After The Rain

 Okorafor, Nnedi, written by John Jennings and illustrated by David Brame. After The Rain. 2021. 128p. ISBN 978-1-4197-4355-9. 

Chioma is a police officer from Chicago, but she's spending her vacation with her grandmother in a small Nigerian town. When she hears a knock on the door, she opens it only to find a boy, with half of his brains blown out. In a panic, she closes the door, but then opens it again to help the boy, and wonders how he is still alive. She touches him, and her hand suddenly ignites. She trashes about, only to realize that her hand is not burning, and the boy is gone. 

Plagued with visions and hauntings, Chioma is soon confronted by a monster that only comes out when the rain falls. As lizards follow her, and as the visions get worse, Chioma finds it difficult to sleep, until the monster finally catches up with her and transports her away from her grandmother's home. Alone and violently attacked, Chioma must dig in her spiritual and cultural reserves to confront the monster and survive her experience.

Beautifully illustrated, After The Rain is based on Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor's short story On the Road and is a quest for identity and belonging. Chioma's struggles to really find out who she is, and her repressed memories of events that happened in her past mix together to build a new and healed character. 

Infinitum

 Fielder, Tim. Infinitum. 2021. 288p. ISBN 9780062964083.

The political marriage between King AjA Oba and of Queen Lewa resulted in the most powerful state on the African continent. United together, Oba's military skills and his physical strength, coupled with Lewa's political savviness, led to an era of prosperity and relative peace, and their names were known throughout the ancient world, from the Olmec in Central America to the Babylonians in the east. Unfortunately, the two of them were not able to conceive, so with Lewa's permission, Oba turned to Obinrin, a powerful witch, and together they had a child. When the child aged, Oba came to collect him, but Obinrin refused to turn him over. Oba kidnapped his own son and had Obinrin killed, but she cursed him that he would survive past the death of his loved ones.

Oba and Lewa lived a long time, watching their son grow and become a powerful ruler. Whereas Lewa and everyone around him grew old, Oba remained ageless, and soon saw the death of both his wife and his son. Oba's heart was crushed and he grieved for ages as his empire slowly crumbled around him. When his kingdom finally fell, Oba realized the extent of Obinrin's curse. He would live forever, and he could not be killed. 

Oba became a pilgrim, traveling the world and lending his strength where it was needed. He assaulted Rome with Hannibal, fought imperial wars in Africa, was enslaved and went to the United States, freed slaves, fought in the civil war, went back to Europe during the First World War and the Second World War, fought in Vietnam, and in Desert Storm. Throughout all of it he met people he loved, only to watch them die. Numbed to violence, Oba turned to the stock market and became rich, playing the long game. When faster-than-light travel was discovered, Oba turned his prodigious financial resources to building a new society on a faraway planet. Unfortunately, conflicts with aliens caused more destruction, and Oba once again found himself fighting, this time for humanity's very survival.