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lamusadelils's review
5.0
Tantos nombres nuevos de gente talentosísima, con historias muy vívidas y que remontan a toda clase de escenarios poco convencionales con criaturas y folklore que no me son tan familiares pero que me parecieron fascinantes.
Creo que aunque hay estilos y temas variados, algo que aprecio de la mayoría de las historias de autoría africana que he leído es el sentido del humor. Es lo que en estos días se llama sassy y/o salty. Protagonistas con astucia y sin reparos en hacer saber su opinión, pero también detrás de la pluma se siente ese tono de querer jugar con las personas sin importar si son parte de la historia o si son audiencia. En estas historias no te toman de la mano y no te van a explicar el final.
Creo que aunque hay estilos y temas variados, algo que aprecio de la mayoría de las historias de autoría africana que he leído es el sentido del humor. Es lo que en estos días se llama sassy y/o salty. Protagonistas con astucia y sin reparos en hacer saber su opinión, pero también detrás de la pluma se siente ese tono de querer jugar con las personas sin importar si son parte de la historia o si son audiencia. En estas historias no te toman de la mano y no te van a explicar el final.
barb4ry1's review
3.0
As an active r/fantasy member, I participate in a yearly book bingo challenge. One of this year's squares - Afrofuturism made me realise I knew close to nothing about African speculative fiction.
Time to change it, and is there a better way than an anthology to hear a variety of voices? Not really. In Terra Incognita, Short Story Day Africa presents nineteen stories of speculative fiction. They feel more literary than pulpy. Each story explores a different theme, from sexual tension/magnetism, through colonialism and revenge to home-coming.
Let's take a quick look at each story.
Leatherman by Diane Awerbuck - ★★★
A tale of longing and dark adventure. Beautifully written, but too strange for my simple-minded self. Plus, I'm not sure if I fancy quotes like this one:
His penis was the only part of him that wasn't covered in hair. It sprang up, freed from the stocking top and smelling of resurrection, eager and eternal and purplish-grey
Not for me, but I'm not saying it's badly written.
Caverns Measureless to Man by Toby Bennett - ★★★
An ok story that develops at breakneck-pace and culminates in a surprising way. Prepare for heavy-capped mushrooms the size of trees and a maggot bigger than a man. And some Lovecraftian horror.
I Am Sitting Here Looking at a Graveyard by Pwaangulongii Benrawangya - ★★
A story about a writer obsessed with coffins, obituaries, death, and poems. Surrounded by illness, old age, and the war he's seen a lot of corpses, but never an angel. It builds the ambience but lacks a strong plot.
Hands by Tiah Beautement - ★★★★
My favourite story in the anthology. An intriguing and suggestively written vampire narrative about power, art and cost of suffering. Great prose, a clear sense of direction, solid story and great ending. An excellent story.
Marion's Mirror by Gail Dendy - ★
Meh. Good writing but a chaotic narrative jumping between worlds and timelines (from present day to birth) didn't convince me. I would say it's an example of the story that desperately wants to be more meaningful than it really is.
How My Father Became a God by Dilman Dila -★★★
An enjoyable story, leaning toward a folktale. Pleasant to read but I see nothing exceptional here.
In the Water by Kerstin Hall -★★★
A light-weight horror story. Solid, with nice visuals (like seeing the monster in a reflection in a drop of water), but ultimately unsatisfying.
Mouse Teeth by Cat Hellisen - ★★
Unsettling and desperate. lsie de Jager, now Elsie Snyman, is an Afrikaner from an Afrikaans-speaking town who is just eighteen but has already lost all her teeth. Her husband cuts himself, and she's afraid one day he will hurt her and then kill himself.
While it touches difficult themes, I could in no way relate to Isie.
Spirits of the Dead Keep Watch by Mishka Hoosen - ★★★
A revenant schoolgirl haunts the teacher who raped her a decade earlier. He somehow believes that their relationship was acceptable, and so in punishment, he must live with her silent presence and no chances to escape. Creepy.
Stations by Nick Mulgrew - ★★★★
A dead man wakes in a changed South Africa. Everything looks different - cities, people, social relations. It's a series of very suggestive, but slightly disjointed vignettes.
Editongo by Mary Okon Ononokpono - ★★
A creation story from the unique perspectives of Calabar’s deities. Wordy and too descriptive. I didn't like it.
CJ by Chinelu Onwualu - ★★
A story of homecoming, reconnection, and metahumans. Positive, but forgettable.
There is Something That Ogbu-Ojah Didn’t Tell Us by Jekwu Ozoemene - ★★
Wrestling with deities, travelling to spirit world. Cool idea, but ultimately unconvincing.
Ape Shit by Sylvia Schlettwein - ★★
Baboons versus humans.
What if you Slept by Jameson Mykl Snyman - ★★
The story of a narcoleptic whose dreams start to resemble his true world.
Esomnesia by Philip Steyn - ★★★
A look at synthetic memory creation and how we strive to transform synthetic into organic.
The Lacuna by Brendan Ward - ★★★
An interesting look at the Philosophy of Language.
The Carthagion by Sarah Jane Woodward - ★★★★
A clever revenge story. In post-apocalyptic South Africa, people can indulge themselves by experiencing all sorts of fantasies through the manipulation of consciousness.
The Corpse by Sese Yane - ★★★
A coroner fascinated with lifelessness steals a corpse from the morgue and hides it in his house to examine it in private.
An interesting anthology for sure, but it'll appeal more to readers with literary tastes than to casual sci-fi readers who enjoy solid plotlines more than the language or vivid imagery. There were only two stories I genuinely liked. As for the others, most were ok, some less than ok. But it's highly subjective.
I consider Terra Incognita worth exploring, especially when you look for a way to discover some new voices.
Time to change it, and is there a better way than an anthology to hear a variety of voices? Not really. In Terra Incognita, Short Story Day Africa presents nineteen stories of speculative fiction. They feel more literary than pulpy. Each story explores a different theme, from sexual tension/magnetism, through colonialism and revenge to home-coming.
Let's take a quick look at each story.
Leatherman by Diane Awerbuck - ★★★
A tale of longing and dark adventure. Beautifully written, but too strange for my simple-minded self. Plus, I'm not sure if I fancy quotes like this one:
His penis was the only part of him that wasn't covered in hair. It sprang up, freed from the stocking top and smelling of resurrection, eager and eternal and purplish-grey
Not for me, but I'm not saying it's badly written.
Caverns Measureless to Man by Toby Bennett - ★★★
An ok story that develops at breakneck-pace and culminates in a surprising way. Prepare for heavy-capped mushrooms the size of trees and a maggot bigger than a man. And some Lovecraftian horror.
I Am Sitting Here Looking at a Graveyard by Pwaangulongii Benrawangya - ★★
A story about a writer obsessed with coffins, obituaries, death, and poems. Surrounded by illness, old age, and the war he's seen a lot of corpses, but never an angel. It builds the ambience but lacks a strong plot.
Hands by Tiah Beautement - ★★★★
My favourite story in the anthology. An intriguing and suggestively written vampire narrative about power, art and cost of suffering. Great prose, a clear sense of direction, solid story and great ending. An excellent story.
Marion's Mirror by Gail Dendy - ★
Meh. Good writing but a chaotic narrative jumping between worlds and timelines (from present day to birth) didn't convince me. I would say it's an example of the story that desperately wants to be more meaningful than it really is.
How My Father Became a God by Dilman Dila -★★★
An enjoyable story, leaning toward a folktale. Pleasant to read but I see nothing exceptional here.
In the Water by Kerstin Hall -★★★
A light-weight horror story. Solid, with nice visuals (like seeing the monster in a reflection in a drop of water), but ultimately unsatisfying.
Mouse Teeth by Cat Hellisen - ★★
Unsettling and desperate. lsie de Jager, now Elsie Snyman, is an Afrikaner from an Afrikaans-speaking town who is just eighteen but has already lost all her teeth. Her husband cuts himself, and she's afraid one day he will hurt her and then kill himself.
While it touches difficult themes, I could in no way relate to Isie.
Spirits of the Dead Keep Watch by Mishka Hoosen - ★★★
A revenant schoolgirl haunts the teacher who raped her a decade earlier. He somehow believes that their relationship was acceptable, and so in punishment, he must live with her silent presence and no chances to escape. Creepy.
Stations by Nick Mulgrew - ★★★★
A dead man wakes in a changed South Africa. Everything looks different - cities, people, social relations. It's a series of very suggestive, but slightly disjointed vignettes.
Editongo by Mary Okon Ononokpono - ★★
A creation story from the unique perspectives of Calabar’s deities. Wordy and too descriptive. I didn't like it.
CJ by Chinelu Onwualu - ★★
A story of homecoming, reconnection, and metahumans. Positive, but forgettable.
There is Something That Ogbu-Ojah Didn’t Tell Us by Jekwu Ozoemene - ★★
Wrestling with deities, travelling to spirit world. Cool idea, but ultimately unconvincing.
Ape Shit by Sylvia Schlettwein - ★★
Baboons versus humans.
What if you Slept by Jameson Mykl Snyman - ★★
The story of a narcoleptic whose dreams start to resemble his true world.
Esomnesia by Philip Steyn - ★★★
A look at synthetic memory creation and how we strive to transform synthetic into organic.
The Lacuna by Brendan Ward - ★★★
An interesting look at the Philosophy of Language.
The Carthagion by Sarah Jane Woodward - ★★★★
A clever revenge story. In post-apocalyptic South Africa, people can indulge themselves by experiencing all sorts of fantasies through the manipulation of consciousness.
The Corpse by Sese Yane - ★★★
A coroner fascinated with lifelessness steals a corpse from the morgue and hides it in his house to examine it in private.
An interesting anthology for sure, but it'll appeal more to readers with literary tastes than to casual sci-fi readers who enjoy solid plotlines more than the language or vivid imagery. There were only two stories I genuinely liked. As for the others, most were ok, some less than ok. But it's highly subjective.
I consider Terra Incognita worth exploring, especially when you look for a way to discover some new voices.
jetamors's review
3.0
... Was there some reason why most of the authors in this were white...?
Anyway, my favorite story from this one was "How My Father Became a God" by Dilman Dila.
Anyway, my favorite story from this one was "How My Father Became a God" by Dilman Dila.
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