Stephen Embleton

The Applied African Speculative Fiction project was and is an excellent initiative to be part of: I got to co-create my short story, 'A Lever is a Complex Machine' (a Sauúti story!) AND I also had the pleasure of designing the logo:   THE DESIGN: a person's imagination spawning ideas beyond technology (circuits), beyond the earth (baobab), beyond the galaxy (planets/stars) and into the infinity of space. I had initially attempted colour versions with a more solid "baobab", but realised the circuit board idea was wasn't strong enough. We all settled on the final simpler, black & white design. The Applied African Speculative Fiction book was published by Ping Press in collaboration with BSFA Vector, The ASFS and the Nommo Awards with many contributors and supporters, including fellow Sauútis: Wole Talabi, Xan van Rooyen, and Eugen Bacon, and with two Sauúti-based short stories from J. Umeh and Stephen Embleton. With stunning artwork from Jana Kleineberg . A...

  This was such a great project to be involved in: co-creating my short story, ' A Lever is a Complex Machine' (a Sauúti story!) with fellow Durbanite 🇿🇦 Blaize Kaye (who did the science heavy lifting). African SF writers were paired with a science expert to craft short stories and essays to imagine futures, and find solutions to global issues.   And with stunning artwork from Jana Kleineberg . Available free to download The Applied African Speculative Fiction book was published by Ping Press in collaboration with BSFA Vector, The ASFS and the Nommo Awards with many contributors and supporters, including fellow Sauútis: Wole Talabi, Xan van Rooyen, and Eugen Bacon, and with two Sauúti-based short stories from J. Umeh and Stephen Embleton. I also had the pleasure of designing the logo :

Mirari did it again! Cover Illustration and Design Stephen Embleton (2026) Mirari asked me to illustrate firstly the reissue of their first published author and title "The Tilted Pentagram" to coincide with the release of Book 2, "Archive of the Sixth" in what will be "The Last Reformation Series". It was a privilege to be asked to represent these in any way I could, and as usual, Mirari had an excellent, if challenging brief: STAINED GLASS! *Hat tip to the talent behind the Aqualim font from Burntilldead Studio . BOOK 1 Stephen Embleton (2026) The Tilted Pentagram Detail The Tilted Pentagram Detail The Tilted Pentagram Detail BOOK 2 Stephen Embleton (2026) Archive of the Sixth Detail Archive of the Sixth Detail Archive of the Sixth Detail Archive of the Sixth Detail The process: The variations Then, part of the brief was to design a labyrinth! I set myself the challenge of creating a unique labyrinth with two entrances and two paths to the centre – repres...

I was asked to design and illustrate the cover an amazing anthology of short stories and poetry by young African emigrants who have found themselves journeying – for whatever reason – to Australia. Something I personally understand, finding yourself in a strange land with strange people, trying to figure out where you fit into the world. THE BRIEF AND THE SYMBOLS: The team of Dr Doris Asante, from the James Cook University, Australia along with editors Eugen Bacon and Dominique Hecq, asked me to create a symbolically infused cover that brought in two key Ghanaian symbols – and wow, SYMBOLS ARE MY THING! The first is the "fern", from the Adinkra symbol "Aya" embodying endurance, defiance against adversity, resourcefulness, and independence. I wanted to have it redrawn as a painted, brush symbol to give it some life and texture. The base shapes, I used a fluid infinity shape. The second is the Sankofa bird, symbolising the need to reflect on the past, to build a succe...

For a while, I have been developing a typeface, a headline font, which I took inspiration from many of the forms in the Vai syllabary (the Vai people from Liberia) and the Beria script (Chad/Sudan). I recently had the perfect opportunity to use this bold and unique lettering, and fine tune the typeface for a book cover illustration and design ! Below are the Latin-based characters I created and their variants. I also wanted to play with the joining ability of many of the letters, their serifs doing interesting things with one another. In an ideal world, a Borderless world, for and from my Continent and its free-roaming peoples. Find out more about the book cover here. Illustration, Typography and Design – Stephen Embleton (2026)

On Saturday 18 April 2026 I had the pleasure of being included in this excellent discussion, hosted by The British Fantasy Society : Language in SFFH – Origins & Culture. Thanks to our host Marve Michael Anson for the brilliant questions and gathering these perspectives and influences from Trinidad and Tobago, Hawai'i, Armenia, southern Africa and more. And for me it's always great to be able to speak about The Sauúti Collective's worldbuilding, especially in with language. Along with R.S.A Garcia, Shay Kauwe and Arkady Martine, we covered a range of areas including our various approaches to the creation or use of language when building a fictional culture or world. It was so good to get a variety of perspectives. Thanks again to Marve for including me   Our language is a reflection of who we are – the history, beliefs and values we hold – and the culture we live in. The same is true for the worlds we write. But where do you draw inspiration? How do you construct a lan...