Ibadan, 1965. Nigeria is young, ambitious and changing fast—and so are its women.Abeni Adewale has spent years earning respect in a corporate world dominated by men. When she rises to become Managing Director of Oduwa Trading Company, it should be the proudest moment of her life. Instead, success forces her to confront uncomfortable truths about her marriage, respectability, desire and the rules by which she has lived.Around her, another Ibadan is emerging. Young women embr...

Lucky and Bonzo may live next door to each other, but they inhabit entirely different worlds.Lucky is a hungry, neglected mongrel whose unreliable owner frequently disappears without leaving him food. Bonzo is a pampered, highly educated bulldog who boasts of his pedigree, advanced certificates, international travels and superior place in canine society. Their conversations across the garden fence soon become spirited arguments about poverty, privilege, education, ambition, friends...

From the crowded streets of Lagos to the unpredictable corners of London, Brain Surgery on the Highway and Other Manic Expressions presents eleven darkly comic stories about ordinary people trapped in extraordinarily absurd situations.A man who believes he can read minds encounters the disturbing thoughts of passengers on a Lagos bus. A newly ordained pastor confronts his criminal past and unsettling visions. A motorist argues with his talking Mercedes, while preachers, hu...

Antonio "Tony" Padillo has dealt with demanding kitchen shifts, Atlanta traffic, difficult customers, tight budgets, and the ordinary irritations of married life. But nothing prepares him for the enemy that takes over his apartment on Buford Highway.Cockroaches.At first, Tony treats the infestation like any other household problem. He sprays, fogs, seals cracks, sets traps, and declares victory. The roaches disagree. They return in greater numbers, turning up in the kitchen...

When Akin Alegongo's furniture business collapses, his wife Damilola transforms her struggling beauty salon into an amala restaurant. Her cooking quickly draws crowds, but Akin's extraordinary gift for publicity turns a promising family business into something nobody expected.Soon, Amala Boutique becomes Amala Temple, complete with membership cards, ceremonial robes, inverted cooking-pot hats and devoted followers known as Amalafarians. While Damilola struggles to protect the food,...

Denrele Gabriel has done everything right. He graduates with a first-class degree, loves a sensible woman named Deborah, and expects a bright future. Instead, he finds himself unemployed, penniless, behind on his rent, and rapidly losing both his dignity and his hope.Then, at the lowest point of his life, Denrele buys a lottery ticket - and wins a staggering fortune.Suddenly transformed from a desperate job seeker into the celebrated millionaire known as Denge, he enters a ...

Scalliwatty is the strangest creature in Jungle Town - a clever fox-like trickster with a tortoise shell on his back, a charming smile and a dangerous talent for deception.When proud Leopard trusts him to decorate his seven cubs, Scalliwatty carries out a cruel trick and escapes across the wide river. Leopard vows to catch him, but Scalliwatty always seems one step ahead. He disguises himself as the magnificent Bird King, fools King Lion and the entire royal court, and turns every ...

Marcus Reed has spent his life doing what was expected of him - working long hours, paying the bills, and keeping his struggling family afloat in their cramped Bronx apartment. Then one morning, he wakes to find that something has gone terribly wrong.His body is changing.At first, Marcus believes he can fight it. But as the mysterious transformation deepens, he loses his job, his independence, and eventually his place within the family he once supported. Confined to his roo...

At sixty-seven, retired history teacher Alfred Ackron expects aging to bring slower mornings, family visits, and time to write the story of his mother's people. Instead, he finds himself surrounded by medical bills, insurance portals, retirement advisers, senior-living seminars, targeted advertisements, and polished strangers eager to sell him "peace of mind."Then Alfred discovers that Marcus, his oldest friend, has nearly disappeared beneath the shame of a devastating hospital deb...

In a prosperous kingdom ruled by the proud Sultan Kafil, peace begins to crumble when a tiger kept within the royal palace grows increasingly dangerous. Though villagers beg the Sultan to act after livestock begin disappearing, he dismisses their fears and refuses to destroy the beast. But the tiger soon transforms into something far more terrifying — a monstrous creature known as the Nunda, a legendary beast powerful enough to destroy entire villages and kill trained warriors.As f...

When the Great Oracle of Alpayda delivers a chilling prophecy, the fate of an entire kingdom rests upon an impossible quest. The only hope lies in obtaining the fruit of the legendary Tree of Wisdom—a tree said to grow near the mysterious realm known only as the Afterlife.Chosen to lead the expedition is Akogun, the Brave Warrior, a veteran of deadly campaigns and perilous journeys. Accompanied by a band of extraordinary companions, he ventures beyond the known world through an anc...

In the Yoruba tradition, the Bata drum does not merely accompany the dancer - it commands. Its voice is ancient, its authority sacred, and its mastery demands everything from those who would answer its call.The Bata Dancer opens in myth. Ayangalu, an enigmatic spirit-being, arrives in a human town on coronation day carrying a drum no one has ever seen. He teaches, he plays, and then he vanishes — leaving behind a lineage of drummers and a living tradition that will echo ac...