Balogun Ojetade is the author of the bestselling non-fiction books Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within, The Afrikan Warriors Bible, Surviving the Urban Apocalypse, The Urban Self Defense Manual, The Young Afrikan Warriors’ Guide to Defeating Bullies & Trolls, Never Unarmed: The Afrikan Warriors’ Guide to Improvised Weapons and Ofo Ase: 365 Daily Affirmations to Awaken the Afrikan Warrior Within.
He is one of the leading authorities on Afroretroism – film, fashion or fiction that combines African and / or African American culture with a blend of “retro” styles and futuristic technology, in order to explore the themes of tension between past and future and between the alienating and empowering effects of technology. He writes about Afroretroism – Sword & Soul, Rococoa, Steamfunk and Dieselfunk at http://chroniclesofharriet.com/.
He is author of seventeen novels and gamebooks – MOSES: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Books 1 & 2); The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman: Freedonia; Redeemer; Once Upon A Time In Afrika; Fist of Afrika; A Single Link; Wrath of the Siafu; The Scythe; The Keys; Redeemer: The Cross Chronicles; Beneath the Shining Jewel; Q-T-Pies: The Savannah Swan Files (Book 0) and A Haunting in the SWATS: The Savannah Swan Files (Book 1); Siafu Saves the World; Siafu vs. The Horde; Dembo’s Ditty and The Beatdown – contributing co-editor of three anthologies: Ki: Khanga: The Anthology, Steamfunk and Dieselfunk and contributing editor of the Rococoa anthology and Black Power: The Superhero Anthology.
He is also the creator and author of the Afrofuturistic manga series, Jagunjagun Lewa (Pretty Warrior) and co-author of the Ngolo graphic novel.
Finally, he is co-author of the award winning screenplay, Ngolo and co-creator of Ki Khanga: The Sword and Soul Role-Playing Game, both with author Milton Davis.
Reach him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Afrikan.Martial.Arts and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Baba_Balogun. Find his books on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Balogun-Ojetade/e/B00AVEA7SU.
Chronicles of Harriet 
thanks for following my blog!
Thanks for having a great blog!
Hey, just stumbled upon your site through the Twitter-verse. Speculative Fiction writer here, myself. Just wanted to say you have a really innovative, fantastically designed thing going here, same with the original themes that you explore in genre fiction literature. I would never have known what Steamfunk was (let alone been able to identify and define it), had I not visited your page. Kudos, and much success. Lawrence Dagstine.
I am glad you found me, Lawrence! Thanks, so much and may you too continue to be successful! 🙂
I am a newbie to the world of Steampunk. I am also a woman of color, consisting of quite a few nationalities, so I have been researching the non-typical Steampunk sites when I came across Chronicles of Harriet. I am thrilled to read such a new vision on the subject and want to applaud you for all of your extensive research into the past to expose the contributions by people of color to the industrial age and also to your creativity with including them in the genre of Steampunk for the 21st century. Bravo ‘Balogun’.
Thank you, so much!
I am glad you found me! 🙂
I am also woman of color that’s new to Steampunk. I was looking for local African-American Steampunk forums when I can across Chronicles of Harriet. I am really enjoying your blog and how you are bring the triumphs of the past into the new age! I think SteamFunk will be bigger than anything Steampunk will ever be!
Wow! Thanks, so much! I am glad you found us! 🙂
I like what you do. I hope U have resources to update more frequently. Please consider adding categories to your headline such as: Afro Sci-Fi and Afrofuturism. These are the cutting edge for African Diaspora Speculative Fiction and Arts. There are many new performers and authors cresting. Black folks are attending more cons and buying more afrocentric products (novels, comics, movies, etc.). Others also are buying. This could be the nu AFRO-Renaissance. Thanks for your contribution.
Thanks, Stafford! On average, I post twice a week. This has been a busy time for me lately, with the recent Black Science Fiction Film Festival, the release of Ki-Khanga: The Anthology and the upcoming release of the Steamfunk Anthology (both in collaboration with Milton J. Davis). Thank YOU for your great works!
Friend just shared “RACISM IN ROLE-PLAYING GAMES!” Very good read! I would love to feature you on my blog, Have You Nerd, sometime as the “Guy of the Month”! Would you be interested? (haveyounerd.com and facebook.com/haveyounerd)
Thank you! I most certainly would be interested!
Awesome! Please email me at terra[at]haveyounerd[.]com
Look forward to hearing from you!
[…] My fellow nominees — Magpie Killjoy (better known as the founder of Steampunk Magazine), Balogun Ojetade, Steampunk Emma Goldman, and Jeni Hellum — have also done extensive work in their own right […]
Just received my hard copy of Steamfunk edited by Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade. Once I am finished reading the last novel in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series I will proceed, tout suite, with my new addition to my steampunk library. So excited!
Merci, for your support, Madame!
Please, let us know how you enjoy the read. 🙂
Love this blog!
Thanks, Eugenia!
I just found your blog and It’s brilliant. I look forward to exploring you writing further!
Thanks, so much!
[…] Rococoa, and your great interest, Sword and Soul. Creative authors like Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade paint vivid pictures of worlds past, with pleasant and exciting twists. There is “Iniko” by […]
I would love to have you as a guest speaker/workshop presenter at our local scifi convention here on the east coast of Canada. Here in Nova Scotia we have a number of cosplayers of color who bravely become LINK from Zelda, Sailor Moon…and steampunk personas also! What a boost of radiance you could bring if this was possible! Please look up our group on facebook and say hello! Your article had me smiling all night long, until I decided to write this…at almost midnight 🙂
Marina Smith
Jules Verne Phantastical Society
Founder and President
I would love to be a guest. Nova Scotia is on my list of places to visit soon. I am glad you enjoyed the article. Thanks, so much, for your feedback! 🙂
Dear Balogun,
I want to invite you to contribute to a volume of writers and artists responding to the work–and the racism–of H. P. Lovecraft.
HPL considered pretty much everybody but “Nordics” his biological and cultural inferiors, yet SF continues to revere not just his fiction but the man himself. So we are asking some of the SF fans and geeks who belong to demographics that HPL slandered to “write back.”
You have my email; please write me if you think you might be interested.
–Ezra Claverie
Wow. I found your site thru an image search on “Coatsville Lynching of Zack Taylor”. Landed here and a whole new world emerged. I am a lily white, middle aged, historian, currently writing on slavery, and a biography of a reluctant Confederate soldier… probably about as far removed from your readership demographic as can be – but I am just simply mesmerized. First time my research has made me smile, and given me hope for the country we all share, in a very, very long time. This looks to me like the first blush of honest truth and reconciliation – KEEP IT GOING!
You fit right into my readership demographic, actually, Grace! 🙂
Welcome aboard and thanks, so much for your feedback!
Hey Balogun! You got some good stuff going on on this site. Keep up the good work and I will get back with you soon about some things I got in the works.
Thanks, brother! I look forward to conversing with you.
[…] at the blog of steamfunk author Balogun, the writer of Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman makes the case for why black children need […]
https://www.blogger.com/profile/13962103370208944780
Drop by and see us sometimes…Your work is provocative. From: William Pleasant (Yes, Mary Ellen’s great-great grand nephew!)
[…] steampunk steamfunk? You have to know about Balogun Ojetade, author of the Chronicles of Harriet series, self published by Roaring Lions Produections. Come back […]
[…] About […]
I’m glad I found this. I am a writer of Fantasy…more or less like the Conan and The Chronicles of Narnia. Of course I watch movies as well like John Carter, Jack, The Neverending Story, Thor, Star Trek, and other well known movies…Marvels. Yet, I’ve been writing this genre of over twenty years and still haven’t found a publisher or an agent. I’ve raised my children and have grandchildren and I feel that I’m at the end of my rope, but I’m not giving up. It can get frustrated, because they have the market corner, and don’t think that we have an imagination for this type of genre. I know about Octavia Butler, but we can’t let her be the last African American female that writes fantasy. We watch their movies don’t we? We read their books, don’t we? Fantasy is about creating a world of interesting people like in Robert E. Lewis Conan and C.S. Lewis’s Chronicle of Narnia. It’s not about race, just people in that era…and the magic that goes with it…I wrote a book called, Keepers of The Red Stone and I’ve been trying to sell it for yes over twenty years. I even changed my name to Les Campshire, using three first letters of my brothers coming up with Les Campshire and the name from the Songs of Solomon when he wrote about the sweet smelling flower Campshire. It’s not official yet, but I’m probably will be using that name. We have to do Like Shonda Rhimes, and make our name known enter those contests! Don’t give up! Find blogs like yours so that someone can listen to us and most of keep writing, and believe that God will open those doors for us!
I’m glad you found us, Les!
We no longer seek others to do what we can do for ourselves and do well. While we need authors in the mainstream, we also need indie publishers putting out great work and controlling the images of US presented to the world.
I noticed the Roaring Lion Productions site is offline. What’s the matter?
Over the three years I maintained the site, I sold very few books from it. Most of my sales are from Amazon, followed by sales at conventions, so I let it go.
[…] Shawn A. Cosby, Milton Davis, Malon Edwards, Joe Hilliard, Ronald Jones, Carole McDonnell, Balogun Ojetade and James A Staten as they add a funky twist to the Dieselpunk […]
[…] Khanga: The Sword and Soul Role Playing Game, by Balogun Ojetade and Milton Davis, puts you in the role of a character of your liking in a world of mystery and […]
[…] for more! Issue #1 of this hilarious and action-packed comic book/manga, written and created by Balogun Ojetade and illustrated by Chris Miller, is available NOW in e-book and paperback […]
[…] the other side of cotton gin punk is “steamfunk,” coined by Balogun Ojetade to refer to his work Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (which re-imagines the iconic figure […]
[…] origin story I know of comes from author, Afroretroism expert, and gamewriter Balogun Ojetade. According to this post, he and author Milton Davis came up with the idea together one June; they […]