Works of fiction are often inspired by things that happen to an author in real life.
But when Maurice Broaddus started working for a community benefitting nonprofit, he probably didn’t think it would lead him to write an Afrofuturist science fiction space opera trilogy.
In the following email interview, Broaddus talks about both this series, the Astra Black trilogy, and its recently released second installment, Breath Of Oblivion (hardcover, Kindle).
Photo Credit: Chandra Lynch / ANKH Photography
For people who didn’t read the first book, Sweep Of Stars, what is the Astra Black trilogy about, and when and where is this story set?
Astra Black is about Muungano. This self-sufficient Pan African community originally started on the moon, but then spreads out from the moon to Bronzeville on Mars to the moon of Titan, and there’s a mining colony, Oyigiyigi.
It basically follows three story lines:
1) You have the death of one of their co-founders, and the struggle for succession in the community.
2) You have this group of a military unit called the HOVA exploring the other side of a wormhole.
3) A generational starship, powered by jazz music, is off doing research on the far side of the solar system and discovers a mystery.
All while you have these forces, mostly from Original Earth, who are trying to reunite all their colonies under Earth’s authority. Plus the possibility of a possible alien invasion.
The story takes place about 100 or so years from now.
And then for people who have read Sweep Of Stars, and thus can ignore me writing SPOILER ALERT, what happens in Breath Of Oblivion, and when and where does it take place in relation to Sweep?
By the end of Sweep Of Stars, all of our heroes find ourselves in whole lot of different spaces. With Breath Of Oblivion, one of the big themes is, how do you carry the culture — of this world that you’ve created — with you no matter where you find yourself? Without spoilers, you may find yourself suddenly imprisoned in a prison. You may find yourself trapped and lost on the far side of the universe. You may find yourself caught between warring alien factions. You may find yourself on a planet where you are being taught this ancient magical magic system while being hunted by assassins.
When in relation to writing Sweep Of Stars did you come up with the plot for Breath Of Oblivion, and what inspired it?
The Astra Black trilogy is actually inspired by my work in the Indianapolis community. I work with a nonprofit called the Kheprw Institute, a youth leadership development organization. I just sort of imagined a world set up on our terms. That becomes the basis of Muungano. I basically spent a year and a half dreaming alongside my neighbors about what this world could look like, with a lot of my friends inspiring many of the characters. I just picked up where Sweep Of Stars (literally) left off and kept it moving.
It sounds like the Astra Black trilogy is a science fiction space opera story, though it’s also been called Afrofuturistic. How you think of it, genre-wise?
The Astra Black trilogy is Afrofuturist centered, Afrofuturist inspired, and Afrofuturist in execution. It is also absolutely a space opera. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. What makes it Afrofuturist is that everything about this world is rooted in blackness. Everything stems from black culture. The jargon of the military is inspired by hip hop (HOVA units, with weapons they refer to as Bustas or DMX). The jazz starships was inspired by the music and mythology surrounding Sun Ra. The world’s technology informed by Parliament Funkadelic. The cultural references are grounded in history, such as the “prophets” ranging from black literary figures to hip hop artists.
But, yes, its fundamental bones are as a space opera. Very personal stories set against this cosmic backdrops. Characters struggling with their roles in society, struggling with what it means to be a part of this community, the legacy of this community, the weight and importance of where they find themselves in history, also the battling against oppressive forces that seem so huge.
Breath Of Oblivion is obviously not your first novel. Are there any writers, or stories, that had a big influence on Breath but not on anything else you’ve written, and especially not Sweep Of Stars?
N.K. Jemisin is a big one whose fingerprints are all over the Astra Black trilogy, particularly her Broken Earth trilogy. Walter Mosley, especially his collection, Futureland. But there’s a lot that went into this stew: Octavia Butler’s Parable Of The Sower; James Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain; Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens; Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer; Frank Herbert’s Dune; Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire; Stephon Alexander’s The Jazz Of Physics and Fear Of A Black Universe.
But also keep in mind that my series was pitched as Black Panther meets The Expanse.
What about non-literary influences; was Breath Of Oblivion influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
I’m a television junkie. Game Of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek.
As we’ve been discussing, Sweep Of Stars and Breath Of Oblivion are the first two books in the Astra Black trilogy. Do you know yet what the third book will be called and when it will be out?
The third book will be called A City Dreaming. The phrases “sweep of stars,” “breath of oblivion,” and “a city dreaming” are all phrases from a poem called “Stars” by Langston Hughes, one of my favorite poets.
I am diligently working on book three, with a hopeful release of this time next year. Spring of 2026 at the latest.
When it comes to trilogies, there are some people, myself included, who are inclined to wait until all three books are out so we can read them all back-to-back. But is there any reason why you think people shouldn’t wait to read Sweep Of Stars and Breath Of Oblivion? Or should but then not binge the trilogy? Or that they should wait and binge?
There’s a lot going on in the Astra Black series, so the closer together they are read, the more you can get out of them.
But folks can buy and read the books anytime, because I purposely wrote Breath Of Oblivion in such a way that you could even just jump into the trilogy with just Breath Of Oblivion and be caught up with what went on in Sweep Of Stars. There is a significant amount of world building that happens in Sweep Of Stars that makes Breath Of Oblivion a smoother ride, but you can definitely read them independently.
But, yeah, personally, I’d say buy them now, because I’m so close to wrapping up this third book.
Earlier I asked if Breath Of Oblivion had been influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But do you think Breath Of Oblivion, and thus the Astra Black trilogy, could work as a series of movies, a TV show, or a game?
I’ve been thinking about adapting it as a game, both as an RPG and as a board game. I’ve been thinking about different ways about how I could do that (like a cooperative board game with a card component).
While I think movies would be interesting, I think TV show would probably be the best way to adapt it, because of all of the storylines and characters that are going on in this series.
So, if someone wanted to adapt the Astra Black trilogy into a show, who would you want them to cast as Epyc, Amachi, Wachiru, and the other main characters?
Oh, man, it’s man. I can’t even think of who I’d want cast in it, though, to tell you the truth.
In a similar vein, if someone was making an Astra Black game, would you want to work on it like you did with some of the board games you’ve worked on? Or, if they made it into a video game, would you want to be on staff like you were for Watch Dogs 2?
It would be great as a video game, though. No matter what, if it was a video game, I’d like to work on it, much in the way I did with Watch Dogs 2, except coming early in the process. Or be in in the writers room for a TV series. I’m gonna lie: I love all these media and I’d love to participate in it even if only as a learning experience for myself.
So, is there anything else a prospective reader might need to know about Breath Of Oblivion and the Astra Black trilogy?
There’s a lot of stuff I put in there just for me. You know, a lot of jokes that might not land for folks but are pretty much are there just for my amusement. So, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Let the story wash over you.
Finally, if someone enjoys Breath Of Oblivion, and they’ve already read Sweep Of Stars, which of your other books would you suggest they read while waiting for A City Dreaming to out?
Oh, that’s an easy one: Pimp My Airship. It deals with a lot of similar themes that I’m dealing with in this trilogy, except that I lean heavier on it being a comic romp. It’s the book that I always recommend when people ask what’s the best starting place for people to get a feel for a Maurice Broaddus story.
