Minister Faust Brings the Black Nerd Love

First a little mood music: Fela Kuti’s Fe Fe Naa Efe. With that in the background, we can get started. As you can tell from this song, this is one funky book.   Coyote Kings, Book One: Space-Age Bachelor Pad is Afrofuturism exactly as advertised — set in a fanciful yet realistic present/near-future, it is a skillful mix and remix of Black/Diasporic life couched in African cultural mythos and norms. The book’s characters are living the modern Black experience in a white, Western world. Knowing the key differences between Star Trek: OG, Star Trek: TNG, and Star Trek: DS9 is just as relevant to the plot and characters of Coyote Kings as knowing in Ancient Egyptian history the difference between a Jackal and whatever the hell the Set-animal is supposed to be (that’s a little Egyptophile humor there…). (And yes, I’m assuming you’re clear on OG, TNG, and DS9, so no links for those. I’mma need you to hit the Google on your own, then come back.)   Minister Faust is a master DJ, mixing and mashing these elements together flawlessly. And it is not only real life shit, but real life blerd shit. The real life we live, in which we can drop a hip-hop reference when talking about an anime character while wearing our favorite superhero t-shirt. This is a world where an image like this makes perfect sense:

And we can argue about whether or not some other super would fit Batman’s spot better — I mean, I’d push for Black Panther, on account of the king/pharoah angle, but you know, …