Here are 89 books that Danged Black Thing fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’m an engineer, writer, and editor. And I love short stories. I love writing them and reading them too. I’ve written for major science fiction and fantasy magazines, and my stories have even been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. But when short stories are put together in a single author collection, they can truly come alive, revealing running themes and ideas explored through the imagination of the author. My own collections Incomplete Solutions and Convergence Problems do just this – exploring potential futures for Africa. I previously shared five of the best single-author collections of African speculative fiction and now, here are five more.
The late Nick Wood, a science fiction writer, clinical psychologist, former journalist, humanitarian, and anti-apartheid activist born in Zambia and raised in South Africa, was always learning.
This is reflected in all his writing, including most of the stories in his collection. Largely science fiction stories in a variety of settings: from post-apocalyptic worlds, settled moons, and climate-changed earths, these stories are highly focused on the social and environmental aspects of humanity even in the most science fictional scenarios.
These stories, intersectional, emotionally resonant, exciting, thoughtful, and varied. Learning Monkey and Crocodile is a wonderful way to sample some of South Africa’s interesting science fiction corpus from a voice that has now left us, but which will not be forgotten.
“Nick Wood’s short stories are powerful, impassioned visions of worlds and worldviews remade by way of redemptive engagement with the spirits of the earth and the earth of the spirit. Joining ancestral wisdom and transformative technologies, combining searing self-scrutiny with joyous awareness of the Other, Learning Monkey and Crocodile is a book for Africa and for all of us.”
Nick Gevers
Nick’s stories have delighted readers across the world and have appeared in publications such as Interzone, Albedo One, Omenana, among others. His debut novel Azanian Bridges was shortlisted for the BSFA award. Embark on a journey where science meets…
I’m an engineer, writer, and editor. And I love short stories. I love writing them and reading them too. I’ve written for major science fiction and fantasy magazines, and my stories have even been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. But when short stories are put together in a single author collection, they can truly come alive, revealing running themes and ideas explored through the imagination of the author. My own collections Incomplete Solutions and Convergence Problems do just this – exploring potential futures for Africa. I previously shared five of the best single-author collections of African speculative fiction and now, here are five more.
Jackal Jackal is an entertaining collection of eighteen stories that includes two originals and sixteen reprints of relatively new stories, most of which are riffs on some classic fairytales or have the quality of such tales, by Nigerian author Tobi Ogundiran.
It’s a great showcase of Ogundiran’s consistency and strengths as a storyteller and dark fabulist. Every story is crafted to elicit a strong, visceral reaction. These are stories that you’re meant to feel. In my review for Locus Magazine, I said that you should think of this as The Brothers Grimm by way of Amos Tutuola. Or Stephen King meets Cyprian Ekwensi.
With its steady themes of repetition, transformation, and revelation, its consistently good, direct and effective prose and delightfully creepy delivery this is a strong collection that is worth reading.
From Shirley Jackson award-nominated author Tobi Ogundiran, comes a highly anticipated debut collection of stories full of magic and wonder and breathtaking imagination!
In "The Lady of the Yellow-Painted Library" -- featured in Levar Burton Reads -- a hapless salesman flees the otherworldly librarian hell-bent on retrieving her lost library book.
"The Tale of Jaja and Canti" sees Ogundiran riffing off of Pinocchio. But this wooden boy doesn't seek to become real. Wanting to be loved, he journeys the world in search of his mother-an ancient and powerful entity who is best not sought out.
I’m an engineer, writer, and editor. And I love short stories. I love writing them and reading them too. I’ve written for major science fiction and fantasy magazines, and my stories have even been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. But when short stories are put together in a single author collection, they can truly come alive, revealing running themes and ideas explored through the imagination of the author. My own collections Incomplete Solutions and Convergence Problems do just this – exploring potential futures for Africa. I previously shared five of the best single-author collections of African speculative fiction and now, here are five more.
This collection by the gifted Nigerian author who excels at evoking a haunting sense of beauty with words, is sure to delight anyone that enjoys throwing themselves off a literary cliff to see words and images fly by like many-splendored birds.
These are stories that will transport you to changed versions of our world with exquisite prose. Familiar and not. Dark and beautiful and occasionally terrifying they run the gamut from dark fantasy to science fiction to cosmic horror. Often set in Nigeria and using, Yoruba mythology, folklore, and legends as jumping-off points this is an immersive and strange book that defies categorical taxonomy.
Vivid, colorful, and just downright beautiful to read, I was moved by this collection, and you probably will be too.
There are dragons in Lagos and witches who wear their sons’ skins, while a cabal of otherworldly beings are collecting intelligent life forms in the depths of the universe.
Nigerian author Dare Segun Falowo’s poetically precise language and spine-tingling plot twists are reminiscent of both Poe and Kafka as they tackle themes of belonging, abusive maternal relationships, and tragic love in an unforgettable literary adventure.
This collection features some of Falowo’s most notable previously published stories alongside new tales of magic and terror. Ngozi Ugegbe Nwa was longlisted for the 2021 NOMMO for short stories and Vain Knife was longlisted…
I’m an engineer, writer, and editor. And I love short stories. I love writing them and reading them too. I’ve written for major science fiction and fantasy magazines, and my stories have even been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. But when short stories are put together in a single author collection, they can truly come alive, revealing running themes and ideas explored through the imagination of the author. My own collections Incomplete Solutions and Convergence Problems do just this – exploring potential futures for Africa. I previously shared five of the best single-author collections of African speculative fiction and now, here are five more.
As a Zimbabwean sarungano, Ndlovu is an expert storyteller, and that skill truly shows in this collection of fourteen stories chronicling the strangeness and surrealism of the lives of African women at home and abroad.
Exploring everything from the legacy of colonization to cultural appropriation and from literalized metaphors to exploring the nature of time in African thought, this is a collection that is clever and funny and emotionally astute, rendered in poetic and clear prose.
As a collection, the stories reinforce each other making this an experience to read. I highly recommend it.
"Even in death, who has ownership over Black women's bodies?"
Questions like this sit between the lines of this stunning collection of stories that engage the nuance of African women's histories. Their history is not just one thing, there is heartbreak and pain, and joy, and flying and magic, so much magic. An avenging spirit takes on the patriarchy from beyond the grave.
An immigrant woman undergoes a naturalization ceremony in an imagined American state that demands that immigrants pay a toll of the thing they love the most to be allowed to stay. A first-generation Zimbabwean-American woman haunted by…
I’ve always been fascinated by people, especially people who don’t follow the herd, who lurk on the edges of society, who are strongly individual. Their opinions often seem wiser than those of society and the media, and I find it refreshing to climb into their shoes… That’s why my fictional characters might be obsessively making harps, counting everything in sight, or embarking on a mission to save penguins! The books I’ve listed here contain a range of eccentrics. Molly The Maid, Harold Fry, Iona Iverson, Noman Foreman, and Janice are all marvellous characters who made me laugh, cry and ponder. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I did.
Again, here is a fantastic cast of characters: the bold Mrs. B, the swearing Fox terrier, Decius, and the unassuming protagonist, Janice. Quiet, kind, thorough, outwardly unremarkable, Janice is a cleaner. She is also a wonderful listener. What a joy it is when, with a little help from her friends, she finally unlocks her own story and transforms her life.
Here’s the moment when Janice grasps how much hope can be found in stories: "She looks around at the shelves of books, every one of which she has handled, and she begins to think there may be a way. A way of finding that hope. She is, after all, a collector of stories and a storyteller. Maybe she could tell her story as she has told other stories?"
'I absolutely loved it! So different, clever, funny and charming' Sunday Times bestseller Katie Fforde
'Funny, wise, moving and full of lovely moments...The characters are endearing and unforgettable' Hazel Prior, author of the Richard & Judy Book Club Pick Away with the Penguins
'Janice is a wonderful woman whose authenticity pulls you along...the breadth and originality of supporting characters makes this debut an immersive delight' Dorset Magazine
'Absolutely spellbinding...a warm-hearted, thoughtful, funny and yet deeply poignant' Celia Anderson, author of 59 Memory Lane
'A treasure of a book. Beautiful, emotional and heartfelt with a cornucopia of characters you'll love spending…
I first started art when I was nine years old, but my art journey really started after seeing the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s work at age 14. This experience changed my life and from there, I continued on with fourteen years of formal art education. The book details my experience and journey as a student, instructor, and professional artist over a thirty-year time period across three continents. I wroteAn Artist’s Odyssey to help young artists or artists transitioning into art as a profession to help them avoid the pitfalls of the art world and supplement the necessary business acumen required to make a sustainable career in the art world.
Rembrandt is a fascinating journey through Rembrandt’s paintings and also his lesser-known (to the general public) prints. It’s also a chronological roadmap of his works from his early years until his final period. Watching his progression and the mastery in his latest period was a true learning process of how ‘less’ can be ‘far more.’ In the works displayed in the book, Rembrandt shows his skill at wringing every last bit of functionality out of each color in a very limited palette and also the cornucopia of atmospheric density he played with so masterfully to push and pull the viewers’ eye.
Although I am no gardening expert, I’ve always been intrigued by seeds. It amazes me that such tiny things hold so much: colour, scent, flavour, food, and the community that grows in the tending and sharing of it. Every winter since I published What Grew in Larry’s Garden,the real Larry sends me an envelope filled with tomato seeds and reminds me to give some to my neighbours. It makes me smile to think that my story has become its own kind of seed, growing friendship, and connecting people. I hope the book does that for you too.
This book is colourful, joyful, and deliciously diverse. The simple rhyme is rollicking but not too sweet, the illustrations are bright and playful, with plenty of fun detail. I love the mixture of people (all ages and colours and abilities) at work in the community garden, and how there is room for different ways of doing things (some plots are neat and proper while others are messy and wild). Best of all is how the story ends with everyone sitting down together to enjoy a garden-grown feast. Community, humour, hospitality, gratitude, and care for the earth—this little story is a cornucopia of good things.
From the author of the Caldecott Honor-winning picture book All the World comes an exuberant, lyrical celebration of the plants-and people-that grow and thrive in a busy community garden.
A community garden unites children and neighbors in this celebration of all the things that grow there, from flowers and fruits to friendships. In the spirit of her Caldecott Honor -winning picture book All the World, this ode to friendship, community, and working together for a better world will have young readers gathering their friends young and old to plant something together.
I’m a Pom, as Aussies would say, born and bred in England to an Australian mother and British father. I emigrated to Australia as a ten-pound Pom way back when and though I eventually came home again I’ve always retained an affection and a curiosity about the country, which in time led me to write three books about my own family history there. The early days of colonial Australia, when around 1400 people, half of whom were convicts, ventured across the world to found a penal colony in a country they knew almost nothing about, is one of the most fascinating and frankly unlikely stories you could ever hope to come across.
This is a cornucopia of the weird and wonderful in Australia: the origins of ‘mateship’, rural remedies, measuring the weather by the behaviour of birds, how ‘Waltzing Matilda’ had its origins in a shearers’ strike, and the bizarre life of the itinerant swagman, including hints on how to make a ‘swag’ and carry it according to the legendary writer Henry Lawson. There are wonderful tales of Australian ‘taciturnity’ and folks living so remotely they still thought Queen Victoria was on the throne in the mid-1900s. It may be light-hearted in tone but this book somehow gets to the heart of what makes Australians unlike anyone else in the world.
Yarns, legends, myths, jokes and anecdotes are our national lifeblood. These home-grown and borrowed tales, told and re-told over generations, offer an insight into the larger national story of which every Australian has a part.Was Breaker Morant the Gatton murderer? What happened to Sniffling Jimmy and Black Mary? We revisit some of the most colourful characters in Australia's past, and the stories that have grown around them. We go looking for the real illywhacker and find out what happened after the execution of our most famous outlaw, Ned Kelly.It takes a certain character to make a living in the Australian…
I am an award-winning art director, creative mentor, and print and pattern designer with nearly two decades of experience working successfully in the creative industries. As a young person, I loved drama, dance, and art, and was constantly bursting with creative passion. As I grew older, I faced doubt from the people around me about pursuing a creative career. I stubbornly pursued it anyway and ignored the naysayers who told me to “stop dreaming” or to “get a real job.” I am now described as a “powerhouse” in the design world and someone who fearlessly strives forward in her creative career and helps thousands around the world to believe in their own creative power.
I originally sought out this book as a way to inspire some hands-on creativity for a time when I was feeling uninspired, and gosh did it deliver! Joy is someone who I’ve followed for a long time, and I’ve always loved how "joy" has become more than just a name for her.
All of the exercises with flowers in particular were my favourite and Joy offered so many ways to play with them that I had never even thought of. The floral pop print and blooming background exercises were so much fun. My little boy and I also had an amazing time with all of the recipes, and playing with food.
Such a special book that really gets the creative juices flowing.
A beautiful, colorful, inspired guide to help anyone bring joy and whimsy into their lives with stylish projects, from home decor to food to fashion, from the popular Oh Joy blogger and Pinterest sensation.
Thirteen million Pinterest members look to Joy Cho, a designer, blogger, mother, and founder of the Oh Joy blog, for creative inspiration. Now, she builds on that success to offer a cornucopia of new ideas in this simple yet sophisticated full-color book. Following the unique aesthetic and joyful tone of her blog, Oh Joy! shows you how to add style, detail, color, flavor, and bliss to…
I love books. I studied them at school, sold them in a store, and now I write them. Books about books are a favorite genre of mine because they explore the power of story-telling and the sharing of ideas. Indeed, from the King James Bible to Kapital toFifty Shades of Grey, books shape us and the world. This fascination inspired me to write two comic novels about books,The King of Pain, which contains a book-within-in-a-book, and most recently, The Seductive Lady Vanessa of Manhattanshire, a satirical romance inspired by Don Quixote.
Nabokov’s novel is not about a book per se, and it is definitely not your typical novel, either. A 999-line poem by fictional author John Shade provides the lift-off here. But the bulk of Pale Fire is a series of footnotes by Shade’s neighbor, professor Charles Kinbote, an academic buffoon, who, while supposedly annotating the poem, unfolds three bizarre storylines and exposes himself as a deranged egotistical madman (sorry if that’s redundant!). The result is a metafictional wonder that explodes the parameters of the “traditional” novel and takes a giant satirical pot-shot at academics.
A darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue—and "one of the great works of art of this century" (Mary McCarthy)—from one of the leading writers of the 20th century.
In Pale Fire Nabokov offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures: a 999-line poem by the reclusive genius John Shade; an adoring foreword and commentary by Shade's self-styled Boswell, Dr. Charles Kinbote; a darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue.