#Tales from Nigeria

[princesssarisa]

In Cinderella Tales From Around the World, I've now reached the versions from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia: Iran, Palestine, Nigeria, Angola, Sri Lanka, India, and Kashmir.

*The Iranian variant, The Story of Little Fatima, starts out much like the Italian La Gatta Cenerentola, but then turns into a "mother as animal helper" variant, with a middle section like the Portuguese The Hearth Cat. At the beginning, Little Fatima's female teacher tricks her into murdering her mother (!!!) so she can marry her father, then abuses her. But the mother's spirit comes back as a cow and shows her daughter unconditional love by magically aiding her chores. One day the cotton she's supposed to spin falls down a well, and the cow-mother advises her to go down after it, where she'll meet a div who will urge her to do bad deeds, but to only do good deeds instead. She obeys, and the div gives her a glowing moon on her forehead and star on her chin. The stepmother wants the same for her own daughter, so she sends her into the well, but Little Fatima lies to her stepsister that she should do all the bad deeds the div orders. As a result, the div gives the stepsister donkey ears and a tail. From then on, the story becomes a standard Cinderella, with the cow providing Little Fatima's finery, except instead of a ball, festival, or religious service, the special event is the wedding of a princess, the sister of the prince who falls in love with Little Fatima.

*The Palestinian variant, Thaljiyeh ("Snow-Maiden"), starts out like Snow White, with the heroine named for her skin white as snow, and her mother dying in childbirth. As Thaljiyeh is abused by her stepmother, a kindly jinniyah (female jinn) in a well takes pity on her and fills her bucket with jewelry, but when her two stepsisters draw water from the same well, the jinniyah fills their buckets with mud, stones, and insects. So they take Thaljiyeh's jewels and finally throw her out of the house. Fortunately, she comes to the home of a poor old woman who turns out to be her maternal grandmother and who takes her in; but unfortunately (so it seems), on the way she loses a red leather shoe that was a gift from her dead father. But of course a prince finds the shoe, and we all know what happens.

*The Tender-Hearted Maiden and the Fish from Nigeria is much like the Portuguese Maiden and the Fish – the heroine gets her finery from a fish that was meant to be cooked but which she set free. But in this version, unlike the Portuguese version, there is a wicked stepmother, and the fish really is a fish, not an enchanted prince. The heroine's love interest is a king, and the festival where he falls for her is a celebration of Eid al-Fitr. After her marriage, the stepmother and stepsister sneak into the heroine's bedroom at night and cut off her hands (!), but the fishes magically restore then. When the stepmother and stepsister try to publicly mock the new queen for having no hands, they only make fools of themselves.

*The Angolan variant, Fenda Maria and Her Elder Brother Nga Nzua, is very unusual. The heroine is an orphan who lives with her older brother, but when he marries the Lord Governor's daughter, his wife turns her into a slave. But in a forest she meets an old woman with leprosy and nurses her, and as reward, the old woman gives her boxes full of riches and dresses. The ending is unusual too: the heroine doesn't marry. Instead, when the Lord Governor discovers that the elegant lady who came to church is his son-in-law's sister, he punishes the couple (at the heroine's request) by dissolving their marriage and giving his cruel daughter to another man. From then on, the heroine and her repentant brother live together in prosperity, thanks to her magically-given wealth.

*As for the Indian versions, they vary widely:

**One is basically Finette Cendron without the ogres – a poor man abandons his daughters, they find a deserted wealthy house and take up residence there, and the oppressed youngest finds finery to wear to church in the house – but with a post-marriage ending. The sisters' steal the heroines babies and make her husband think she gave birth to inanimate objects, which drives him to lock her in a dungeon, but years later her children come back as beggars, and milk miraculously flies from their mother's breasts to their mouths, revealing the truth and leading to a happy ending.

**In another, the heroine is a princess who lives happily with her father and younger brother, until a seemingly-kind widow neighbor persuades her to persuade her father to marry her. The king resists a long time, but finally gives in, yet he warns his daughter that if her stepmother mistreats her, he'll do nothing about it. Sure enough, the new stepmother sends the prince away to boarding school and treats the princess like a slave. But the princess is helped both by a cow, who secretly feeds her, and by her dead godmother's spirit, who brings her finery for a dance at another king's palace. After the princess marries and gives birth to a son, her stepsister drowns her in a well and takes her place, but as in the Grimms' Brother and Sister, the princess's spirit comes back every night to nurse her baby, and when her husband finally sees her and catches her by the hands, she comes back to life. The stepsister is brutally executed and the stepmother driven away.

**The Kashmir variant follows the "mother turns into an animal" formula, but with a few differences from the norm. The mother turns into a goat when she thoughtlessly breaks a magical taboo against eating when her husband isn't home, the Cinderella character is just one of several siblings who are all mistreated by their stepmother, and instead of losing a shoe at a special event, she loses a nose ring while washing herself in a river. The ring is swallowed by a fish, which is caught and cut open by the king's cook. The king searches for the ring's owner and marries the girl, which lets her support her siblings and free them from the stepmother.

*@faintingheroine – I think Nihal would like some of these variants. Especially the Indian one where the heroine is neglected by her father and her little brother is sent away to school, since it parallels her own situation, and the Angolan one where the heroine doesn't marry in the end but gets her brother all to herself again.

*It seems strange that this book includes so few Cinderella stories from Africa. There must be more that exist!

Coming up next: tales from East Asia, beginning with what may be the very first complete Cinderella story, Ye Xian.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @adarkrainbow, @themousefromfantasyland

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hello, I have been following you for a while now, and I just want to ask you if you know how many people who follow you are in the US. I love your blog. I don't always understand some things, but you write so wonderfully, I love reading your posts

My favorite Phil story is the Oreos and a skunk . Thank you for sharing your life with us. Cheers to you and your family.

Hello! Yes, I see your username in my notes sometimes, I think. I am pleased to hear that my silly tales of my weird friend Phil bring you such delight! Apologies for the times I am Impenetrably Welsh.

As for how many American followers I have, I have no idea! A lot, I know. I have many thousands of followers overall these days (it all started with a walrus and got rapidly out of control), and I think a sizeable chunk are American, another chunk from the UK, and then... Well, I know I have some from Aotearoa, some Portuguese, some Lithuanian. I'm trying to think where people have told me they're from. Ooh, Nigeria, I remember Nigeria.

Actually, let's see if we can get a rough estimate!

This will not give accurate data, but it may give an Idea.

[olderthannetfic]

I'm still peeved to the fucking moon and back that people legit feels like it's controversial to say "I wish we'd focus on NON-white fairytales when starring POC, because other cultures that Europen ones exist." and "It's annoying that already existing fairytales redone despite still holding up, to be an expensive cashgrab with no soul." Like, be honest, even if the poc starring in the movie is a fantastic actor, they're still basically going to be used as a shield by execs afraid of real criticism, they're going to receive hate by racist assholes, all to be then forgotten because they'll never live up to the original OR the movie is just so shit it'll sink into nothingness for being so mid to begin with, as most of them have.

"OmG what about an Asian Snow white?" "What about a Native American Red beauty and the beast?" "What about a black Rapunzel." Or... OR! We actually look at a specific culture, and then we get a cool fucking story that isn't the same set of European fairytales all over again? Maybe it's because I'm from Europe, but in my childhood I've read and watched hundreds of movies, shows, and books that are just different versions of the same European fairytales. That doesn't mean they're bad, but that any "new" version is just another log on an already burning pyre. It won't change anything, that fire already burns.

But imagine a story from a place and culture that hasn't really been presented to the West? How about the story of "The Palm oil girl" from Nigeria? Hell, there ARE fairytales from other countries that are like European fairytales in some aspect, but are clearly from a different country and culture. Yet people always rigidly stick to the European telling of these stories. The Vietnamese story "The Tale of Tấm and Cám" is a story that shares a lot of similarities with Cinderella, but is in its essence Vietnamese. You can find so many cool fairytales, and focusing on even just a few of them could kickstart a persons journey to exploring more cultures.

I don't believe in the "Western burden" to tell the tales of other cultures, many can do that on their own. But I also believe that it always felt like a serious case of pussy footing and cowardice not to just straight up do POC fairytales to begin with. Come on, be the first log for a fire to create the pyre.

--

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: GOODREADS, WEEK 8b

Akata Witch (The Nsibidi Scripts #1) by Nnedi Okorafor

I'm trying to trim down my tbr list(s) and I'm asking for your help! Descriptions and more info under the cut. Please reblog and add your thoughts!

* * * * *

Akata Witch weaves together a heart-pounding tale of magic, mystery, and finding one's place in the world.

Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she's albino. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing--she is a free agent with latent magical power. Soon she's part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too?

Ursula K. Le Guin and John Green are Nnedi Okorafor fans. As soon as you start reading Akata Witch, you will be, too

Date added: 2017

Goodreads: 4.03

Storygraph: 4.01

PRO:

Liked Okorafor's Binti series

Magic school quartet?!

Entire series available from the library in my preferred format (audiobook)

CON:

YA/MG, younger than I typically look for these days

[blackhistorystoryteller]

Embracing African Heritage: The Significance of Shrines and Religion

Africa, often referred to as the cradle of humanity, boasts a rich tapestry of cultures, traditions, and spiritual beliefs that have endured for millennia. Central to this heritage are the sacred shrines and profound religious practices that serve as pillars of community, identity, and connection to the divine.

Shrines, both natural and constructed, hold a special place in African spirituality. These sites are often nestled in the heart of communities or hidden within the vast landscapes of the continent. From the iconic pyramids of Egypt to the humble groves of the Yoruba in Nigeria, each shrine reflects a unique blend of history, mythology, and reverence for the ancestors.

One of the fundamental aspects of African religion is the veneration of ancestors. Ancestral shrines serve as focal points for prayers, offerings, and rituals aimed at honoring those who came before. These ancestors are believed to possess wisdom, guidance, and protection, and their spirits are invoked for blessings and assistance in times of need. In many African societies, the bond between the living and the dead is deeply cherished, with rituals and ceremonies reinforcing the interconnectedness of past, present, and future generations.

Moreover, African shrines are often associated with specific deities or spirits, each embodying different aspects of the natural world or human experience. Whether it's Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of love and fertility, or Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of the afterlife, these divine entities are revered through elaborate ceremonies, dances, and sacrifices. Through these rituals, devotees seek communion with the divine and seek guidance in matters of health, prosperity, and spiritual growth.

However, the significance of African shrines extends beyond the realm of spirituality. They are also repositories of cultural knowledge, oral traditions, and historical narratives passed down through generations. Within the sacred precincts of these sites, elders impart wisdom, storytellers weave tales of heroism and creation, and artists imbue their craft with symbols and motifs that speak to the essence of African identity.

Unfortunately, the colonial era and the spread of Christianity and Islam have often marginalized indigenous African religions, dismissing them as primitive or pagan. Despite this, many communities continue to uphold their traditional beliefs, adapting them to the challenges of modernity while preserving their core values and rituals. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in African spirituality, fueled by a desire to reclaim cultural heritage and reconnect with ancestral roots.

In conclusion, African shrines and religion embody the resilience, diversity, and spirituality of the continent's people. They are more than just places of worship; they are living testaments to the enduring legacy of Africa's past and the enduring power of its traditions. As we navigate an increasingly interconnected world, embracing and honoring Africa's rich heritage is not only a matter of cultural preservation but also a celebration of the human spirit's boundless capacity for faith, creativity, and reverence for the divine.

[lesbianboyfriend]

can i ask for lesbian book recommendations 🥹🕺

yeassss ofc my love <3

erm and obligatory disclaimer for any who might read that i don’t think “queer” or “lesbian” is a necessarily coherent category of books or adequate descriptor for a novel which is why i’ve also provided the actual genres here (sorted into which ever one i felt best fit) and descriptions. and these books have much more going on than just being about lesbians. however all books are undeniably awesomer with lesbians so yayyyyy

FANTASY:

-the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw: fantasy horror; murderous mermaid and plague doctor come across a cult of children (could be read as not lesbians bc one character is nonbinary but i choose to read as. lesbians)

-the empress of salt and fortune by nghi vo: political fantasy; monk unravels the tale of exiled empress’ rise to power

-when the the tigers came down the mountain by nghi vo: political fantasy; monk unwinds the tale of a tiger and her scholar lover to prevent other tigers from eating them (stand alone sequel to empress of salt and fortune)

-ship of smoke and steel by django wexler: ya fantasy; girl has to steal a ghost ship to save her sister’s life

-the mermaid, the witch, and the sea by maggie tokuda-hall: ya fantasy; pirate falls in love with one of the ship’s hostages, a girl being sent to an arranged marriage against her will

-tremontaine created by ellen kushner: political fantasy; there’s a lot going on in this one okay just trust me that it’s really good esp if you love political intrigue (this was released serially and is easiest to acquire an electronic version)

-the deep by rivers solomon: fantasy/spec fic; African slave women thrown overboard gave birth to mermaid-esque descendants. one holds these traumatic memories for her whole people and must grapple with that pressure

-wild beauty by anna-marie mclemore: ya magical realism/fantasy; a family of women who can create flowers and whose lovers always tragically vanish fight to keep their land and to unravel the mystery of a strange boy who appeared

-siren queen by nghi vo: historical magical realism/fantasy; girl’s rise to stardom amidst the monsters of hollywood back in the days of the studio system

-gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir: sff; um. how to explain briefly. gideon wants nothing more than to leave the ninth house, but her nemesis harrowhark needs her sword skills to pass the emperors trial and become immortal. sure. (caleb i know you’ve read this just adding for any other viewers yayyy)

HORROR:

-white is for witching by helen oyeyemi: horror fantasy/magical realism; a house with women in its walls calls to miranda silver while the people she leaves behind struggle to make sense of what happened to her

-plain bad heroines by emily a. danforth: historical horror; when filming a movie about the macabre history of a boarding school, its past starts to become the reality for the stars and author of the novel it’s based on

LITFIC:

-girl woman other: contemporary litfic; the intersecting stories of Black british women told in verse

-nightwood: classic literary; i feel like i can’t describe this one well but nora and jenny are obsessed with robin, whose penchant for wandering and inability to commit drives them crazy. toxic dyke drama at its best

-the thirty names of night: lit fic; transmasc syrian american unravels the history of artist laila z who encountered the same rare bird his mother saw right before her death and realizes their pasts are intertwined

-under the udala trees: historical lit fic; coming of age set against the backdrop of civil war in Nigeria, two girls from different ethnic communities fall in love

-everyone in this room will someday be dead: contemporary lit fic; that moment when your ocd lands you a job at the catholic church even though you’re an atheist and also your relationship is falling apart

-stone butch blues: historical lit fic; butch lesbian realizing and grappling with her identity throughout the 40s-70s

-the color purple: classic lit fic; story of two sisters separated in their youth—one is forced into an abusive marriage and falls in love with her husbands mistress, wondering what became of her sister

-oranges are not the only fruit: semi-autobiography with slight fantasy elements; exploring growing up lesbian in a deeply religious pentecostal sect

SCI-FI:

-the weight of the stars: ya sf romance; aspiring astronaut is forced into friendship with a girl who waits on the roof every night for radio signals from her mother in space

-the seep: sci-fi/spec fic; what if aliens invaded and formed a hive mind of everyone and also your girlfriend turned into a baby again. wouldn’t that be fucked up

-the stars are legion: political science fiction; an awakes with no memory amid a group of people calling themself her family who claim she is the only one who can save their world

-not your sidekick: ya sci-fi; superheroes are real and they fucking suck

SHORT STORIES:

-sarahland: contemporary/spec fic short story collection; various stories about people named sarah

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

Jill's Ponies by Ruby Ferguson

Jill unexpectedly finds herself the proud owner of Farmer Clay's piebald pony. But that's when her problems begin because ponies are expensive. Where will she find the money?

The Strictest School in the World by Howard Whitehouse

 14-year-old pioneering aviatrix Emmaline Cayley is afraid of one plummeting to her doom. Fortunately, 12-year-old Robert Burns, an indestructible village boy, is not. Absurdly unafraid of bodily harm, "Rubberbones" is the ideal pilot for Emmaline's experiments with flight. But before Emmaline can perfect a flying machine with the aid of her new friend, she is sent off to St. Grimelda's School for Young Ladies -- to be cured of her decidedly unladylike ways. It is a school so strict, so severe, so forbidding that it makes the brutal misery in the tales of Charles Dickens look cheery by comparison. With a horrifying headmistress, terrifying teachers and food that is even worse than Aunt Lucy's, this medieval stronghold also houses a terrible secret and a mysterious way of keeping its prisoners, er, its students in line. All Emmaline can think of is escape. But no one has ever escaped from St. Grimelda's. And our heroine soon realizes that the only way out is to face her greatest fear.

TJ Young & the Orishas by Antoine Bandele

Fourteen-year-old TJ grew up normal in a secret community of gifted diviners in the heart of modern-day Los Angeles. His powerful sister was ordained to lead his people into a new age of prosperity, but her mysterious death in Nigeria threatens to destroy the very foundations of TJ's world.

Desperate to pick up where his sister left off and uncover the secrets behind her questionable death, TJ commits himself to unlocking the magical heritage that has always eluded him. So he enrolls in Camp Olosa-a remedial magic school for the divinely less-than-gifted in the humid swamps of New Orleans.

But little does he know, TJ is destined to cross paths with powerful spirits of old thought lost to the orishas.

Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child by Maria T. Lennon

Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child stars the hilariously cheeky reformed bully and tween hacker Charlie Cooper as she tries to ditch her middle-child reputation and make cool friends at her new school in Los Angeles. But being cool isn't as easy as it looks. Charlie has to face down the mean girls and decide between right and wrong once and for all when she learns the terrible truth behind Marta the Farta's bad attitude and loner status. And Charlie has to do it all in outfits meant for the runways!

Unicorns of the Mist by R. R. Russel

Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered.

Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for "troubled" girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible — someone who needs her. Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn.

A baby unicorn.

Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them...

Beatrice Bailey by Sandra Forrester

Beatrice Bailey is tall, skinny, and about to turn twelve years old. On that birthday she will get her official classification as a witch. But will she be named an ordinary Everyday Witch or a specially empowered Classical Witch? When the big day arrives, the Witches' Executive Committee can't decide how to classify her. At last, they agree that her Maximum Magic Level must be tested, and to pass the test she must break a spell that has been cast by the evil sorcerer, Dally Rumpe. Thus begins Beatrice's series of adventures. Breaking the spell takes Beatrice and her three best friends to several dangerous realms within the witches' sphere. In this tale, their main challenge is to get past an enchanted hedge of thorns and a fire-breathing dragon to undo the spell that has cast the land in snow and ice. Author Sandra Forrester promises further bewitching adventures in books to come. In each adventure, Beatrice makes new friends who help her when she goes on to face dangerous new encounters.

The Armourer's House by Rosemary Sutcliffe

If only she'd been born a boy, Tamsyn would never have been sent away to Uncle Gideon's - the armourer's - house when her grandmother died. She could have stayed by the wild sea that she loved with her Uncle Martin, the ship merchant.But instead, she is bound for busy, bustling Tudor London, and the armourer's house, far from the coast and far from her beloved ships. Homesick and lonely in the loud family of cousins, it isn't until she meets the strange old Wise Woman that Tamsyn is finally promised her "heart's desire"...

You Be the Jury by Marvin Miller

The reader is provided evidence for ten courtroom cases and must decide whether each defendant is guilty or innocent.

The O'Clock Tales by Enid Blyton

A magical collection of over forty tales. Join Sneaky the elf as he steals a growing spell and gets a terrible fright; or Snip and Snap the brownies as they play a trick on the Red Goblin; or lazy Kate as her bed takes her to school!

Cat School (or Goyangi Hakyo) by Kim Jin Kyung

Beodeul is a cat, and the story is about the cat school where Beodeul goes and learns how to live together with humans. It also tells of his travels to Japan, China, and India.

[choclodox]

Lieutenant Colonel Maria Suarez 💙 like Dr. Yin, she was a smart cookie and also fast tracked through college by doing dual enrollment and piloting lessons in High School so she could get to piloting a samson ASAP. She came from a family of pilots and she wasn’t about to let the legacy die. ⁣

⁣⁣⁣

She met Big Q when she was deployed in Nigeria. Because she had college courses under her belt and was doing them while on her tour, she also got promotions quicker. And because of a crazy stunt she pulled while on a mission, Big Q told her she could call him by his first name after living to tell the tale of something that insane (which is very unusual in the military, even if they were only like…2 ranks apart). I wonder what happened 🤔

⁣

He’s also the only person left alive who knows how Maria got her call sign “Fireball.” When it comes to fighter jet pilots (and I would assume Samson pilots by the time their deployment in Nigeria takes places) are given their call signs (nicknames) by their squad mates based on something stupid they did as a rookie (I’m not kidding, look it up).⁣

⁣

She was also friends with Grace. And it was through Grace that Maria met Dr. Yin. ⁣They really hit it off when Maria showed her drawings of Pandora’s wildlife to Yin (drawing was a hobby of hers btw).

⁣

She always had a thing for Dr. Yin, but alas, she was always too afraid to do anything about it for a few reasons: 1) she felt like she was taking advantage of a position of power even though Dr. Yin was a civilian and not a military subordinate, 2) she was worried about the mind gap even though Dr. Yin was far from naïve, 3) she just felt she was too…old. Which Dr. Yin had no issues with.

Overall, Maria was just overthinking it all along 😢⁣ (and funny enough, this was the one thing Grace and Miles were able to agree on).

[dailydemonspotlight]

Ogun - Day 53

Race: Zealot

Alignment: Dark-Neutral

June 12th, 2024

In my romps through the dilapidated districts of Tokyo in SMT IV, I've always noticed a distinct amount of demons that originate from folklores outside of the common mold and trappings this series falls into. In my opinion, the compendium of SMT IV has some of the best, most stand-out, and most unique demons throughout the series, likely as a result of the shift to sprite-based gameplay meaning that they could experiment more with designs and demons. While some see the sprites as a disappointment, in my eyes, they make for a fantastic experience for the types of people like myself who love investigating the tales behind these monsters. This experimentation gives way to some incredibly unique demons- I've already covered a personal favorite of mine, Nadja, but today's Demon of the Day is another one of these designs that feels like it could only fit in the experimental and fantastical post-apocalyptic world of SMT IV: A god from a far underrepresented mythology, Ogun from the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

If there's one thing many mythologies all seem to have in common, all across the world, it's that there are war gods. And a lot of them. Fittingly for our history filled with conquest, most religious areas have at least one patron of battle, and Ogun is no exception. While not a god exactly, (and we'll get to that,) Ogun represents blacksmithing, battle, rum, and iron; he appears prominently in many African religions, not just Yoruba, but we'll be focusing on his most prevalent role for our discussions today.

In Yoruba religion, what we understand as gods are instead spirits titled "Orisha," though they fulfill a similar role to gods. They had melded the earth, given way to humanity, and are the central figures of worship in the religion, especially the Primordial Orisha. These spirits had been born before humanity, and helped to meld the earth into its habitable shape, sent by the supreme creator Olodumare in order to help humanity get used to life on Ayé, the term used to refer to the world at large. One of these Orisha, of course, was Ogun, and he was one of the most prevalent as well. As the first Orisha to descend to earth, clearing the way for his fellow travelers, he was an incredibly important figure- one of his epithets uses when giving praise to him was 'Osin Imole,' meaning "First of the primordial Orisha to come to Earth."

Fittingly for being a war god, though, Ogun had quite a bit of a temper. Despite being a god who mostly focused on clearing pathways for humanity and his fellow Orisha, his mean streak was not to go unnoticed- as the first king of Ife, he was a vicious leader who did not let one bad deed go unpunished- whenever his subjects were to show him disrespect, he would kill them with a slash of his machete. Eventually, he would even take his own life, recognizing his petty fury as he had slaughtered several for them simply not granting him gifts, in what was likely the worst post-slaughter clarity of his life. Before he did so, however, he began to sink into the ground, and he promised his still-living people that he'd return in their hour of need, and to any who called upon his name.

Ogun stood for justice above all- while his personality was fierce and temperamental, he was loyal above all else, and his association with dogs played a part in this, as in a way, he was like a dog. While his most famous story is about him cutting the way to the human world with his steel blade, he still has many more out there, but I'll leave you, dear reader, to discover them. Also being the god of rum and spirits (heh), he loved a good drink as well. Ogun is a well known and beloved figure in Yoruba mythology, and well deserving to be in the series. However, speaking of, how is he depicted?

Honestly, as much as I like his design, it's a bit strained, and leans into tribalism a bit too much. He doesn't even have his machete! However, I will admit that it looks cool, no matter how... strange it is. In the series, he first appears within the schwarzwelt of Strange Journey, but his most story-important role is that of SMT IV... which isn't saying a lot, given that he appears only in a single New Game Plus quest. However, no matter how mediocre his representation in the series is, the fact that it introduced me to such a unique and cool mythology gives it serious props. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing him in SMT Vengeance!

[acoupofowls]

Other Worlds: An Anthology of Diverse Short Fiction

Short stories by writers from marginalised and/or underrepresented communities or backgrounds exploring the theme of "Other Worlds"

KICKSTARTER NOW LIVE and SUBMISSIONS OPEN!

Other Worlds is the second print anthology brought to you by A Coup of Owls Press - home of online quarterly anthologies from creators from marginalised and/or underrepresented communities or backgrounds.

As a follow-up to Other & Different, which explored what it is to be othered, Other Worlds will be an exploration of places, situations, communities, etc, that are other. These might be actual other worlds in a science or speculative fiction genre, or a community, or a situation in the historical or modern world that feels or is made to feel alien. Encompassing a variety of styles and genres, Other Worlds will feature stories focused on the theme of being part of those othered communities - however the writers wish to interpret that.

THE STORIES

We are thrilled to confirm that we have invited five fantastic authors to contribute to Other Worlds, and our submissions for the remaining stories are open from 1st October to 15th November 2023. 

For more submissions guidelines and to submit, check out our submissions page.

Eve Morton:  Strange people with strange purposes gather in Haven (Science Fiction).

Eve Morton is a poet, professor, and parent living in Waterloo, Ontario. She likes coffee, short stories, and horror movies--in that order.  Weblinks: website

Previous publications include: A Coup of Owls, Other Stories Podcast and Third Flatiron Publishing

Victor Okechukwu: A post-civil war community feels cut off from the rest of Nigeria when a woman's only son enters a train to Jos but  may not return (Modern Nigerian Lit). 

Victor Okechukwu is a writer based in Lagos, Nigeria. His writing takes a deep setting in arresting issues of mental health that have been overlooked in his country. He's an Associate Prose Editor at Zerotic Press and is reading mass communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Weblinks: Twitter

Previous publications include: Gordon Square Review, Mycelia, Door-is-a-jar, and Rigorous Magazine

Von Reyes: Violence and intimacy become blurred and life might just be worth fighting for amongst a community of underground fighters (Speculative Fiction).

Von Reyes is an emergent fiction author, focused on uplifting the intersections of queer and trans masculinity and Asian diasporic identity. He focuses on genre fiction with themes of surrealism, queer sexuality, existentialism, and optimistic nihilism. He is passionate about creating a more socially conscious world where care for each other is at the core of all that we do. He hopes to tell stories that don't shy away from the horrors, but allows us to find the light within them. When he isn't writing, he can usually be found chasing the ocean and his next iced coffee.  Weblinks: website

Previous publications include: The Good Men Project. Forthcoming in Chill Mag.

Zachary Rosenberg:  A Jewish soldier and rancher must contend with mysterious monsters to build the home he longs for (Horror Western).

Zachary Rosenberg is a horror writer living in Florida. He crafts horrifying tales by night and by day he practices law, which is even more frightening. His debut novella Hungers as Old As This Land is out now from Brigids Gate Press and his second, The Long Shalom, is available from by Off Limits Press. Weblinks: Twitter

Previous publications include: Dark Matter Magazine, The Deadlands, and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Samir Sirk Morató: When an Appalachian community clashes with their neighbors—a grove of sentient, dying chestnut trees—tragedy strikes (Horror).

Samir Sirk Morató is a scientist, artist, and flesh heap. They are also a 2022 Brave New Weird shortlister and a F(r)iction Fall 2022 Flash Fiction finalist. Samir spends most of their time tending to their cacti and contemplating the nature of meat. Weblinks: Twitter, Instagram, and website

Previous publications include: Neon Hemlock, bodyfluids, Catapult, and Seize the Press.

COVER ART

We can't wait to share with you the amazing cover art currently being created by amazing artist @pangaeastarseed.

Pangaea is a life-long artist and resident of the DC suburbs. A freelance illustrator with 20+ years experience, Pan’s work focuses on figure work and visual narratives utilizing the exploration of queerness, food as a love-language, and colors influenced by their florid synaesthesia.

Pangaea’s previous work includes custom illustration commissions and tattoo designs for clients; Starseed, an original gay-porn-space-opera comic, The Alien Dick Coloring Book, sketchbook zines Cardassia Prime and Cardassia Kotok, and the Washington DC-variant poster design of The Lambda Literary Awards 2022.

Portfolio: https://www.pangaeaillustrations.com/

WHY KICKSTARTER?

We want to ensure that we produce the high quality product that we know we can! Whilst design, layout and formatting happens in-house, Kickstarter funds will help cover pay for our authors, cover artist and editor. 

REWARDS

Add Ons!

We have a variety of extras available in the add-ons, from extra copies to special collected editions.  Whilst we've tried to create reward tiers to suit everyone, the add-ons will better allow you to mix and match to your preference! 

Our own @maxturnerwrites is once more offering some of his own work at discounted prices for supporters.

STRETCH GOALS!

£1000 : at £1000 we will add an Other Worlds bookmark for each physical backer

£1250 : at £1250 we will add an A5 print of cover art (without title) to each physical backer, and an e-copy of the same to each e-backer

£1500 : at £1500 we will add an Other Worlds tote bag for each physical backer

[f1ghtsoftly]

All The Women’s News You Missed Last Week 

11/4/24-11/11/24

Donald Trump wins the US presidential election. His party also won control of the Senate and could take the House, potentially giving Republicans control of all three branches of the Federal Government. Women in Gaza continue to suffer disproportionally from indiscriminate Israeli attacks on citizens. Raygun retires. The Pope initiates dialogue with abortion activists.

Read my election special report here.

Want this in your inbox instead? Subscribe here

Trump Transition:

Anti-abortion advocates press Trump for more restrictions as abortion pill sales spike

Democrats had bet on women showing up in force. They didn’t

Susie Wiles: Who is Trump's new chief of staff?

US Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor ignores pressure to retire - reports

Melania Trump, enigmatic first lady who might do it differently this time

Women’s Health:

Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif Takes Legal Action after Leaked Reports Claim She Is a 'DSD' Athlete

Nigeria offers free Caesareans to poorer women

Pope pays house visit to veteran Italian abortion rights advocate

With little water, displaced Lebanese women worry about periods

Male Violence:

McGregor rape accuser telling 'web of lies', court told

‘Catfish killer used my photo to trap other girls’

Church of England leader Welby urged to quit over abuse cover-up

Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India's Kolkata

Nigeria rights body finds 'no evidence' military conducted secret mass abortions

Women In The News:

South Korean president sorry for controversies surrounding wife

Raygun retires from breaking after Olympic backlash

How a Chinese maths 'prodigy' unravelled in cheating storm

Princess Kate attends Remembrance Day event in return to public duties

Gaza mother struggling to feed children says only death can end their suffering

Gaza women, children are nearly 70% of verified war dead, UN rights office says

Arts and Culture:

Judith Jamison, a dancer both eloquent and elegant, led Ailey troupe to success over two decades

Movie Review: In Andrea Arnold’s ‘Bird,’ a gritty fairy tale doesn’t take flight

Taylor Swift wins big and Rita Ora pays tribute to Liam Payne at the MTV EMAs

Mattel says it ‘deeply’ regrets misprint on ‘Wicked’ dolls packaging that links to porn site

As always, this is global and domestic news from a US perspective covering feminist issues and women in the news more generally. As of right now, I do not cover Women’s Sports. Published each Monday afternoon.

[lilithadomania]

Where would the twisted wonderland locations be in real world?

Has this post been done before..? I don't know.

Now, let's get the easier things out of the way.

Scalding sands are obviously somewhere in Arabic country. In the Wikipedia for Aladdin, it states that it is a middle Eastern tale.. The clothes seem similar to that of an Arabic country. Turquoise colour is however, often used in over here turkey, but... Turkey is not an Arabic country.. It is stated that Jasmine's clothes were inspired by South Asian clothing... In the wiki it states that Agrabah was also inspired by ottoman empire, the silk city's camel bazaar seems similar to that of an bazaar over here. Hm.. I think that it might be based off of Afghanistan, it isn't fun fitting at all, and I'm just throwing it off there, but it is definitely somewhere similar to there and ottoman empire.

City of flowers is, without a doubt, based off of France. Noble bell college is based off of the Notre-Dame de Paris, more specifically, île de la Cité, an island in the Seine River(this part was taken straight out of the Wikipedia article for Notre-dame de Paris). There isn't much more to say about it, as it was rather easy to find out about it.

Queendom of roses is probably based off of United Kingdom, as the original novel it is based off of was written in england(believe me I will have to do this. A lot.), in November of 1865. From what I was able to see in the manga, the architecture seems to be more modern, along with the clothes as well. That would make anyone from there... British, take that how you will.

Now.. Onto the trickier parts.

Sunset savana, it obviously takes place in.. A savanas. Savanas seem to be most common in northern Australia and probably in Africa, looking at the cards in the Japanese server, the clothes for the sunset savana seems to be resembling that of traditional African clothes, but I might be wrong on this I'm sorry, but I strongly believe that is the case! I am not too sure on the exact country though, probably somewhere similar to Nigeria as the clothes seem to be similar.

Coral Sea, I.. Genuinely don't know. I can't even track anything down aside from going with where the original tale of the little mermaid was written, which is probably Denmark? So... Danish fish mafia???? I don't know??? Azul's name means blue in Spanish and Portuguese, and Floyd means grey and grey-haired in Welsh???? I don't know, I'm confused now.

Shaftlands, it is.. Probably based off of either Germany or somewhere that speaks English, since Cater's last name is english and jack is either english or French, however, if I go off of where Snow White is written from, it's Germany, and the most memorable character from there is vil, who's last name is "schöenheit" which means beauty in German, so... It's probably based from Germany.

•harvest town is... Also in shaftlands, it's probably based off of a town in Germany, I don't know. Epel's last name, felmier, means farmer in Romanian and such, his first name epel sounds similar to the German word for apple, apfel.

Island of woe, another tone.. Where I just don't know. It is definitely based off of Greece for sure, as Idia's name means reserved, private and such, meanwhile his last name comes from the Latin word shroud, which is the name for a cloth that is used to cover over the face of the dead. Ortho means unharmed, safe and such, and plus, the name of the S.T.Y.X is probably based off of the Styx river in the Greek mythology that connects the earth to the underworld.

Briar valley, now.. Another one that is hard to settle for, however, if we go off with how daisomnia looks, it's probably somewhere in Gothic Victorian time, since daisomnia looks like a Gothic Victorian castle, going off of cars and such aren't used in Briar valley, it makes me fully believe that it is mostly based off of the Victorian era. The names... Malleus is the name of a well knows witchcraft, and his last name is, according to the fandom wiki, is deprived off of the words dragon or devil in Romanian and such. Gothic Victorian architecture seems to be most popular in Europe, we don't know much about the Briar valley sadly, but sleeping beauty the fairytale was originally written in.. French.

The final matches, this is all speculations on my part and this was for fun!

City of flowers-france

Queendom of roses-united kingdom

Sunset savana-africa, Nigeria

Coral sea-i... I don't know...

Scalding sands-an Arabic country/probably somewhere in South Asia, possibly Afghanistan

Shaftlands-germany

Island of woe-greece

Briar valley-france/possibly Romania, somewhere in Europe.

[readyforevolution]

The Igbuzo (Ibusa) Kingdom:: Tracing the Roots of a Brave Igbo Community in Delta State, Nigeria"

Igbuzo, also known as Ibusa, is a vibrant Igbo community nestled in Delta State, Nigeria. Its roots can be traced back to around 1450 when waves of Igbo migrants embarked on a journey westward, ultimately leading to the formation of Igbuzo.

The name "Ibusa" is derived from "Igbo bi n'ụzọ," meaning "Igbos that live by the wayside" or "Were you the first to settle here?" This moniker was bestowed upon them by neighboring communities such as Ogwashi-Uku, Asaba, Oko, Ilah, and Okpanam, as well as European missionaries who struggled to pronounce the community's original name.

Historians believe that a group of settlers who embarked on a journey from Benin alongside Ezechima, heading eastward, may have found their final settlement in Igbuzo. It is speculated that these settlers, either due to illness or a lack of interest in continuing their journey, assimilated into the existing Umejei and Edini groups in Igbuzo.

Ibusa comprises two distinct units: the Umejei and Ogboli settlements. According to oral history, Umejei Nwa Eze Isu, the prince of Isu, was involved in a wrestling bout that resulted in the death of his opponent. Traditionally, this act was considered an abomination punishable by death. However, Umejei's father, the king of Isu, commuted his son's sentence, and Umejei was exiled with a gourd given to him by his father. He was instructed to settle wherever the gourd dropped, leading him to establish Igbuzo at the present site of Ani-Oshe in Omeze.

In another tale, Odaigbo of Nshi (Nri) had relations with one of his father's wives, which usually carried a mandatory death sentence. However, Eze Nshi spared Odaigbo's life and instead exiled him, accompanied by his father, mother, and younger brother, Edini. Each of them carried a pot and charms, instructed by Eze Nshi to settle wherever the pot fell. Edini's pot landed at Ani-Nshi (Nri) Ogboli in Ibusa, while Odaigbo's pot dropped at the current site of Ogwashi-Uku, where he settled. The groups of Edini and Umejei eventually merged to form Ibusa, with the Ogboli community becoming part of the larger Nri (Nshi) community.

Ibusa is renowned among the Igbo and Anioma people of Delta State for their courageous spirit, often described as "Isu (Igbuzo) fu ogu ju nni," meaning "Ibusa people who refuse food to fight wars." This statement exemplifies their bravery in times of conflict. Researchers are currently delving into the history of wars fought by the Igbuzo people, particularly in the homes of their kinsmen in Nnewi, Anambra State, to uncover any historical connections between the two communities.

[musingsofmonica]

Fall 2024 Diverse Reads

Fall 2024 Diverse Reads:   

•”Heir” by Sabaa Tahir, October 01, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, Fantasy/Action & Adventure/Epic/Romance

•”The City and Its Uncertain Walls” by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel, November 19, Knopf Publishing Group, Literary/Fantasy/Magical Realism/Science fiction/Gothic/Mystery/Horror

•”Masquerade” by Mike Fu, October 29, Tin House Books, Literary/Coming of Age/World Literature/China/21st Century/LGBTQ

•”The Mighty Red” by Louise Erdrich, October 01, Harper, Literary/Contemporary/Coming of Age/Thriller/Suspense/Romance/Cultural Heritage

Native American & Aboriginal

•”Society of Lies” by Lauren Ling Brown, October 01, Bantam, Dark Academia/Thriller/Suspense/Mystery & Detective/Women Sleuth/Cultural Heritage/African American & Black/Asian American/Women

•”The City in Glass” by Nghi Vo, October 01, Tordotcom, Fantasy/Epic/Fairy Tale/Folk Tale/Legends & Mythology

•”A Song to Drown Rivers” by Ann Liang, October 01, St. Martin's Press, Historical/Ancient/Fantasy/Fairy Tales/Folk Tale/Legends & Mythology/Romance/Women

•”The Witches of El Paso” by Luis Jaramillo, October 08, Atria/Primero Sueno Press, Historical/Fantasy/Magical Realism/Family/Saga/Cultural Heritage/Hispanic & Latino

•”Blood of the Old Kings” by Sung-Il Kim, translated by Anton Hur, October 08, Tor Books, Fantasy/Epic/World Literature/Korea

•”This Motherless Land” by Nikki May, October 29, Mariner Books, Literary/Family Life/Adaptations & Pastiche/Diversity & Multicultural/Cultural Heritage/African American & Black/Women/World Literature/Nigeria/England 

•”The Most Wonderful Time” by Jayne Allen, October 08, Harper, /Contemporary/Romance/Romantic Comedy/Multicultural & Interracial/Diversity & Multicultural/Cultural Heritage/African American & Black/Holiday/Friendship/Women/Own Voice

.”Twenty-Four Seconds from Now” by Jason Reynolds, October 08, Atheneum Books, YA/Contemporary/Romance/Boys & Men/Social Themes/Emotions & Feelings/Cultural Heritage/African American & Black

•”Something Close to Nothing” by Tom Pyun, November 12, Bywater Books, Literary/Family Life/Adoption/Identity/Multicultural & Interracial/Diversity & Multicultural/Cultural Heritage/Asian American/LGBTQ

•”The Burrow” by Melanie Cheng, November 12, Tin House Books, Literary/Family Life/Animal/World Literature/Australia

•”Sand-Catcher” by Omar Khalifah, translated by Barbara Romaine, December 03, By Coffee House Press, Literary/Political/Absurdist/Cultural Heritage/Arab/Palestinian/World Literature/Middle East/Israel/Jordan

•”City of Night Birds” by Juhea Kim, November 26, Ecco Press, Literary/Coming of Age/Performing Arts/Dance, Theater & Musicals

•”The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World” by Tiffany Yu, October 08, Hachette Go, People with Disabilities/Disabilities/Disability Studies/Interpersonal Relations/Discrimination & Race/Social/Political 

•”The Message” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, October 01, One World, Essays/Current Events/American Government/Discrimination & Race Relations/Violence in Society/Writing/World Travels

•”Brown Women Have Everything: Essays on (Dis)comfort and Delight” by Sayantani Dasgupta, October 01, University of North Carolina Press, Essays/Women's Studies/Feminist/Cultural, Ethnic & Regional/Ethnic Studies/Asian Studies

•”Taiwan Travelogue” by Shuang-Zi Yang, November 12, Graywolf Press, Literary/Historical/World Literature/Japan/Taiwan/LGBTQ

[teatalkblog]

BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2024 📖

(book descriptions by @/goodreads)

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr [historical fiction]

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [contemporary fiction]

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.

Blindness, José Saramago [dystopia/TW]

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations, and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her charges—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and their procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.

Bolla, Pajtim Statovci [historical fiction]

April 1995. Arsim is a twenty-four-year-old, recently married student at the University of Pristina, in Kosovo, keeping his head down to gain a university degree in a time and place deeply hostile to Albanians. In a café he meets a young man named Miloš, a Serb. After these fevered beginnings, Arsim and Miloš’s unlikely affair is derailed by the outbreak of war, which sends Arsim’s fledgling family abroad and timid Miloš spiraling down a dark path, as depicted through chaotic journal entries. Years later, deported back to Pristina after a spell in prison and now alone and hopeless, Arsim finds himself in a broken reality that makes him completely question his past. What happened to him, to them, exactly? How much can you endure, and forgive?

Class Trip, Emmanuel Carrère [mystery/horror]

Faithful to the strict logic that governs a child's mind, Carrère recounts Nicolas's feverish fantasies stoked by the lurid tales of kidnapping and organ theft he has been told by his father. The fantasies grow frighteningly real when a child from the local village disappears. Sure that the child has fallen victim to one of the organ bandits his father always warns him about, Nicolas convinces a classmate to help him investigate the matter in the best heroic school-boy style. But in this wrenching novel, the fantasy of two young boys fearlessly braving dangers to capture the bad guys gives way to a much simpler, more sinister, more devastating reality.

Educated, Tara Westover [memoir]

Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches. Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg [historical fiction]

The book is a now-classic novel about two women: Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age, and gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode, who is telling her life story. Her tale includes two more women, the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, offering good coffee, southern barbecue, and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present will never be quite the same again.

Gilded Needles, Michael McDowell [historical fiction]

German Black Lena was queen of The Black Triangle, Manhattan's decadent empire of opium dens, gambling casinos, drunken sailors, gaudy hookers, and back room abortions. With her daughters and grandchildren, Black Lena led a ring of consummate female criminals—women skilled in the art of cruelty. Only a few blocks away, amidst the elegant mansions and lily-white reputations of Gramercy Park and Washington Square lived Judge James Stallworth. He was determined to crush Lena's evil crew, and with icy indifference he ordered three deaths in her family. Then, one Sunday, all the Stallworths receive individual invitations—invitations to their own funerals. Black Lena has vowed a reign of revenge. Can even the Stallworth fortune and awesome power save them from her diabolical lust for revenge?

Little Brother: A Refugee's Odyssey, Ibrahima Balde [memoir]

The author, Ibrahima Balde, was rescued at sea and found refuge in the Basque Country of Spain. Based on his true-life story told to a traditional bard from the Basque Country and retold here, Little Brother is a deeply moving, eye-opening novel that gives voice and a face to the refugee crisis, illuminating the plight of migrants from many lands. His journey, full of hardships and sometimes on foot, takes Ibrahima north to Mali and across the Sahara Desert to the refugee camps of North Africa—to Algeria, Libya, and then back west to Morocco. Stopping along the way to recover physically or earn money, he encounters untold cruelties as well as kindness.

Mornings in Jenin, Susan Abulhawa [historical fiction]

In the refugee camp of Jenin, Amal is born into a world of loss—of home, country, and heritage. Her Palestinian family was driven from their ancestral village by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948. As the villagers fled that day, Amal's older brother, just a baby, was stolen away by an Israeli soldier. This is Amal's story, the story of one family's struggle and survival through over sixty years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, carrying us from Jenin to Jerusalem, to Lebanon and the anonymity of America. It is a story shaped by scars and fear, but also by the transformative intimacy of marriage and the fierce protectiveness of motherhood. It is a story of faith, forgiveness, and life-sustaining love.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck [historical fiction]

Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, George and Lennie hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But they have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You, Peter Cameron [contemporary fiction]

It’s time for eighteen-year-old James Sveck to begin his freshman year at Brown. Instead, he’s surfing the real estate listings, searching for a sanctuary—a nice farmhouse in Kansas, perhaps. Although James lives in twenty-first-century Manhattan, he’s more at home in the faraway worlds of Eric Rohmer or Anthony Trollope—or his favorite writer, the obscure and tragic Denton Welch. James’s sense of dislocation is exacerbated by his willfully self-absorbed parents, a disdainful sister, his Teutonically cryptic shrink, and an increasingly vague, D-list celebrity grandmother. Compounding matters is James’s growing infatuation with a handsome male colleague at the art gallery his mother owns, where James supposedly works at his summer job but where he actually plots his escape to the prairie.

The Girls, Emma Cline [historical fiction]

Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong.

The Master Key, Masako Towaga [mystery/crime]

In postwar Tokyo, the K Apartment House for ladies is about to be moved intact in a highly publicized engineering feat. Then, flashback seven years to one of its occupants and her confederate—a man dressed in woman's clothes—as they bury a child's body in an unused communal bath beneath the building. A second flashback tells of the kidnapping of four-year-old George Kraft, son of an American army officer and his Japanese wife. The stage is set. The actors are a few of the present-day occupants of the K apartments-single, lovely, obsessed, neurotic-each life a novel in itself, told in a spare, unembellished style that never lapses into the sentimental. Manipulated by hidden strings, their actions and reactions lead to suicide, murder, and some final surprising revelations.

The Notebook Trilogy, Ágota Kristóf [historical fiction/TW]

The trilogy tells the story of twin brothers, Claus and Lucas, locked in an agonizing bond that becomes a gripping allegory of the forces that have divided "brothers" in much of Europe since World War II. Kristof's postmodern saga begins with The Notebook, in which the brothers are children, lost in a country torn apart by conflict, who must learn every trick of evil and cruelty merely to survive. In The Proof, Lucas is challenging to prove his own identity and the existence of his missing brother, a defector to the "other side". The Third Lie, which closes the trilogy, is a biting parable of Eastern and Western Europe today and a deep exploration into the nature of identity, storytelling, and the truths and untruths that lie at the heart of them all.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid [historical fiction]

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

The Shards, Bret Easton Ellis [historical fiction/TW]

17-year-old Bret is a senior at the exclusive Buckley prep school when a new student arrives with a mysterious past. Robert Mallory is bright, handsome, charismatic, and shielding a secret from Bret and his friends even as he becomes a part of their tightly knit circle. Bret's obsession with Mallory is equaled only by his increasingly unsettling pre-occupation with The Trawler, a serial killer on the loose who seems to be drawing ever closer to Bret and his friends, taunting them-and Bret in particular-with grotesque threats and horrific, sharply local acts of violence. The coincidences are uncanny, but they are also filtered through the imagination of a teenager whose gifts for constructing narrative from the filaments of his own life are about to make him one of the most explosive literary sensations of his generation. Can he trust his friends-or his own mind-to make sense of the danger they appear to be in? Thwarted by the world and by his own innate desires, buffeted by unhealthy fixations, he spirals into paranoia and isolation as the relationship between The Trawler and Robert Mallory hurtles inexorably toward a collision.

The Summer That Melted Everything, Tiffany McDaniel [historical fiction]

When local prosecutor Autopsy Bliss publishes an invitation to the devil to come to the country town of Breathed, Ohio, nobody quite expected that he would turn up. They especially didn't expect him to turn up a tattered and bruised thirteen-year-old boy. Fielding, the son of Autopsy, finds the boy outside the courthouse and brings him home, and he is welcomed into the Bliss family. The Blisses believe the boy, who calls himself Sal, is a runaway from a nearby farm town. Then, as a series of strange incidents implicate Sal—and riled by the feverish heatwave baking the town from the inside out—there are some around town who start to believe that maybe Sal is exactly who he claims to be. But whether he's a traumatised child or the devil incarnate, Sal is certainly one strange fruit: he talks in riddles, his uncanny knowledge and understanding reaches far outside the realm of a normal child—and ultimately his eerily affecting stories of Heaven, Hell, and earth will mesmerise and enflame the entire town.

[reasoningdaily]

Black Gods and Goddesses: 6 Mythological Figures of the African Cultures - Spotcovery

Anansi the Trickster Spider

Anansi is a black god that usually appears as a spider but can take on human form. It’s a central mythological figure in the tradition of most West African cultures, especially among the Akan people of Ghana and the Ashanti region. He’s known as the spirit of all tales and knowledge. 

Modjadji

Queen Modjadji, also known as the Rain Queen is South Africa’s rain goddess. Modjadji spirit dwells in the body of a young lady who’s seen to be the queen of the Balobedu ethnic group. The people of Balobedu believe that the rain queen has the power to control the clouds and rainfall. 

Amadioha

Another popular mythological figure of African culture is Amadioha. He’s the Agbara or arusi (spirit worshiped in Igbo land) of the thunder and lightning of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. 

Amadioha is known as the god of justice. He talks through thunder and strikes through lightning. Anyone found guilty by Amadioha is usually killed by lightning. 

Mami Wata

When you think of beauty and attractiveness, Mami Wata has them in abundance. Mami Wata is a water spirit worshiped in Central, West, and Southern Africa and in the Afro-American diaspora. She has a female human upper and a serpent or fish lower part. 

Mami Wata represents good fortune, wealth, healing, and the threat of destruction to those who go against her rules. She’s celebrated and worshiped in rivers through rituals of music and dance. Many books on Amazon can teach you more about Mami Wata. 

Loa

Iwa, also known as Loa, serves as the mediator between humanity and the divine. In their thousands, they guide, heal, and protect the loyal followers of the voodoo tradition.

Voodoo is a region that’s unknown to many people. It’s more associated with witchcraft and devil worship than it’s recognized as a region. 

But people who attribute Voodoo and its tradition as satanic are often not aware of its rich folklore and culture. The Voodoo’s thousands of Loa represent years of creativity, intercultural mixing, and spiritual resilience.

Takhar 

Takhar is known as the god of justice or vengeance. It’s a demi-god in the Serer religion in Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania. People worship Takhar so that he can protect them against bad omens, abuse, and injury. 

The worshipers offer cattle and poultry as sacrifices to him under the tallest trees. They keep the sacrifices there because they believe that he lives in the upper branches of a tree. The fear of being visited by Takhar prevents people within the Serer religion in Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania from committing crimes. 

Africa is a continent with rich culture and traditions. And the continent’s story is incomplete without the mention of their god and goddesses. The reason is that the people of the African region have always believed in mythological figures. The ones covered here are the most popular ones.