The Alchemists of Kush
Page 48
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW): “Sharp satire of caped crusaders hides a deeper critique of individual treatment versus social injustice . . . . uncomfortable parallels to real-world urban tragedies in the novel’s ‘July 16 Attacks.’”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: “Entertaining . . . saavy.”
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: “Brilliantly complex … dead-on satire of our times.”
BOOKLIST: “[An] excellent superhero comedy as well as an unsettling satire.”
BOOKPAGE: “One of the most entertaining books to cross your path this year.”
SFSITE.COM: “A whirlwind of jokes, satire, obscure pop references, devastating cultural analysis and prose poetry that never lets up from beginning to end . . . . This is political and cultural satire of the highest sort, and Faust is earning a place among the masters of the craft.”
BLOG T.O. SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW: “A major accomplishment that is laugh out loud funny . . . This is the most revolutionary work of SF since William Gibson’s Neuromancer…. I’m confident in saying that this is the best SF book of the 2007—maybe the best book of the year.”
THEOCENTRIC: “Hilarious…. Faust’s writing style is absolutely a blast.”
THE PINOCCHIO THEORY: “Had me laughing from the first page to the last. But the book is also a mind-boggling, multi-levelled allegory of racism and corporate fascism in America today . . . . Faust is brilliant.”
CHERYL MORGAN’S BEST OF 2007: “A modern-day Watchmen written by a Canadian Lenny Henry with a passion for race politics.”
THE GATEWAY: “…scathing social commentary and political satire [on] the nature of modern journalism and politics, to drugs, racism and vapid, shallow celebrities . . . . Excellent.”
SAKURA OF DOOM: “Brilliant.”
Praise for
The Coyote Kings, Book One:
Space-Age Bachelor Pad
FINALIST:
The Philip K. Dick Award (2004)
The Locus Best First Novel Award (2004)
The Compton-Crook Award (2004)
A TOP TEN BOOK OF 2004 FOR:
January Magazine, fiction
Barnes & Noble, SF&F
Amazon.com, SF&F
SF Site, SF&F, Editor’s Choice
A LOCUS NOTABLE BOOK
NALO HOPKINSON, author of Midnight Robber: “Off the freakin hook. Funky… with heart, style, humour, and attitude to spare.”
TANANARIVE DUE, author of The Living Blood: “Incredibly imaginative and bulging with pop culture and political references, this is a trip unlike anything you’ve ever read. Endlessly entertaining.”
RICHARD MORGAN, author of Market Forces: “Outstanding, like nothing I’ve ever read in the genre . . . in fact Minister Faust has pretty much invented his own genre. Full of surprises, caring and heartfelt. I’m kind of envious of what he’s done here. Really edgy unpleasantness . . . up there with the best of them.”
ERNEST DICKERSON, director, Juice, Demon Knight, Never Die Alone, The Wire: “Minister Faust is Samuel Delaney, Harlan Ellison and Ishmael Reed all rolled into one. His writing is biting, insightful and hugely entertaining.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES: “A jumpy, hold-nothing-back style…. Faust anatomizes [the Edmonton setting] with the same loving care Joyce brought to early-20th-century Dublin…. fresh and stylish entertainment.”
KIRKUS REVIEWS and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: “Like Kevin Smith as if he’d grown up in an African immigrant neighbourhood-just as comic- and pop culture-obsessed but with a dose of righteous ethnic minority fury.”
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN; NATIONAL POST; CANWEST NEWS SERVICES and CITIZEN NEWS SERVICES: “The most exciting Canadian debut in decades.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “The dense writing, the ponderings on the nature of reality and a complex plot that all comes together at the end… will remind some readers of Neal Stephenson [and] represents a sharp-edged new voice in the genre.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’d like to thank the many people who gave me information critical to the formation of The Alchemists of Kush:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts for its generous financial support to craft this novel,
Saladin Quanaah Allah for his encouragement of the aims of this project,
Anonymous posters at Rapdict.org for their perspectives on the gangs of E-Town, particularly their comments about neo-Nazis, some of which I’ve given to Jackal,
The first readers of the manuscript including Wayne Arthurson, Nadir Bellahmer, Daniel Roy, Ken Williamson and Marlon Wilson, for their feedback and encouragement,
Buk Arop, for providing research on the Dinka language, and information about the lives of South Sudanese in E-Town, and for voicing Rap Garang in the book teaser,
Nadir Bellahmer for creating original music for one of the book’s promotional videos, and Politic Live and Souljah Fyah for allowing me to use their music for other promotional videos,
Martin Bernal and Richard Poe for conversations regarding Kemetic history,
Stephen Brown for his superb cover painting,
John Chan, for introducing me to Iron John and other works by Robert Bly,
Mark Cherrington, for providing information on the path of arrestees through police custody and the Edmonton Remand Centre,
Ben Coxworth, for excellent shooting and editing of a promotional video for the book,
Ejaz Farouk, for his helpful insights about youth culture in E-Town,
Faduma Bunule (former owner of Kulmiye Family Restaurant) and her daughter and niece, for their insights into Somali women’s experiences in Canada and specifically in E-Town,
Mohammed Maie and Liban “Li-One” Farah for telling me their perspectives on the lives of Somali-Canadian boys and men,
Jibril Yassin for promotional video production and editing, for voicing JC for the book teaser, and for lending his face to JC for one of the book’s wallpapers,
Chaka Zinyemba, for providing (and starring in) the magnificent flame-statue cover photo that appears on one version of the book,
My wife, and authors Ishmael Reed, Kelly Komm, Cheryl Kaye Tardiff, all of whom urged me to pursue independent publishing, and J.A. Konrath (whom I’ve never met, but who’s been a life-changing inspiration) for providing the next best thing to a blueprint for independence, and
My daughters, and once again my wife, for giving me the best reasons to celebrate life and engage the beautiful struggle for a better world.
Ultimately, all praise is due to the Supreme. Only the mistakes have been mine.
To purchase other books
by Minister Faust…
And forthcoming audio books…
Visit ministerfaust.com
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paltrysapien.com
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Minister Faust gear from
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and more, visit,
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