Applied African Speculative Fiction Logo

-

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.

Available free to download



Popular posts from this blog

Published Works

-
Image
2015-2026 Fiction: 'Land of Light' : 'Imagine Africa 500' speculative fiction anthology (2015/2016) (Speculative Fiction). 8,000 words. Read more...   (Malawi)/(UK reprint 2017) 'Veiled ':  2016 'Beneath This Skin' Edition of Aké Review (2016) (Fiction). 1,450 words.  Read here...   (Nigeria) 'Water' : 'The Short Story is Dead, Long Live the Short Story! Vol.2' anthology (2017) (Fiction). 3,100 words.  Available on Amazon  or Read Online (South Africa) 'Sub Migratio' : the debut edition of Enkare Review (2017) (Speculative Fiction). 3,500 words.  Read here...   (Kenya) 'Inktober' : 2018 edition of 'The Bloody Parchment' (2018) (SF/Horror). 1,250 words.  Available on Amazon .  (South Africa) 'The Girl with Two Bodies' : The Kalahari Review (Nov 2018) (Fantasy). 7,050 words.  Read here...  (South Africa) 'Journal of a DNA Pirate' : Volume 3 of 'AfroSF' (Dec 2018) (SF). 8,150 words.  ...
Read more

Cover Illustration & Design – The Company of Birds

-
Image
NOMINATED: 2026 BSFA long list for Best Artwork ! 🙏🏼 I've loved birds since I was a kid, and this cover was an absolute pleasure to indulge in. Mirari Press had a long deadline, which gave me the time (and creative freedom) to experiment and add the detail I wanted to, giving this piece the TLC it so deserved. Buy Nerine Dorman's  "The Company of Birds"  here (coming soon). As always, Mirari Press gave an excellent brief, and with much needed background to the main character of Maga Liese ten Haven (and the variety of key bird species) from Nerine, the creative direction was clear in my mind: use a pencil crayon/chalk on paper (digital) technique with metal foiling for the Moon and Title script. This piece really took me back to my illustrating training in the early 90s, when most of our live figure drawings were using coloured pencils or chalk on coloured (not white) paper. The paper texture is vital to capture, as well as the nuances of the chalk smudges and fine...
Read more

Reading Undulation at Seattle Worldcon 2025

-
Image
WATCH HERE Now available to watch : reading my Sauúti novella, ' Undulation ', from Seattle Worldcon 2025 on Wednesday 13 August. "Stephen reads from his 2024 Nommo Award-winning novella, “Undulation,” published in the Sauútiverse anthology, Mothersound . “Undulation” is a story of storytellers, of questioning the foundations of society, of mothers and their children, of finding your voice and finding the truth. “Undulation,” by Sauútiverse founding member Stephen Embleton, digs deep into Sauúti creation myths and epic poems, and the people who tell them—the ruevaagi, custodians of knowledge. The Sauúti shared world (or Sauútiverse), created by a collective of 10 African writers and creatives, is an Afrocentric secondary world with both humanoid and non-humanoid creatures living in a five-planet, binary star system."  
Read more