‘’ Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.’’ – Plato
I have never met Idris Mohammed, the Zaria based Nigerian author whose books so far have been the sole contact I still have with him. I was privileged to get some of his books from a mutual friend Abdulkarim Rabiu, of Voice of Nigeria (VON). And since books to me are a source of happiness, I must confess that I was awe struck by his books. I knew what it takes to write a book. And I think of the entire act bestowed on man, the act of crafting words into sentences is one of the noblest and the most cumbersome of all. So, seeing five sets of books written by the same author at a go, was a marvel to me knowing the challenges authors go through in this country.
To write one piece of a book or a novel is a herculean task for those who have passed through the tough bridge of writing and those still struggling to cross the bridge of words. Personal experience has proved to me that the Nigerian author faces one of the most challenging tasks in sub-Saharan Africa. The epileptic power supply, hash economic reality and current insecurity have all contributed to make the Nigerian author a daily struggling writer. But write, he or she must do, as this noble act has its way of inspiring and challenging the author’s restless mind. And this I believe is what has kept the pen of Idris Mohammed, like many other Nigerian authors flowing over the years. The creativity and the perturbing words must be expressed and the massage relayed no matter the situation. Idris Mohammed’s five amazing books contain various messages targeted at different sets of readers and most importantly some of his stories relate to our daily lives and some of the ills in our society.
A good reflection is the story of Larai, Luba and Linda in his ‘Dancing Flame’ , a collection of short stories. The story ‘Tele-communicators’ tells the pathetic story of three women from different backgrounds and status who all were living above their standards. They all lived a life of self-deceit through social media and tele-communication dating which culminated into falling victims to fraudsters. It’s a story every student in our higher institution, especially the female, should read and learn something from; so also the story of Ladi in ‘Campus Neighbourhod’, a solicitous story of contemplation and repentance.
Idris Mohammed’s books are portable magic as rightly pointed out by Stephen King, one of American versatile authors, who said, ‘’ Books are a uniquely portable magic’’. The four books are indeed a collection of unique written magic in words that has the potential of transporting many minds into reality.
Here are Idiris Mohammed’s four Amazing books:
1.The Prodigal Princes: A Queen who drew a line and dared all kings to cross.
2. Lucky Charm: The Travails of life led to the relocation of a lonely lady from Lagos to Riruwe, a remote but endowed village to face the challenges of a new life.
3. Dancing Flame: a collection of short stories that ran from love, to lies and self-deceits, to child trafficking and the exploration of women rights.
4. Broken Glasses: A collection of gripping and suspenseful stories raging from surrogacy to the grotesque issue of child trafficking, demeaning evil and credence to white‘s racial supremacy.
