U.M. Agoawike
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Questions, comments, concerns? Use the form. For publishing-related inquiries contact Emily Forney at BookEnds Literary.

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Black as Diamond

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2026 Awards Eligibility

If you're a reader, voter, or nominator, I would be honoured if you could consider my work.My short fiction is eligible for the Nebulas, Hugo, Locus, Dragon, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy. My novel is eligible for most fantasy and SF/F awards, as well as the Lammys. I believe I'm also eligible for the Astounding Award.From the bottom of my heart: thank you very much for your support and for reading my stories, regardless of nomination. It means a lot to have captured your attention, even for a couple hundred words.

Novel

Black as Diamond (Bindery Books, March 2026)
^{Like the rest of the winged eresh keyel, warrior Asaru has spent his life fighting a long-dead enemy. When his brother’s squadron disappears from a border keep, Asaru travels into the human realm to investigate, only to become ensnared by a fatal—and unbreakable—curse that could wipe out his people. When he inadvertently commits a terrible crime, Asaru is thrown into the path of Wren, a former healer-in-training playing with dangerous magic. Bound to one another by a spell gone wrong, and on the run from freelance killers, they set out to find the Chronicler, who could bring them answers, redemption, and the cure to Asaru’s curse. But the secrets they uncover about the past have the power to break the world into pieces, ending human civilization and settling its remnants into something entirely new.}

Short fiction

Divinity, Abloom (Tales & Feathers, Augur Society, February 2026)
^{You cradle the newborn god, its leaves spilling over your gloved fingers as a pair of arms encircle your waist.}
    ◉ Short story (1,567 words)
    ◉ Fantasy, queer intimacy, infant gods & dreamy rituals, divinity of the natural worldFamily Will Eat You Alive (Consumed, Arbutus Studios, March 2026)
^{When Kenné sat down to dine, it was at a table of monsters: their mother, their father, and their uncle.}
    ◉ Short story (1,870 words)
    ◉ Horror, beastly immigrant families, deadnaming as textual erasureItsy Bitsy (Kaleidotrope, July 2026)
^{It is not unlike dying when the body that was Chinyere becomes a husk as the sensorate ejects itself from their living corpse.}
    ◉ Short story (1,910 words)
    ◉ Fantasy, nursery rhyme retelling, eldritch afterworlds, torture as loveSwallow (ergot., September 2026)
^{The following events are inspired by Goat's Opus, a silent short film directed by ████████ and rediscovered by E. Agu.}
    ◉ Short story (7,210 words)
    ◉ Choose your own existential drama, nonbinary body horror, worms & worms & worms & worms
^{*Also eligible as interactive fiction}Gloaming Skies (On Spec, Shadowpaw Press, October 2026)
^{With a single swing, the Huntress decapitates the hissing vampire.}
    ◉ Short story (4,011 words)
    ◉ Dark fantasy, vampire vampire hunter, the power of blood & stories, mother-daughter road tripKnowing Is A Hungry Thing (Prometheus, Snakeskin Press, October 2026)
^{[OXYGEN 100%] The Librarian observes a monument made of space dust compacted over billions of years.}
    ◉ Short story (5,596 words)
    ◉ Cosmic survival horror, living libraries, alternate universes, found footageAllomorphosis (NYGEL, November 2026)
^{“Take off your skin and let me crawl inside you,” Bell, the alien, said as it unzipped its skin-tight body con dress.}
    ◉ Short story (2,326 words)
    ◉ Weird erotica, sex that is not sex, robots & aliens, unnnamable fluids
^{*Reprinted from White Wall Review}

If you're interested in reading a paywalled piece for consideration, contact me and I'll happily send it to you!