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The first principle I have adopted in my reading is that every book has something to offer. Thus, I do not go into a story or a book with a prejudiced mind or with the structure of another book in mind. Neither do I attempt to impose my expectations of how things should have fared on a story. Consequently, I attempt to judge every book on its own merit, without comparing it with another. Using this strategy, I do not pronounce a story as bad in relation to another or my expectations; I judge a book on its own merits. With this out of the way we can proceed to talk about  African Roar 2013 (StoryTime, 2013; 170). African Roar has become an annual anthology of African short stories since 2010. This being the fourth edition. I really do not know how I missed the 2012 edition but have talked about the 2010 and 2011 editions on this blog. First, it is important to commend StoryTime for their insight and for what they are doing for young and relatively unknown African authors. ...

Title: African Roar 2011 Editors: Emmanuel Sigauke and Ivor Hartmann Genre: Short Story Anthology Publishers: StoryTime Pages: 214 (e-copy) Year of Publication: 2011 African Roar has become an annual feature in our literary calendar with last year's publication being the second in the series after it debuted in 2010 . It gives voices to new and emerging voices in Africa bringing together hitherto not-widely known writers and those whose writings have been recognised and appreciated with awards. The 2011 African Roar Short Story Anthology continued this tradition by bringing together new voices such as Ghana's Isaac Neequaye and established and award-winning writers such as the recent winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, NoViolet Bulawayo. This year's anthology consists of fourteen short stories with varied themes. The anthology opens with Ruzvidzo Stanley Mupfudzo's Witch's Brew . Mai Chamboko has been described as a witch because she has lost...

Title: African Roar Genre: Anthology of Short Stories Publishers: Lion Press Pages: 156 (e-copy) Year of Publication: 2010 (Coming Out Soon) Country: Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Diasporans etc My reading this year has not not been as I expected and so I was glad when I found an ecopy of this upcoming book in my inbox for a possible review and having been a follower of StoryTime , a registered magazine/ezine, where all these began, I became even more happy to realise that the electronic versions of the stories have, finally, been put into print. African Roar is a collection of eleven (11) short stories written by Africans or individuals who have lived in Africa for at least 10 years or who are Africans by naturalisation. The stories ranged from domestic abuse to political vendetta to ruings about love and the cycles of life. It covers many aspects of life as Africans. The anthology opens with the story 'Big Pieces, Small Pieces' by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma. Th...

I have been absent from my blog for a while. A lot of things have happened in my life since I last blogged. I have married and I have tried moving out of my residence. My research work has taken most of my time; hence my reading has suffered seriously. This means that I have not been able to review any book. However, I have been presented with an e-copy of an new book titled 'African Roar' by one of the contributors. The beauty about this anthology of short stories is that it was a collaboration of authors and writers on  StoryTime , an online blog that invites stories from Africans across the continent. It is, thus, refreshing to know that Africans are taking technology to the next level and are making the best use of it. This collaboration is the brainchild of author Ivor Hartmann with support from Emmanuel Sigauke. All stories in this anthology are by Africans and the contents addresss Africans. It is very different from novels written by Africans in the disapora and those ...