UK-based Zimbabwean author Masimba Musodza has republished his ChiShona language novelette, Aquilina (kana kuti Reururo yaHatifari Maforimbo), “Aquilina (or, The Confession of Hatifari Maforimbo)” through the Belontos Books imprint.
Written entirely in ChiShona, it takes the form of a psychological horror/weird fiction tale about a man’s descent into psychotic misogyny, with tragic consequences, and a manifestation of the supernatural.
Musodza uses the epistolary form, a technique rarely used in ChiShona literature but frequently among writers of speculative fiction around the world as it imparts an air of realism to what would otherwise present as fantasy. He draws from the style of writers of the “weird fiction” genre who influence him, such as H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.
Aquilina was first published as an ebook in 2011, in the wake of the seminal novel MunaHacha Maive Nei? However, there were virtually no e-book distribution platforms catering for the ChiShona language at the time and the title was promptly removed from the Amazon Kindle platform.
Today, with increasing worldwide attention to speculative fiction written by African writers, Masimba Musodza has re-issued Aquilina to add to his corpus of extant literary work that includes the aforementioned MunaHacha Maive Nei? and Shavi Rechikadzi.
Musodza has also had short stories in English published recently, such as the Witch of Eskale (Creep Horror Anthology, Culture Cult Publishing, India), The Interplanetary Water Company (AfroSfV3, Story Time Publishing, Sweden) and When The Trees Were Enchanted, (Winter Tales, Fox Spirit Books, UK), the latter two being Long-Listed for the prestigious Nommo Awards Short Story Category.
Aquilina will be available as an ebook via the Payhip platform, one of the few digital content platforms that support ChiShona and other African languages. Bloggers, influencers and news sites will also be able to make money off the ebook, as they stand to gain 35% of any sales generated through a link that they have shared or posted on their own social media platforms.
A limited print edition will be limited to reviewers, friends and family and some of the people Masimba feels have helped spread knowledge of his work across social media platforms.
There are plans to translate Aquilina into other languages, including English.
DOWNLOAD LINK: https://payhip.com/b/l0Op