The Sleepless: Nuzo Onoh’s trail of African horror path

From The Reluctant Dead, her first horror book; Unhallowed Graves, her second to The Sleepless, her latest and to other books; Nuzo Onoh, a Nigerian-British author, has carved a niche for herself in horror writing.

Onoh, who is often called the ‘African Horror Queen’ by her fans, offers readers real insights on African horror, presented just the way they happen.

However, The Sleepless stands out for many reasons. It is mind-blowing and probably, the scariest of her horror books so far.

Sometimes we walk, Sometimes we fly, Sometimes we swim, Sometimes we crawl, Never do we sleep, Never do we dream, Never do we rest, Because we are The Sleepless!

The above excerpt is the haunting song sung by a group of ghost girls in The Sleepless. These were the girls that had died at the hands of uncaring adults in their village and the neighbouring villages.

The story is set amidst the Biafran War, in the Igbo culture of Eastern Nigeria and follows one child’s struggles against both the natural and supernatural forces that threaten to end her life before the deadly enemy bombs can do so. And perhaps, death from the skies is a better option than the terrifying alternative.

The book tells a story of an innocent boy who is lured to his death by the one person that should have protected him. Mysteriously, some know the truth about his disappearance; his little sister, Obelé, a child that hears a secret voice which tells her terrible things no child should know about. Obelé knows too much and must be killed. Her salvation lies in the hands of her new friends, a group of giggling little girls who she meets at an abandoned “cursed house”. Obele’s friendship with these spirits comes with a terrible price. And suddenly, Obelé starts to ask herself who exactly are her new friends. Worse, how can she free the tormented ghost of her dead brother, trapped by a witchdoctor’s curse?

In The Sleepless, the author skillfully and plausibly depicts haunting and revenge by dead children who have been victims of adult abuse and evil. She further unveils how these innocent children who were weak victims in their lifetime are extremely powerful in death, wreaking unimaginable terror and mayhem on their living tormentors.

Speaking on the book, the author says, “African horror as depicted in The Sleepless is a cesspool of terrifying supernatural entities which few cultures can rival in their sheer volume and malevolence. Igbo horror in particular, has the same insidious quality found in Japanese horror, which has the ability to instill great fear in the unwary reader”.

The author also explores the reality of Africa and Africans, especially against imposing western culture and gradual extinction of African cultural heritage and growing estrangement from their roots.

While many still debate the issue of reincarnation, Nuzo Onoh simplifies the reality of the myth, establishes the connection between the worlds of the living, the dead, and the unborn. She goes further to reveal the traditional African conception of life and time as endless circles all in The Sleepless.

Beyond exploring and creating awareness of the African horror genre, the author is further redirecting readers, especially African Diaspora to their roots and myths that are still reality despite the impact of westernization.

Explaining the essential ingredient of African horror, she says, Africans respect, fear, revere or abhor their medicine men. Some cultures refer to them as Juju-men, Root-healers, Voodoo-men or witchdoctors. By whatever name they go, they all boil down to one thing – powerful men (and at times, very rarely, women) whose actions, good or bad, always impact on the daily lives of their people. No African Horror story is ever complete without reference to these powerful and controversial Medicine-men”.

Also distinguishing between African horror stories and folktales, the author says both are different contrary to popular conception. “These days, modern African horror is written in prose and style similar to mainstream horror, which readers from all over the globe can relate to. My last book, The Reluctant Dead, enjoyed wide readership from fans worldwide, proving that true horror does indeed cross all boundaries. My latest book, Unhallowed Graves, follows in the same style, while retaining its distinct African voice”, she explains.

She insists that African horror books and films are out there for anyone interested in discovering the terrifying tales from our mysterious continent. “Unfortunately, due to the unsatisfactory classification of literary works, one is likely to find African horror books under “Multicultural” rather than under “Horror”. Hopefully, in the near future, an overhaul of the classification system will see more horror works by Africans writers and non-African writers writing African Horror, classified under their rightful category – Horror”, she concludes.

Those who want to read ‘The Sleepless’, her recent novel, should contact Palamedes PR, UK’s No.1 publicist, for copies.