Acclaimed sci-fi writer and activist Maurice Broaddus (Buffalo Soldier), co-writer Otis Whitaker and internationally renowned illustrator Jim Mahfood have created an urban fantasy novella in which a 30-year-old man comes of age — and comes into his own as a hip hop inspired sorcerer.
At thirty years old, Malik Hutchens is the black sheep of one of the most successful families in Harlem. While his cousins strive to better the family, he couch-surfs with relatives, parties with his girlfriend, and ghostwrites rhymes for local rappers for a few bucks to finance his lifestyle. When cocky Malik sells two warring rappers the same verse, he paints a target on his own back.
Then on his deathbed, his beloved grandfather, Pop-Pop, tells Malik that he is a sorcerer, in the great tradition of African sorcery born on the plains of the rift valley before the beginning of time. Now it’s Malik’s turn to step up and take his place as wielder and guardian of an ancient magic passed down through generations in order to protect the family, the people of Harlem, and the world from the forces of dark magic connected to the worst aspects of American history and the fearful creatures it has unleashed.
Left wondering if Pop-Pop suffered from hallucinations as he lay dying, Malik begins a journey of unexplained visions that make him worry about his sanity. Aided by mysterious people with mysterious powers, and pursued by people who may or may not be the rival white wizards Pop-Pop warned him about, Malik is thrown headlong into a quest that winds through the streets of Harlem, to the rural South, and places that he’s only visited in dreams. Now Malik must fulfill his destiny as both a sorcerer and a man, or fail his family, his people, and the world.
Fierce, fantastical, and far-out, Sorcerers is a novella written by acclaimed writer and community organizer Maurice Broaddus and co-writer Otis Whitaker which explores one man's psychedelic discovery of an ancient magic—and his journey to battle the forces of good and evil within society and himself.
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Jim Mahfood variant cover
Jim Mahfood illustration
Jim Mahfood illustration
Jim Mahfood illustration
A community organizer and teacher, Maurice Broaddus’ work has appeared in magazines like Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. His books include the urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court, the steampunk novella, Buffalo Soldier, the steampunk novel, Pimp My Airship, and the middle grade detective novel, The Usual Suspects. As an editor, he’s worked on Dark Faith, Dark Faith: Invocations, Streets of Shadows, People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror, and Apex Magazine. Learn more at Maurice Broaddus.com
Otis Whitaker is the pseudonym for the NeoText writers room.
The professional career of Jim Mahfood aka Food One has spanned across the fields of comic books, illustration, animation, advertising art, murals, gallery shows, body painting, and live art in bars and nightclubs. Mahfood’s style, the neo-psychedelic Visual Funk, is his signature combination of various influences that Mahfood has turned into a recognizable brand, garnering a loyal following across the globe. Highlights of his career include: illustrating director Kevin Smith’s Clerks comics, painting the murals on Comedy Central’s Sarah Silverman Show, illustrating the Kickpuncher comic book that was included in the Season 1 DVD of NBC’s hit show Community, illustrating and art-directing reggae legend Ziggy Marley’s MarijuanaMan project, and providing all the art on the new Tank Girl series: Everybody Loves Tank Girl.
Sorcerers will leave you spellbound ... a gem of a novella
