Convergence Problems

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By Wole Talabi

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Publisher Description

"A jaw-dropping collection....Beautiful, vibrant, and electrifying, this has the makings of a modern classic." —Publishers Weekly (starred review), and a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Spring 2024 Roundup pick

"For fans of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian works and P. Djèlí Clark’s speculative fiction, Convergence Problems provides an Afrocentric sf narrative that is sure to captivate." — Raychel Bennet, Booklist (starred review)

"Written with an emotional economy few storytellers can master....A fascinating and riveting exploration of what the future may hold—for better or worse." —Kirkus

From the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Nommo award nominated author of Shigidi and The Brass Head Of Obalufon comes a stunning new collection of stories that investigate the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our lives as we search for meaning, for knowledge, for justice; constantly converging on our future selves.

In “An Arc of Electric Skin,” a roadside mechanic seeking justice volunteers to undergo a procedure that will increase the electrical conductivity of his skin by orders of magnitude. In “Blowout,” a woman races against time and a previously undocumented geological phenomenon to save her brother on the surface of Mars. In “Ganger,” a young woman trapped in a city run by machines must transfer her consciousness into an artificial body and find a way to give her life
purpose. In “Debut,” Nairobi-based technical support engineer tries to understand what is happening when an AI art system begins malfunctioning in ways that could change the world.

The sixteen stories of Convergence Problems, which include work published for the first time in this collection, rare stories, and recently acclaimed work, showcase Talabi at his creative best: playful and profound, exciting and experimental, always interesting.

16 Reviews

3.5

meisenbrey

Created about 2 months ago

“Excellent short stories—mostly science fiction, but Talabi covers a wide range of genres and flexes some impressively varied stylistic muscles too. “Blowout,” the novella “Ganger,” the very creepy “Performance Review,” and especially “A Dream of Electric Mothers” are standouts.”

danuta_reads

Created 2 months ago

Lisa Diane

Created 3 months ago

LadiBay

Created 3 months ago

Diverse representation Clever plotting Dystopian Beautifully-written

Stephanie Su

Created 4 months ago

“Ted Chiang is my favorite author, so I am always in search of other diverse speculative short story collections. While CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS fits the bill, it lacks a little something extra that would elevate it into an emotionally moving and memorable read for me. First, the good. I love the Nigerian-ness of this collection. Many of Talabi’s stories are set in a future Nigeria that explore how global developments in AI, technology, climate change, and human migration will affect Africans/Nigerians. I particularly liked stories that felt like they could only have happened to Nigerians or Africans, such as: - “Ganger”, a novelette about an AI-run super-city that houses millions of refugees of environmental disaster but in a way that kills free will and individualism - “Nigerian Dreams”, a simple yet powerful story about how, sadly, the dream of all Nigerians is and continues to be to leave Nigeria forever in search of better jobs, healthcare, environment, and education The stories that played with form were also enjoyable for me, in particular “Abeokuta52”, a subtly chilling story that plays out in a blog post and the comments underneath. Unfortunately, I did find CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS somewhat lacking as a cohesive collection. 16 stories is a lot to fit into a 300-page book. Many of the shorter ones (under 10 pages) did not feel like they did anything new or memorable with the genre. I understand that this book collects stories that Talabi has published elsewhere, but I really wished there had been fewer stories, and the stories that were included more fleshed out. There were a lot of good ideas that were only briefly shown before we were moving on to the next one. Unlike with Chiang’s collections, and even Ken Liu’s, I had more difficulty understanding who Talabi is as a writer and thinker, and what concepts and values matter most to him. I’d still recommend CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS to lovers of speculative fiction, short stories, and diverse reads. I think I just went in with my expectations too high.”

About Wole Talabi

WOLE TALABI is an engineer, writer, and editor from Nigeria. He is the author of the novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon (DAW books/Gollancz, 2023). His short fiction has appeared in places like Asimov’s Science Fiction, Lightspeed Magazine, Tor.com and is collected in the books Convergence Problems (DAW books, 2024) and Incomplete Solutions (Luna Press, 2019). He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, as well as the Caine Prize for African Writing and he has won the Nommo award for African speculative fiction and the Sidewise award for Alternate History. He has edited five anthologies including the acclaimed Africanfuturism: An Anthology (Brittlepaper, 2020) and Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology (Android Press, 2023). He likes scuba diving, elegant equations, and oddly shaped things. He currently lives and works in Australia. Find him at wtalabi.wordpress.com and at @wtalabi on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Tiktok.