Horror / Fantasy
Date Published: May 21, 2024
Publisher: Android Press
In December 2019, as Ghana's vibrant streets buzz with the climax of the "Year of Return," an initiative marking 400 years since the first enslaved Africans were forcibly taken to Virginia, Adwapa, a Ghanaian journalist living in the U.S., decides to journey back to her homeland. Accompanied by friends, she seeks to reconnect with his roots during this historic commemoration, unaware that the trip will lead them into the heart of a mystery that transcends time and reality.
As the celebrations reach their zenith, the Atlantic Ocean, witness to untold horrors of the past, begins to stir with an ancient and restless energy. From its depths emerge the spirits of the enslaved, those who perished in the harrowing Middle Passage, returning not in peace but in turmoil. Their emergence sends shockwaves around the globe, transforming the "Year of Return" into a haunting spectacle of reawakened histories and unresolved grievances.
As the line between the living and the dead blurs, Adwapa finds herself caught in a whirlwind of supernatural events and historical reckonings. With each passing day, the ghosts grow more powerful, their centuries-old sorrows manifesting in a series of chilling, vengeful acts that threaten to unravel the very fabric of the present.
Praise for The Year of Return
"Ivana Akotowaa Ofori’s THE YEAR OF RETURN is a haunting, darkly evocative tale of the ghosts of the past, delivering a harrowing vision of history’s undeniable grasp on the present and the future alike."
—Kevin Wabaunsee, assistant editor at Escape Pod, former managing editor of the SFWA
"A moving and timely perspective on one of the greatest horrors in human history. Ofori presents ancient and recent events in a startlingly original take about our responsibilities to our past, our present, and our future."
—R.S.A. Garcia, Locus, Sturgeon, Nebula and IGNYTE Award finalist
"No sooner had the imitation shutter
click sounded than I felt a shiver crawl through my body... It was the kind of
chill you got when you were convinced death was waiting to pop out at you from
within the shadows."
"Six more Coasters joined the first
rising out of the sea, their ghostly bodies appearing to form out of darkening
ocean mist… But as frightening as their physical presence was, the real terror
came from the way they troubled the atmosphere itself, permeating everything
with a darkness that clawed its way into one’s soul."
About the Author
Ivana Akotowaa Ofori is a Ghanaian storyteller. Known also by the alias of “The Spider Kid,” she is a weaver of words in many forms, including fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. Akotowaa has been nominated for various awards for her prose writing. Her work is included in the Flash Fiction Ghana anthology, Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories, and the Writivism anthology, And Morning Will Come. Writing aside, Akotowaa spends much of her time looking for excuses to make everything purple. She has been included in the Africa Risen Anthology 2022 (Tor.com) with her short story, “Exiles of Witchery.”
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