Media & Reviews

#currentlyreading The first of its kind Malawian sci-fi MOMBERA RISING. Written by Malawian authors Muthi Nhlema and Ekari Mbvundula Chirombo. With amazing artworks by Simon Banda.

This FREE digital anthology of eco-fiction short stories includes three tales that reimagine a different future for the Ngoni a century from now. I read KHANYISILE in two days, I could not put it down! The whole anthology is just over a hundred pages and such a captivating read. Get your copy of the book and check out the 5-episode podcast about Mombera Rising here:

https://lnkd.in/d-6KnVvm

Taalumba - Green Shadows: Vinjeru's Awakening

Fantastic take on sci-fi in Africa

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2024

Format: Kindle

Green Shadows is a fresh and exciting take on the sci-fi genre especially for anyone who has never seen their local context well represented in the literature. The book is a well paced and exciting adventure full of intrigue and mystery. The author does a great job of building a futuristic world that feels real and expansive, like many more stories are happening there, while at the same time remaining relatable. The characters are heroic and driven by realistic motivates, while still remaining human and flawed. This is an excellent first book from an author that I hope will give us more from this world!

Enock I. Simbaya - Green Shadows: Vinjeru's Awakening

I love "Green Shadows" by Ekari Mbvundula Chirombo. It's fresh, adventurous, ambitious, and relevant.

In the future, there's hovercars, a glass university under water, microbots, nanobots, and efficient systems. Everything a young man would need to live a utopian life.

But there's also strict green policies, enforced by a militarized government body, which include the recycling of human bodies. There's genetically enhanced agents, there's systems with information on everybody. The gravity of this reality hits home and hard for Vinjeru, and he is yanked the opposite side as he tries to save himself, his family, and friends he makes along the way.

I love the premise of this book, and how Ekari brings it all together to make a fascinating tale. It made me think a lot about how, as we try to create more efficient and non-polluted future, culture and human dignity should play a big part in that.

I highly recommend it. The book is available on Amazon at https://a.co/d/gS6kYqF

J.L. deVastey - Montague's Last

Practically Perfect in Every Way

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2020

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Others have noted that this is beautifully written, and that is true. One is transported into Montague's joyless cell. We can feel his pain and experience his determination to do one last good thing before he dies. He's honest. He's brave. He is a realist.

This story is so perfectly paced, with such a compelling plot, that it almost feels as if it arose from the author's mind fully formed.

Quick Sip Reviews - Undying Love (Omenana.com)

“Undying Love” by Ekari Mbvundula (4898 words)

Aww. This story looks at love and possession as Tawene and her boyfriend Kaliwe deal with a monster bent on tearing them apart. The story moves with a great energy and an initial mystery—what could have caused Kaliwe to warn Tawene away from him? The answer, it turns out, is certainly not mundane. Magic and monstrosity mix as it seems at first like this mysterious malady might be successful it driving them apart. But where the story shines is in the relationship between Tawene and Kaliwe and just how good they are for each other, how pure their love is and how much they are willing to risk for each other. And really that’s the aspect of the story that I like the most, that the story just embraces that this love is greater than any threat, than any monster. And it does a good job of building up what this monster might be, and how it thrives. The story twists and turns nicely, giving Kaliwe a momentary respite from the darkness assailing him only to give him a much more human danger to deal with. The story really seems to be looking at how the people in your life really end up determining how you handle adversity and challenge. For Kaliwe, who not only has people who care about him but does his best to care about others, this challenge is one that he can fight back against, at least in part because he’s not alone. For people like Marcus, a right asshole the story introduces, things are...well, not so rosy. Instead of building others up, he lives to tear people down, and in doing so he hurts not just the people in his life, but himself as well. And for all his calm superiority, he proves himself to be a hollow shell, angry and alone and rather pathetic. By comparison, Kaliwe makes himself a positive influence in people’s lives, and tries even to reach out to those who hate him. It’s a story with a great action to it and it’s just so fun! Especially after some of the heavier stories this issue it’s a more straightforward story (though still complex enough to be engaging and inspiring) that shows love overcoming hate, even if there’s a cost involved. It’s a fantastic story and a great way to close out the issue!

Quick Sip Reviews - Montague's Last (Omenana.com)

"Montague's Last" by Ekari Mbvundula (2979 words)

This is a rather dark tale about guilt and about trying to atone for sins committed in folly. The main character, Montague, is dying. As surely as he is painfully breathing, he will not last long. But he is desperate to finish on last thing, one last invention. Something perhaps to make up for all the pain that he has caused. As a slave he had designed machines of torture, machines of death, machines that were used on children. And while it wasn't really his hand that fed the children to the devices, he was the one punished for the crime, the one sentenced to the dungeon where his health fails. Still, he has managed to make something, and it is that drive that gives the story its darkness and its power. I liked that the story never really forgave him for his crimes. Pointed out that he was a slave and that his master, who made him do everything, only got fined, yes, but it doesn't make Montague a saint. It still shows him as working, as in some ways needing this terrible treatment to make up for what he did, for not resisting when he should have. And so with his last efforts he creates something that will help people, that will lift people up. It's a great twist, or turn at least in the story, because here I was thinking this was going to be some way to get revenge. And perhaps it is. Perhaps this one invention will do more to his enemies than anything else, will shake their power with something so small, so seemingly simple. Because sometimes it is the simple inventions that most change the world. A dark and fitting story.

Rocket Stack Rank - Montague's Last

(Historical Fantasy) In a prison in 18th-century France, Montague struggles to redeem himself by completing one last magical device before he dies. (3,017 words)

Rating: 4, Recommended

"Montague's Last," by Ekari Mbvundula, appeared in the 29 February 2016 issue of Strange Horizons.

Find the rest of of the spoiler-y review here

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