Many Americans know "mojo" is Southern slang for powerful magic. But few Americans know the word originated in West Africa and referred to a small cloth bag containing protective magicks. The origin of mojo is as obscure to Americans as the religious, spiritual, and magical beliefs of Africa, which are far less familiar than the religions and myths of Europe and Asia. Acclaimed author/editor Nalo Hopkinson addresses this imbalance with her anthology Mojo: Conjure Stories, which collects 19 original stories of magic and gods and mortals, set in locales that range from a pre-Civil War plantation to modern Oakland, from Nineteenth-Century England to underground New York City.

Contributors range from big names like Steven Barnes, Neil Gaiman, and Barbara Hambly to exciting new authors (however, editor Hopkinson unfortunately does not contribute a story). The anthology avoids such inaccurate, offensive Hollywood stereotypes as the pin-stuck "voodoo doll," and the overall quality is very high, with a few weak tales offset by the far more numerous excellent stories. Among the best works are Sheree Renee Thomas's poetic myth "How Sukie Cross De Big Wata"; Marcia Douglas's lyrical "Notes from a Writer's Book of Cures and Spells," the best story about the writing process since Jaime Hernandez's "How to Kill A" (Love & Rockets); and "The Tawny Bitch," Nisi Shawl's classically gothic tale of a wealthy, quadroon British heiress held captive by a greedy, lustful relative.

The anthology opens with a brief but informative editor's note from Nalo Hopkinson and an evocative introduction by Luisah Teish, priestess of the Ifa/Orisha tradition and author of several books, including the spiritual classic Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
The 19 stories in this all-original anthology, edited by the author of Skin Folk, skillfully blend West African magic, fantasy and horror, along with plain old-fashioned readability. Some deal with familiar aspects of that magic in unfamiliar ways, such as the zombies of Steven Barnes's "Heartspace" and Neil Gaiman's "Bitter Grounds." Others explore social issues, like Tananarive Due's disturbing "Trial Day," which highlights injustice against African-Americans during the 1920s. "The Prowl" (Gregory Frost), "The Horsemen and the Morning Star" (Barbara Hambly) and "How Sukie Cross de Big Wata" (Sheree Renee Thomas) offer grim views of slavery days. Marcia Douglas's somewhat tongue-in-cheek "Notes from a Writer's Book of Cures and Spells" amuses more than it unsettles. A.M. Dellamonica applies magic to food in "Cooking Creole," while Barth Anderson's "Lark till Dawn, Princess" takes place on the drag queen circuit with an assist from a magical Elvis impersonator. Since some authors develop their themes or handle dialect better than others, the mojo level varies from story to story. Luisah Teish (Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals) provides an introduction. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Mojo, a West African term that originally referred to a cloth bag with magical contents, now refers to magic itself and the magical heritage of African cultures. In these 19 original stories, contributors give voice to the tradition of supernatural powers able to exact revenge, justice, or simple relief in the lives of Africans in the diaspora. The contributors include Tananarive Due, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, and Steven Barnes, with tales from Africa and the American South. A shape changer onboard a slave ship wreaks havoc with the ship's crew and later the slave masters. A mother who knows her child isn't destined to stay with her long evokes a trickster to try to save his life. A young girl with special powers searches to release her father from her stepmother's spell, freeing him to help her beloved brother, who is headed for a courtroom lynching in a Klan-dominated town. The settings vary from slavery to the present day, rural to urban, but the underlying theme conveys the power and endurance of African folkways and belief in conjure. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
An extraordinary collection of original stories that draws on African magic and lore, written by the finest SF and fantasy writers and edited by the award-winning author of Brown Girl in the Ring. When enslaved people were brought from the western part of Africa to the Americas, they were forbidden to speak their native languages or practice their religions in the New World. But their folkways survived as underground beliefs, and, in the crucible of slavery, created systems of magic and herbal lore with a particularly West African flavor. MOJO draws on the talents of writers who have a reputation for the sensitive, imaginative use of folklore and folkways in their work.


About the Author
Nalo Hopkinson lives in Toronto, Canada.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Mojo -- a powerful, disturbing anthology edited by Nalo Hopkinson that explores the world of voodoo -- contains short stories by some of the biggest names in modern fantasy, including Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Steven Barnes, Andy Duncan, and Tananarive Due. Although the stories explore the myths and legends of personal magic, the subject matter ranges widely from African warriors in the holds of slave ships to abused children plotting revenge to drag queens to the undead living in affluent closed communities.

In Neil Gaiman's "Bitter Grounds," an anthropology professor is on his way to a conference in New Orleans to present a paper on the legend of the Haitian coffee girls, undead children who allegedly went door-to-door selling a chicory coffee mixture just before the dawn. When his car breaks down on a backwoods road, he runs into a mysterious Samaritan who comes into his life for a very definite reason.

The introduction by Luisah Teish, a popular spiritualist and author of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, says it all: "Reader, Be Aware! There's a conjuring going on. You are being lured, with the turning of each page, into the myth and mystery of our DeepBlack magical heritage."

Unlike many anthologies, this collection of 19 original stories has no weak spots. Every tale is strong, unique, and noteworthy in its own right. Fans of Nalo Hopkinson works like Brown Girl in the Ring and the short story collection Skin Folk will cherish this brilliant collection. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The author of Skin Folk and Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson is renowned for combining urban literary sensibilities with the rich lore of African-Caribbean cultures. Now, in a powerful anthology of nineteen original stories that explore the perils of personal magic, she brings together some of the most honored voices in modern fantasy and brilliant new talents of African Diaspora fiction. Exploding the myths of zombies and voodoo curses, these narratives range from the ancient rites of the Ibo to the bellies of slave ships, from '20s Jim Crow to '60s Black Power, from unmarked graves at midnight to quiet suburbs at dawn -- and prove that where heartache and faith meet, you will find the crossroads for conjuring magic.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

The presence of mojo, ouanga or obeah in the New World is almost entirely a legacy of the slave trade, another reason why stories dealing with it tend to be somber more than antic. Although Eliot Fintushel's "White Man's Trick" has its wry moments and Andy Duncan's "Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull" is charged with grim humor, most of the stories in Mojo are distinctly dark. Many are from relatively new writers, and several more from people whose work lies primarily outside the fantasy genre. Although Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes and Neil Gaiman turn in smoothly professional performances, some of the most powerful stories are from these unfamiliar names. — Gregory Feeley

Publishers Weekly