Tag Archives: Orisha

The Black God’s Drums: A Moment in Speculative Fiction

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It would seem I’m becoming quite the P. Djeli Clark fan on this blog. I wrote in my review of The Book of Witches that “. . . this author just has my number. It seems like I’ll come out drooling no matter what he’s written.”

This has certainly been true for any of the books in his A Dead Djinn in Cairo series, but also for his more horror-focused works like Ring Shout.

Perhaps I wasn’t drooling at the end of The Black God’s Drums (I’ve been working really hard on that lol) but I can genuinely say I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Clark is becoming THEE Steampunk author in my mind, the one whose themes and tropes I will associate with the genre moving forward.

The Black God’s Drums, shares many elements of Clark’s other works, namely queer representation, richly detailed alternate history, and truly great cast of leading women.

Where I felt The Black God’s Drums stood apart from Clark’s canon, was its setting, and the prominence of Orisha gods and goddesses.

Focusing a bit more on the setting, I found that I could not wholly divorce Clark’s New Orleans from that of other short stories and novels I’ve read recently which took place in that (kinda weird but never dull) city.

Indeed, The Black God’s Drums felt as if it could have been happening right alongside N.K. Jemisin’s “The Effluent Engine”, which was published originally for a fundraiser in 2010 (A Story for Haiti), and then again in an anthology Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories (2011).

Effluent Engine was published twice more in 2018 — the same year as The Black God’s Drums debuted — once in Lightspeed Magazine, and finally in How Long Til Black Future Month (which is where I read it). This seems significant somehow and though this is pure conjecture and feels entirely too well conceived and executed, I would not be surprised if it had something to do with 2018 being New Orleans’s tricentennial.

Of course, The Ballad of Perilous Graves was never far from mind either and even though I didn’t pick out any shared elements (besides things that fly that “shouldn’t” (like boats or buses)), Clark’s novella certainly felt like it could have existed in Perilous Graves‘s history.

I felt this conversation (which might not have been intended at all; but also might have been) with other New Orleans based speculative fiction was a feature of the story, and not a bug. Much in the same way The Deep had a history which added significance and meaning to its existence beyond just the story within its pages, so too did The Black Gods Drums acquire a kind of place within the geography of speculative fiction (even if only in my own mind).

I also mentioned Orisha gods and goddesses earlier, and it would be a shame not to return to them now as they were also one of my favorite parts of the book. Because of their use and inclusion in the story, I think we might also be able to consider TBGD part of the Godpunk genre as well.

My previous experience with the Orisha pantheon, and Yoruba religion, stems mostly from books like David Mogo Godhunter, and the Nsibidi Scripts (Akata) series from Nnedi Okorafor.

I didn’t recognize Oya and Oshun from either of those books (although the Okorafor books I read a LONG time ago), so it was cool to encounter two new (to me) goddesses. Their appearance in a setting outside of Africa seemed noteworthy and if their actions in the story are anything to judge by, powerful and badass.

It’s worth mentioning that this book was nominated for a Hugo in 2019, against heavy hitters like Martha Well’s Artificial Condition, Seanan McGuire’s Beneath the Sugar Sky, and Binti: The Night Masquerade. Of the novellas I’ve read from that year, I probably would have chosen Binti, but Murderbot is also high on my list. While everything I’ve mentioned above means that The Black Gods Drums is an excellent story and well worth reading, it just didn’t quite reach the level of those other nominations for me.

Give This One Read?

Definitely. There is so much to consider in these scant 107 pages that I feel like my review is longer than the text itself. For me, Clark has proven himself to be THE Steampunk author, and this novella is a great addition to his canon. In many ways it resembles his other works, primarily in its themes of queer representation, detailed alternate history, and a great cast of female characters.

But it is also different. It’s setting in New Orleans connects it with other author’s works of the time, marking it as part of a moment in SFF. The use of the Orisha pantheon connects it still further with similar work, but also just ups the cool factor in general.

While I would not have awarded this one the Hugo myself, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still an incredible book. I hope to see Creeper and the captain in another steampunk New Orleans adventure soon!

That’s all I have for this week! What are your thoughts? Have you read this one before? Would you consider giving it a shot? What are your favorite P. Djeli Clark stories? Your fav Steam punk? Any other stories set in NOLA that I should read?

Can’t wait to read your thoughts in the comments.

Until next time!

David Mogo Godhunter: Nigerian God of War and So Much More

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I like to bring a book with me on the metro if I know it’s going to be a long ride. The blessing of this habit is that I have something to do while I’m in transport (wow makes me sound like mail lol), but there are many cursed aspects of this habit as well.

Backtracking because of missed stops or transfers, being (even more) late to wherever I’m going, having to stop reading in the middle of a chapter etc. I don’t usually have a backpack and most books are just a tad big for my coat or jeans pockets. Whenever I finally do get to my destination, I end up just having to hold the book under my arm the whole time or set it down somewhere and pray I don’t forget it which is especially anxiety ridden if the book is from the library.

Holding David Mogo while attempting to be ‘out and about’, I quickly realized that its cover is striking enough that it draws a lot of attention and amongst my SF friends, Suyi Davies Okungbowa seems to be something of a household name although I was never sure what book everyone had read of his.

Inevitably, I ran up against the customary inquest of all book lovers when something they haven’t read is being flaunted so shamelessly in front of them: Is it any good?

My answer was always emphatically YES!, but with each inquiry I noticed my reasoning for this review changed as did how I ‘pitched’ the book to my friends. The back cover quotes Jacey Bedford saying its “A Nigerian Harry Dresden”.

I’ve never read any of the Dresden Files, but what I know of those books doesn’t really seem to match David Mogo, Nigerian or otherwise.

My initial comparisons likened it to an Adult (non-YA) version of Akata Witch, or perhaps Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor, but this mostly had to do with its setting in a post-apocalyptic Lagos Nigeria, and some references to Yoruba language and Nsibidi script. The tone and characters are all wrong for an Akata book though and so I couldn’t quite justify this comparison.

Next I tried to just follow the narrative already being spun about the novel in places like WIRED and Book Riot, describing it at as more or less the definitive story on which to hang the moniker ‘Godpunk’, but this too felt inadequate.

Finally, (slight spoiler) I reached the point in the story during which the main character receives a machete attached to a chain along which he can shoot fire and I began to laugh as I realized:

Hah! David Mogo is Nigerian Kratos!

The last section of the book is even called Warmonger, in which David literally becomes the Orisha God of War!

Now, before anyone dismisses David Mogo Godhunter because it’s being compared to a video game — which in their infancy had left something to be desired in terms of storytelling — let me just reiterate that the most recent editions of God of War have been generally lauded for their storytelling and part of a select group of games which are being cited as work which raises the medium into the realm of art.

God of War is also perhaps my favorite series of all time, (and one I would die to see go to Africa, specifically Ancient Egypt) so any similarities that David Mogo has with that property just hit all my right buttons, and only raised the book in my esteem.

Also, before anyone dismisses David Mogo Godhunter as somehow derivative because of the comparisons I’ve made between it and God of War please stop. There is enough uniquely amazing goodness here that it can certainly stand on its own as a great story.

One aspect of David’s world (which I believe GoW could never pull off) is the diversity of culture and interaction, even in this post apocalyptic version of Lagos. The Bookwyrm’s Den points specifically to the interplay of languages (which I sorta hinted at before) as code-switching (please read their review). I whole-heartedly agree that parsing through all the slang, pidgin and colloquialisms was sometimes difficult, but (I felt) very rewarding.

I’d be remiss not to mention the Orisha pantheon, which was mostly new to me, so there was quite a bit of joy in learning about them and their powers, history, and importance.

Bookwrym’s Den also points out David’s narrative of self discovery, and how we don’t often see this kind of narrative attached to (middle?) adults. They put David at around 30, which I’m also around (33!) so . . . I felt this arc deeply.

Finally, I think a large part of the draw for this story is just David himself. All protagonists make mistakes, they all experience regret and loss; its a critical part of storytelling. David is also angry, sulking, and petty. He jumps to conclusions too quickly and when he messes up he sometimes blames other people instead of himself. He’s a very real person. And despite all of that, by the end of the story, still manages to achieve something great.

We should all be so lucky.

Give this one a Read?

Definitely. At the very least, David Mogo is an action packed story with great fights, awe inspiring gods and goddesses, and an all too human protagonist. Let this one simmer a little longer and you’ll find it’s also rich in its worldbuilding and its diversity of human experience.

That’s all I have this week. Has anyone read this one before? What are your thoughts? Familiar with Orisha myth? Nsibidi script? What was your fav element within the story? Looking forward to talking about this one.

Until next time . . .