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On this episode, we discuss Afrofuturist and Afrofantasy books, one of the prompts on Books & Bites Bingo.
Books and Bites
JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.
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Carrie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Books and Bites podcast. Each month we bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them. I'm Carrie Green and I'm here with my co-hosts Michael Cunningham and Jacqueline Cooper.
Michael: Hello.
Jacqueline: Hi everybody. .
Carrie: So last month we introduced our 2023 Reading Challenge Books and Bites
Bingo, which you can learn more about on our website or by picking up an entry form in the library. And today we're gonna talk about the Afrofuturism/ Afrofantasy square. Not everyone may know what those genres are. Michael, you wanna tell us a little bit more about them?
Michael: So afrofuturism and Afro Fantasy are sub-genres of science fiction and fantasy that are rooted in African cultures, myth, folklore, and the overall black experience.
Carrie: Mm-hmm. . So it's kind of like a little more [00:01:00] specialized of a genre.
Michael: Yeah, yeah.
Carrie: Yeah. So had either of you read much of either of these before this prompt? .
Jacqueline: I have read some, a little bit of Afrofuturism I think, but not Afrofantasy.
So it was really interesting for me.
Carrie: Mm-hmm. .
Jacqueline: Mm-hmm. .
Michael: I have maybe a year or two ago I read a Afrofantasy book by the same author that I'm talking about today, which I really enjoyed. It was, it was a great book.
Carrie: Mm-hmm. . .
Yeah, I'd been wanting to read in either of these genres for a while now.
So this was really my first opportunity to really explore it. I know one popular writer is Octavia Butler and she has, I think a couple of TV series that are either coming out or have come out right now. Isn't Kindred, [00:02:00] is that
Michael: Yeah, I
think that's on. Is that on
Hulu?
Carrie: That's what I wanna say.
So if you like the movie/TV tie-ins, she might be a good option to explore. And she's, I mean, she's a kind of considered a classic Afro sci-fi, Afrofantasy author at this point. You know, one, one of the first writers to write in that genre. But we've also got some other books for you today that we'll jump right into.
Jacqueline: The Afrofantasy book I chose is Raybearer by Nigerian American writer Jordan Ifueko. Raybearer is her debut novel and it was inspired by West African Folklore. Some of the issues this [00:03:00] novel tackles are women's struggles in patriarchal societies. The erasing of marginalized people in history and found families.
Also like numerous YA authors, the topic of self discovery is explored. The author's world building story's setting begins with the creation of the land. The main character, Tarisai is a descendant of a great warlord called Enoba the great Kunleo. Enoba, united 12 weak rivaling island lands by unleashing a power from the earth, which united the lands into one massive continent.
This continent was a patchwork of savannah, forest, deserts and snowy tundra, and became known as Aristar. Enoba crowned himself emperor and enlisted 12 other rulers. The king became known as the Raybearer due to a special power they called the Ray. The ray [00:04:00] magically connects the 12 chosen descendants.
The rule of Aristar is Olugbade Kunleo. His sister is Tarisai's Mother. Olugbade and Tarisai's mother were great friends as children. The sister was just as smart as her brother, so as they grew, the sister became dissatisfied and wanted to rule alongside her brother, but Olugbade does not wish to share his throne, but he fears his sister might have a legitimate right to rule, so he banishes her and forces her to leave the palace.
From this point on, she's only called the Lady because the emperor doesn't want to acknowledge her existence. The Lady is so angry and wants revenge, so she decides to trap a fairy, melu. Once the Lady captures Melu, he must give the lady three wishes. She wishes for an invisible house and [00:05:00] a child who is part Djinn who will fulfill her final wish.
The Lady raises Tarisai in total isolation with only tutors to train her to win the council seat. When Tarisai turns eleven, the lady sends her to compete with other children to win a place on the Crown Princess Council. However, when Tarisai meets the Crown Prince, she feels a special connection through their shared wishes for love and a forever family.
The Prince can only give seats to someone he trusts and who loves him. Tarisai wants more than anything to belong and stay with the Prince forever. But if she is chosen by the prince, the Lady's third wish will be granted, and Tarisai will be compelled to obey and kill the crown Prince once she gains his trust.
Can Tarisai win against her mother's plan for her destiny, or will she be strong enough to choose her own story? [00:06:00] My favorite part of the book was the author's prose and fantasy world that she built. I did get a little confused at times because of all the magical details. Also, the author tackles quite a few issues in this novel, so there's a lot to impact.
I found her not naming the mother's character a unique way of emphasizing the way marginalized people are often left out of history books. The mother also does not use Tarisai's name throughout the story. She calls her "made of me" when she is asked if the child has a name. She says her father gave her one, which makes me believe this is another dig at the patriarchy and the marginalization of people.
It could also be a trope to show that many marginalized people are unable to fulfill their dreams and look to their children to fulfill their dreams. Since the book jacket mentions that Jordon Ifueko grew up under a blanket fort eating fried plantains, the dish I chose was fried plantain [00:07:00] chips. Yeah.
Michael: So yes, .
Jacqueline: There's a restaurant in Lexington called, Hola, Havana Cuban and it has really good fried plantain chips.
Carrie: I haven't been there.
Michael: Me neither.
Carrie: Where is it?
Jacqueline: It's by the Kroger. It's across the street from the Kroger on Richmond Road. .
Carrie: Hmm. It's good to know.
Jacqueline: Mm-hmm. .
Michael: Yeah.
Jacqueline: It's a new restaurant.
Michael: Okay.
Carrie: Oh, okay.
I love Cuban food.
Michael: Yeah.
Jacqueline: Mm.
There's lots of plantain dishes too.
Carrie: Mm-hmm. .
It's hard to go wrong with starchy, sweet, and fried.
Jacqueline: True, true.
Carrie: Now was that
I'm, you probably said this and I just missed it. Was that a teen book?
Jacqueline: Yes, I didn't, I'm sorry. It is a teen book in the teen fantasy section.
Carrie: Okay, cool.
And
Jacqueline: we have it on Libby and it's e audio and as an ebook too. [00:08:00]
Carrie: Excellent.
Michael: Awesome.
Jacqueline: And she's got a, she's actually she's written a sequel.
So who, that's coming out really soon or, mm-hmm. .
Michael: Is this the, like the first she can do a whole series or is this just
like a,
Jacqueline: well,
so far this is the second one. I guess it depends on, she, this is her debut novel, so she's probably gonna making some monies. Off of it.
Michael: Gotcha. .
Jacqueline: So ,
Carrie: let,
let's hope she's,
Jacqueline: yeah.
Well,
Carrie: not, not every author does.
Jacqueline: So, you know, typically if it's a really good story Yeah. You know, she could, I could see there's a lot in there. So I could see her a couple other characters, storylines. I could see her moving on with those.
Carrie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: My pick for this bingo prompt is The Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark. If you're a regular listener, you might recall that I [00:09:00] recommended one of his other novellas Ring Shout on the podcast a year or two back. That one wound up being a favorite reader that year, so I decided to give one of his other books a try, one that takes place in a city that is near and dear to my heart,
New Orleans. The Black God's Drums is a steam punk novella that fully immerses you in an alternate 1871 New Orleans. In this world, New Orleans is reigned by iron walls to keep the Mississippi out, and airships rule the sky. The US Civil War is currently in an armistice with New Orleans being a free and neutral city that's enjoyed by both sides.
Our protagonist is a 13 year old girl named Jacqueline who goes by the name of Creeper and she just so happens to have the African goddess Oya speaking to her in her head, which grants her some special abilities. She makes a living on the streets perusing for marks, usually skulking around the giant iron walls where the airships dock. One night as she has a mark in her sights, she hears footsteps and retreats back into her [00:10:00] alcove where she is shortly joined by a Cajun and several Confederate soldiers.
As Creeper hides in the shadow, she overhears in hushed voices that these confederates are after a Haitian scientist who's willing to exchange a dangerous weapon called the Black God's Drums for a jewel. Creeper immediately recognizes she can make a good bargain with this information and knows exactly who to sell it to.
The captain of the famous airship Midnight Robber, who has more in common with the Creeper than she realizes as they reluctantly joined forces to track down the scientists before the Black God's Drums falls into the wrong hands. They had to contend with confederates and rogue confederate splinter groups on nuns who knew more than they really should and even make a dangerous trek into Laville Mort, the dead city.
The novella is just over a hundred pages and is an extremely fast-paced and compulsive read that could be read in one setting. I found that the world building for such a short book was incredibly well done and really brought this Steampunk [00:11:00] New Orleans to life and hooked me almost instantly. I desperately hope he writes in this world again and with these characters.
After reading this and Ring Shout, P. Djeli Clark is quickly becoming a must-read author for me. Since it's almost Mardi Gras, there's no better time for some Creole Cajun food. So I paired this with my favorite dish from Gumbo Yayas maque choux. This Creole dish is a creamy prosciutto sauce with crawfish, bell peppers, and corn served over pasta or rice.
I personally like it over pasta dashed with the garlic hot sauce they have there. So if you're a fan of Cajun and Creole food in general, I would highly recommend checking out Gumbo Yaya's located in Brannon Crossing
Carrie: And I hope that we're gonna get to take a field trip there.
Michael: Yes. I need to remind Levi about that, don't I? ?
Jacqueline: They do have good food there.
Michael: Oh man. So good.
Jacqueline: They also have non spicy dishes too.
Carrie: I lived in [00:12:00] Louisiana for 10 years, so I would say their spicy dishes are not spicy.
And it's, you know, it's, it's a good substitute for a real, for real. Cajun food.
Michael: Yeah.
Carrie: But that's, that is the place that we usually choose, you know, of the local places that have Louisiana food. Yeah, it's good.
Jacqueline: Yeah. Hmm. I'm hungry.
Carrie: and, and that sounds like a fun book too. New Orleans and steampunk.
Michael: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. . I've never read a steampunk book. This was my first, but man, I was like, I want more of this .
Carrie: Well, that's good.
Michael: Yeah.
Carrie: You found, you found a new genre to dive into more.
Michael: Yeah.
Yeah.
Jacqueline: Sounds like there was a little horror in there, right?
As well with the Creeper.
Michael: Her, well that was just her nickname on the street was, was Creeper. Cuz she can climb real fast up like,
like a line.
Jacqueline: Oh, okay. I was thought maybe she [00:13:00] was really, I didn't know.
Michael: No, just the supernatural element in here was the, the the goddess and the goddess. Yeah. The goddesses in the story.
That's good to know. Cause yeah. , it's, I don't do real
Jacqueline: super horror, so I'm glad this one's not horror.
Michael: So her other one, his
other one Ring Shot was excellent. That was a little more fantasy with like young young characters fighting monsters they call Ku Kluxes during the depression era south, which was really fun.
Maybe a little more horror element in there, but it was still really awesome. But, so
yeah.
Carrie: Redemption in Indigo by Barbadian author Karen Lorde is a brief Afro fantasy novel that revisits a Senegalese folk tale. The main character Paama has left her gluttonous, [00:14:00] spoiled husband Ansige, and returned to her family in the village of Makendha. , but Ansige can't find anyone who cooks or takes care of him as well as Paama.
So he hires a tracker to find her. Ansige's arrival in Makendha sets the wide ranging plot in motion. Magical undying beings called djombi give Paama the Chaos Stick, which allows her to change the course of human disasters. But Chance a djombi with indigo skin, believes the Chaos Stick belongs only to him
and is determined to get it back. He moves to Makendha posing as a wealthy man who wants to marry Paama's younger, vain sister. To teach Paama about the stick's powers and to convince her to give it back to him, he takes her on a tour of disasters. Near the end of the tour, Paama beseaches him to, "have a thought for my sanity.
Perhaps your [00:15:00] kind can look at the deep questions of existence, but our sort need variation in our philosophical diet." Helping to balance the book's philosophical diet are tales of tricksters, including one who takes the form of a spider. The narrator's witty observations also keep the tone balanced. For example, when the spider shrugs, she says it," can be a lovely thing to see when six out of eight shoulders are going at once."
The narrator comments on her own tale throughout, talking to the reader as if talking to an audience, listening to a folk tale. This device made the audiobook version read by Robin Miles, particularly enjoyable. Miles performs the different voices and accents exceptionally well, and she highlights the story's amusing aspects.
Redemption in Indigo is Lord's first novel about which a Book List reviewer said , " not [00:16:00] a word should be changed." It's a complex story for such a brief novel, but the descriptive world- building kept me grounded. Lord has since written science fiction, so if you're more interested in the Afrofuturism part of this prompt, you might try her book, the Best of All Possible Worlds, which is available in print at the library.
Redemption in Indigo is available on hoopla as an audiobook and as an ebook. Since the book is based on a Senegalese folktale, I looked up Senegal in our online database, A to Z World Foods. Although I didn't find any of the dishes that Paama makes, I did find several recipes for vegan soups and stews that I want to try.
Peanut stew sounds especially good. It includes peanut butter, garlic, ginger, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper, and other spices. You can find A to Z World Food on the library website, and [00:17:00] we'll link to it on our blog. .
Michael: Wow. That sounds delicious. .
Jacqueline: Mm-hmm. .
Carrie: Yeah. I've had a similar stew before that was, you know, just called an African stew and it is very good.
So I'm looking forward to trying this one. And a lot of the recipes listed under Senegal were things that, you know, are kind of familiar to us, like black eyed peas and sweet potatoes and and, you know, If you're, if you try to avoid dairy, I think most of them were dairy free. So you never know what you're gonna find in that A to Z World Food database.
Jacqueline: Yeah. I think sweet potatoes or yams is a staple in African diet.
Carrie: Mm-hmm. ,
Michael: I remember years ago I went to Boston and we went to this West African restaurant and it was some of the most amazing food I've ever had.
Carrie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: Sure.
Jacqueline: Yum.
Carrie: have y'all [00:18:00] ever eaten? I'm very sad that it's no longer there. But Sav's?
Michael: Yes, yes.
Oh,
that food was so good. So good. .
I haven't, I heard it
Jacqueline: was really good.
Michael: Yeah, that was really sad when I heard it was closing.
Carrie: Yeah.
But I guess we can, we'll just have to start learning to make some of that stuff ourselves. .
Jacqueline: It's true.
Carrie: Thanks for listening to the Books and Bites podcast. For more information about Books and Bites Bingo, visit our website at jesspuplib.org/books-bites.
Our theme music is The Breakers by Scott Whiddon from his album In Close Quarters with the Enemy. Find out more about Scott and his music on his website Adoorforadesk.com.