The Dance of Shadows by Rogba Payne wins The Aldiss Award!

Massive congratulations to Rogba Payne for winning the inaugural 2025 Brian Aldiss Award for World Building in Speculative Fiction! He won for his debut fantasy novel ‘The Dance of Shadows’.

The Brian Aldiss Awards give out an annual award to acknowledge cultural artefacts (literature and gaming) specifically for their efforts in world building in the science fiction & fantasy genre.

This is a well deserved win for Rogba Payne and if you haven’t read ‘The Dance of Shadows’ yet this is your sign to do so!

The high fantasy novel inspired by West African spirituality, is not to be missed!

Rumi and his family are Odu, stricken with poverty and disparaged by the other tribes. When ruthless agents of the Palmaine – the colonising nation that dominates the continent of Basmine – threaten to destroy the village market, Rumi takes it upon himself to liberate his family. Taking a place in the prestigious Golden Room, where earnings from his music offer a chance at freedom, he shoulders his pride and resentment in a bid to make it to the top.

On what should be Rumi’s greatest night at the Golden Room, his life is turned upside down. A terrifying individual known as the Priest of Vultures attacks Rumi and his family. Before her death, Rumi’s mother, Adunola, solicits the help of a dying god and saves Rumi, setting him on the path to become a Shadowwielder: warriors with the ability to use their shadow as a weapon. But Rumi’s need for vengeance may be more important to him than the future of his people…

Purchase a copy of ‘The Dance of Shadows’ here.