Black Stars
A Galaxy of New Worlds
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About this listen
2021 SOVAS Award Finalist for Audiobook Narration—Short Story Anthology—Best Voiceover
The sky is not the limit. From an alley in New York to an interstellar wormhole, the path to the future looks different for everyone. These cosmic short stories from some of today’s most influential Black authors reveal a universe of possibilities.
2043...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) by Nisi Shawl
African-descended USians are finally obtaining reparations - underwater. Take a deep breath and enjoy this politically sharp short story that dives into fantastic new territory. Plunge into the action of a visionary future by the award-winning author of Everfair, with narration by LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation).
The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor
By fate and fire, a being four millennia old is reborn in Mali in a short story of contemporary African life and ancient secrets by the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Binti trilogy.
The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
As a powerful matriarchy reshapes the world, two men - old friends - confront the past and future in a bracing speculative short story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Americanah.
These Alien Skies by C.T. Rwizi
Accidents happen in the strange realms of the African Union system. One of them sends two humans to the far side of a star gate in a thrilling short story of hope, survival, and new dimensions.
Clap Back by Nalo Hopkinson
A past struggle for racial equity could achieve a profound future victory in this audacious short story about technology, hoodoo, and hope by a Nebula Award-winning author.
We Travel the Spaceways by Victor LaValle
Otherworldly interference in real-world New York City? Or delusions? For the answer, follow two loving strangers in an astonishing short story of faith and hope by a World Fantasy Award winner.
©2021 2043...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) © 2021 by Nisi Shawl. The Black Pages © 2021 by Nnedi Okorafor. The Visit © 2021 by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. These Alien Skies © 2021 by C. T. Rwizi. Clap Back © 2021 by Nalo Hopkinson. We Travel the Spaceways © 2021 by Victor LaValle. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.
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A Tough Review To Write...
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Just Out of Jupiter's Reach
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Tornado Onwubiko is one of seven people on Earth paired with sentient ships to explore and research the cosmos for twenty million euros. A decade of solitary life for a lifetime of wealth. Five years into the ten-year mission of total isolation comes a consolation: a temporary meetup among fellow travelers. A lot can happen in a week. For Tornado, who left a normal life behind, a little company can be life-changing.
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Perfect in form and flight!
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Shadow Speaker
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Niger, West Africa, 2074. When fifteen-year old Ejii witnesses her father's beheading, her world shatters. In a time of mind-blowing technology and seductive mysticism, Ejii embarks on a journey to track down her father's killer. With a newfound friend by her side, Ejii comes face to face with an earth turned inside out—and with her own mystical ability. And then she discovers that her travels across the sands of the Sahara have a deeper purpose.
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A new look.
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New Suns
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New Suns
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By: Nisi Shawl - editor, and others
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The Changeling
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Fractured Fairytale
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Out There Screaming
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- Narrated by: Jordan Peele, full cast
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By: Jordan Peele – Intro / Editor, and others
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Wild Seed
- The Patternist Series, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.
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A Tough Review To Write...
- By AlTonya on 04-05-21
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Just Out of Jupiter's Reach
- The Far Reaches Collection
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran
- Length: 1 hr and 32 mins
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Tornado Onwubiko is one of seven people on Earth paired with sentient ships to explore and research the cosmos for twenty million euros. A decade of solitary life for a lifetime of wealth. Five years into the ten-year mission of total isolation comes a consolation: a temporary meetup among fellow travelers. A lot can happen in a week. For Tornado, who left a normal life behind, a little company can be life-changing.
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Perfect in form and flight!
- By Enough Already on 06-29-23
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Shadow Speaker
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- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
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Niger, West Africa, 2074. When fifteen-year old Ejii witnesses her father's beheading, her world shatters. In a time of mind-blowing technology and seductive mysticism, Ejii embarks on a journey to track down her father's killer. With a newfound friend by her side, Ejii comes face to face with an earth turned inside out—and with her own mystical ability. And then she discovers that her travels across the sands of the Sahara have a deeper purpose.
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A new look.
- By Richard F. Brown on 10-13-24
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Noor
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
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Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was "wrong". But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is.
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Slow audio speed to 0.9x
- By Camille on 02-02-22
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Binti
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares.
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Messages
- By khaalidah on 10-07-15
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Akata Witch
- Akata Witch Series, Book 1
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she has albinism. She's a terrific athlete but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing - she is a "free agent" with latent mystical power.
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imaginative!
- By A^3 on 04-26-18
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Remote Control
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa - a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past. Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks - alone, except for her fox companion - searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.
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Afrofuturist Sci/Fantasy Fairytale
- By J. Angel on 01-20-21
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Who Fears Death
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In a post-apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways; yet in one region genocide between tribes still bloodies the land. A woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape by an enemy general wanders into the desert, hoping to die. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different—special—she names her Onyesonwu, which means "Who fears death?" in an ancient language.
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The Ending Wasn’t Satisfying
- By Yasmine Debnam on 11-16-23
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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Zikora
- A Short Story
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Adepero Oduye
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When Zikora, a DC lawyer from Nigeria, tells her equally high-powered lover that she’s pregnant, he abandons her. But it’s Zikora’s demanding, self-possessed mother, in town for the birth, who makes Zikora feel like a lonely little girl all over again. Stunned by the speed with which her ideal life fell apart, she turns to reflecting on her mother’s painful past and struggle for dignity. Preparing for motherhood, Zikora begins to see more clearly what her own mother wants for her, for her new baby, and for herself.
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Great quick listen.
- By Tally on 11-09-20
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Midnight Robber
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival - until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime. Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree....
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Even Through the Dimensions, Girls Are Not Safe
- By mary on 12-11-12
By: Nalo Hopkinson
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Kabu Kabu
- By: Nnedi Okorafor, Whoopi Goldberg - foreword
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Kabu kabu - unregistered, illegal Nigerian taxis - generally get you where you need to go. Nnedi Okorafor's Kabu Kabu, however, takes the listener to exciting, fantastic, magical, occasionally dangerous, and always imaginative locations you didn't know you needed. This debut short-story collection by an award-winning author includes notable previously published material, a new novella cowritten with New York Times best-selling author Alan Dean Foster, six additional original stories, and a brief foreword by Whoopi Goldberg.
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FANTASTIC!
- By Rita on 11-14-19
By: Nnedi Okorafor, and others
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Lagoon
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh, Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Three strangers, each isolated by his or her own problems: Adaora, the marine biologist. Anthony, the rapper famous throughout Africa. Agu, the troubled soldier. Wandering Bar Beach in Lagos, Nigeria's legendary mega-city, they're more alone than they've ever been before. But when something like a meteorite plunges into the ocean and a tidal wave overcomes them, these three people will find themselves bound together in ways they could never imagine.
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Colorful magic realist science fiction
- By Ryan on 07-04-14
By: Nnedi Okorafor
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House of Gold
- By: C. T. Rwizi
- Narrated by: Susan Dalian, Jaime Lincoln Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A corporate aristocracy descended from Africa rules a colony on a distant planet. Life here is easy—for the rarified and privileged few. The aristocrats enjoy a powerful cybernetic technology that extends their life spans and ensures their prosperity. Those who serve them suffer under a heavy hand. But within this ruthless society are agents of hope and change. In a secret underwater laboratory, a separatist cult has created a threat to the aristocracy. The Primes are highly intelligent, manipulative products of genetic engineering, designed to lead a rebellion.
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Incredible narration!
- By CAMT on 06-01-23
By: C. T. Rwizi
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Lone Women
- A Novel
- By: Victor LaValle
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear. The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader.
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Amazing story, Phenomenal Narration
- By Frugalshopper on 04-02-23
By: Victor LaValle
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Project Hail Mary
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
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Bazinga
- By Davidgonzalezsr on 05-04-21
By: Andy Weir
Critic reviews
“An outstanding assembly of authors is matched by a stellar set of narrators, including both well-versed veterans and fresh talents. Of particular note are LeVar Burton's jovially menacing turn in a story about underwater reparations and the cost of freedom, Naomi Ackie as a djinn-like creature reemerging in a time of conflict, and Brian Tyree Henry's vocal range as an unhoused man and the collection of soda cans that might be telling him the secrets of the universe.”–AudioFile Magazine
What listeners say about Black Stars
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sarahdox
- 12-15-22
Excellent collection!
Wonderful writing and narration - full of cultures and perspectives which you can only begin to explore and understand!
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-22-23
Love this series.
Saturday morning well spent. I was excited to move on to each story. Listen to many of them more than once.
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- Nicholas Stewart
- 07-03-22
Great stuff!
I would like to hear more of this kind of stuff. I am going to look up the authors and read more!
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- Jeff, Amazon Customer
- 04-25-23
Great to see great stories with variety of themes
I tend more to novels than short stories, but it was enjoyable and engaging to read such a collection of good sci fi.
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- New Greenwood, LLC
- 04-20-23
MORE!
Great listen! I was enthralled by the stories and characters. I want to read/hear more from the authors!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ms F
- 07-07-23
Wow! Wow!Wow!
I loved everything - the stories, narrators, and creativity. Perfect! I feel asleep to the soothing narrators, got jolted awake by the fascinating stories and wished it hadn't come to an end. Black Excellence!
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-18-22
Afrofuturism!!!
I enjoyed each story! I liked that there were multiple short stories together, and each one left me wanting to hear the full book of each. Wonderfully written and performed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michael M Bright
- 05-26-22
Fantastic
Each story begins like a walk in the park and ends atop Mount Everest.
Poetry, every word.
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- Ashley Grant
- 05-19-22
Filled
my heart is full with these works. I have joy, and thoughts, and tears, and hope for the world's these characters live in and the one we live in. hope that we can shape each other for the better. love love love!
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- Joseph Galieti
- 06-20-22
Great stories!
I was fortunate to stumble across this collection of stories, I’m not even aware what possessed me to check them out but I am glad I did. I enjoy any author that can help broaden my perspective especially in a cultural sense. I don’t know that this kind of writing would have been so readily available even 20 years ago and that’s a shame but I’m grateful it is available now. I encourage anyone with an open mind or someone willing to open their mind to different ways of thinking and alternative perspectives to the traditional to listen to these stories and appreciate them for the art that they are.
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