Category: Fiction

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Books Fiction Issues Play

Home in a casket: the sad tale of migrant workers

TITLE: Jeneza Kutoka Saurabia

AUTHOR: Kithaka wa Mberia

PUBLISHER: Marimba Publications Limited

REVIEWER: Mbugua Ngunjiri

Kenya appears to be stumbling from one crisis to the other; such is the fatigue from these unfortunate occurrences that the people don’t seem to remember what we went through a month ago.

Still, the crises follow each other like clockwork; it becomes a vicious cycle.

There was a time when the Nation would be gripped with news of untold suffering of women who travelled to work as domestic servants in the Gulf states, more so Saudi Arabia. In extreme cases, our girls would come back in caskets.

Every time such a tragedy occurred, there would be nationwide uproar with heated demands for action. Every time such a thing happened, government officials, including those in the Foreign Affairs Ministry and embassy staff would issue forgettable statements; hollow on action points.

Once the victims are buried, the matter would be conveniently forgotten until another death occurred and the same charade would be re-enacted. In the meantime, desperate girls would flock the agencies that ferry them to work in the same Gulf nations to work under similar if not worse conditions.

This brings us to Jeneza Kutoka Saurabia, a newly released play by Prof Kithaka wa Mberia. When I first laid hands on this book, I was struck by the name Saurabia. And while I knew exactly what the author was referring to, I had to ask. You see, modern-day Kiswahili language practitioners are notorious with ‘inventing’ new ‘vocabulary’ and telling us they are part of the language.

The author assured me that Saurabia was his own artistic creation just like I encountered a country known as Nyake (no prizes for guessing where that is) and a city known as Rukuna. Artists employ such tools so that they can freely talk about issues they consider controversial and for plausible deniability.

In this case Wa Mberia is hiding the truth in plain sight.

The play opens on a sad note with the chief paying a visit to Nyatio’s homestead to tell her that her daughter, Nambi, who went to work in Saurabia is dead. Prior to this, Nyatio had been telling her grandson (Nambi’s son) about how hopeful she is that Nambi will send some money, which would alleviate the biting poverty in the home.

Now, Nambi fits the typical profile of girls who go to seek employment opportunities in the Gulf states. An overwhelming majority of them are jobless single mothers, who want to do good by their children.

All the cases we hear about employers mistreating their servants is borne out of impunity, on the part of employers, and desperation, the part of the servants. These employers know that no matter how badly they treat the servants, the slanted laws lean on their side and that nothing will be done to them. The servants, on the other hand, are so desperate, they will do anything to go to the Gulf states and will tolerate any form of ill-treatment since they need the money since they have nowhere else to turn to.

Back to the story.

After the first scene where we learn of Nambi’s death, the rest of the play, apart from the final scene is based on flashbacks. We see Nambi arrive in Saurabia in the company of a compatriot called Halima. We also learn that Nambi had set out to go to Dubai and not Saurabia.

While at the airport, she calls her agent back at home enquiring what necessitated the change of plan. The agent is curt, ‘there is nothing much I can do, besides, you wanted a job and you have one’. This is the desperation we are talking about. Still, what much else can she do, seeing as the employer has taken hold of her passport.

A casual glance at the terms and conditions – once the girl lands in the gulf – is proof enough that they were written by sadists, keen on mistreating, even enslaving the servants. How else would you explain the idea of the employer confiscating their servants travel documents, simply because they paid money to have the servant?

And the fact that one cannot change employers, no matter how abusive they are, is geared towards enabling those sadistic employers.

Nambi goes to work in a homestead where the woman of the house is openly racist and targets Nambi’s African roots to unleash horrendous racist abuse. She goes a step further to start physically assaulting the servant. As if the racist and physical abuse is not enough, Nambi is not paid a dime the entire period of five months she works in that house.

The husband is somewhat measured compared to the wife but is no better. Anwar, for that is his name, makes sexual passes at Nambi, behind his wife’s back. He is somewhat culpable for what befalls Nambi at the end.

You only need to read to the book to know what transpired.

When news of Nambi’s death is broken to the family at home, it comes with the explanation, from the government, that she took her own life. Hmmm, sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Seriously though, what sort of training do the people in charge of government communication undergo? I am asking this in reference to the death, in police custody, of Albert Ojwang’.

When Nambi’s body is finally brought home for burial, Nambi’s mother, in a moment of anger, calls for the halting of the ceremony and urges fellow mourners to take the casket and deposit it at government offices, as a way of seeking justice for her daughter. This is after Halima, who is privy to what happened, divulged what might have Transpired.

Nyatio is prevailed upon to let the burial continue with the promise that she will be assisted to pursue justice for her slain daughter once government offices are reopened after the weekend, then curtains close.

That the play should end on that note is symbolic of the way grieving families like that of Nambi and Ojwang’ are given lofty promises during the funeral but after flowers are placed on the grave, that marks the end of that chapter.

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Books Culture Events Fiction Issues News Personalities

Maillu’s After 4.30 still relevant 50 years on

There is something about Mathemboni that makes you want to keep going back.

Last Saturday was my third time, since November last year, and it definitely will not be the last. There is a certain aura of peace that pervades the place. Situated on a hilly place, Mathemboni, to those who have never been there, is full of all manner of exotic trees. This is the perfect place for meditation, to be one with nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Mathemboni, in Kikamba, means the place of shrines. That is precisely what writer David Maillu had in mind when he developed the place that sits on a ten-acre piece of land. It is a shrine of knowledge.

When you consider that Maillu, who is now 86, has been at the writing game since the early seventies – his inkpot is still brimming full – then you know that you are walking into a museum of sorts.

A visit to Mathemboni, which is at the border of Machakos and Makueni counties, near a town called Kola, is not complete without the host taking you on a tour of the place. For example, the main houses are built in the shape of medieval castles, using material collected from various places. What you see is a castle, but Maillu will tell you that the storied building was inspired by the Akamba Kiondo.

The main compound is dotted with sculptures, ranging from the Ankh, an ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic symbol, representing life, to a sculpture of Syokimau, the Kamba prophetess, who foresaw the coming of the colonialists to Kenya as well as the railway. The latest addition is the giant President Donald Trump Shithole, which basically houses toilets.

Listening to Maillu explaining things, from African spirituality to philosophy and writing, is like flipping through the pages of an encyclopaedia; you just want to listen and listen some more.

On the second floor of the main building is an open-air conference hall, which on this particular day hosted a one of a kind book club meeting. I am not a member of the Not Nerdy Book Club, but when I saw their poster announcing that their March, 2025 session would be held at Mathemboni, I was determined not to miss.

I had met Cheryl Kamy, the founder of Net Nerdy, at a book event at the Alliance Française, in February, and expressed interest in attending one of their sessions. Turns out that Not Nerdy have an arrangement with Mvua Press, the newest and coolest publisher in town, to feature some of their books in their sessions. What a novel way of marketing books!

What made this particular book club session even more attractive was the fact that they were featuring one of Maillu’s classics After 4.30. Now, anyone who has read some of Maillu’s earlier books, knows that they are full of fireworks, right from the use of language to the imagery employed.

Older generations, from GenX upwards, have hilarious recollections of their encounters with Maillu’s books. Almost all confess that they consumed the books in secret and very few read the complete text. There were bits and pieces of the books doing rounds in the villages/estates and schools. This is testament to how sinfully popular these books were.

In a previous interview, Maillu summed up the who whole experience of his books among the masses then. “I knew of households that, at any one time, had three copies of my book,” he explains. “The husband had a copy, the wife had a copy and the children had theirs too. None of the three parties knew the rest had the book.”

Now the membership of Not Nerdy is entirely made up of millennials and the occasional GenZees. Seeing as After 4.30 was written in 1974, way before each one of them were born, I was curious to know what their take on the book is.

All of them were unanimous that the issues raised in the book are as relevant, if not more relevant than they were at the time of its publication. “When I started reading the book, I was shocked and I asked myself, ‘who is this beautiful woman who is speaking for me?’ and then I turned back to the cover to confirm that it was written by a man and not a woman, as I had thought,” Maya Suleiman told Maisha Yetu.

She added that it was eye-opening for her that a man would so accurately tell a woman’s experience. “It is amazing that the book was written in the early seventies and can I relate to it in 2025.” she added. “For raising issues so close to the hearts of women, I would say that Maillu was feminist and not of the toxic variety.”

Peter Karuga, a banker, was impressed by the diverse themes raised in the book. “Despite the fact that the book was written over 50 years ago, we are still experiencing the same problems encountered then. The poverty that was prevalent at the turn of independence and attendant issues like the gender-based violence are still the same problems we are grappling with in today’s world.”

June Jose noted the finesse with which the author raised the sensitive issue of gender-based violence, which is still as prevalent as it was back then when the book was written. “It is amazing how despite the difference in time, the issues remain the same. The book is highly recommendable especially with us people of the younger generations.”

Maureen Wairimu was especially fascinated by how Maillu raises the issue of religion and spirituality. “This book really spoke to me because lately I have been deconstructing some long-held religious beliefs,” she explained. “I identified with a character in the book called Emily, who questions the whole concept of confessing her sins to a pastor. Why bestow so much power on a fellow human being to determine how your sins would be absolved? There is more to religion than we are taught.”

What about the language?

“I loved the rawness of language used in the book; that is what attracted me to it,” added Wairimu. “There are people who might be shocked by the language used and might call it vulgar; it is because they don’t want to call a spade a spade. I am not at all shocked by the language; on the contrary, I loved it.”

While Jose acknowledged that the language used is ‘strong’, she said it is necessary when it comes to dealing with difficult issues like Gender-based violence.

As a Muslim woman, Suleiman is not offended by the language used and themes explored in the book. “The issue of violence against women, which features prominently in the book, cuts across religions,” she said.

Kamy started Not Nerdy in October 2022 because she wanted to be in a community of readers. “Through our online activities, we got to meet with the people at Mvua Press, which is an imprint of eKitabu, and we quickly discovered that we shared common ideals like the love of books. They also wanted us to help popularise the books they publish and distribute,” she explained.

Isaac Mwangi, the managing editor of Mvua Press says that they work with a wide range of stakeholders in the publishing industry to advance the interests of authors, publishers and book lovers. “One of our strategies is to work with book clubs such as Not Nerdy. We are happy to see book clubs mushrooming around the country as they play an important role in enhancing critical reading skills,” he explains.

Mvua Press does a number of activities aimed at encouraging a reading and writing culture, especially among students and young people. “These include the annual Digital Essay Competition as well as short poetry and fiction submissions from young writers across the country. Hopefully, these activities and book clubs will assist in the emergence of not only future authors, but also avid readers and spoken word artists,’’ adds Mwangi.

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Books Events Featured Fiction Issues Personalities publishing

Kombani reflects on 20-year journey with Villains of Molo

  • Maisha Yetu: Congratulations on your book turning 20. What does this milestone mean to you?

    Kinyanjui Kombani: Wueh! How time flies!

    First, it is an opportunity to reflect on my own writing and publishing journey. Life moves so quickly that we forget about how far we have come. When I wrote the book, all I wanted was to see it on a shelf at a bookshop — specifically, at the now-closed Bookpoint, on Kenyatta Avenue. They had book dummies displayed as you passed by the shop, and I couldn’t wait to have mine up there, with the rest. To have ‘The Last Villains of Molo’ become part of a national conversation – mentioned as one of the top Kenyan books of all time and studied in schools and universities – that was not part of the plan!

    Secondly, it grants us, as Kenyans, the opportunity to think harder about our future. 20 years is a long time to rethink our national politics and the accumulated impact of the politics of division. For me, this milestone means giving a lot more reflection to where our country is heading. Most of the issues I addressed in the book – tribalism, poverty, mob justice, extra-judicial killings, politically instigated ethnic strife, and more – remain constants. How long shall we allow our leaders to sow the seeds of discord among us?

    • Your dream of becoming a published author with The Last Villains of Molo was almost thwarted despite it being ‘published’ with glowing reviews in the papers; tell us more about this trying episode for you…

    Yes. Although the book was released in 2005, it was not made available until 2008 when we had a formal book launch at the Alliance Francaise. It was missing from the bookshelves years later and, frustrated at seeing my dreams shattered, I started shopping for a new publisher. Luckily, my first publisher did not resist the withdrawal request, only insisting that I buy all the books in stock. The book was re-released by Longhorn Publishers under a new cover. And the rest is history.

    Like I said, I never thought my book was going to be as big as it became. It was my first publisher who suggested that it had the potential to be a school text. When he asked me what I would do if I got  millions in royalties, my dream of a LandCruiser VX was born!

    • When you wrote the manuscript for this book you were a university student, with no access to a computer, let alone a typewriter, what was it that kept your dream alive when others would have thrown in the towel?

    I lived with my brothers in Ngando, a sprawling estate behind Ngong Road in a single roomed house (this was the setting of ‘Villains’). We didn’t have most of the resources that are available to us now – cyber café charges were 10 shillings a minute!

    I got help from my neighbours and friends – the Mudola family. They had a cyber café in Langata and would allow me to use their computer when there were no clients. In fact, the bulk of the manuscript was typed by Dorothy Mudola. She believed in the story and wanted to see it come to life.

    I also had great encouragement from my mentor David Mulwa. He had read the initial handwritten manuscript and wrote “This is a masterpiece! Have it typed and submitted for publishing.” He kept asking about the progress, so I had to keep at it. The late Gachanja Kiai, one of my other lecturers who read my initial stories, and who introduced me to the publisher, was also following up on progress. 

    The publisher accepted the manuscript on condition that I rewrite a huge part of it. We had to get rid of about a third of it (which explains why a part of the book felt rushed – spoiler alert “Stella”). But by this time the cyber café at Langata had been closed and I was about to lose the publishing opportunity. I managed to slide past the then Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor Prof George Eshiwani’s security and told him of my plight. He turned to his personal assistant and instructed her to let me have all the support I needed. From that day, I had access to three secretaries – I would write the manuscript at night and submit it to them in the morning for typing. That is how I managed to beat the deadline. 

    • You were probably the very first Kenyan writer to address the thorny issue of ethnically instigated clashes, what fired this zeal?

    We lived in Molo until 1995 when I went to boarding school in Form 1 and then moved to our ancestral home in Njoro. We were to later meet the family of Mzee Joseph Mbure who had been displaced from Kamwaura in the 1997 clashes. My grandmother had given them a house and some land to till until they could move back. I heard the old man’s recollections about the clashes. Later on, I went to the Nation Centre Library where I discovered, to my horror, that his stories were factual.  The Last Villains of Molo started out as a short story but grew into a full length novel.

    We lived in Molo town during the 1992 clashes. One of my brothers was walking in town with my sister when he was hauled into a lorry to go fight in the forest. I was at the Molo hospital when a man was brought in with an arrow lodged in his forehead. One of our teachers, a Kalenjin, asked one of my brothers to take care of his house while he left town when the situation became untenable. All these are incidents  that made it into the novel.

    When I went to university, I discovered that my roommate had also experienced the clashes in Molo. He gave me harrowing descriptions about surviving the clashes by sleeping in fields of napier grass.

    I felt that these were stories that needed to be told, fictionally. And nobody was telling them.

    • We are two and half years to the 2027 General Elections and we’re already hearing inciteful ethnic rhetoric from politicians, are Kenyans that forgetful, despite the outcome of the 2007 election, that landed some politicians at the International Criminal Court?

    I don’t think Kenyans are forgetful. We all remember our collective suffering – not only from the 1992 clashes, but from all clashes that have happened every election period. The problem is that we have allowed our politicians to continue to use us for political expediency. We have allowed them to keep using the same tribal rhetoric, spiced with words like ‘murima’ and ‘madoadoa.’  And the resurgence of the Mungiki, spurred on by obvious political patronage by our leadership, spells even more danger. 

    But then, we have a more enlightened youth who have no more allegiance to tribe. Conversations on social media are mostly about issues. I quoted David Mulwa in the novel: “The young refuse the bonds of the past, the bonds of hate.” And I think this is going to be true in the coming years. Gone are the days when we allow ourselves to see the enemy as tribe X or Y. And people are quick to call out politicians.

    I think we have a better-informed electorate, and in the future, we will be able to vote in leaders who do not preach violence. I will be surprised if these war mongers come back to power.

    • What are some of the milestones this book has enjoyed and what it has done to you as an author?

    Man! Where do I start?

    I constantly receive messages on social media from people who have read and being impacted by the book. This for me is a huge motivator to keep writing.

    The book has also been studied in schools and at university level. I receive may queries from people who are studied it and who are stuck in one way or the other. I am not of much help, sadly, what with topics such as “Literary Historiographical Analysis of Kinyanjui Kombani’s The Last Villains of Molo’! See – when I write I just want to tell a story. Historiographical analysis – whatever that means – is not part of the plan!

    The book was mentioned in The Guardian as one of the top 10 books about Kenya. It has been mentioned in other Top-Something lists. We have optioned the book for film production. However, it has yet to gain a commitment for a film budget. We keep looking!

    As a writer, I must confess that it was a hard act to follow. I had put my heart and soul into it, and I didn’t think I had any other story in me. It was more than five years later that I could attempt a second novel – Den of Inequities – which also did well.

    Early success in my career meant that I could experiment with different ideas, hence the shift to faster-paced, simpler and definitely not darker books like ‘Of Pawns and Players’ and ‘Hawkers-Pokers’. My writing style is now much more different.

    • You recently took to Facebook to shop for ideas on how to celebrate this 20-year milestone, you must have received plenty of them by now…

    Yes, I reached out to my connections on social media for ideas on how to commemorate the milestone – because the book is a success thanks to them. I received dozens of ideas within a few hours.

    Some of the ideas we are going with is a release of a reading of an excerpt of the book by my friend and mentor, the legendary John Sibi-Okumu, OGW. JSO will also be reading other excerpts live in March.

    On 21 February 2025. we will be having a Readers’ Special Space on X / Twitter featuring appearances by people who have been part of the novel – from those who inspired it to those who have taught it at high school/university level, to those who have read it for fun. We will also have a slew of other X Spaces to reflect on Kenya’s tumultuous history, and the challenges ahead of us.

    Additionally, there are commemorative articles to be published across the media houses and two special radio shows. We will have virtual panel conversations with other writers who have handled ethnic conflict in Kenya, in addition to live Ask-Me-Anything sessions on Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram. I am excited at the lineup of people who have raised their hands to be part of this conversation.

    We are also working on exciting giveaways in collaboration with Nuria Books and Longhorn Publishers.

    • You are also known as the ‘banker who writes’, how do you combine the two roles?

    First, I am glad to work with a company that allows me to use my talent as a writer. This is not a luxury enjoyed by most creatives. There are lots of interdependencies between the two careers – I believe I am a better writer because I am a banker, and a better banker because I am a writer. In my role as a Learning & Development specialist, I get to use my creativity to design, develop and deploy learning solutions. And when it comes to building my brand as a writer, I borrow a leaf from the bank, especially with the need to have a greater purpose. Finding my ‘why’ helps to refine my ‘what’ and ‘how’, and helps me to prioritise what is of greatest impact to my purpose. I constantly ask, as our head of Strategy and Talent does, “What is this in service of”?

    Secondly, I do not want to pretend that it is easy. Working in a global role in an international bank means that I must make a lot of sacrifices so as not to drop the ball. You also don’t want anyone to think that any ball is dropping because of my other activities.

    I see it as priorities management rather than time management. For me, this means that when I am working in the bank, I give it 150%, and when I can make time for writing I get rid of other distractions. I have to choose what I am saying yes to, more carefully, because it means saying not to conflicting agendas.

    • Ever since the publication of The Last Villains of Molo, you have enjoyed quite the ride as a writer, winning literary awards in the process; take us through that…

    I was shortlisted for the 2005 Rhodes Scholarship and won the ‘Outstanding Young Alumni Award’ by Kenyatta University in 2014. In 2015, I was named in the Top 40 Under 40 Business Daily Africa Award and a ‘Top 5 Under 35 Award’ at Standard Chartered Bank (an award to recognize the most outstanding colleague under 35 years).

    In 2017, I was shortlisted CODE Burt Award for African Young Adult Fiction for Finding Columbia, which went on to win the 2018 African edition and is now a school text for Grade 7. I was also a national finalist for my books Do or Do and Eve’s Invention. This is the first time a writer had been a double finalist in the national edition of the Burt awards.

    In 2019 my book Of Pawns and Players won the Wahome Mutahi Literary Award. In the same year, ‘Do or Do’ won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, Youth Category. These are considered Kenya’s most prestigious literary awards, and this has been great for me.

    I have also been invited to be part of Nairobi Noir – an anthology excavating the history of Nairobi, as seen through the eyes of its dwellers. I was also involved in ‘Toto Tales/Fabulous Four’ a children’s series, The Kenya Yearbook Editorial Board-commissioned project to create a children’s version of their popular Kenya Yearbook.

    1. Emerging writers moan about limited opportunities for getting published, hence the rise of self-publishing in Kenya, what are your thoughts on this phenomenon?

    Upcoming writers have always had a challenge getting published by traditional publishers. I blame this on the way the publishing industry is set up, with majority of sales coming through school texts. The result of this is that publishers go for writers and books that are most likely to make it through to the school curriculum, with little to no investment in books for leisure reading. Those of us who manage to crack through the brick wall are the exception rather than the rule. And even then, we have to wait years for publishing diaries to align.

    The good news is that there more opportunities for self-publishing. A lot of professionals have emerged to offer services such as editorial consulting (John Sibi-Okumu, Euniah Mbabazi, Mwende Kyalo and Jennie Marima to name a few) previously the preserve of employees from publishing houses. Distribution challenges, which have limited the growth of self-publishing, are being addressed by player such as the indefatigable Nuria Store.

    I strongly say that the future of Kenyan publishing is in self-publishing. Gone are the days when one had to wait for the gatekeeping publishing executives to get your work out there. Writers like Charles Chanchori, Scholar Akinyi, Lesalon Kasaine, Vera Omwocha, Ciku Kimani, Munira Hussein are good examples of writers who have built audiences of eager readers who want to read for enjoyment and are thriving. And The Book bunk, Kenya Readathon, Storymoja, Macondo Litfest, Lexa Lubanga, and Soma Nami are creating a buzz around the industry. I think the industry is in good hands.

    1. Your last book, Hawkers Pokers came out two years ago, what are you currently working on?

    I wrote another humorous (hopefully) book called Fools Day in 2021, and spent most of 2024 rewriting it based on feedback from my usual group of ‘beta readers’. It is now under review for publication. I hope to have it published in time for the next Wahome Mutahi Prize consideration.

    This year I am also restarting work on a more serious novel that talks about state capture and false flag terrorism in an unnamed African country. Let’s see how that goes!

    1. There was a period you used to be quite active, promoting writing on social media, not so much today…

    Is that true? I didn’t think so, personally. But if I am, I blame it on work pressure – the last few years have been busier for me as I settled into a new role and new environment. I do not believe in hiring someone to manage my social media accounts – nobody is able to replicate my voice, and I want my readers to know they are talking to me directly when they do.

    Secondly, working in a time zone five hours ahead of me robs me of the opportunity to engage in real time with my fans. My visibility across social media was because I used to respond to as many messages as I could, something I no longer have the capacity to do. But I will continue make every effort to engage with my fan base. 

    1. By now you must be fully settled in Singapore, both career-wise and socially, what would Kenyans learn from that country and how has the move shaped your writing?

    There is a lot to learn. I hear a lot of our politicians comparing Kenya to Singapore and calling it the Singapore of Africa. This makes me sad, because Kenyan leaders want Kenya to be like Singapore, without doing the things that Singapore did to be where it is. The government of Singapore thinks of creating a perfect world for the future, decades ahead.

    Our leaders do not think beyond their current terms. A lot of them come to Singapore for ‘benchmarking’, which is disappointing because a simple thing as having dustbins available in the city is a tall order. While it rains heavily in Singapore, the drainage system ensures that the flood waters are drained off in a few hours. Tap water is safe to drink in Singapore. Every bus stop in Singapore has a dustbin. What the leadership here has, and what we lack, is Intention.

    I am exactly 5 years in Singapore this month, and we can learn a lot about vision, and leadership from Singapore. . Perhaps, one of these days, I will write something longer about this disconnect and what Kenya must do to be the true Singapore of Africa.

    I am yet to see how this experience shapes my writing. Who knows? Maybe my next character will come to stay in Singapore. Or will be Singaporean. Or a Kenyan who goes to Singapore and falls in love with a Singaporean girl who is herself a mix between Chinese and Malay. I am already brainstorming!

    1. What is your advice to budding writers looking up to you as a role model?

    The same advice that my mentor David Mulwa has kept giving me, over the years:  And that is: “Keep Writing!” Every time I have delivered a copy of my latest book to Mwalimu Mulwa, he has taken it, blessed it and asked me, “So what are you writing next?”  The more you write, the more you find your own voice and, consequently, the more confident and assured you should become, just like any other serious undertaking: “Practice makes perfect.”

    I’d also urge writers to take a lot of time and energy to build their platform on social media. Apart from allowing you to interact directly with your readers and other stakeholders, and letting you know what is happening “kwa ground”, it allows you to build your brand as a writer. Some of the successes I have had, for example, selling out Of Pawns and Players were aided by great social media presence.

    Related to this is the importance of building relationships – both virtual and physical. Readers, festival organisers, publishing executives, editors, printers, book sellers, media practitioners, bloggers – all these have been responsible for my success. Seek to build symbiotic relationships with people (not just what you can get from them, but what to add value to them). Seek out coaches, mentors and accountability partners. You will never regret it.

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    Books Fiction Issues publishing Short Stories

    Text addresses vices that bedevil the African continent

    TITLE: A Body Made for Sin

    AUTHOR: Alexander Nderitu

    PUBLISHER: Self

    REVIEWER: Scholastica Moraa

    AVAILABILITY: Nuria Bookstore

    Real is how I would describe this collection. A Body Made for Sin is a carefully put together collection of ten stories based in Africa. Although most of the stories are based in Kenya, they would have well been from any African country.  They address several vices that Africa as a continent deals with; from terrorism, rogue politicians, immorality to violence.

    For readers looking for simple stories that are informative and not mind taxing, this is the book for you. A Body Made for Sin addresses terrorism events that have affected the country such as the Garissa and Westgate Mall terrorist attacks. It addresses the abuse Africans go through working in the Middle East and many more struggles. The stories are informational and entertaining and would be a great treasure for future generations who would have an easier time picturing what the current generation has gone through. Alexander Nderitu takes violent stories that would normally make headlines and weaves his words around them, thereby immortalising the stories in words just as they are imprinted in the victims’ minds and in the people who watched the horror of terrorism scar the country.

    Throughout the book, the author has placed maps to help guide the readers and give them a clear picture of where the events are taking place. This gives life to the stories and reminds the reader that they might as well be reading an actual account of events that happened, rather than just the author’s imagination. They are also a brutal reminder of the violent world we live in and how evil minds are forever plotting the peril of peace loving citizens.

    For readers who dislike complicated plots and surprise endings, this is for you. For parents who sift through books to filter what their children are reading, this may be an ideal book for young readers because the language used is palatable for fairly advanced readers, title of the book aside. It is also a well of knowledge and reminder of what our nation has gone through and keeps going through.

    Moraa is a young woman navigating life. Author of Beautiful Mess… Co Author of Dreams and Demons and I’m Listening 2021 edition. She is also the winner of Kendeka Prize of African Literature-2022. She can be found with a book or two. When she’s not fighting to stay afloat, she is daydreaming, writing poetry or reading.

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    Books Fiction Reviews

    A timeless book that explores family dynamics

    TITLE: Whispers from Vera

    AUTHOR: Goretti Kyomuhendo

    PUBLISHER: Africa Writers Trust

    REVIEWER: Scholastica Moraa

    AVAILABILITY: Nuria and Cheche Bookstores

    Whispers from Vera is a well-crafted, breezy story, brilliantly told by Goretti Kyomuhendo. Told in your best friend, casual tone voice, the story tells the life of Vera, a 29-year-old woman trying to find love in Kampala.  The corporate type, Vera is intent on finding love and settling down. Meeting Eric seems like an answered prayer and she is ready to settle down and have a family.

    However, all is not as it seems and Eric is hiding a secret that may end up being their undoing. With her bubble of a perfect marriage burst, Vera struggles with coping with this new information, raising a family and trying to climb up the corporate ladder.

    The book explores the various challenges women go through in finding love, raising their families, and growing their careers. The book also explores family dynamics that are a huge part of our lives. Set in Uganda and with the enrichment of the local language, the book has this distinctive local feel. However, Goretti has also managed to give the book a modern and timeless feel that makes the book a classic. Set in the 2000s the book is significant now as it was then. Coupled with the high rise in the number of career women, you can say that the book is needed much more now.

    The book has also managed to cover the perspectives of different characters although Vera is the main character. Through Vera’s perspective, we also get a view of how other families live and cope with their dysfunctions. I would say that Whispers from Vera is that book that every woman needs to read.

    But I would be very wrong and biased. It is a book that everyone needs to read. Both men and women.

    The book’s greatest strength lies in the ease through which the author tells the story. The chapters are short and the flow from one chapter to the next is smooth and exciting. For avid readers, this will be a fast read. For people with reading stumps or those struggling to read, the book is perfect for them too.

    Additionally, the book can be found at the ekitabu audio app. Having read and also listened to it I can say that the reader did an excellent job in capturing the author’s voice. You can order the audio version of Whispers from Vera, here.

    From the local dialect in pronunciation of the local words to the flow of the story. You feel as if Vera herself is telling you her story. The audio is perfect for those long solo trips and in less than four hours you can actually finish the whole book.

    Happy reading.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

    Moraa is a young woman navigating life. Author of Beautiful Mess… Co Author of Dreams and Demons and I’m Listening 2021 edition. She is also the winner of Kendeka Prize of African Literature-2022. She can be found with a book or two. When she’s not fighting to stay afloat, she is daydreaming, writing poetry or reading.

    Categories
    Books Fiction Issues Reviews

    A bloodless revolution is possible

    TITLE: Inheritance

    AUTHOR: Daid Mulwa

    PUBLISHER: Longhorn Publishers

    REVIEWER: Thomas King Oloo

    African countries have experienced a protracted period of foreign dominance even when it is evident that they can rely on themselves. Many a wise man has said that we were better off with colonisers controlling us than we are with self-rule.

    Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Inheritance is based in Kutula colony in its earliest years; particularly during the dying years of colonisation. King Kutula prides himself in the fact that Africa may be poor but it is a happy kingdom that knows nothing like suffering. Suffering, the king postulates; is a foreign idea that is finding relevance in Kutula. The text has a direct relevance with Kenya of the 1950s. The Kenya of Sir Evelyne Barring as Governor and the likes of Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, Martin Shikuku et al, striving to gain control over the country.

    Drama begins to take shape when Lacuna Kasoo takes over as leader of the people. The colonisers settle on Lacuna after studying him and it is laughable how he is equated to Nero and Calligula all wrapped into one.

    Education has been weaponised to control the mind of the native. The native is to be lost in the libraries, buried deep trying to find knowledge that has evaded even the best minds. So is the western religion that bends the mind of the native to accommodate a lot of the atrocities perpetrated by the white men.

    The text harnesses creativity, tapping into the rich background of a people, so deeply moved by issues of leadership, to a point where any gathering must always be guided by conversations of leadership-good or bad. Lacuna Kasoo ascends the throne at a time his people crave for a leadership fashioned in the manner his father envisioned. However, he becomes the very serpent the people never imagined. Mulwa molds the image of an African Nero, the very choice of the White man; a leader so engrossed in amassing wealth so much so that he is lost in it the same way he is drunk with power.

    Lulu, Tamima’s daughter is at pain, she has to drop out of school since education has become so expensive in Kutula. Education ought to be what every learner gets in the most painless way yet here, it is a commodity far too expensive.

    Throughout the text, satire has taken center-stage in opening the window through which we see the institution of leadership, responsible adulthood, poverty, elections, corruption among many issues in the society.

    Bengo lives in constant fear, his brother has to constantly check if the leader’s men are following him. It becomes a great concern when one Robert Rollerstone expresses shock that the leader wants ammunition to maim and kill his people. The text examines premise for business with Africans, the imbalanced nature of the business environment and the sad reality that Africa has not a single thing to offer the rest of the world.

    The closing pages of the book give a beautiful summation that is to a greater extent a resolution for the problems that have gored the mind of the reader down the journey of Inheritance. It is the young, through Sangoi, that give the country a sensible solution. It is the academicians, in the person of Sangoi, that give the people hope. It is women, through the substantive example of Sangoi, that lead the people to a meaningful solution. The money advanced to the leaders and not used beyond the walls of the leaders’ palaces will be repaid by the leaders themselves. The writer lends Sangoi his opinion on the issues at hand causing her to make elaborate proposals on foreign debts among African countries, culture and even Neo-colonisation.

    Mulwa teaches us that we can have a revolution that is completely devoid of bloodshed. We can correct our mistakes as a people without feuding. It is through Sangoi’s call for peace that we read logic; the fact that it is a woman that gives it the weight that twenty first century ideologies ought to fashion themselves along.

    Thomas Babs Oloo is an instructor in literature in English working with young boys and girls.

    Categories
    Books Fiction Personalities Reviews

    70-year-old medic pens archaeological thriller

    When Dan Kairo says he is a Mau Mau detainee it is somewhat difficult to believe his assertion. For one, he was born in June 1954, while the State of Emergency, that ushered in mass detentions of Kikuyus, had been declared a year before.

    “I was two months old, still on my mother’s back, when my parents were detained,” he explains. “My mother and I went to a detention facility in Limuru, while my father was hauled to the Athi River Detention Camp.”

    As a result of his one-year stint as a Mau Mau baby detainee, Kairo is a paid up member of the Mau Mau War Veterans Association and has receipts to prove it.

    At the time of their detention, Kairo’s father was a headmaster at a school ran by the Karing’a movement, which had defied colonialists and Christian missionaries by establishing independent churches and schools that incorporated Gikuyu culture in their teachings. When the State of Emergency was declared, these schools were shut down by the colonial authorities.

    Kairo’s father was deemed guilty by association.

    While Kairo and his mother were released from their incarceration after one year, his father came out of detention in 1960. “When my father came out of detention, I was in Standard One; I could not believe it when I was told that he was my father,” he recounts. “This was due to the fact that we had been told that he had died in detention.”

    By virtue of being a headmaster before detention, Kairo’s father was a man of means and had a number of pieces of land to his name in his home area of Nyathuna. He lost all that since land consolidation was done when he was still in detention.

    That setback in his early life did not prevent Kairo from making it in life. He is a trained medical doctor, who later veered in the world of pharmaceuticals, before settling into real estate. That is not all, Kairo, who is turning 70 in June, recently opened a new chapter into his colourful life, by becoming a published author.

    At an age when his peers are in semi-retirement, Kairo took pen and paper and wrote an engrossing archaeological thriller, whose publication he funded. He worked with Mystery Publishers, who offered him editorial, design and printing services.

    His book Sibiloi, is a fictional story of a group of scientists, who set up camp among the Amalek, a community found in Northern Kenya, where they make a discovery that has the potential of shocking the whole world.

    This discovery, once unveiled, will turn, on its head, the story of creation as the world knows it.

    It all starts when a sacred belt, stolen from the Amalek, finds its way to a pawn shop in London and acquired by a collector, who is also an archaeologist.

    The collector soon discovers that this is not an ordinary belt. So explosive is the mystery held by the ancient belt that some people are willing to kill to ensure it is not unveiled to the world.

    The sacred belt, the Amalek elders explain, is part of what their ancestor’s gods bequeathed them, and the complete information is stored in caves on the edges of Sibiloi National Park.

    The scientists and the Amalek elders hammer out a deal; the scientists get access to the secret caves for research purposes, in return to handing sacred belt back to the community.

    One thing leads to another and the book comes to an explosive end, literally. You would have to read the book know what transpired. The book is truly edge-of-the-seat stuff. 

    Back to the Mau Mau detention story: “While in detention, my father took up teaching fellow detainees, a job that paid him one shilling a day. At the time of his release, he had had saved up sh2,700,” explains Kairu. “He used the money to buy a seven-acre piece of land adjacent to the school he used to teach.”

    It is ironical that despite having worked as a teacher, while in detention, by colonial authorities, the same colonial government refused to give him a teaching job after he was freed from detention. By this time, the school had been taken over by the government and renamed Kahuho DEB Primary School.

    Two years after Kenya gained independence, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president visited Kahuho and expressed desire to upgrade the school into a secondary school. “For it to be upgraded to Kahuho Uhuru High School, the institution required additional land, and that is how my father moved to Nyandarua, where he bought a larger piece of land and settled his family,” explains Kairo.

    When his family relocated to Nyandarua, Kairo was in Standard Seven, so he was left behind with his grandmother, as he completed his education. “I later joined Dagoretti High School, which was quite a distance from my grandmother’s place. Being a day scholar, I ended up staying with a relative, who operated a food joint in Uthiru,” says Kairo. “It was a two-roomed affair and we would sleep on the ground in the other room, which also served as the store for things like charcoal.”

    As a result, young Kairo found himself with time to spare, time he used to frequent social joints, singing and dancing to Lingala music, which was the craze in town.

    One of the patrons of those social joints worked as a driver at Kabete Vet Lab. “I knew the man since we used to pass through his farm, going to school,” recalls Kairo. “Every time he emerged from his drinking joint, he would see me hanging around and ask me to help him push his bicycle across Naivasha Road, as he was already drunk.”

    One day, as Kairo was helping the man with his bike, he sought to know what a boy in school uniform was doing hanging around drinking joints. “I told him my story and he said that he wouldn’t wish to see me to ending up as a drunk, like him. When we got to his home, he told his wife that I would henceforth be staying at his home,” explains Kairo adding the man’s decision to accommodate him saved his education.

    He kept touch with his benefactor’s family and would later take care of him when he was admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital, where Kairo was working a medical intern. 

    Kairo finished his ‘O’ Levels at Dagoretti and proceed to Kenyatta College, now Kenyatta University, for his ‘A’ Levels. He later joined the University of Nairobi’s School of Medicine. “I practiced as a medical doctor for a few years but left to join the pharmaceutical industry, where I worked for twenty years,” he explains, adding that he later shifted to real estate.

    Sibiloi is available at Nuria Bookstore.

    Categories
    Books Fiction Issues News Short Stories

    Introducing the Soma Nami Press short story submission

    Do you have that story that not only captivates but also resonates with the diverse voices and perspectives that collectively contribute to the kaleidoscope of Kenyan culture? This call is for you.

    Soma Nami Press is a newly established publishing house based in Nairobi Kenya. Soma Nami Press exists to share outstanding East African stories with the world and to bring compelling Pan-African stories to East Africa.

    The publishing house is currently looking for short stories that will make up their very first Kenyan anthology. At this time, they are looking for fiction that celebrates, unpacks, questions and critiques the essence, beauty and peculiarity of Kenyaness. For this inaugural anthology, they are interested in submissions that are playful, enjoyable and offer a delightful reading experience. Writing that is boundless and daring while still being communicative and accessible. Submissions are not restricted to any genre as long as they recognizably speak to the subject matter.

    Submission Guidelines

    1. Submission is taken as an acceptance of these submission rules.
    2. Submit your short story between January 10th 2024 and March 15th 2024 (11:59pm, Kenyan time). Stories submitted after the entry date will not be accepted. 
    3. All entries must be made through this online form.
    4. Your short story should be 2000-5000 words long (including the title, your name, and contact details).
    5. Please do not submit work that does not speak to the subject matter
    6. Submission Format: Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, and submitted in .doc or .docx format.
    7. Submissions will only be accepted from Kenyan citizens, and you will need to provide proof of citizenship if your work is accepted.
    8. Submit an author bio and links to any previously published works
    9. All entrants must be age 18 years and above
    10. All submissions must be in English although they may include other languages in them.
    11. We will accept original works ONLY that have not been published before. Stories selected for the anthology will undergo editing, copywriting, and proof reading as necessary and you can expect to undergo several rewrites.
    12. Multiple Submissions: Authors may submit up to two stories, but not more than one may be accepted per author.
    13. Only submit work that is exclusively your own work. Plagiarism is not acceptable.
    14. There is no submission fee

    Submission Deadline: Submissions will be accepted until March 15, 2024.

    How to Submit:

    Include your story as an attachment and a brief cover letter that includes your name, contact information, and a short bio.

    Follow this link to submit

    Selection Process:

    All submissions will be reviewed by our editorial team. We will notify selected authors by April 30, 2024. Due to the volume of submissions, we regretfully cannot provide individual feedback on each entry.

    Compensation
    Accepted submissions will receive a one-time and final compensation based on the final word count. Compensation will be paid up upto Kes. 10,000

    Important Note: 

    1. By submitting your work, you agree to grant us first worldwide publication rights should your story be accepted for the anthology. 
    2. World rights of the anthology will remain with Soma Nami Press. Soma Nami Press will hold non-exclusive publishing rights to your story in perpetuity.
    3. Excerpts of stories published in the anthology will be used for promotional purposes online.
    4. Writers whose work appears in the anthology will be expected to take part in publicity activities, including online.
    Categories
    Books Fiction Issues Reviews

    A walk into the dark side of power and wealth

    TITLE: Old Money

    AUTHOR: Charles Chanchori

    PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press

    REVIEWER: Scholastica Moraa

    Old Money by Charles Chanchori slowly brings you in, wraps its hands on your throat, grips you and does not let you go until the end where it lets you down slowly, heaving and coughing as you try to crawl back into its pages but it is sadly… the end.

                    The story revolves around Rita the billionaire matriarch of the Mugambi family. She has made it her life’s goal to run her family the same way her heart runs… like a business; without emotions and with an eye on the profits.  People tremble at the mere mention of her name and scamper to perform her demands. She has everyone at her palm, the rest in her pocket. Her sons. Her husband. Politicians. The police.

                    Her husband attempts to get away from her only to realise that you never get away from Rita Mugambi. Her sons, Zain and Bahati, in a bid to seek freedom, also realise just how hard it is to get away from the mother. Because once Rita has sunk her claws into your skin, you will have to crawl far and even bleed before she can let go.

                    The characters are well developed with the author able to garner support and empathy for all his characters. As much as you try to hate the main antagonist, you can still understand her, respect her and even empathize with her.  The writer also helps you see how the extremely rich in Nairobi live as well as how the poorest in the slums survive.

                    Set in the city of Nairobi, the book aptly captures the country we live in. Where who you know matters and where mnyonge hana haki. Where police brutality is rampant and where power reigns supreme with humanity taking a backseat. Different themes such as politics, ambition, power of the internet and social media, corruption, justice and power are explored.

                    If you are looking for an easy but well-crafted read, then this is just the book for you. The emotions are well balanced so you are still able to walk away without feeling like your soul just got darker.

    Moraa is a young woman navigating life. Author of Beautiful Mess… Co Author of Dreams and Demons, I’m Listening 2021 edition and This Heart of Mine. She is also the winner of Kendeka Prize of African Literature-2022. She can be found with a book or two. When she’s not fighting to stay afloat, she is daydreaming, writing poetry or reading.

    Categories
    Books Fiction Reviews Short Stories

    The strange way loss brings forth new beauty

    TITLE: A Surreal Journey of Discovery

    AUTHOR: Eric Rugara

    REVIWER: Simiyu Barasa

    AVAILABILITY: Nuria Bookstore

    Loss. Not your usual ways of the way stories of loss are written, but the deeper thoughts that assail us when we are alone and we go through losses of loved ones, of loved things, of loved times, of great sex. How loss can be beautiful and still be sweet in its pain that we keep living through it, deformed in our souls but outwardly taking steps towards more losses. That is the overriding journey that Eric Rugara takes you through in his short stories collection, A Surreal Journey of Discovery right from the first story of the loss of his pet bird as a child all through to the loss of the fear of writing in his rather masturbatory nod to self in the story at the end that gives the collection its title.

    A fine reading that is unusual in most of the Kenyan writings that one comes across, Rugara oscillates between reality, laying bare the dreamy thoughts in one’s head (that we all have learnt to camouflage for it is all not very normal to speak our unfiltered imaginative brains), and rapidly moves into magical worlds of dreams, ghosts, android filled earth, dystopian end world visions, as well as re-imagination of dreams. From the regular ‘everyone can relate to’ losses of a pet (bird, Bob’s cat Asha), to girlfriends of our desires like Mona who come with their doses of madness when one gets to know them, to the market woman who loses her son in riots, loss of sounds like cricket sounds, thoughts and desires, Rugara skilfully weaves tales that are as exciting as they are intriguing. You can feel the loss, see your own loss, and yet from these strange losses you realise a new beauty comes with it: Life changes. You smile and live on, but you are affected.

    Maybe because alcohol and sex are the most common run away to whenever we experience loss and seek happiness, is the reason that makes the stories heavily peppered with bars, casual sex and escapades of thrills as the characters seek to fill the voids. But just like in real life, these escapades are full of momentary gap filling, yet create more emptiness and the rush to plug the real emptiness of unrequited love and sense of loss.

    The unrequited love which we all have experienced are visible in among others Mona, in Janice’s friend Mary. Some of it is thrilling in its illicitness, like the high-octane desires between Tanui and Vivian whose fuel is that she is married, and whose fire retardant is the same fact that she is married. Such risky loves end in losses, we all know, deaths at the hands of others or self. The kind of lusts that burn with physical desire but Rugara elevates them such that they can only be consummated in synchronized dreams like Laura’s, which surreally tiptoe back and impact on the real life in weird ways. Love making with ghosts, and with self in another world, with mythological figures. Yet even in these, the loss from rejections and failures are made up for with a frenzy of sex with other real life women mostly picked from bars, only to lead to more emptiness and loneliness and a burning desire that can only be filled by another attempt at the target, prized, elusive love – be it ghosts, imaginations, android figures, or dystopian last humans on earth mutants. Yet once one gains it, death embraces. And loss of self.

    It is in the segueing of the normal to the paranormal that Rugara shines as a writer. A wonderful one at that, especially for those who spend a lot of time in their own thoughts and wonder if it is normal to have such thoughts. Very simply written, but the verisimilitude styles with their free flow of self-consciousness that break the boundary and leap into crazy imagination reminds one of Zimbabwe’s Dambudzo Marechera’s wild thoughts in House of Hunger. The power of his character’s physical traits that somehow gain surreal powers in another world which cyclically totters between gain and loss in the here and now vibrates as is in the Kenyan Idza Luhumyo’s 2022 Caine Prize winning short story Five Years Next Sunday. His Ordinary Lives that is told from the Point of view of a Hundred Shillings Note gives echoes of Alice Hatcher’s prize winning ‘The Wonder that was Ours’ written from the Point of View of a cockroach.

    Delving into the unconscious mind; the juxtapositions of opposites like life and death, sweetness and sorrow; complete with dreams and fantasies rooted in real world issues that trigger them including a (covid anyone?) virus attack, Rugara’s short story collection is a slow burn: It starts off with some rather not so exceptional stories rooted in real life kind of narratives but quarter way through fully takes off when his imagination runs wild into fantastical, irrational kind of realms. He is at his best when oscillating between reality and sci-fi (some Japanese accented speaking robots in The Making of a Terrorist), mythology, a dystopian world where water is a currency for sex at the pain of death in ‘For a Drink of Water’, ghosts like Waitherero, and surrealism. You will not forget the priest who doesn’t believe in God anymore but still carries his rosary, or the soldier who has no bullets for his gun but still cannot leave it behind. We often do refuse to not let go of the most useless things in our lives, maybe because their loss would be too overwhelming in a world where uselessness it the only useful thing around.

    Perhaps not trusting his readers enough, Rugara kind of spoils it in some sections with over-explanations or pre-emptive narrative explanations as to what is going on or is going to happen with where he is going especially in the first few paragraphs of each story. Yet, he also gets very skimpy in giving the narrative world descriptions of tiny details to build his worlds, rushing rather blandly to the ‘this is where I am going’ speeds and you are left without texture, touches, smells, colours, and all those tiny nitty gritties. In the existentialism kind of world the stories populate, we are just speeded along with words. No pauses to imbibe the tiny details. He has the mind of Marechera, the storytelling art of Idza, the playful introspectiveness and imagination of Hatcher, but falls a little short on the craft of welding a formidable story. For non-Kenyans, there are quite a number of instances where one would struggle to understand what boda boda, madondo, mitungis, gunias, etc are as they are mentioned and no creative ways to explain them. The majority of the characters in the diverse stories also kind of speak the same to just pass the message across. There are no idiosyncrasies either of actions or dialogue that differentiates a lot of them. Infact, they all are Monas in different genders and situations: All well read, whose favourite hobbies include dropping quotes of philosophical proportions and namedropping Socrates, Stockholm Syndrome etc in explanatory diversions. They love mentioning literary world figures etc maybe as a way of the writer paying homage to other authors. Hence we have thugs who can quote Jack Zollo and Millie (an ode to John Kiriamiti ‘My Life in Crime’?) etc.

    In one of the more intriguing stories, Chep asks Elias her lover,”Why can’t you let me go?” to which he replies, “I can’t” and yet they , and we the readers, both know it would be the best loss for more would be gained, or else a bigger loss would come if the situation continues as it is. One feels if Rugara gets braver in his subsequent works, letting his imagination go even freer and embrace more craft in his moulding the stories, he would be more than just the wonderful writer he is. He’d be astounding.

    Definitely, this is a book every lover of stories should have.