“The Black God’s Drums” Is A High Stakes Novella That Will Take You To The Skies

The Black God’s Drums / Phenderson Djèlí Clark / Tor We are deep in the middle of a novella explosion, fam. This shorter format has always been popular with science fiction, but the novellas I’ve read in the last year have been mind-bogglingly good. The Black God’s Drums by Phenderson Djèlí Clark is absolutely a perfect example of the style. It is also a showcase for the interest from Black writers in the steampunk and alternative history subgenres. Am I telling you that everything P.D. Clark sets out to do, he does to 100? Yes, that’s what I’m telling you. The Setup “My nickname on the streets is Creeper, and for good reason. Just like ma maman in the sweet gum tree, I’m a damn good climber. Creeper is our main character. She’s a handful. She’s spent the last few years surviving on the streets of alternative history New Orleans. She’s a pickpocket, an information salesperson, and a survivor. Her New Orleans is a “free city” that survived the Civil War and has maintained its independence due to the help of the English, French, and the Caribbean powers, chief among them Haiti. Meanwhile, the North and South have ended open hostilities, settling down to a cold war with significant consequences for everyone unlucky enough to share the hemisphere with them. While going about the business of living, Creeper overhears some information she thinks she can sell. It is the selling of her eavesdropped secrets, who she meets and what she does with the information, that forms the story. S…