by C. J. Farley
Fist of Back-o-Wall (R): Back-o-Wall was a neighborhood of extremely poor people in Jamaica that was bulldozed by the government in 1965, displacing many residents against their will. In Xamaica, this magical glove helps bust through walls.
Game Changers: Are you one?
Golden Grove: A grouping of mahoe trees with silver trunks, platinum branches, and golden leaves where the richest hummingbirds live. The ultimate upscale address.
Great Web of the World: A vast weaving spun across the sky by the spider-god Anancy and held at the four corners of the world by Liberty, Equality, Vitality, and Mystery. But don’t look to the sky for justice. Be fair and kind to everyone while your feet are on the ground.
Green Cloud: An information cloud milked from memories.
Groundation (R): It’s a real term in the Rastafarian religion for a gathering, but in Xamaican mythology it’s kind of like Ragnarok, Götterdämmerung, or the Apocalypse.
Hai-Uri (R): Found in African myth, this is a one-sided creature with a single eye, a single leg, and one hungry mouth.
Higue (R): Folks tell stories about these things in Guyana. In Xamaica, they’re giant mosquitolike creatures that feast on blood. Imagine a tropical vampire and you’re pretty much there.
Inklings (R): J.R.R. Tolkien (author of The Hobbit) and C.S. Lewis (author of The Chronicles of Narnia) were close friends, and formed a writers group in England. A group with the same name has cosmic significance among Xamaicans. I’ve been working hard to reach out to them, if they exist.
Iron Lions: Half-man, half-lion, these beasts have metal wings and speak in questions. There’s a Bob Marley song called “Iron Lion Zion.”
Jah (R): The name for God in the Rastafarian religion.
Machete of the Land of Look Behind: A blade forged by Queen Nanni that bursts into flame when there is bravery in the wielder’s heart.
Ma Sinéad: Xamaica’s own pirate queen. Some real-life women joined pirate crews in the Caribbean, notably Anne Bonny and Mary Read in the eighteenth century.
Mee Corp.: The world’s largest manufacturer of electronic dreams.
Luscas (R): Part-shark and part-squid; there are stories about these creatures around the Caribbean. In Xamaica, they are also part-vulture.
Maruunz (R): When the British took over Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655, many African slaves fled into the interior of the island and set up free communities. Employing complex guerrilla tactics, these people—who came to be known as Maroon warriors—successfully fought the better-armed British for hundreds of years and forced the invaders to sign a peace treaty in the eighteenth century. In Xamaica, the Maruunz are great warriors.
Moongazers (R): These bearlike creatures sport savage claws and bodies of mist. They are among the most fearsome creatures in Xamaica. Guyanese legends tell similar tales.
Nanni (R): Queen Nanny (c. 1685–c. 1755), along with the rebel Cudjoe, led the Maroons in their resistance against the British. The Jamaican government declared Nanny a national hero in 1976 and her portrait appears on the country’s $500 bill. Legend says she had magical powers. As for Nanni, I see her dark eyes in my dreams.
Nestuh (R): Nesta Robert Marley is the birth name of Bob Marley (1945–1981), the musician who helped make Jamaican reggae music famous around the world.
Obeah (R): The Jamaican—and Xamaican—word for magic.
Palm of Protection: A magic tree whose seeds have spread. Nothing may harm you while you rest among its fronds, and nothing can find you unless you want to be found.
Rolling Calf (R): Half-man, half-bull, all on fire. Jamaicans tell stories about Rolling Calves.
Shatranj (R): A board game of strategy and mental focus that’s a lot like chess.
Si-Ling: The empire of the Rolling Calves.
Soucouyant (R): Human by day, by night this creature slips out of its skin and becomes a fireball-throwing, flesh-eating plant. A remix of a Caribbean myth.
Ssithen Ssille: The hummingbird kingdom.
Steel Donkey (R): Just what it sounds like.
Time Out of Mind: What Xamaicans call the olden days, when Jah walked the earth and Anancy spun webs in the sky.
Toljabee (R): A Korean celebration during which a baby picks up various items spread out on a table that are said to predict the child’s future. Yongjin, this book’s illustrator, never told me what he selected, but maybe someday I’ll ask.
Wata Mama (R): A playful water creature with a seal-like body from African myth. They’re cute and all, but terrible fighters.
The Way: It’s all around you.
Wholandra: The city of the Iron Lions.
Wishcoins: Currency established in Xamaica during the Baron’s rule. Wishcoins, which cannot be seen or touched, can be redeemed for wishes from the Iron Lions. But you’re better off going to school and getting a job.
Zion: What do you believe?
Recommended Reading
Tales of Old Jamaica and History of Jamaica, by Clinton V. Black
Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley, by Christopher John Farley
The Mother of Us All: A History of Queen Nanny, by Karla Lewis Gottlieb
Kingston: A Cultural and Literary Companion (Cities of the Imagination), by David Howard
Life Among the Pirates: The Romance and the Reality, by David Cordingly
The Boy from Nine Miles: The Early Life of Bob Marley, by Cedella Marley and Gerald Hausman
Selected Poems, by Claude McKay
The Story of the Jamaican People, by Philip Sherlock and Hazel Bennett
The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry, featuring Derek Walcott and others
About the Author
C.J. Farley was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Brockport, New York, with stops in Middle-Earth, Earthsea, and Narnia. Farley’s biography Aaliyah: More Than a Woman was a national best seller. A former editor of the Harvard Lampoon and a former music critic for Time, Farley is a blogger, columnist, and senior editor at the Wall Street Journal. Game World is his first novel for young readers.
Yongjin Im is an illustrator by night and a corporate lawyer at all other times of the day. Born in Seoul, Korea, but raised in Maryland, Im is a former art director for the Harvard Lampoon. Game World is the first book to feature his artwork and the drawings of his daughters, Allegra and Ines.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Akashic Books
©2014 by C.J. Farley
Illustrations ©2014 by Yongjin Im
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-197-4
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-305-3
eISBN: 9781617752070
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013938805
All Rights Reserved.
c/o Akashic Books
PO Box 1456
New York, NY 10009
[email protected]
www.akashicbooks.com
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