You Are Welcome To The Online Book Tour Of Umari Ayim’s Guardian Of The Fall

May 15, 2017 Chioma Iwunze-Ibiam

Creative writing news is elated to host Umari Ayim’s novel ”Guardian of the fall” online book tour. This book tour promises to give you insights into the supernatural aspects of our African belief system. This novel poses a long standing philosophical question ”Are our actions solely ours or are they predetermined by forces stronger than ourselves?”

To win a copy of Guardian of the fall, we implore you to participate by asking the author questions in the comment section. As seen in the image above, creativewritingnews.net is the first of 5 online book tour stops. Participate in all the book tours and increase your chances of winning a copy of Guardian of the fall.

This is an interactive book tour. Do not be shy to ask the Umari Ayim questions in the comments section. She is available to respond to all of them. If you are a budding writer, this is an opportunity to seek some sage advice and gain first hand information on how to improve your craft (just saying).

Enjoy the book tour!

Book Description

The story is spun around the Guardian, the eponymous character, and keeper of a picturesque forest and waterfall in Agbokim village, in Cross River State, Nigeria. The Guardian is a force, a deity of some sort, which exhibits formidable powers, including shape shifting (appearing as a child, an old woman, an owl, a snake, a satyr-like creature, and a goat with a baby’s face). It attempts to match make its messenger, Erom, with Ken, a developer who wants to build a resort near the falls. Erom, with no say in the matter, is chosen, as a messenger of the Guardian; Ken’s parents decide his profession, university, where he’ll work and even the day he should start work; and the Guardian, through dreams and visions, essentially pulls Erom and Ken together, which, upon introspection, asks the philosophical question – how real and true is human love if it is predestined and fated by the gods? From the Kikuyu creation story, to the subtle painting of Omom as almost an allegory to Jesus, faith in the supernatural is also big in the novel.

About Author

Umari Ayim is a lawyer, writer and poet. Umari has always had a passion for writing since she was a little girl living in the bustling city of Lagos. As a member of the Literary and Debating Society of her secondary school, Umari served as the director of poetry and also wrote stage plays for the society. Her first book, a novel, ‘Twilight at Terracotta Indigo’ won the ANA/NDDC Flora Nwapa Prize for Women Writing in 2011. Her second book, a collection of poems titled ‘Inside My Head’ won the ANA Poetry Prize the following year in 2012. As a social commentator and gender activist, Umari has also published several articles published in both traditional and online media platforms.

Listen to excerpts from Guardian of the fall

Transcript of the audio file you just listened to;

Erom climbed off the bus and stretched her stiff muscles. She felt like she had been traveling for a whole day, instead of the three hours it had taken her. The ground was soggy with small circles of muddy water everywhere. Erom looked down with annoyance at the thin line of mud clinging to the hem of her blue trouser. Plucking a tissue from her handbag, she brushed hard at the hem for several minutes. She stopped when her anxious ministrations seemed to produce no result and flicked the tissue into the open mouth of the small green bin in the bus. She walked a few feet from the bus, feeling her confidence return with every step she took. The headscarves that kept her hair hidden had been abandoned in the village, her long hair swept back and held fast at the nape of her neck with a black velvet band. The last time she checked her reflection in the small handheld mirror in her bag, she had been satisfied with the full eyebrows that arched naturally and the pale pink eye shadow on her eyelid. She knew her eyes were brightened with the black of the kohl she had applied and her lips shone with the lip-gloss she carried around with her.

She passed a crowd of locals milling around a young food seller heaping rice on plastic plates. The park was fenced, but the wide exit that faced the road was without a gate. The usual rush hour din of taxi horns and several motorcycles, blending with loud music from a music shop beside the road pushed a wild mixture of sounds into the evening air. Erom swung her large black handbag on her right shoulder and held the small bag that contained few clothes in her left hand. It felt good to be away from Agbokim, she didn’t feel so out of place in the city where she had spent five years getting her degree in Mass Communication. She had walked a few steps towards the road beside the park when her phone began to ring.

“Where are you now?”

The enormity of what she was about to do hit Erom with a force. She had travelled several kilometers without her mother’s knowledge to spend the night with Ofem. What if she was making a mistake?

“I just arrived Calabar now.”

“Do you remember The Prince Guest House?”

Erom remembered. He had tried to seduce her there three weeks after they first met. “Yes I do.”

“I have already booked a room.” A pause and then his voice came back on. “Just collect the keys from the woman at the reception when you get there.”

Transcript;

Erom sighed when the call came to an end. It was too late now. There was no way she could turn back now. She walked to the road with brisk steps and waved down a motorcyclist.

“IBB Way,” she told the young rider that pulled up beside her. When the man nodded, she swung her legs over the seat of the motorcycle, straddling it with ease.

“Let’s go.”

The motorcyclist revved his bike, turning the rumbling machine in the opposite direction. Just as they surged forward, a man appeared from nowhere, running into the direct path of the motorcycle. Erom’s heart skipped in fear as the motorcycle swerved unsteadily to the side. She felt the world tip and saw the ground rise up to meet her. But just before the inevitable collision, she found herself lifted back into an upright position again. The young motorcyclist expressed his outrage in an expletive laden rant about careless pedestrians while Erom struggled to catch her breath. She looked up to find the man they had almost run into holding on to the handlebars of the motorcycle and looking into her eyes.

“Sorry,” the man said to the motorcyclist, his eyes still fastened on Erom. “I did not see you coming.” Her rider straightened and released the handlebars. Dismissing the man’s apology with a careless wave of hand, the motorcyclist commandeered the motorcycle back on the road, continuing their journey. Gripping the bags she heaped on her thighs, Erom looked back at the man the motorcyclist had almost run over. He was fading into a slow walking shadow, yet she felt as if he was just right behind the fast moving motorcycle. She knew that stare – it was the unmistakable eyes of the Guardian looking at her.

Check Out Reviews for Guardian of the Fall

Umari Ayim is an award-winning writer with a respectable body of work both in prose and poetry. Guardian of the Fall stubbornly refuses to fit into the genre box. Favourite line? When the Guardian tells Erom, “…Not all questions in life will be answered”. Favourite scene? The haunting one involving the murder-sacrifice of a child: for some inexplicable reason, it reminded me of the death of Ikemefuna in Things fall Apart. – Chiemeka Garricks, author of Tomorrow Died Yesterday

The Guardian of The Fall is a beautiful blend of African myth and fantasy colliding with the modern world". Umari Ayim awakens our five senses in the pages of his book; her words make you see, smell, hear, taste and touch the elements of the pages. She paints a beautiful image of nature encompassed by mystery and takes us an extraordinary adventure through the forests of Cross River.

– Princess Abumere, Founder, The Sunshine Book Club

Enjoyed the book tour? Ask Umari your questions in the comments section. She is available to answer them. Do not forget, one lucky person stands the chance to win a copy of this enthralling book. Increase your chances of winning a copy by participating in the tour tomorrow on lolaopatayo.com. See other tour stops here.

Enjoyed this book tour? Purchase your copy of ”Guardian of the fall” on Konga and Quramo.com now. You can also visit a book store near you to make your purchase. See a list of stores below:

Buy Addresses/Bookshops

Quramo Publishing Limited Office

The Simi Johnson Centre, 13 Sinari Daranijo Victoria Island Lagos

+234 (0) 909 174 0210, +234 (0)1 454 7878

Jazzhole

168 Awolowo Way, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria

+234 (0) 803 332 0398

Patabah Books

Shop B18, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping mall, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street,

Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria.

+234 (0) 709 048 5129, +234 (0) 1 730 7640.

Quintessence Limited

Plot 13, Block 44, Park View Estate Entrance, Off Gerrard Road, Ikoyi Lagos,

Nigeria. +234 (0) 802 699 2535

Salamander Café Limited

5 Bujumbura Street, Off Libreville Street, Off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2

Abuja, Nigeria.

+234 (0) 809 220 4424, +234 (0) 809 220 4424

Roving Heights Books Nigeria

+234 (0) 703 203 8633, +234 (0) 909 215 8968