The writing prompt for this piece of flash fiction came from an amazing art work by Patrick Brannvoll I found on Instagram. Poor kids have the decency to either go to prison or go offworld on an asteroid miner. It’s these self-important, entitled middle-class kids. Can’t find work, their families fallen on hard times, and the next thing you know? Student loan default. Too scared to do 10 years in a Corrections Colony, and still you think you’re too good for…
My story “Omoshango” (appeared in the anthology Lightspeed People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue in June) has been receiving some reviews lately. It is my favourite story I have ever written (although I do say this each time I write a new one), and it’s great to see people enjoy reading it. Check out the reviews below, and if you want to review Omoshango, too, I would really appreciate it. You can get the People of Colo(u)r Destroy…
My short story Omoshango, appears in the People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue of Lightspeed Magazine. This issue is now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format. Check out the glorious cover below by Christopher Park! I’m so excited about this and I look forward to reading all the other short stories written by these awesome authors. I’m honoured to be a part of this, and I hope you enjoy this special issue. 🙂
The content we post on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc., none of this content belongs to us. Our tweets and posts and pictures belong to the platforms we post them on. If you don’t believe me, go make a thermos of tea and read their Terms of Services and End User License Agreements. There’s an article posted on Boing Boing about Google intentionally bricking devices, which users have already bought and paid for. To brick a…
The usual suspects on social media are upset by a female actor being cast as a lead in the next Star Wars movie. I’ve never been a big Star Wars fan, myself. I much prefer Star Trek, especially Voyager. In fact, I find the franchise extremely boring. Star Wars – The Force Awakens was actually the first SW I have watched, which I found somewhat entertaining. I credit this to the casting of John Boyega, whom I knew from Attack…
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2016 is to read more. Finding the time to read became really difficult once I entered the workforce. In school I used to average three novels a week. And more during the summer holidays. Reading was always my favourite thing to do. Even in university I still found time to read, even though by then I had dropped down to about a novel every 2-3 weeks. Once I started working, reading became even…
I often ponder the differences between various groups of readers in this world, when it comes to speculative fiction. What is speculative fiction? Wikipedia defines speculative fiction as “a broad umbrella category of narrative fiction referring to any fiction story that includes elements, settings and characters whose features are created out of human imagination and speculation rather than based on attested reality and everyday life”. The emphasis in that quote is mine, and it frames the crux of my wondering…
There is an interesting conversation I saw on Facebook today. It is about the mockery and hostility between Africans of various cultural backgrounds, and towards Africans who do not quite fit the stereotype of what a “real” African is. Specifically, Africans with a diaspora background. The question of which African culture will accept you is an interesting one. What is more interesting, in my opinion, is the inevitable change that all cultures in this world experience over time. Consider for…
There is something disturbing about how much progress humanity has made in science and technology, yet how little we have progressed as a human society. A common notion is for western or western-oriented societies to style themselves as progressive, tolerant and enlightened, while African, or Middle Eastern or Asian societies are often looked down upon as backward, intolerant and often primitive. The Middle East especially is presented to us in the CNNs, BBCs and France24s of this world as a…
The journal KUT asked me to submit a story for their latest issue, and so I submitted my new short story, The Crabface Contract. Today my short story got published, along with many other great stories from incredible African writers. One of my favourite short stories in this edition is an intriguing science fiction story titled Downgraded, by the amazing writer Akaliza Keza Gara. You can click here to read my story over on the KUT website. Image credits: Original image found at pixabay.com (License:…