In 2005 I met a person who became very influential in my publishing and personal life: Charles R. Saunders. Charles is the creator of the first Black Sword and Soul heroes, Imaro and Doussouye, and the creator of the Sword and Sorcery subgenre, Sword and Soul. After meeting Charles, we talked about our similar paths to writing African inspired Sword and Sorcery. He shared how difficult the process had been for him with publishers, and we wondered about other writers that probably faced the same obstacles trying to publish similar works of fiction. That's how the idea for Griots developed. We chose the name Griots, a French word that is used to describe the traditional African storyteller. We then commissioned Natiq Jalil for the cover art. His concept perfectly represents the feel and purpose of this groundbreaking story collection.
We wanted to find and give an opportunity to other writers with similar stories and grow the population of Sword and Soul authors and readers. We also wanted to inspire artistic interest in the subgenre as well. So we put out the call for authors and received 15 submissions that met the criteria. After receiving the stories we commissioned 15 artists to create an image for each story. The result is one of our best selling anthologies. It's a book that displays the wide range of what Sword and Soul is, and contains stories by authors that have become well-known in Black Speculative Fiction and beyond.
This week we will highlight five stories from Griots, stories that display the wide range of talent and the diversity of the authors whose collected stories have made Griots an industry changing book for Black Speculative Fiction and Fantastic Fiction.
You can purchase Griots at a special price directly from MVmedia today. Just click the links below and begin you journey.