Challenges to Becoming a Pro Dragonracer in Apapa-Downtown
"Dragons’ growth rates are mad slow. You hatch the egg and think you can go pro after a few successful hunts? Wrong. Remember our cash friends? Money drives growth, don’t get carried away."
More Sea Than Tar
"But sooner or later, we’re all going to fall, because we can only stand so tall before we’re sinking: to our legs, to our knees, to our torsos, to our heads. Till there’s nothing left and we breathe in particle dust and water that draws too much like ogbono soup. Water that’s mixed with the leaves and the soil and the garbage I didn’t throw away properly. Water that isn’t water."
Future Long Since Past
"Nigeria had become extremely attractive to investors from the year 2020. It was partly due to an attractive tax regime and the uninterrupted power supply that the nuclear plants provided. The tax laws limited the burden of double jeopardy of taxation and substantially reduced taxes for companies that agreed to establish headquarters in Nigeria. Since 2019, there had been literally no export duties charged on finished manufactured products. The country was admitted into BRICS, which in 2022 was changed to BRINCS to accommodate Nigeria. Young vibrant talent moved back home from their bases abroad. Dr Izima was one of them."
The Water Runner
"Technology had improved on most things except housing, poverty, social injustice, the climate, inequality of women and scarcity of water. It did allow for crematorium distillates, units that pulled water, evaporating, condensing, in biological recycling to keep water alive from dead corpses."
Hanfo Driver
"When Oga Dayo convinced Fidelis to be his delivery driver for his No Place Like a Hobox project—an initiative aimed at “giving the homeless, low-income communities, and rural areas compact smart houses with built-in AIs”—Fidelis was sure Oga Dayo had thrown around the words revolutionise and housing policies in his pitch. Fidelis had witnessed the fallout of the project, with the houses resold by the recipients, the high cost of maintenance, which equalled an increased standard of living for said recipients, two lawsuits, and several robberies—of the recipients, the houses, and him, the unfortunate driver-guy. Oga Dayo was still dealing with the rehousing and settlement payments from that project. And that was two years ago. When Oga Dayo’s pet projects fell through, they fell through hard. Between his philanthropy and charity initiatives, he was always looking for the next big thing to put all that generational oil money into."
The White Necked Ravens of Camissa
'She pulls a face. “Language and hidden histories matter. It’s from Kora, the tongue of the First People of the Cape, the now extinct Khoe. It means sweet water for all. The First Name for this place.”'
Afrinewsia
‘“Trees dey talk o,” she would say. “Dem dey talk about bad-bad things wey go happen for future.”’
Undercurrency
Set in a coastal region, the story explores how marine technologies, specifically the use of energy-intensive drones for precision kelp monitoring, undermine the very benefits they aim to deliver.
Self-Destruct
Set during a pandemic, the isolated and frustrated protagonist is primed for manipulation. Boredom and dissatisfaction clash internally with his low self-esteem and the very human desire for contact out in the real world. The downward spiral of negativity, conspiracies, and social media are a hotbed for disaster.
The Android dreams of the Revolution
"Empathy Surplus Disorder? The droid felt cheated. The journalist had twisted and manipulated its words. It felt enraged."