Why am I passionate about this?

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.


I wrote

Convergence Problems

By Wole Talabi,

Book cover of Convergence Problems

What is my book about?

From the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Nommo award nominated author of Shigidi and The Brass Head of Obalufon comes a…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Drinking from Graveyard Wells: Stories

Wole Talabi Why did I love this book?

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.

By Yvette Lisa Ndlovu,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Drinking from Graveyard Wells as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"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…


Book cover of Caged Ocean Dub: Glints & Stories

Wole Talabi Why did I love this book?

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.

By Dare Segun Falowo,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Caged Ocean Dub as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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…


Book cover of Learning Monkey and Crocodile

Wole Talabi Why did I love this book?

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.

By Nick Wood,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Learning Monkey and Crocodile as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“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…


Book cover of Danged Black Thing

Wole Talabi Why did I love this book?

I really enjoyed this playful, ethereal, experimental collection of seventeen stories from prolific Tanzania-Australian author Eugen Bacon.

Her work often defies genre, spanning science fiction, horror, fantasy with a strong literary sensibility. These are poetic, evocative stories, about migration and displacement, about climate change and technology, about blackness and womanhood, about politics and community.

Adding up to more than just the sum of its parts, I could not help but be impressed. As a whole, with each story allowed to resonate with the other, it’s an excellent, inventive collection.

By Eugen Bacon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Danged Black Thing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Danged Black Thing is an extraordinary collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, patriarchy and womanhood, from a remarkable and original voice. Traversing the West and Africa, they celebrate the author’s own hybridity with breathtaking sensuousness and lyricism.

Simbiyu wins a scholarship to study in Australia, but cannot leave behind a world of walking barefoot, orange sun and his longing for a ‘once pillow-soft mother’. In his past, a darkness rose from the river, and something nameless and mystical continues to envelop his life. In ‘A Taste of Unguja’ sweet taarab music, full of want, seeps into…


Book cover of Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic

Wole Talabi Why did I love this book?

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.

By Tobi Ogundiran,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jackal, Jackal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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.

"The Goatkeeper's Harvest" contains echoes…


Explore my book 😀

Convergence Problems

By Wole Talabi,

Book cover of Convergence Problems

What is my book about?

From the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Nommo award nominated author of Shigidi and The Brass Head of Obalufon comes a stunning new collection of stories that investigate the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our lives as we search for meaning, for knowledge, for justice; constantly converging on our future selves. The sixteen stories of Convergence Problems, which include work published for the first time in this collection, showcase Talabi at his creative best: playful and profound, exciting and experimental, always interesting.

Book cover of Drinking from Graveyard Wells: Stories
Book cover of Caged Ocean Dub: Glints & Stories
Book cover of Learning Monkey and Crocodile

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The Woodland Stranger: A Fairy Tale with Benefits

By Jane Buehler,

Book cover of The Woodland Stranger: A Fairy Tale with Benefits

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Jane Buehler Author Of The Woodland Stranger: A Fairy Tale with Benefits

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Storyteller Introvert Romantic Norm avoider Backyard birdwatcher

Jane's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Burne’s been hiding out in the forest since deserting the King’s Guard. Each time he tries to return to the village, he begins to panic. And then one day, he encounters a handsome stranger picking flowers and hides behind a tree instead of talking.

He wants to be braver—and he’s about to get another chance. Because the stranger is Gray, a fairy and master of illusions who’s now following Burne home. And Gray’s got more on his mind than talking. Would a fairy that beautiful ever want someone like him? Stranger things have happened.

The Woodland Stranger: A Fairy Tale with Benefits

By Jane Buehler,

What is this book about?

Whoever said, Don't talk to strangers?


Burne hid behind a tree. He wanted to talk to the handsome man picking flowers at the edge of the forest, but he'd only flub it if he tried-he'd stumble over his words and blush bright red. And now the man is gone.


He tries to continue on to the village, but the same thing happens as always: his hands start shaking and panic wells up inside him. What if he runs into the bullies who tormented him in the King's Guard last spring? Ever since he deserted, he has hidden out in the…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Africa, South Africa, and Brothers Grimm?

Africa 265 books
South Africa 134 books
Brothers Grimm 16 books