Fantasy Friday: Imaro by Charles Saunders

A couple weeks ago, my wife and I took a short vacation to Silver City, NM to get away from it all. We saw the Gila Cliff Dwellings and drove through the Black Mountains but we weren't able to do a ton of hiking as both of us were still getting over a sickness that had been dogging us for some time. Lucky for us, the theater just down the street from out AirBnB, was playing a movie that we were both excited for, Black Panther. I am a Marvel nut, I have seen all the movies and have loved all of them in their own right so naturally I was down to watch this one. My wife, not being the same kind of nerd that I am, was interested in it because of all the social justice praise that was surrounding it (also because she has seen all the movies too). While this is important to me as well, I was going to be seeing it anyway for fanboy reasons. Like so many others, I loved the movie. It was fun (see my post "Writing Novels, Raiding Tombs" for my thoughts on fun) and still managed to have some important themes and messages without feeling preachy. Most all, I really appreciated that it was different  from so much of what we see in entertainment. The setting was unique and interesting, the characters were well crafted, you felt for the bad guy, you felt for the good guys, it had a lot going for it. I'm just going to come out and say it, it was refreshing to see Africans get the spotlight, as they should more often. 

"Imaro follows in the footsteps of Conan."

As an aspiring genre writer, I can admit that the sci-fi and fantasy field does not always represent the diversity of the real world. This was the plight that inspired Charles Saunders to create his character Imaro. I am a huge fan of Robert E. Howard and his creation of Conan. Man do I love that stuff. The adventure and the heroics and thrills! I can't get enough. So in my search to do just that, I was led to the Kindle e-book, Imaro: Volume 1. Imaro is a character chiseled from the same stone as Conan, there are many differences between the two, but the core concept of a bad ass warrior walking a prehistoric fantasy world, remains the same. As the story was told to me, Charles Saunders loved the same kind of fiction that I do, but he struggled by the lack of representation and often racist undertones of authors like Howard. This drove him to craft his Afrocentric world of Nyumbani. 

The world of Nyumbani

Nyumbani is much like Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age. While centered on an Africa that never was, there is still a ton of diversity present. Saunders takes aspects from all sorts of African cultures (and a few others) and it creates a colorful and interesting world to visit. There are occasional visits by people from what I presume is India and there is a really cool Chinese monk in a story as well. Saunders takes the classic Sword and Sorcery trope of Atlantis and uses them as a sort of representation of the colonization of Africa with some chilling results. Imaro and his friends are thrust into a world of violence and sorcery that is often dark but has it's lighter touches as well. Any reader of Conan will find something here to love. 

Before going on, I want to stress that I really do appreciate those deep, world view altering pieces of fiction that details the struggles of life through a fictional lens. In my daily l face the realities of a low income school, so when I unwind I was to escape into something less taxing on mental state. In that respect, Imaro is much like Black Panther. There are messages of social value, things to make you think, but there is just as much, if not more, all out action and adventure. You can tell that Saunders has both a passion for the genre and a passion for African history and culture through how he writes and treats his characters. This is doubled by his continual dedication to create African inspired fantasy fiction. 

The biggest downside to Saunder's Imaro series, is that they are out of print! Gah! His novels, the first and second anyway, have gone through some revisions from their paperback state and the revisions are also out of print. Amazon.com has the first and second books available for moderate prices, but the third and fourth are not affordable on a teacher's salary. Luckily the revised first book is on Kindle and the revised first and second are available on Audible. The third and fourth books are available on Lulu.com as print on demand for $20. Not a bad price compared to the hundreds the paperbacks go for. With the revisions, there are two stories that are effected most. A story call "Slaves of the Giant Kings", which was changed to another story as it mirrored events of the Rwandan Genocide, and "City of Madness". CoM was once the end of book one but was moved to the beginning of book two (a better place for it). Unfortunately, the Kindle version of book one doesn't have it and the affordable print version book two doesn't either. This makes the transition between book one and two jarring and weird, or hard to get. Mr. Saunders, if you are out there, PLEASE PUT IMARO 2 ON KINDLE!!

Wakanda Forever!

Just as Black Panther brought African superheros to the big screen, Imaro brought the Sword and Sorcery tale/hero to Africa. For fans of action, horror, fantasy, and adventure, this is a must read. If anyone knows how to get a hold of the director of Black Panther, he needs to get a hold of these books and make these movies! 

Writing Novels, Raiding Tombs

As some of my friends and family know, I have fairly recently finished writing a draft of my first novel. It is currently going through the "Beta Testing" process before I make any final revisions that I need to make and hopefully I will be self-publishing in time for some summer reading! The novel that I wrote is by no means a deep read. It is something of an homage to all the things that I miss in fiction, including video games and movies, that being fun. Now I know that everyone's idea of "fun" is different. What I am referring to is the seemingly pervasive need to be "dark and gritty", to have some kind of profound message, or to check a certain number of focused grouped boxes. I miss the days of Ray Harryhausen, of Monster Vision and Indiana Jones. I miss the feeling of adventure for the sake of adventure. Pure, unadulterated escapism, that is what what I look for. Even my most favorite video game series, Uncharted, took a turn in this direction with it's final installment. Yes there were still frantic shootouts, historical mysteries and adventure to be had, but there was A LOT more focus on the less exciting bits of the story this time around. That's not to say that I didn't love it, but I did have to replay 1, 2, 3, and Lost Legacy to scratch that pulpy itch.

When I sat down to write my novel, I really just wanted to write something that I would want to read. It was an absolute blast to do. As part of my writing process, I went about devouring (metaphorically and literally) all things "adventure". I delved through genre specific reads on Kindle to see what others were writing, I went through all four (Yes, even Crystal Skull) Indiana Jones movies, I picked up novels by James Rollins and Clive Cussler as well as some classics like Doc Savage and El Borak and I when I had time to game I was back at Uncharted. As I have gone through and sated my fill of Nathan Drake and his plucky group of thieves, I turned toward another icon of adventure gaming, Lara Croft. 

"I have no funny quips to say. Ever." 

The eponymous Tomb Raider was definitely an inspiration for the main characters of my novel. She is strong, spirited and finds herself constantly in trouble. Most gamers these days know that the Tomb Raider franchise was rebooted in 2013, telling us an origin story of how Lara Croft became the legend. While the story wasn't really anything that anybody asked for and definitely deviated from the old series, it did give us a more relate able main character (also far less objectified) and some sweet set pieces. Still, the reboot suffered from that whole "dark and gritty" trend that plagues so many mediums today. Years later, we got a sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and while I think it improved upon nearly every aspect, it seemed to throw one out the window. Joy. 

Don't get me wrong, it is fun to play. It borrows heavily from the Uncharted formula of running, jumping, climbing and shooting with a little more open exploring. At the same time, most likely to deviate from being "too Uncharted", it has no joy, no humor, Lara is not having any fun at all and she is quite vocal about it. Now in real life, I totally understand that being shot at and shooting people isn't shouldn't be fun. I know for a fact that falling from great heights and being lost in the wilderness isn't fun. But its not real life, its supposed t
o be fun! Would Indiana Jones be as good an memorable without the one lines and occasionally silly situations? Can you imagine a grim-faced, mirthless Harrison Ford as the titular lead? Me neither. Old Lara was more Jones while new Lara is more.....Christian Bale Batman? I think? 

"Adventuring is the worst."- Lara Croft

It sounds weird, but Lara's whole attitude breaks my immersion. I am not immersed in the adventure because I don't believe I'm playing in one. Years of exposure to adventure genre staples had told me what to expect from an adventure. Danger, intrigue, daring do, confident heroes and imposing obstacles. Rise of the Tomb Raider has all of that, except the hero. In Lara's world, there is absolutely fun to be had with anything. It's so out of the genre norm that it is jarring, and frankly I hope that it is not something that catches on. I blame Game of Thrones. What does all this have to do with my novel? Ultimately, the adventure that I have tried to craft is built upon a foundation of that "fun" that I so desperately seek in my adventure. Is it a little cheesy? For sure. At times, outlandish? Of course. But all I hope is that ultimately my readers will find some thrills, some humor, some horror and ultimately so good ole' fashioned escapist fun! 

In the end, I know that what I am looking for in both what I read and what I write is fairly specific. I know that there is a place for those dark and gritty things, from the novels that seek to change your world view, for the thousand page conversations interspersed with three pages of action (GAME OF THRONES!). I know that people want those things and I am glad they exist. I only lament what seems to be an over saturation of this stuff while people that just want to escape for a bit are left high and dry. 

On that note: I am always taking reading suggestions!