Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Table of contents - "African Monsters" edited by Margrét Helgadóttir and Jo Thomas

Back in 2014 Fox Spirit Books launched an anthology series focused on giving new life to the scary creatures haunting the folklore, legends and myths of a certain region of the world and began this series with “European Monsters”, a collection edited by Margrét Helgadóttir and Jo Thomas. This year we are moving south of the European continent with the second anthology of the series, “African Monsters”, edited by the same Margrét Helgadóttir and Jo Thomas. Working with writers from or having strong connections with some of the countries of Africa, as well as African and European artists, “African Monsters” explores the frightening creatures of legend stalking around Africa. As I understand, the editors were unable to fill the anthology with 100% African talent, due to time and communication problems, therefore this volume covers only a small part of this wondrous and fascinating continent. But let’s not find fault into this aspect, instead let’s hope that “African Monsters” opens the road for other similar short story collections and someday soon we will be able to travel across the entire African continent with the help of works of fiction twisting its myths and legends into new shapes and forms.

If you wish to learn more about “African Monsters” and get an insight on this anthology you can find several blog entries on Fox Spirit Books’ website where some of the authors shade a light on the creation process behind their stories.

“On the Road” by Nnedi Okorafor
“Impundulu” by Joan de la Haye
“One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sunlight” by Tade Thompson
“Severed” by Jayne Bauling
“The Death of One” by Su Opperman
“Chikwambo” by T.L. Huchu
“Monwor” by Dilman Dila
“That Woman” by S. Lotz
“Sacrament of Tears” by Toby Bennett
“Bush Baby” by Chikodili Emelumadu
“After the Rain” by Joe Vaz
“Taraab and Terror in Zanzibar” by Dave-Brendon de Burgh
“A Whisper in the Reeds” by Nerine Dorman
“Acid Test” by Vianne Venter
“Thandiwe’s Tokoloshe” by Nick Wood
“A Divided Sun” by James Bennett (writer) and Dave Johnson (artist)

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Happy 30th Appearance to Shimmer Magazine!

One of my favorite magazines, Shimmer, celebrates its 30th appearance this month. Although I am more of a secret admirer rather than an active supporter of this wonderful magazine, meaning that some time ago I’ve set myself as goal reading and reviewing all of its issues only for different things to come bumping in and preventing the achievement of this resolution, I still find comfort and excellent reading material with each issue of Shimmer and I’m trying to affirm that however I can. Therefore, I would not render the said goal absolute yet, I just need to work with me more in reaching it. If I am successful or not with my resolution remains to be seen, but I still would very much like to wish Shimmer Magazine a happy 30th appearance and may it reach 300 such events in the years to come!

The 30th issue contains the following stories:

“Red Mask” by Jessica May Lin (already available online)
“Blackpool” by Sarah Brooks (available online on March, 15th)
“Indigo Blue” by Rachael K. Jones (available online on March, 29th)
“All the Red Apples Have Withered to Gray” by Gwendolyn Kiste (available online on April, 12th)