“Wielders of Floods and Flames” published, continues the Essien of Alkebulan Series, News In Progress

“Wielders of Floods and Flames” is the second entry in Didi Anofienem’ s Essien of Alkebulan series. The novel is available for sale as of May 27, 2025.

“Wielders of Floods and Flames” opens with main character Essien nervously traveling on an aircraft. She has no clue towards her destination. She has just escaped a hospital and the manipulations of President Gabriel. Essien’s rescuer, Enyamaka, reassures her more than once of their safety. Understand, Enyamka possesses the ability to block the connection between Essien and her pursuers. Still, nothing sets the young woman at ease. The unpredictability of her own fire powers poses a danger to them all – and to her plans to stop the President.

“Wielders of Floods and Flames” draws heavily on African mythology. This second installment to the series also continues Anofienem’s conceit of an Africa untainted by colonialism and Europe’s expansionism.

In constructing this story, Author Didi Anofienem used early research from her MFA program to identity the aspects of African history and the Atlantic Slave Trade that she would need to remove, replace or reinvent. She has also noted her early writing influences, recalling authors like Octavia Butler, as she refined the tone and message of the book. With the removal of colonialism, the politics and tensions of Essien’s world are the product of an African society allowed to grow into and beyond itself.

Fantasy often explores themes of rebellion and unbalanced politics. Fantasies centering African American experiences tend to amplify the reckoning between racist systems and a people who will settle for nothing less than justice. The Essien of Alkebulan series stands out for its removal of European influence altogether, asking the characters in the novel to exist within their own culture, to wrangle with competing visions of their collective heritage and the chosen’s resistance toward her own prophesied future.