Ray Anyasi’s Broken Cloud: The First Sunrise, a fantasy novel written by the prolific Nigerian writer and poet, Ray Anyasi, has been acquired by Peda Entertainment, a graphic novel publisher in the United States.
The story follows the journey of Sarie, an Otte, and Ikan, an Url.
The publisher, in a statement said, Broken Cloud was first made available to the public at the FanExpo in Dallas and then the Awesome Con in Washington DC in June. 
“So far, the reception and feedback has been nothing short of astonishing, such that the marketing team are tempted to pull back the release date, but we shall see how things go,” the statement further said.
While the official paperback retail release is scheduled for February 2024, Peda Entertainment is making special editions available for geek fans in a roster of Comic Conventions they are slated to attend through 2023.
An excited Ray Anyasi while reacting to the new development expressed his delight to see that US fantasy readers can now get Broken Cloud in bookstores and be introduced to Sari’s story. “We’ve been in this conversation since the beginning of 2022 and Peda did make an impressive offer with regards to readership engagement plans which means a lot to me. I believe US readers would enjoy the story and look forward to reviews from that market,” the writer stated.
Broken Cloud, tells the story of a carefree slave girl, Sari, caught in the taboo act of taking a bath in the river while being a slave and by so triggering a series of heartbreaking events that would see her chosen to be the sacrifice to lift the age old spell of darkness over the kingdom.
It was first published by Nigerian publishers, Naphtali Books in 2020.
It would be interesting to see how the book does in the US market, which is considered the biggest market for that particular genre after it has what can be seen as a decent reception when it was released in Nigeria in 2020.
Fans of Broken Cloud would hopefully not need to wait so long before they are able to continue following Sari’s story.
In a recent press release, CEO of Peda Entertainment, Peter Daniel said, “For quite a while, we have been taking a closer look at the mainstream book market and can clearly see the readership intersection with our flagship line of products which are comics and graphic novels. After considering a number of options presented to us, we thought there is no better way to make an entrance than with such a consummate writer like Ray Anyasi with a prolific reputation. “
Ray Anyasi, who was first published in 2011 by Xlibris in the UK with his debut, Poll of Vampires, is considered by many Nigerian literary scene watchers as one of the notable writers to emerge from Nigeria in the last decade.
One of Africa’s most published authors with over 25 books, Anyasi’s titles include: Ujasiri, Bloodline and This Town: a postcard of terror and most recently, Africa’s best selling epic fantasy thriller series, Sorrows of Udi.
His writing influence is majorly the extraordinary stories of ordinary people who have to confront monstrous challenges they do not orchestrate yet must overcome.
He is also a poet and has published a poetry collection, Lines of Thoughts, that includes the acclaimed “Ogbanje”. Anyasi has contributed articles to The Guardian Express and continues to partake in the global conversations that concern political and social developments; his book, How to Terrorize Terrorism is one of such contributions.
Some of Anyasi’s books like Sorrows of Udi, Ujasiri, Broken Cloud and To Live Again, have been translated into other international languages like French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.
Sorrows of Udi has been adapted into a comic series and an animated web series which has won official selections and critical acclaim at several international film festivals.
