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Screenwriter and novelist, Sarah Lotz's 'hilarious, heartbreaking first novel', Pompidou Posse, published first in South Africa in 2008 by Penguin Books SA will now be available 'to a world-wide audience, newly edited and with an all new cover' thanks to Hodder & Stoughton. 
Scheduled to be published next month, here is a synopsis: 

Paris is eternal. Art is love. Friendship is forever. Except when it isn't.

You're seventeen. One night, more or less by accident, you set fire to a garden shed. Naturally, you pack up and run off to Paris, certain you can make enough money off your art to get by. You're young, you're talented, you're full of life, and you have your best friend in all the world by your side.

What could possibly go wrong? 


Indeed, what could? Pompidou Posse, is set in the late 80s and has been described as 'loosely autobiographical'. As Mandy J Watson writes in her review of the SA edition: 
First edition cover. Published in 2008 by
Penguin Books SA
'What makes the book even more fascinating is that it is only a somewhat fictonalised tale as much of the story is a (from what I've heard often lighter) retelling of the experiences Lotz and a friend shared as homeless people in Paris in the 80s, after they fled England.'
The book sounds amazing and I can't wait to read it. And here's a link to an excerpt of the first edition BooksLiveSA published a couple years ago. Also, here's Sarah Lotz sharing her feelings about her first novel with Rob Boffard:
'I was terrified. My first novel, POMPIDOU POSSE, was published in South Africa the first time around (Hodder is kindly re-releasing it this year). Far from being a global bestseller, it sold about twelve copies and gave me a taste of what it's like to fail as a writer - in this game, when you often need a thick skin, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing!'
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Even more new and future releases to look forward to. The first two come from Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd, which describes itself as 'a fresh and exciting new independent publishing house based in London'. They publish adult fiction and non-fiction, including illustrated books and have a particular interest in 'works related to Africa, the Caribbean, and the experiences of those peoples in the Diaspora'. I love that their mission is ' to create the space for those voices [unheard, under-represented] to be seen and heard by new readers'. 



So the Path Does Not Die by Pede Hollist
Finaba Marah yearns to fit in with the other girls of her age, and nothing will allow her to do that more than the initiation ceremony that her grandmother Baramusu has told her so much about. Finaba’s parents’ fiercely object to the ceremony, which they believe claimed the life of her elder sister, so one night Finaba is secretly whisked away by her grandmother, but before her initiation is complete, Finaba’s father storms in and brings the circumcision ceremony to a halt. The family is advised to leave their home, and the events that follow set Finaba’s life on an unexpected path.
So the Path Does Not Die is a touching coming of age story that follows Finaba through her childhood and adolescence into adulthood, from her native Sierra Leone to the new and exciting land of opportunity, the USA. This modern story addresses issues of ethnicity, sexuality, gender and Female Genital Mutilation told through the life of this feisty, intelligent and determined young African woman as she makes her way through the world while balancing the weights of tradition and modernity. But most of all, it is a story of survival.
So the Path Does Not Die, at times funny, at times sad, is a modern, must-read debut novel from the exceptionally talented, Caine Prize shortlisted writer Pede Hollist.
Satan & Shaitans by Obinna Udenwe
Set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s ongoing terrorism tensions, Satans and Shaitans tells the story of two powerful men, Chief Donald Amechi and world acclaimed televangelist, Chris Chuba, both members of the internationally renowned Sacred Order of the Universal Forces. Members of the Order from Southern Nigeria, desperate to gain control of their country, deceive an Islamic terrorist organization into carrying out attacks in order to undermine and overrule the Nigerian President, a northerner, by convincing them that their plans would help to bring about Islamic rule, all the while setting them up for failure.
Amidst this turmoil, Evangelist Chuba’s daughter, Adeline, falls deeply in love with young naïve artist Donaldo Amechi, the only son of the Chief. The two try to keep their love hidden from their controlling parents, but when the Chief secretly finds out about the relationship, the Sacred Order demands that the Evangelist sacrifice his daughter. Adeline goes missing and is eventually found murdered, however it is soon revealed that the men sent to carry out the sacrifice were killed in a car accident before they could reach her, leaving the Chief and the Evangelist with the terrifying mystery of what really happened to the young girl.
The death of Adeline and the search for her murderer takes the story into the very hearts of corruption in the Nigerian security forces and the government. The story takes the reader into the state of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria, suicide bombings, family secrets, betrayals, political assassinations, and treachery. It is a novel of morality, choices and consequences, political and religious powers, terrorism and jihad.
Finally, here's a future release to look forward to from Nnedi Okorafor. 


The Book of the Phoenix is the long-awaited sequel to Who Fears Death and will be published February 5th 2015. Here's a brief synopsis via Hodder & Stoughton:

The Book of Phoenix  is an extraordinary science fiction novel set in a distant - but not so very different - future.


There is no book about me. Well, not yet. No matter. I shall create it myself; it's better that way. My beginnings were in the dark. We all dwelled in the darkness, mad scientist and specimen alike. This was when the goddess Ani's still slept, when her back was still turned. Before she grew angry at what she saw and pulled in the blazing sun. My story is called The Book of Phoenix.


I will update with book cover image and more information on the book as I find out more. 
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This post was meant to go up weeks ago, but better late than never I say. Last June, British publisher Hodder & Stoughton announced on its Facebook page that Anne C. Perry, co-editor of Pornokitsch, was appointed Assistant Editor and would "expand the company's activities and acquisitions in the field of SF, fantasy and horror publishing". A year later, there are two African Speculative Fiction books that will be published in 2014. Here's a look at the two future releases to look forward to.


The Three by Sarah Lotz will be published February 2014.

The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors rules out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.

Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they loved through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardian begin to question their miraculous survival.


Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor, which I mentioned back in April will be published March 2014.  


A star falls from the sky. A woman rises from the sea. The world will never be the same.

Three strangers, each isolated by his or her own problems: Adaora, the marine biologist. Anothony, the rapper famous throughout Africa. Agu, the troubled soldier. Wandering Bar Beach in Lagos, Nigeria's legendary mega-city, they're more alone that they've ever been before.

But when something like a meteorite plunges into the ocean and a tidal wave overcomes them, these three people will find themselves bound together in ways never imagined. Together with Ayodele, a visitor from beyond the stars, they must race through Lagos and against time itself in order to save the city, the world ... and themselves.

"There was no time to flee. No time to turn. No time to shriek. And there was no pain. It was like being thrown into the stars"

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Founded in 2011, bookshy represents two things: the young me who was so shy I escaped through books, and the older me whose shelf is always one book shy of being full.

bookshy is a space where I celebrate, promote and recognise contemporary African literature - although sometimes I go back in time to commemorate the greats. It is about the books I love, the books I have read and the books that I am dying to read.

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