My story ‘The Fixer’ is out in Sub-Q magazine on the 22nd of September. Save the date and remember, this has been made into a non-linear tale, so it should be fun!
Illustrations by Onyinye Iwu.
Click here to bookmark the page. Also, check out the FAQ on that page for warnings about the story. HILARIOUS!
To read the story as it originally appeared on this blog, click: Part 1 and Part 2.
I woke up suddenly around 5.50 am. Two minutes later I could not move for the cobweb of question marks entangling me in bed. People were congratulating me on twitter. What for? I thought ‘Must be some sort of mistake’ as you do. Had I been tweeting while under the influence again? (Damn you, coffee-flavoured rum from Mauritius!)
Nope. I’d been nominated for the 2014 Shirley Jackson awards in the category of short fiction!
My shock lasted about a minute. Then, as I started to respond to goodwill tweets, the crone that lives in my head cackled. “Lookie here, lookie here. Think she something, lounging around like the Queen of Sheba. Git up, clean yo damn house. It’s filthy. And fix that boy something to eat. You ain’t even finished a chapter since yesterday. Git yo ass up, girl. You ain’t shit!”
Hmmm. Perhaps I was channelling Mama Keating there.
In spite of her, I am honoured to be nominated – have you seen that list??! I’ll cherish this nom always. It’s my first one.
Please hunt down and read as many of the nominated works as you can. What better way to spend the weekend? I am going to be doing so, as soon as I get my chapter done or Mama Keating will wreck me.
Here’s a link to my nominated story, ‘Candy Girl’.
ALUTA CONTINUA! Have a lovely weekend!
I love speculative fiction. And I love Igbo culture. Put them together and what do you get?
BOOM!
O
Is this cover not delightfully creepy?!
Omenana is the igbo word for ‘culture’, specifically the traditional beliefs and practices of Igbo people. The magazine is NOT just for Igbo stories though. It’s an African spec-fic magazine founded by Chinelo Onwualu and Mazi Nwonwu, who are both Igbo.
I am happy this forum exists.
Click on the cover to get to the website. A new issue will be available every month. Plenty of time to tweak those stories and send them in, guys! Don’t be like me. I was asked to submit something for this issue, but I had nothing ready. I could have been in this line-up! Did I mention Tendai Huchu has a story in it?
Click here for submission guidelines.
*Nollywood-style voice-over* Omenana! Omenana! Grab your copy! Now! (Not marketed in Ikorodu road or 51 Iweka road Onitsha. Freely available on the internet.)
I am pleased to announce that I have a short story appearing in Apex Magazine next month. Excited!
Here’s the reason I’m so happy:
I made a promise to myself, then I tried (and failed) and tried again and it came true!
I have loved this magazine forever. I went through a bout of insomnia last year and Apex magazine was great company; all that weirdness, that darkness. Scrumptious sci-fi. The stories would grip me until I was dizzy, falling eventually into an exhausted sleep. (For a long while, this was my favourite story.)
I mean, you have all these Hugo and Nebula and WSFA award-winners contributing to the magazine. And then there’s little ol’ me. Have I said how excited I am?
I am so happy I fulfilled this promise to myself. And as they’re having me narrate my story for the podcast, I just might die from glee.
You can hear their previous podcasts by following links here. I joined their list of narrators after my piece was accepted for publication a few months ago. I narrated ‘Jupiter and Gentian’ by Erik Amundsen. I really enjoyed reading it – in fact, I have got bits of it still stuck in my head.
I just found this very educative and enlightening video via Ikhide’s blog.
As he says, ‘watch and weep’.
How to love Igbo things (or what you will). 