Category: Africa

The Girl Who Married A Skull and other African Stories edited by C. Spike Trotman, Kate Ashwin, Kel McDonald & Taneka Stotts

Happy Black History Month! I’ve been so backlogged with work that the only volume I knew I could do justice to with regard to the occasion this week is this graphic novel, a part of the Cautionary Fables & Fairytales Book series printed by Iron Circus. I got the entire collection several crowdfunds ago (and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/02/the-girl-who-married-a-skull-and-other-african-stories-edited-by-c-spike-trotman-kate-ashwin-kel-mcdonald-taneka-stotts/

Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe by Verena Krebs

Medieval Ethiopian Kingship

The name Solomon brings the word “wisdom” almost immediately to mind. Belatedly, it makes me think of the Temple. Now that I have read Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe by Verena Krebs, I will also remember the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia. That dynasty took power in the late 1200s and ruled, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/11/medieval-ethiopian-kingship-craft-and-diplomacy-with-latin-europe-by-verena-krebs/

How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith

How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smih

The long-running No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series relies on a careful balance between new stories — usually cases that the agency is called on to solve — and deeper development of its continuing characters. Too much of the former, and it runs the danger of reading like an episode of old-style television: dramatic events that leave …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/23/how-to-raise-an-elephant-by-alexander-mccall-smith/

Marvel’s Black Panther: The Official Wakanda Cookbook by Nyanyika Banda

with a really terrific forward by Jesse J Holland. “The food of Wakanda is like nowhere else and simultaneously everywhere one could travel in the universe, because Wakanda lives in the heart of everyone.” These are the opening words of the fictional Ndi Chikondi, Executive Chef of the Royal Palace of Wakanda, in the introduction …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/04/14/marvels-black-panther-the-official-wakanda-cookbook-by-nyanyika-banda/

To the Land of Long Lost Friends by Alexander McCall Smith

To the Land of Long Lost Friends by Alexander McCall Smith

To the Land of Long Lost Friends begins with a wedding and moves quickly to a funereal subject. And it was on the way [to the catering tent] that Mma Ramotswe suddenly gripped Mr J.L.B. Matekon’s arm. “I have seen a ghost, Rra,” she said, her voice filled with alarm. He looked at her in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/03/to-the-land-of-long-lost-friends-by-alexander-mccall-smith/

E.X.O. – The Legend Of Wale Williams, Part One by Roye Okupe, Sunkanmi Akinboye & Raphael Kazeem

I have super enjoyed the other books in the YouNeek YouNiverse so far but this, I feel, is the best of them yet! Set in a near future Nigeria, Wale Williams is the son of a workaholic scientist, Dr Tunde Williams, whose absorption in his work leads to a tragedy that tears their family apart. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/09/e-x-o-the-legend-of-wale-williams-part-one-by-roye-okupe-sunkanmi-akinboye-raphael-kazeem/

Iyanu: Child Of Wonder Volume 1 by Roye Okupe & Godwin Akpan

The second title in the YouNeek YouNiverse is just as gorgeous as its predecessor, the first volume of Malika: Warrior Queen, if not more so. The digital art is rendered with a colorful airiness reminiscent of manga but with decidedly African influences. And the use of color throughout is simply mind-blowing: Godwin Akpan is so …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/21/iyanu-child-of-wonder-volume-1-by-roye-okupe-godwin-akpan/

Malika: Warrior Queen Volume 1 by Roye Okupe, Chima Kalu & Raphael Kazeem

What a fantastic way to kick off the YouNeek YouNiverse, an interrelated set of fantasy, sci-fi and superhero comics and properties from an African perspective! The first volume of Malika: Warrior Queen tells the story of a 15th century ruler, who she was and how she was shaped by the battles that rent and threatened …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/09/malika-warrior-queen-volume-1-by-roye-okupe-chima-kalu-raphael-kazeem/

Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

In 1808 the United States made the importation of slaves illegal, but illegitimate trade in humans continued until the eve of the Civil War. Supply and demand persisted on both sides of the Atlantic. “Habituated to the lucrative enterprise of trafficking and encouraged by the relative ease with which they could find buyers for their …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/05/24/barracoon-by-zora-neale-hurston/

Bismillah Soup by Asmaa Hussein & Amina Khan

In a contemporary Somali village, young Hasan promises his mother a feast while his father is away working in the city. Trouble is, there isn’t any food in the pantry. Hasan runs to the local mosque, and with the help of the imam and various (semi-unwitting) villagers and mosque goers, puts together the promised feast …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/05/21/bismillah-soup-by-asmaa-hussein-amina-khan/