Carnelian Heart Press has published an English translation of Aquilina (or, The Confession Of Hatifari Maforimbo) a novella by Julius Masimba Musodza.
First published in ChiShona, the British-Zimbabwean author’s first language, as Aquilina (or Reururo yaHatifari Maforimbo, 2011), it takes the form of a psychological horror/weird fiction tale about a man’s descent into psychotic misogyny, with tragic consequences and a manifestation of the supernatural.
Musodza uses the epistolary form, a technique rarely used in ChiShona literature, but frequent among writers of speculative fiction around the world, as it imparts an air of realism to what would otherwise present as pure fantasy.
He draws from the style of writers of the “weird fiction” genre who have influenced him, such as HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Machen, Sheridan Le Fanu and others.
The story was partly inspired by a late-night American TV movie that he saw in bits as he dozed off on the sofa.
Another source of inspiration for the novella is the Zimbabwean urban legend of Peggy the Ghost, which continues to hold the interest of academics and social commentators as an example of how modern folktales can have the same power to impart morality and good behaviour in the youth as their ancient counterparts.
“I just want to say I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. I am sure many will see the layers in the story,” Musodza told Standard Style.
The writer was born in Zimbabwe but has lived much of his adult life in the United Kingdom, settling in the North East England town of Middlesbrough.
- Musodza’s Aquilina translated into English
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He has published over 40 works of short fiction, mostly on the speculative fiction genre spectrum, in anthologies and periodicals around the world and online, such as Halloweenthology-Witches Brew (India), Agbowó (Nigeria) Lolwe (Kenya), Blue Marble (Canada), Winter Tales (UK) Omenana (Nigeria), AfroSFv3 (Sweden) and others.
Musodza has published two novels in ChiShona, MunaHacha Maive Nei? and Shavi Rechikadzi, and also a collection of short stories in English, The Junkyard Rastaman & Other Stories.
He has also written an essay on writing speculative fiction in an African language for Vector, the magazine of the British Fantasy & Science Fiction Association.
Musodza contributes to Sticks & Stones, the premier Black British community magazine in the North of England.
The book is now available on Amazon UK as well as Barnes and Noble.
