Tordotcom Publishing is delighted to announce that Jonathan Strahan has acquired a standalone, near-future cli-fi novella from Nommo Award-winning author Suyi Davies Okungbowa titled Lost Ark Dreaming. The deal for World English rights was brokered by Tamara Kawar at DeFiore & Company in conjunction with Alexander Cochran at C&W.
Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors are crowded into the Fingers—five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally designed as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers’ most affluent rule from their perch on the topmost floors while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors that now lie below sea level.
There are also those who were left behind for dead, only to be reawakened by an ancient power. They are Yemoja’s Children, and they seek retribution from those who offered them up to the waves.
Three lives within the Fingers are pulled to the fore of this conflict: Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning tremendous loss; and Ngozi, a narcissistic bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope of a future worth living—for everyone.
From author Suyi Davies Okungbowa:
Back in 2017, I once stood at the topmost floor of a high-rise on the Lagos coast, and from there, in a moment of the sublime, paid witness to: the power of the sea, as demonstrated by its rabid erosions; the displacement of waterside communities in favour of gentrification projects, and the resulting social stratification; economic-minded projects hailed as intervening measures for an improved environmental future. In that very moment, the spark for Lost Ark Dreaming was born. This is my attempt to examine the pathways to healing and restoration of land and people, embracing both advanced technologies and indigenous practices. It is my embrace of the interconnectedness of past, present and future as seen through the consciousness of Afrocentric Futurisms. And somewhere within all this is a fun romp featuring a gathering of unlikely heroes, a battle against undefeatable forces, and questions about what it means to be a small part of a big world.
From editor Jonathan Strahan:
When Suyi Okungbowa Davies stories began to appear in Omenana, The Dark, Apex, and elsewhere it was clear he was a talent to watch. His story “Dune Song” knocked my socks off when I read it back in 2019. I certainly had it in mind when I read his fabulous novel, Son of the Storm, and when I reached out to him about possibly writing for Tordotcom. He suggested a post-climate-disaster, science-fantasy hopepunk story in the vein of Rivers Solomon-meets-Station-Eleven. I’m not sure I knew exactly what to expect at the time, but I knew that I wanted to read it. And Suyi didn’t disappoint. Lost Ark Dreaming is an electric immediately engaging story I know readers are going to love and I’m incredibly proud to have acquired it and to help bring it to readers everywhere.
Lost Ark Dreaming will arrive from Tordotcom Publishing in 2024.
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a Nigerian author of fantasy, science fiction and general speculative work. His latest novel is Son of the Storm (Orbit, 2021), first in the epic fantasy trilogy, The Nameless Republic (Warrior of the Wind, second in the trilogy, is forthcoming in November 2023). His debut godpunk fantasy novel David Mogo, Godhunter (Abaddon, 2019), won the 2020 Nommo Award for Best Novel. His shorter works have appeared in various periodicals and anthologies and have been nominated for various awards. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, and lives in Ontario, where he is a professor of creative writing at the University of Ottawa. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @suyidavies, or via his newsletter, SuyiAfterFive.com.
