Why am I passionate about this?

I am a multi-award-winning African Australian writer, and have a deep passion for stories by people of colour, stories that engage with difference. I write across genres and forms, and my award-winning works are mostly Afrocentric. I am especially curious about unique voices in black speculative fiction in transformative stories of culture, diversity, climate change, writing the other, and betwixt.


I wrote...

A Place Between Waking and Forgetting

By Eugen Bacon ,

Book cover of A Place Between Waking and Forgetting

What is my book about?

A Place Between Waking and Forgetting is dark speculative fiction, an Afro-Irreal collection in which transformative stories of culture, diversity,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Black Friday

Eugen Bacon Why I love this book

Chery S. Ntumy’s Black Friday is an inventive genre-bending collection that reminds us of the power of the short story.

It casts intense characters with a deep passion for life, even in near-future dystopian worlds that are terribly ominous and uncannily reflective of disquieting events of our world today. In immersive writing that inspires immersive reading, the collection’s titular story, "Black Friday," is as inventive and thought-provoking as uncanny tales come. 

By Cheryl S. Ntumy ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black Friday as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Cheryl S. Ntumy's fantasy and near-future sci-fi is powerful and unique. Black Friday: Short Stories from Africa is a collection of short stories exploring diverse themes ranging from rampant consumerism, corruption and oppression to community-building, faith, reclamation and healing, all with a speculative bent.

Explore solarpunk set in Ghana, cyberpunk set in South Africa and dystopian fiction set in Botswana. Robots and aliens. Butterflies and elephants. Wedding dresses that make brides happy and electrified dresses that hold queens hostage. Consumer culture and permaculture.

These are dark, sometimes bleak stories of war, grief and disillusionment, but also optimistic, wholesome tales of…


Book cover of Where Rivers Go to Die

Eugen Bacon Why I love this book

Dilman Dila’s Philip K. Dick Award finalist collection is an Afrocentric medley, a penetrating, and cross-genre assortment of stories that explore African spirituality through fantasy and technology, war-torn settings, and permeations of science and witchcraft.

Casting back to Dila’s own filmmaking expertise, the stories in Where Rivers Go to Die have a high affinity for cinematic adaptation. 

By Dilman Dila ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Where Rivers Go to Die as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The stunning, new collection from the Ugandan master of Africanfuturism.

A young teen, haunted by the ghost of his father, takes it upon himself to save his brother and his people from a warlord's marauding army. A frustrated detective is driven to the brink, confronting the vengeful spirit killing grooms on their wedding night. What happens when British colonials find Martians in Africa, a brash warrior battles his elders and ancient horrors in order to secure paradise for his people, or an exiled abiba is stolen away to find his true destiny? 

Emerging Africanfuturist writer/director, Dilman Dila, brings us Where…


Ad

Book cover of The Rosewood Penny

The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!

The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

Book cover of Caged Ocean Dub: Glints & Stories

Eugen Bacon Why I love this book

Dare Segun Falowo is an unusual storyteller, writing with levity and a sense of humour, even for sombre topics.

Caged Ocean Dub is an inventively-structured collection of short stories tiered with African hue. It blends sudden fiction and novelette-length stories that are all dark and spellbinding in a dream-like lure that keeps the reader enthralled. For lovers of culturally-tinted speculative fiction. 

By Dare Segun Falowo ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Caged Ocean Dub as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

There are dragons in Lagos and witches who wear their sons’ skins, while a cabal of otherworldly beings are collecting intelligent life forms in the depths of the universe.

Nigerian author Dare Segun Falowo’s poetically precise language and spine-tingling plot twists are reminiscent of both Poe and Kafka as they tackle themes of belonging, abusive maternal relationships, and tragic love in an unforgettable literary adventure.

This collection features some of Falowo’s most notable previously published stories alongside new tales of magic and terror. Ngozi Ugegbe Nwa was longlisted for the 2021 NOMMO for short stories and Vain Knife was longlisted…


Book cover of Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic

Eugen Bacon Why I love this book

Tobi Ogundiran’s Shirley Jackson Award-winning collection puts new wine into old skins.

Jackal, Jackal is an assured assemblage for the reader prepared to be astonished. The highly-imaginative stories and invented worlds take fairytales that we know and boldly recast them in an African yet universal culture that woos a far-reaching readership. 

By Tobi Ogundiran ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Jackal, Jackal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Shirley Jackson award-nominated author Tobi Ogundiran, comes a highly anticipated debut collection of stories full of magic and wonder and breathtaking imagination!

In "The Lady of the Yellow-Painted Library" -- featured in Levar Burton Reads -- a hapless salesman flees the otherworldly librarian hell-bent on retrieving her lost library book.

"The Tale of Jaja and Canti" sees Ogundiran riffing off of Pinocchio. But this wooden boy doesn't seek to become real. Wanting to be loved, he journeys the world in search of his mother-an ancient and powerful entity who is best not sought out.

"The Goatkeeper's Harvest" contains echoes…


Ad

Book cover of The Time-Jinx Twins

The Time-Jinx Twins by Carol Fisher Saller,

Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…

Explore my book 😀

A Place Between Waking and Forgetting

By Eugen Bacon ,

Book cover of A Place Between Waking and Forgetting

What is my book about?

A Place Between Waking and Forgetting is dark speculative fiction, an Afro-Irreal collection in which transformative stories of culture, diversity, climate change, unlimited futures, collisions of worlds, mythology, and more inhabit. It cases black people stories in bold and evocative text, at times deeply flawed but potentially redeemable protagonists in rich hues of blackness and light. Something beautiful, something dark in lyrical language packed with affection, dread, anguish, and hope. 

Featuring the World Fantasy Award finalist story, “The Devil Don’t Come With Horns,” this collection is the latest offering by a genre-bending, multi-award winning author. It arrives with a poetic introduction by award-winning writer and poet, Linda D. Addison.

Book cover of Black Friday
Book cover of Where Rivers Go to Die
Book cover of Caged Ocean Dub: Glints & Stories

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 You might also like…

Book cover of Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper by John Beresford,

"Is this supposed to help? Christ, you've heard it a hundred times. You know the story as well as I do, and it's my story!" "Yeah, but right now it only has a middle. You can't remember how it begins, and no-one knows how it ends."

An innocent man. A…

Book cover of The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth

The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth by Verlin Darrow,

A Buddhist nun returns to her hometown and solves multiple murders while enduring her dysfunctional family.

Ivy Lutz leaves her life as a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka and returns home to northern California when her elderly mother suffers a stroke. Her sheltered life is blasted apart by a series…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in African Americans, presidential biography, and race relations?

African Americans 836 books
Race Relations 277 books