and in battle, must endure a punishing fight to survive and secure their freedom and their land. This quest is a searing tale of manipulation and monsters, which will leave you hungry for more.

Christopher Mlalazi is a Zimbabwean author. He has published the novels Running With Mother (2012), They Are Coming (2014), The Border Jumper (2019), and the short story collection Dancing With Life: Tales From the Township (2008). He is the co-winner of the 2008 Oxfam/Novib PEN Freedom of Expression Award for the play The Crocodile Of Zambezi, and an alumni of the Caine Prize Workshop, Iowa Writers Program, and more.

We cannot wait to see what else is in store for Jacana’s new imprint Mother!