After rescuing the Children of Night, Abeni and her friends are in search of the elder spirits—who they hope can protect Asha. But before the group can reach their destination, they’re captured and held prisoner by the Kingdom of the Gold Spinners, whose magics manipulate gold to build and achieve wonders. To secure their freedom, the companions make an agreement to retrieve the kingdom’s sacred and mystical Golden Throne, the very soul of their people—said to be hidden in a lost city beneath the sands and guarded by a terrible dragon. For Abeni, the quest for the throne becomes a race against time—the only means to assure she and her friends do not suffer the fate of being turned into living statues of gold forever.
But there are other dangers.
The Witch Priest has learned of Asha’s existence and has sent his forces to find her. Leading this search is a mortal teenage girl, who the Witch Priest has adopted almost as a daughter. With a pack of minions including the frightening Bat Riders and new villains like the coldhearted Huntsman and his three monstrous hounds, she sets out after Abeni and her friends—driven by a determination to prove her own strength and worth, to both her unforgiving “father” and herself.
Abeni will find herself facing these new challenges as she seeks to bring back the Golden Throne, evade the Witch Priest’s hunters, and fulfill her own quest to find the disappeared people of her village.
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Alternate historical fantasy and speculative fiction gained a distinct voice with the release of the novel A Master of Djinn, which reimagines an early twentieth-century Cairo filled with magic, spirits, and complex mystery. Written by P. Djèlí Clark, the work builds on a rich foundation of short fiction and novellas that blend mythology, history, and folklore.
From dark fantasy reimaginings of historical eras to vibrant magical worlds, Clark has constructed a wide-ranging body of fiction. His works include acclaimed novellas such as Ring Shout and The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, as well as middle-grade fantasy adventures like Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold.
Born Dexter Gabriel in Queens, New York, in 1971, Clark spent his early life in Houston, Texas, and lived during formative years in Trinidad and Tobago, the homeland of his parents. He pursued higher education at Texas State University, earning both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts, before completing his Ph.D. at Stony Brook University in New York. As the first member of his family to earn a college degree, he established an academic career as a professor of history at the University of Connecticut.
Under the pen name P. Djèlí Clark (and Phenderson Djèlí Clark), he began publishing speculative short stories in the early 2010s in venues such as Tor.com, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Fireside Fiction, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, as well as print anthologies like Griots, Hidden Youth, and Clockwork Cairo. Beyond his fiction writing, Clark is a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine and has served as a reviewer for Strange Horizons.
Clark's writing frequently merges rigorous historical knowledge with speculative elements, drawing upon African, Caribbean, and Islamic mythologies, folklore, and alternate histories. His narratives often explore themes of imperialism, race, resistance, and cultural identity, using detailed period settings as backdrops for supernatural intrigue and investigative mysteries.
Technically, his prose balances detailed world-building with fast-paced storytelling and sharp characterization. Whether writing about airships over an alternate nineteenth-century New Orleans, magical investigators in Cairo, or dark supernatural forces in the Jim Crow American South, Clark weaves historical research into immersive speculative environments.
Abeni’s Song
