Ghana - Third Loch from the Sun - Rex Burke

How I found the Book:
I follow Rex on Facebook and Bluesky, and subscribe to his newsletter, I'm not a stalker. Promise. and having read Orphan Planet, Twin Landing and Star Bound I've become a huge fan of Rex Burke, his easy style with loads of humour, and neat ideas. He also builds wonderful characters and relationships. So when I was give a voucher for my local independent book shop for my birthday I purchased this, (and Special Delivery, and The Wrong Stop). I also saw that Third Loch was available on Audible too. So I plumped for the audio book, and wasn't disappointed. The voice actor was great, great Scottish accents, and great character voices, especially for the General.

The Story:
A brilliant twist on the first contact Theme with Aliens crash landing on a remote Scottish Island, into an even more remote loch. A British lad stumbles on the hidden aliens whilst doing a summer job on the island. The aliens had been in contact with two of the locals on the island who kept it all a big secret. Much fun and japes is had with the three humans trying to maintain the secret and there is even a little romance on the side.

The Physical Book:
It's a great quality book, with a fun cover. What I do love about Rex's books are the short chapters, maybe 10 or 20 pages. This makes progresses much easier. I can just get a chapter in here and there whilst having a coffee or before bed. Means I really can crack on with the books.

Angola - Transparent City - Ondjaki

13th Jan 2025: just pottering about on a rainy day, updating the blog page, and i was looking at the Big List. I noticed I've got quite a few of the countries stating with the letter A knocked off. But Afghanistan was still blank. After a bit of research Afghan Science Fiction looks like its going to be a more in depth search, that I'm just not in the mood for today. So I skipped over to Angola, and did a bit more research, this was a little more rewarding and I came across Ondjaki. He's written a fair amount of fictional books, and Transparent city was the closest I could find to Science Fiction. So I've added it my Audible Library, and if it is Science Fiction I'll pick up a physical book also. So it's cost me an audible credit which I pay £7.99 for. Oh yeah, as a little side note i'm starting to log how much I spend on this project now too. Just because I like stats.

22 Jan 2026

I finished the audio book today, and I'm torn, very torn. I mean it was a fun book, dealing with corruption at a low levels and at the very highest levels of the Angolan political spectrum. It was enjoyable with some very funny scenes and stories. I feel I've learnt more about Angola, then I ever knew; which was pretty much nothing! So the reason I'm torn is because. I'm just not sure how Science Fiction this book is. There is a character that is slowly turning invisible, and towards the very end of the book ends up floating also. There are weird things that happen, such as solar eclipse suddenly doesn't happen. Even though it was predicted by NASA. There is also an unusual scene when a dead body is incredibly heavy and ends up making a hole in the floor and falls through all six floors of the building. None of these incidents seem remarkable to the people around these moments. They are just commented on and seen as a little unusual. But life just goes on. So i'm not sure if it belongs in this project or not. I've done a little more research and the same author has another book, which may have a little more science fiction.

I'm not sure if this is me just trying to convince my self, but The invisible man by HG Wells is often seen as science fiction. The odd astral phenomenon makes it sound more science fiction too! It has a dystopian fee to it also. So the book is going to sit in the project for now, and I'll look out for the author's other books too... and if they are more convincing as science fiction I'll buy the Physical book, and it WILL be part of the project! 

Togo - The Upper World - Femi Fadugba

2nd Dec 2025

Just out doing a few jobs in my hometown of Belper, and popping into the local Oxfam bookstore. It's a decent sized secondhand books store and does have a science fiction and fantasy section. I do like to browse through the shelf, but it's mainly fantasy books, and light on science fiction. But this book caught my eye due to the font used was the same as one used by Wole Tablay's Brass head of shindig, and the author's name stood out as an African name. A quick Google and BOOM! Born in Togo. 30 seconds and £2.99 later the book was in my pocket and on my To Be Read list.

The Physical Book:

It's ok, nothing amazing, kind of generic modern science fiction cover art. It was the Font that drew me in for a closer look, and made me notice the authors name. So the artwork did draw me in, but it wont win any prizes or make it on to the walls of my home.

Ethiopia - The Stars Seem So Far Away - Margret Helgadottir

4th Sept 2025

The Stars Seem So Far Away 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margret_Helgadottir

Born in Ethiopia, found whilst searching for Norweigan Sci Fi authors.

I had look for more Ethopian authors but could find any, so looks like Magret is my Ethiopian choice.

Morocco - The Dream Hotel - Laila Lalami

21st Aug 2025:

Random googling of a country and "science fiction author"

Found this:

The Dream Hotel

Novel by Laila Lalami

Looks good will order when I'm back from holiday

5th Sept 2025:

Ordered the book

7th Sept 2025

Book arrived

30th October 2025

Started the audio book

6th November 2025

Finished the audio book.

I usually read the physical novels for this project, and did buy the physical book, partly because I read slower and take more in, with a physical book. I've also never quite got on with ebooks and ereaders. But I had a spare credit on audible and thought this would be fun to try.

The Physical Book:

The Copy I have is a nice hardback, but the cover art is pretty basic and uninspiring. If I'd have seen this on a book shelf, i would not have guessed it was science fiction, and not picked it up.

The Story:

I'm not sure about this book. I kind of liked it. There was a very close personal feel to it. It really micro focused on one female character who gets detained, to determine her risk of committing a crime, that the system has predicted she will commit. Her 21 day detention turns in to a year long saga of extensions to her detention, conspiracies and sinister realisations.

Minority report (the film, never read the book it's based on) did the same but with far more action and a fuc
kwit prick as lead actor, but I'll not descend into full anti Cruise mode just yet. There are references in the book to Metamorphosis by Kafka. This is a book I've read and I rather like the Kafka book along with The Trail, by the same author. They are both about the absurdities of bureaucracy and that once your in 'the system' you're on an endless pointless treadmill until you die.

This book did play on those ideas of being totally helpless and at the whim of pendants and policymakers. 

The sci-fi element was slightly more interesting with developments in recording dreams and the ability to place subliminal adverts into dreams, completely covertly.

Overview:

Yeah a nice story, that was needlessly long with not much happening, that just kind of ended with out any real resolution or message of either hope or one of an eternally hopelessness life. And if the author had picked one of those it would have been great, but the ended was just a little: 'oh ok...'

So I probably wouldn't recommend, and I'm glad I did this via listening, whilst at work, rather than investing the time in a physical book..

Africa research

Found this: 

https://reactormag.com/the-best-african-speculative-short-fiction-stories-of-2024/

 Ghana - Star Bound - Rex Burke

Ghana - Twin Landing - Rex Burke

Botswana - Womb City - Tlotlo Tsamaase

How I found the book:

Someone in the science fiction book club group on Facebook had posted a blog by David Agrinoff about African science fiction, and Womb City was mention so I did some research and discovered Tlotlo is from Botswana and the next ordered a copy from my local bookstore; Dormouse Books.

The Story:

I read the book and found it a little challenging as their were parts of it I really didn't like. I find it hard to support a hero with low morals but frequently takes the moral high ground. It just irks me. But I half managed to put that aside and cracked on with the book. 

The story had some cool concepts and took that path where patriarchy is even greater in the future with males being able to look at their wives thoughts from the day via an implant. There are some great parts that deal with Botswana heritage and folk tales. Which add something completely new to me, and an extra element of horror as the ghosts that come into play, within the book are pretty scary things!

 Algeria - 2084 - Boualem Sansal

Ghana - Orphan Planet - Rex Burke

Sunday 21st May 2023:

Found this author on twitter and followed him, the book sounded cool, but then one of his tweets mentioned his country of birth was Ghana! After a few messages with Rex, he let me know he isn't Ghanaian, but was born there, and that the book doesn't draw on Ghanaian culture or history. It's always nice to get that cultural exposure from a book, but it doesn't look i'll get it. But the project is also about finding new and interesting books and this one definitely ticks that box! So I've ordered a book direct from Rex, which is super cool, and he even agreed to sign a copy for me. This is why i'm loving this project, getting to chat with authors, and discover books I may never of come across!

30th August 2023:
Finally finished this book, after a great start managing to read almost a third of the book in under a week, but then life and holidays and work got in the way and I ended up only managing to read little snippets here and there.

But I've finished it, and what a great book! A story about 6 accidental pregnancy's on a colony spaceship, and we join their adventure when they are teenagers. And what a great adventure they go. This book almost had me in tears at one point also. There are 2 more book in the series which I am definitely going to get copies of.

 

South Africa - Moxyland - Lauren Beukes

This book was a Christmas gift from my son, so I didn't have to put any effort into finding a book from South Africa! Always nice to have collaborators on this project who help source and buy books for the project.

The book its self was pretty cool, a futuristic tale of 4 young people rebelling against the state and trying to find their own path through a very complex and pressure filled future. The story moves along quickly, but there isn't much of a story, more just a snapshot of four young lives in a pretty grim, neon lit future.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story is when one of the four main characters gets injected with nanobots, by a soft drinks company. These nanobots keep her body healthy and fight off infections, and also help her recover from injury at a remarkable rate. The nanobots are also bio-luminescent so that they can display advertising logos of the soft drink. It's these little gems of ideas that are sprinkled through the book that add some real depth and richness to the book. 

Namibia - Binti: The Night Maskerade - Nnedi Okorafor

Namibia - Binti: The Night Maskerade - Nnedi Okorafor

 The Story:
The Final book in the Binti series gets the story lines nicely wrapped up. It picks up straight from the second book (Binti Home) and can't be seen really as a stand alone book. I kind of liked the book, but it just seemed a little lacking in new ideas, it seemed to repeat the trials and tribulations of the first book, and even the solution was pretty much the same as the first book. So it just felt a little lazy. 

 

I still really enjoyed the book, and the series in total, and loved the Namibian influence and cultural references in the book. So the trilogy has opened my eyes to African Science Fiction, and I'm fully committed. I doubt ticking off every African country is going to be an easy task, or even a possibility. But I know I'm going to find some great books!

  

 

Nigeria - Cybernetics Within Us - Nmesoma Okechukwu

I just gave up on this book after maybe 20 pages. I didn't like the layout of the pages, this may seem weird but there was no white space, the whole page was filled with words from top to bottom and no space at the edges or close to the spine. 

It just made it uncomfortable to look at. This put me on the back foot straight away. The content of the book wasn't that appealing either. I just couldn't be bothered. I may come back to this book one day, or just look for something else from Nigeria.

Namibia - Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor

 Namibia - Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor

The Story:
The Second book picks off straight after where the first book finished and is a continuation of the story. Binti returns to her home village back on earth, and more details of her history come out, with some unusual and interesting developments. This book introduces new political and strategical developments which added more twists and deeper plot lines.

The biggest disappointment was that this book just ended abruptly. It is almost impossible to view this as a book in it's own right, feels more like a chapter in a bigger book. It does draw you in, to pick up and read the final book in the trilogy.

Namibia - Binti: Sacred Fire - Nnedi Okorafor

Namibia - Binti: Sacred Fire - Nnedi Okorafor

This book appears second in the Binti trilogy (of four books) published by daw books. From the blurb in the book this book was written after the final book in the trilogy and slotted in the chronology between books one and two. 

It was a nice piece of character development and a nice story. Again was a little light on sci fi but I really enjoyed the story. And great to have a bit more about the character called Bear. She's very cool.

Namibia - Binti - Nnedi Okorafor

 

How I found the Book:
This book appeared on one of the science fiction book club I follow on Facebook, and was getting great reviews. So I ordered a copy of the trilogy (of four books) straight away.

The Story:
This is the first science fiction book I've read which is based on African culture and characters and it's just great to read something new and different. I really enjoyed the references to certain cultures and rituals even though it's set in a very futuristic earth. 

The book had some great ideas and concepts, but, for me, the book was a little light on 'science fiction' and more of a coming of age book. However, Binti, the main character was very likeable and had great depth. I really enjoyed the book and are going to move straight onto the next books in the trilogy (and the bonus book too).

How Namibian:

Technically Nnedi is American, as that is where she was born. Sorry not technically at all. However for this project i'm using place of birth to define the author's 'country'. Her heritage is Namibian, and the book is hugely based on African culture and geography, so I'm putting this, and other books by Nnedi, under Namibia. For the purest in me, it just means the hunt is still on for a science fiction Namibian Author born in Namibia.