Dear Reader,

If you’re the kind of person who has “keep fighting” and “never give up” tattooed on their arm, this is the book for you. If you love heists, harsh deserts, or fashion week—and a heist in the desert during a fashion pageant—this is the book for you. Maybe you were recently blown away by Andor as I was, or enamored by the Agojie warriors in The Woman King, because the thrill of rebellion and empire-wide trouble excites you—this book is for you.

Perhaps you love dragons, and perhaps you’ve read a ton of fantasy novels with dragons, and now you yearn to see some fearsome beasts of other lore. Or maybe you love quests, a mismatched gang traveling and surviving through the toughest odds. Perhaps you love yourself some Indiana-Jones-esque mythical buried city with the promise of jewels and power. Or maybe you enjoy found families, or long-lost loves reunited, or throuples, or throuples with a baby.

Welcome. This book is for you.

I am excited to announce that Warrior of the Wind, Book #2 of The Nameless Republic trilogy, finally has a RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 21, 2023.

If you are an established reader of this series, I can quickly tell you this: it is everything you loved about Son of the Storm, and then so much more. If you’re a reader new to this series, I say: welcome to epic fantasy steeped in West African lore and precepts, in its diversity and queerness. This is epic fantasy that wears its heart on its sleeve, bubbling with all the elements you love about this subgenre: heroes, sacrifices, revolutions, and magic that will delight and surprise you.

And yet, this is a book that takes everything you know about epic fantasy and rips it apart, turns it on its head. Here, heroes come from all corners, wield swords and styluses and tongues and magic in equal measure. Here, heroes are as ruthless as they are nurturing, as slippery and sly as they are thoughtful and honest. Scholar, warrior, emperor, consul, chief, bandit, vigilante, all ready to break what they need to in order to get what they desire. This is a tale with tributaries, taking you on multiple journeys at once, cutting you in ways that leave you unsure if to cry or bleed. This is a tale told the way this genre deserves: all of the old, all of the new, all in the way only this author can tell. It is an open embrace to epic fantasy, and an open embrace to the African storytelling aesthetic, voice, fashion, swagger. This is not your dad’s average doorstopper tome. This is a rallying cry in 400-some pages.

I am also proud to announce that all the wonderful CHARACTER ART you see above and below (brought to life by the excellent Diana Dworak) will be available IN PRINT as a PREORDER REWARD, and IN SELECT BOOKSTORES after release. Preorder dates and chosen bookstores will be announced via my social media, blog and newsletter. Stay tuned!

I am immensely proud of Warrior of the Wind. As an author, you sometimes get to tell a specific story that manages to answer the little questions you’ve always wondered about in private. What if Burning Man or Coachella met Leverage, and both smashed into Paris Fashion Week? What if the world became irreparably changed each time Lara Croft raided a tomb? What if humans made bad choices for the world, and the land, the seas and the winds responded? I hope that my sometimes hopeful, sometimes brutal yet truthful answers to these questions may strike and excite you, as well as lead you to introspection.

Lastly, I am proud to announce that you can get exclusive access to A SECRET, EXCLUSIVE ONE-CHAPTER EXCERPT right now! This is only available to new and existing subscribers to my author newsletter. Sign up to gain access.

I wish I could experience this book for the first time again. But now, that opportunity belongs only to you, dear reader. I enjoin you not to pass it up, to not be repelled by this book’s size. Rather, I dare you to read and enjoy this book, and then, like every good jali, take these stories to the world. Tell it to a stranger at the bar. Tell it to a coworker. Tell it at school, at worship, at the gym, at the play date. Pass on the story of unlikely heroes fighting against forces too big to conquer, and against themselves at the same time, yet hoping to conquer anyway. Pass on their courage, their fortitude, their strength. Keep reading. Keep fighting. Never give up.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Author,

Suyi.