Marlon James Is Publishing an “African Game of Thrones”

The Man Booker Prize winner takes on the Fantasy Genre in His Latest Project

In 2015, Vulture reported on Marlon James’s intention to go full throttle geek and write his own fantasy series. The author of the critically acclaimed A Brief History of Seven Killings was inspired by the likes of George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien, but was “sick and tired…of arguing about whether there should be a black hobbit in Lord of the Rings.” Today it was announced that James has officially taken the matter into his own hands, and Riverhead will be publishing his epic series, The Dark Star Trilogy — an “African Game of Thrones”. The forthcoming books will be steeped in African mythology, and James will bring to life an entire new universe, complete with complex histories and fascinating characters. Here is the official description released by Riverhead Books:

“Three characters — the Tracker, the Moon Witch, and the Boy — are locked in a dungeon in the castle of a dying king, awaiting torture and trial for the death of a child. They were three of eight mercenaries who had been hired to find the child; the search, expected to take two months, took nine years. In the end, five of the eight mercenaries, as well as the child, were dead.

What happened? Where did their stories begin? And how did each story end? These are the questions Marlon James poses in the Dark Star Trilogy, three novels set amid African legend and his own fertile imagination — an African Game of Thrones. From royal intrigue to thrilling and dangerous voyages, and complete with pirates, queens, witches, shape-shifters and monsters, these novels are part fantasy, part myth and part detective story — all from the author of the Man Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings.”

The books are expected to be published next year.