#nnedi okorafor

[neil-gaiman]

I'm in Santa Fe so of course I went down to the picket line outside a local studio. George RR Martin was there too, and I got to see Paris, George's better half, as well. So was incredible author Nnedi Okorafor who had driven in from Arizona to be on the picket line.

#nnedi okorafor #george r r martin #santa fe #writers strike #writers strong

[vardir1sebebi]

"Kitapları severim. Onlarla ilgili her şeye bayılıyorum. Sayfaların parmak uçlarımda bıraktığı hissi seviyorum. Taşınacak kadar hafifler ama dünyalar ve fikirlerle dolular. Parmaklarımda titreyen sayfaların sesini seviyorum. Kitaplar insanları susturur ama yine de çok gürültülüdür."

#nnedi okorafor #edebi yazılar #edebi sözler #kitap alintilari #edebiyat #kitap alıntısı #kitap #kitap alıntıları #kitap kesitleri #kitap sözü #kitapalintisi #kitapkokusu #kitapkurdu #kitapaşkı #kitaplar #kitaplık #kitapokumak #kitaplayasamak #kitapsevgisi #kitapsözleri #kitaptan alıntı #kitaptansözler #kitapönerisi #kitaptavsiyesi #geceye not #post #my post #kitap alintisi #alintilarim #kitap okumak

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote YES if you have finished the entire book.

vote NO if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#scifi #books #Binti #Nnedi Okorafor #poll #result: no

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 23 – Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Okorafor has been on my to-read list for a long while, but this is the first work of hers I’ve actually gotten a chance to sit down and read. Happily, despite it being a couple years old I went in entirely blind and with absolutely no idea what I was in for besides ‘sci fi novella’.

The book is about a young girl in a near-future Ghana who, discovering a strange meteor fragment and/or seed underneath a tree in her family orchard, becomes infected by a sort of deadly alien light. It tries to protect her by blazing and killing everyone around who might be hurting her, and before she begins to learn to control it she accidentally kills everyone in her village. The story follows her travels wandering in search of the seed and the man who took it from her, her only constant companion a strange fox who seems to be the only thing unharmed by her light.

Though even if that’s the ostensible plot, it’s not really what the book is about. It’s really more of a series of vignettes, about how the culture around Sankofa makes sense of her and of the places and people she ends up passing some time with. Much of the story has a real fable-like tone, and all the myths that grow up around her are a big part of that. She’s known as Death’s anointed daughter, wandering the earth on foot and fed and clothed as an honoured guest wherever she might want to rest for a couple days, offering instant and total euthanasia to those who ask for it and reducing anyone who puts a hand on her to ash.

Okorafor’s prose does an excellent job keeping the prose feeling mythological or fable-like through the whole book as well. I’m like 90% sure the fox and a dozen other things are references to mythology or folklore that flew entirely over my head, honestly. The close focus on Sankofa does too – we never zoom out or get a bird’s eye view of the world, or even of Ghana. Almost everything’s mediated through the perspective and experiences of a particularly traumatized adolescent girl, brought up only when it’s relevant to her.

The book’s Ghana is – you know the one Gibson line, about ‘The future is already here – it's just not very evenly distributed ’? There’s miracles of high technology brushing against the edges of the screen, but those who have them have been very careful to make sure that most of what makes it to rural west Africa is scraps with strings attached. The embodiment of that is the LifeGen corporation, an American conglomerate that offers cheap drugs (apparently prototypes in need of testing, or else supplies with side effects they just need to get rid of) and the drone network used by the eponymous RoboTown to keep the streets safe and traffic orderly (in exchange for all the date the network happens to gather as it does so). While never exactly a direct threat to Sankofa, their interest in the seeds and their light makes them the closest thing to a consistent antagonist in the book as well.

Sankofa herself is a great protagonist, by which I mean she’s a densely packed bundle of trauma, guilt and moral injury who spends years of her life wandering on foot in pursuit of a goal picked in large part so she had a goal to focus on and didn’t have to sit and think for too long. Her internal monologue's really very affecting at points, and so is the contrast between the mask of supernatural authority she puts on at points and the fact that she’s is very much still just a kid.

The actual plot beats are usually pretty predictable and well-worn, but honestly my only real complaint about the book is that, having finished it, I still have no. Fucking. Idea. Why her power is called ‘remote control’.

#book review #sff #remote control #nnedi okorafor #novella

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

#novella #novellas #binti #nnedi okorafor #21st century literature #american literature #african american literature #black literature #nigerian american literature #english language literature #book polls #have you read this short fiction? #completed polls

[thelastofthebookworms]

You'll find the other polls in my 'sf polls' tag / my pinned post.

#polls #science fiction #sf polls #modern sf #a memory called empire #arkady martine #binti #nnedi okorafor #ready player one #ernest cline #annihilation #jeff van demeer #the three body problem #liu cixin #world war z #max brooks #the fifth season #n.k. jemisin #the long way to a small angry planet #the wayfarers #becky chambers #the time traveler's wife #audrey niffenegger

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#fantasy #Akata Witch #What Sunny Saw in the Flames #Nnedi Okorafor #The Nsibidi Scripts #books #poll #result: no

[shy-girl04]

I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.


Nnedi Okorafor

#quote #words #nnedi okorafor #woman #books #reading

[nn-noor]

I love reading in the park, but I have two huge bug bites and that's why I don't go.

#chaotic academia #dark academia #aesthetic #academia #books #academia aesthetic #classic academia #dark academia aesthetic #books and literature #books and coffee #shadow speaker #nnedi okorafor #scifi #scifibooks #park #almost autumn #technically autumn #autumn #bicycle

[charliejaneanders]

So overjoyed (and startled!) that DREAMS BIGGER THAN HEARTBREAK is nominated for the Lodestar Award. (Not a Hugo, but given out at the Hugo Awards.) DREAMS is the middle book of the Unstoppable trilogy, where I really started to experiment more with breaking all the rules.

What started out as the middle book in an epic space fantasy trilogy turned into a meditation on the difficulty of creating art in the face of massive horror.

And how unbearable it is to be constantly aware of terrible things happening everywhere.

I'm especially chuffed because the Lodestar Award ballot is *stacked* this year, full of some of my fav writers and humans. Massive congrats to Tracy Deonn, Cat Valente, Nnedi Okorafor, Naomi Novik and Rachel Hartman, who all totally rock. It's an honor to be on this ballot with you!

Also massive congrats to all the finalists in all the other categories — my fingers are too sore and I'm on deadline, so I can't type everyone's name/handle, but y'all are the best!!! Congrats!

#books #awards #lodestar awards #ya fiction #young adult fiction #ya books #ya book tumblr #young adult fantasy #young adult science fiction #victories greater than death #dreams bigger than heartbreak #promises stronger than darkness #tracy deonn #catherynne m. valente #naomi novik #nnedi okorafor #rachel hartman

[fantasybooktournament]

#nnedi okorafor #laini taylor #strange the dreamer #akata witch #round 2 #polls #fantasy book tournament

[haveyoureadthismgyabook]

Series info:

Book 1 of The Nsibidi Scripts

Book 2: Akata Warrior

Book 3: Akata Woman

#books #ya #fantasy #akata warrior #the nsibidi scripts #nnedi okorafor #poll

[samueldelany]

THE DESERT MAGICIAN’S DUOLOGY Book 1: SHADOW SPEAKER, by Needi Okorafor. (DAW Books, Inc., Sept 26, 2023). Drawn by Greg Ruth.

Niger, West Africa, 2074: Deep mysticism, a new type of desert, spontaneous forests, polyandry, fast cars, the power of Gerewol, this novel has many lives. 

#afrofuturism #afrojujuism #nnedi okorafor

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#scifi #books #Noor #Nnedi Okorafor #poll #result: no

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (11/06/23)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (6/10)

This book has very little space for the kind of story it tries to tell, and it does its best. For an almost space opera-like plot, with intergalactic academies, alien conflict, and ancient tech, less than 80 pages is ridiculously small. As such, a lot of this book feels really rushed. A lot of worldbuilding stuff, such as the history between the Meduse and humans, what Binti’s edan is, and how otjize is so special, is just never explained. I definitely found this book interesting; there’s a major tone shift a third of the way through, and I loved the message of understanding differences and peaceful conflict resolution. However, everything is wrapped up too neatly, especially concerning Binti’s emotional state. Trying not to spoil too much, Binti goes through an incredibly traumatic event and has a very important aspect of her changed without her knowledge or consent, but she seems just fine at the end. I appreciate the attempt to wrap up such an ambitious story for a novella, but I would’ve much preferred a more open ending concerning that.

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid (6/10)

This book started out very strong. The writing style really has that drifting, surreal style that fits a book trying to emulate gothic horror, and I really liked where the plot is going. I love books where the main character can't figure out if they can trust themselves or not, and the whole idea of discovering the secrets behind a truly impactful novel was so interesting. It was a little slow, but I was fine with that. Unfortunately, the ending is all kinds of rushed. The main antagonist is defeated very easily with virtually no explanation as to how, and although there's a character that the entire story practically revolves around, she only shows up at the end once everything is said and done to fill in the holes. Then there are multiple issues, plot and character wise, that are just never resolved. Unfortunately, the ending kind of ruined it for me, otherwise this could've been a 4 star read.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (9/10)

After over a year, I'm continuing the Wayward Children series, and I'm loving it so far. This book functions as a prequel, telling the story of Jack and Jill in The Moors. I loved the very obvious classic literature influences, namely Frankenstein and Dracula, and Jack and Jill are both amazingly complex characters with an incredibly interesting relationship. I will always have a soft spot for Jack, and her unexpected romance was one of my favorite parts of the book. I'd say the only thing I didn't like was that Jill is so unlikable to me. I really wanted her to face some consequences after what she did, and while I can see how she became this way, it doesn't mean she should get away with it, especially considering the context of the first book. However, the series is unfinished and has multiple books I haven't read yet, so perhaps we'll see them yet again!

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (CR, 43%)

I'm really enjoying this one so far! After so much intense fantasy and sci-fi, it's like a little palate cleanser. I love how this book takes tropes usually used in contemporary romcoms and repurposes them for the historical setting. There's also a fair amount of worldbuilding, since this is a very different history from what we know. I'm glad it's established to be that way, because there is some pretty blatant messing with the timeline, but I appreciate it since it brings more diversity than historical romances typically have.

Lodestar by Shannon Messenger (CR, 43%)

There are things happening in this book, and I don't like it! I've grown fairly attached to these characters, and I'm constantly stressed about them. I feel like stakes are rising rather quickly in this installment, like more is happening than in the others. One thing I noticed during this segment of reading was that I quite like the addition of Tam. Linh is still sort of a half-formed character to me, but I really like how blunt Tam is and how he still has the perspective of an outsider on Sophie's group and their dynamics. He seems to say things none of them think of, and I like how he shakes things up.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon (CR, 42%)

I know, I know, I've been working on this one for a while, but it's a very dense book! I've put it aside for now in exchange for Gwen & Art, since I have to review that one, but I'm hoping to finish this before the November halfway mark.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (CR, 16%)

I’m finishing up my reread of The Infernal Devices, and this one is not that great so far. While I love the smaller interactions between Jem, Tessa, and Will, virtually everything so far has been interpersonal conflict despite the fact that a madman with a clockwork army is just out there somewhere. Like, did they forget they have like actual jobs to do? It’s mentioned that a good amount of time has passed since the last book…and you’ve done nothing? I know you’re all in the most complicated romantic relationships teenagers can be in, but please, think of the world.

#books #reading update #binti #nnedi okorafor #a study in drowning #ava reid #down among the sticks and bones #seanan mcguire #gwen and art are not in love #lex croucher #lodestar #shannon messenger #a day of fallen night #samantha shannon #clockwork princess #cassandra clare #tid

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"Amphibious Green" is available to read here

#short stories #short story #amphibious green #nnedi okorafor #black literature #african american literature #nigerian american literature #american literature #21st century literature #english language literature #have you read this short fiction? #book polls #completed polls