Flying Dhow

Mombaaz is known for two things: supernatural creatures called yovulis that live among humans and, Umbea – gossip. One of them is bound to bewitch you. Chomz is a fantasy fiction novella about Angie, a Nairobian who comes to Mombaaz after her family’s fall into chaos following her father’s tragic death. Angie, determined that becoming an influencer will make her life easier, finds a surprisingly cheap AirBnb in Old Town, overlooking the channel. The AirBnb rumored to be built by Kitwana, a long-forgotten mythological figure, is filled with antiques as perfect as the day they were made and a grande wall-length mirror. Angie’s curiosity is piqued when the local street food vendor, Mheshimiwa Fatma, warns her against the AirBnB’s mysterious past and strange happenings. Angie is intrigued but disbelieving of Mheshimiwa Fatma’s warnings until she meets Chomz, the talking goat and host of the AirBnb, appears offering a fantastical adventure through history, revealing Kitwana’s history and an unforgivable curse that killed his whole family. Chomz offers Angie a gift from Kitwana’s private collection. The only catch, she needs to enter the grande mirror, into a pocket world to pick it. Angie quickly finds herself entangled in Kitwana’s past as she comes face to face with creatures and myths that were long believed to be dead, and a curse that threatens to steal her soul.