Convergence Problems

Starred review from December 4, 2023
Talabi returns (after Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon) with a jaw-dropping collection of 16 afrofuturist stories uniquely blending mythology and technology in settings ranging from far-future Lagos (“Debut”) to a Martian drilling rig (“Blowout”). Talabi’s engineering background is evident in the level of detail he devotes to the technological workings of his imagined machines; equally impressive is his skill for drawing in even the most technologically illiterate of readers. Each section of “Ganger,” one of the collection’s longest entries, begins with a fragment of a Yoruban folktale that parallels the experience of teen protagonist Laide in the far-future, droid-powered enclosed dome of Legba-6. A similarly well-executed combination of folklore and technology animates the standout final story, “A Dream of Electric Mothers,” in which politicians consult an ancestral consciousness to aid in their decision-making processes. For the most part, Talabi tackles such universal themes as freedom or grief in hyperspecific situations, though there are outliers; “Silence” is a brief love story between unnamed characters with no hints as to its setting. Beautiful, vibrant, and electrifying, this has the makings of a modern classic. Agent: Bleke Van Aggelen, African Literary.

Starred review from January 15, 2024
The second collection of Africanfuturism, speculative fiction, and mystical short stories by Nigerian author and engineer Talabi. In this collection of 16 stories, mostly set in Nigeria, characters are faced with the problems and promises that arise in an ever-changing, technologically advancing world. Sometimes those challenges are smaller, as in "Debut," when two AI nodes create a collaborative piece of art made for other AI. When they spread their art across global systems, other AI systems express their pleasure in ways that disrupt humanity's daily lives. Some challenges are on a more significant scale, as in "Ganger," in which climate refugees have no choice but to live in a tech billionaire's domed city. Everything they do is managed, mitigated, and restricted by neural implants. Laide Haraya, determined to find a way out of her monotonous, meaningless existence, stumbles on a way to hide her mind inside a droid. Now that she can do what she wants without being detected, she must decide whether she'll risk her freedom to help others find theirs. In other stories, the challenges are more personal. In "Performance Review," employers remotely monitor employees' brain activity, speech, and movement as well as use high-level surveillance during working hours; Nneka must choose between losing her job and taking company drugs to increase her (arbitrary) performance metrics. In "Saturday's Song," a woman seeks whoever sent an evil spirit to kill her partner. Doing so requires being permanently possessed by the lord of the chains--and deciding whether freedom lies in forgiveness or vengeance. Written with an emotional economy few storytellers can master, the tales are accessible even to those with no background in Nigeria or Africanfuturism. Talabi plays with narrative form; puts women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people front and center; and tackles complicated topics like suicide and domestic violence, all while looking for happiness, hope and meaning in an uncertain world. A fascinating and riveting exploration of what the future may hold--for better or worse.

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Starred review from February 1, 2024
Talabi's latest (after Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, 2023) is a triumph of short fiction. Each of the 16 works discusses a unique Africa, focusing on common themes of family connections in a future world touched by climate change and alien contact. In "Blowout," a mission to Mars turns deadly, and a woman rushes against time to save her beloved brother, reminiscing on their time in Africa and the memories they share. "Debut" asks the question: what would happen if AI developed an independence capable of creating art? And in "Ganger," young Laide Haraya must decide between surviving, adapting, and thriving in a domed, AI-controlled city where each individual can escape the uninhabitable conditions of Earth--at the price of their every action, thought, and emotion being monitored and controlled by the self-assembling nanobots injected into everyone arriving in Legba City. Deftly entwining his Nigerian culture with sf and Afrofuturism, Talabi uses each story to analyze Africa's rapidly evolving relationship with technology. For fans of Margaret Atwood's dystopian works and P. Dj�l� Clark's speculative fiction, Convergence Problems provides an Afrocentric sf narrative that is sure to captivate.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.