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In this bold Afropunk science-fantasy debut, African mythology and post-apocalyptic survival collide as a gifted healer refuses to let her body, future, or destiny belong to anyone but herself.
In the year 2447, Africa has been transformed by nuclear devastation, mutation, and myth. Ife-Iyoku, humanity’s last African refuge, survives under the protection of the Orisha and the weight of sacred tradition. Imade is a healer with extraordinary gifts, born into a society that values survival above all else — even individual choice.
When catastrophe leaves Ife-Iyoku facing extinction, the elders look to Imade as the answer to their future. To them, she is the last woman, the vessel through which the tribe must continue. But Imade refuses to be reduced to duty, prophecy, or biology. Her life is not an offering to be claimed.
As dangers gather beyond the walls and corruption festers within them, Imade steps beyond the role chosen for her and into a larger, more dangerous inheritance. In a world shaped by wounded gods, ancestral memory, and the fierce will to survive, she must decide what kind of power she will become — and what liberation will cost.
From Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, the historic Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author, comes a fierce debut novel of African mythology, post-apocalyptic imagination, survival, and self-determination.
- African speculative fiction and Afropunk science fantasy rooted in Orisha mythology
- A post-apocalyptic future shaped by nuclear devastation, mutation, survival, and rebirth
- A powerful story of bodily autonomy, resistance, transformation, and Black liberation
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a pioneer of the "impossible." A Nigerian speculative fiction writer and editor, he became the first African-born Black author to win the Nebula Award. He did not stop there. He has since collected a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, and an Otherwise Award. His work lives in the jagged space between African spiritual reality and post-nuclear evolution. He is the founder of Jembefola Press and the creator of the "Afropantheology" movement. He writes from the front lines of decolonization. He turns the "forests of fear" into a canvas for reclamation. Oghenechovwe lives in Lagos, Nigeria.