After working with the good folks at Tordotcom in various capacities for the last few years (from published essays to my 2022 short story, “Choke”), I’m pleased to announce that I have sold them a novella. Lost Ark Dreaming will be coming to you in 2024 from me, Emily Goldman, Jonathan Strahan and the rest of the Tordotcom team.

If you’re a subscriber to SuyiAfterFive.com, you will have heard most of the details about this novella. But if you’re not, then—

—Perhaps you enjoy thrilling tales of a post-climate disaster future set on the West African coast. Perhaps you are invested in Afrocentric Futurisms and alternate realities, and have loved tales of gods and legends (like my own David Mogo, Godhunter), or Beyonce’s Black Is King, or Rivers Solomon’s The Deep.

—Or maybe you just like the idea of “a vertical Snowpiercer”, a thriving tower stuck in the middle of a desolate ocean, kept going by a strict class system.

—Maybe you are interested in hopepunk, and would love a story of unlikely heroes from different walks of life forced to band together to overcome powers larger than they are, if only to wring hope from a world that promises only despair.

—Or maybe you’d just love to see two omniscient beings bicker in verse.

If you’re interested this at least one of those things, this novella is for you. Here’s the synopsis:

Off the West African coast, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors are crowded into the Fingers—five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally designed as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers’ most affluent rule from their perch on the topmost floors while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors that now lie below sea level.

There are also those who were left behind for dead, only to be reawakened by an ancient power. They are Yemoja’s Children, and they seek retribution from those who offered them up to the waves.

Three lives within the Fingers are pulled to the fore of this conflict: Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning tremendous loss; and Ngozi, a narcissistic bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope to be had of a future worth living—for everyone.

If you are excited about this novella and would like others to know about it too, feel free to share my announcement posts on Twitter and Instagram, or the official announcement.

To stay tuned for more information regarding the official release date, cover reveal and more, there’s only one place to guarantee you get the news:

Here’s looking forward to this powerhouse of a book, and hoping it exceeds your expectations!

Your favourite neighbourhood author,

Suyi