title: Wizard of the Crow: A Novel
author:  Ngugi wa Thiong'o 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> The fictional Republic of Aburiria chronicled in this sprawling, dazzling satirical fable is an exaggeration of sordid African despotism. At the top, a grandiose Ruler with "the power to declare any month in the year the seventh month" and his sycophantic cabinet plan to climb to heaven with a modern-day Tower of Babel funded by the Global Bank; beneath them, a cabal of venal officials and opportunistic businessmen jockey for a piece of the pie; at the bottom are the unemployed masses who wait in endless lines behind every help-wanted sign. Kamiti, an archetypal New Man with two university degrees and no job prospects, sets up shop as a wizard; with the help of Nyawira, member of both an underground dissident movement and a feminist dance troupe, he dispenses therapeutic sorcery to a citizenry that finds witchcraft less absurd than everyday life. Kenyan novelist Thiong'o (<i>Petals of Blood</i>) mounts a nuanced but caustic political and social satire of the corruption of African society, with a touch of magical realismor, perhaps, realistic magic, as the wizard's tricks hinge on holding a not-so-enchanted mirror to his clients' hidden self-delusions. The result is a sometimes lurid, sometimes lyrical reflection on Africa's dysfunctionsand possibilities. <i>(Aug.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: ****
  
  ****
  
  ****
  
  **FOR THE PRIDE OF A CROW**
  
  (RED DEAD MAYHEM, BOOK 3)
  
  By T. S. JOYCE
  
  **For the Pride of a Crow**
  
  **Copyright © 2018 by T. S. Joyce**
  
  ****
  
  Copyright © 2018, T. S. Joyce
  
  First electronic publication: July 2018
  
  T. S. Joyce
  
  www.tsjoyce.com
  
  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
  manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
  quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized
  reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of
  this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any
  other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.
  
  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
  
  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents
  are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and
  are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead,
  actual events, locale or organizations i