I'm almost done with the preliminary research for my next title. I've learned so much stuff that I simply didn't know before, and I think it's awesome. I also found a beautiful, old map of West and North Africa with which I am totally smitten. So may towns/cities that I knew by name are listed on the map. It's been very exciting!
My next novel, by the way, is going to feature the 16th century Borno Empire. Idris Aloma and all that. There will be muskets! And Turks.
Why did I choose Borno for my subject matter? Because I think there is, as Ahmad Ibn Fartua (Idris Aloma's Grand Imam) put it, an "obligation placed upon later generations to follow the example of their predecessors and to bear a likeness to the honorable."
As an African--Nigerian, to be precise--I fear we have lost our way. We've forgotten our past. I want to help my fellow Africans remember the deeds of our forefathers, remember the honor of our ancestors, remember to strive to be the people we were meant to be and not the people 'they' tell us we are.
