Zebra Crossings, tales from the shaman's record

'Zebra Crossings, tales from the shaman's record' is a picaresque episodic novel (published by Jacana Media, Johannesburg, in 2008). It began with short stories that I published in lit magazines and by invitation in books on SA culture and society. I realised that the protagonists deserve a book to themselves.

They are Malibongwe Ngingingini, an eclectic sangoma or Southern African shamanic healer, and his apprentice Anna Persens. They encounter a series of curious situations and characters, across the chapters of this book, and towards the end they travel to Egypt and thence via London to Mandeville College, Oxford, to participate in ICSATH - the International Congress of Shamans and Traditional Healers.

The overall theme is imagination and healing, social reconciliation, reality and magic combined. The tone is mostly picaresque, with sombre moments. I draw on my own travel experiences in Southern Africa, the USA, UK, Europe and the Middle East, on foot or motorcycle. I blend current reality with local and global myths and legends.

The book was published in 2008 but I understand that second-hand copies are available via Amazon.

I followed this up with the first sequel, 'The Zombie and the Moon, more tales from the shaman's record', in 2011. I am working at present on the next sequel.

But I am also working at present on a larger project, aimed directly for possible publication in the UK, for a wider audience - set in a quasi-steampunk and holographic universe, with primary focus on the Mediterranean world circa 30AD. This I call 'The Hands of Riki Jordan' and it might run to as many as nine volumes in three trilogies.