At that thought, the Jabali fled back to their mtumbwi and paddled furiously upriver. Before long, the tale of the fate of Bagara spread like fever up and down the Zaikumbe.
As the moons passed, the rain forest recaptured the shunned site of Bagara. Leopards prowled through spaces once occupied by dwellings. Among the people of the river, it was said that the Bagara had offended the Silent Ghosts, and the Silent Ghosts had therefore obliterated them. Many towns and villages they would be the next victims of the Silent Ghosts’ wrath, and they migrated from the river into the interior of the forest.
But never again did the Silent Ghosts come to the Zaikumbe – Zuriye’s final gift to Mgaru.
Publishing History
Katisa … Cascade #2, 1983.
The Blacksmith and the Bambuti … Escape #1, 1977
Pomphis and the Poor Man (originally, The Pygmy and the Poor Man) … Anthos, 1980.
The Nunda … The Diversifier #16, 1976.
Death-Cattle of Djenne … Black Lite #2, 1976; Maplecade #1, 1984.
The Return of Sundiata … Cascade #1, 1982.
Two Rogues … Weirdbook #11, 1977.
Okosene Alakun and the Magic Guinea Fowl … Weirdbook #13, 1978
Amma … Beyond the Fields We Know, 1978; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series VII, DAW Books, 1979; Mothership, Rosarium Publishing, 2013.
The Singing Drum, Windhaven, 1977.
Khodumodumo, Stardock, 1977.
Mbodze, Stardock, 1978.
Ishigbi, Hecate’s Cauldron, DAW Books, 1982.
The Silent Ghosts, Space and Time, 1982.
About the Author
Charles R. Saunders was born in 1946 in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania and emigrated to Canada in 1970. He has published science fiction and screenplays, two of which have become feature films. Saunders has also written a radio play, as well as other non-fiction works.In 1974, Saunders wrote a series of short stories for Gene Day's science fiction fanzine Dark Fantasy. The issue of Dark Fantasy with the first Imaro story found its way to Lin Carter, who included it in his first Year's Best Fantasy Stories collection, published by DAW Books in 1975. This publication brought Saunder's work to the attention of Daw publisher Donald A. Wollheim, who eventually suggested that Saunders turn his Imaro stories into a novel. Six of the novellas originally published by Gene Day in Dark Fantasy("Mawanzo", "Turkhana Knives", "The Place of Stones", "Slaves of the Giant Kings", "Horror in the Black Hills", and "The City of Madness") would later be used in his first novel, Imaro, which was published by Daw in 1981.
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