Martyr Loser King

This dense and incantatory fable from musician and poet Williams ((US) a.) and multimedia artist Sorne melds political critique, spirituality, and Afro-mythology with cyberpunk imagery. In the East African country of Burundi, the land and people are ravaged. Matalusa’s brother is killed by a soldier while mining a resource called coltan. He flees and meets Elohel, a one-armed man who understands coltan’s properties. They build a home in a graveyard of technology that the ore once powered, and encounter a girl named Memory who’s guided by a bird only she can communicate with. Slowly more refugees with unique backstories find their way to the camp. When a cosmic being called Neptune joins, the technology comes to life, and the art transitions from black-and-white to neon. Ultimately, the heroes find that #martyrloserking trends worldwide as a global tech breach is reported. As the rest of the world reacts to the hack in various ways, the people of Martyrloserkingdom philosophize about art, music, poetry, and how to use the power they now hold. While lyrical ambition overwhelms narrative clarity at times, the spirit of this work is infectious. It’s a graphic poem of resistance wonderfully told through Afrofuturistic flare. Agent: (for Williams) Charlotte Gusay, Charlotte Gusay Agency. (Apr.)