K C Ryeland and Tribal Gathering

 Action, adventure, Africa themed collection of shorts set in the turbulent sixties

by

Kenneth C Ryeland

Tribal Gathering is a collection of stories set in an imaginary West African state shortly after gaining its independence from the British in 1962. Among them are Tief-Man, Boom Town, The Visit plus many more.

Extract from Tribal Gathering - Tief-Man

...Idewu waited nervously near the old European cemetery. The lateness of the hour and the darkness played tricks on his mind and he began to imagine all those dead Europeans rising from their graves and chasing him. He nearly had heart failure when the unsavoury character from the marketplace grabbed his shoulder from behind.

The two men had walked but a short distance along the Enube Bridge Road when an old Datsun taxi stopped and picked them up. In addition to the driver one other man sat in the vehicle, but Idewu wasn’t introduced to either one and so the journey continued in silence.

They hadn’t travelled more than a mile when the driver pulled on to the forecourt of a large, out-of-town hardware store. The store’s night watch approached, exchanged some words with the driver of the taxi and then disappeared into the darkness.

“OK, this is it, everyone out,” said the unsavoury character.

“A hardware store? What is there of value here?” said Idewu.

“There is a safe inside with the day’s takings. It could amount to over two hundred pounds,” said the driver. “So shut up and do as you are told!”

Idewu’s part in the burglary required him to keep watch at the front of the building and warn the others if any traffic or pedestrians came along the road. The other three men disappeared around the back to where they intended get into the offices by means of a rear door that the night watch had arranged with one of the staff to be left unbolted.

All commercial premises and most private houses in Nibana had anti-theft bars fitted to window openings. Very often wooden doors would be reinforced with steel plates to prevent them from being smashed open. Therefore, to successfully carry out a burglary, it required an insider who would ‘inadvertently’ leave a door unlocked or some other means of entry for the thieves.

No one came along the road to disturb the thieves and within forty-five minutes they had finished. The night watch returned to collect his cut and that of the staff member who’d left the door unlocked. Moments later, Idewu and the thieves departed in the taxi.

“What about the night watch? He will be sacked the moment they realise the place has been robbed,” said Idewu from the back seat of the taxi.

“He will say he was praying,” retorted the driver. “The white manager will know the night watch could not have left the door unlocked because he has no access to the building. The manager will soon work out it must have been an inside job. It will take weeks to sort it out. You know how well we Nibanans can string white men along. In the end the manager will get fed up and employ additional night watches. Anyway, the old boy we saw tonight is due for retirement soon, so he will not be worried.”

“Oh, I see,” said Idewu, rather feebly.

They dropped Idewu and the unsavoury character off at the cemetery and the Datsun headed into town.

Idewu’s companion gave him twenty pounds and said if he wished, Idewu could accompany them on more robberies. Idewu said he would think about it and meet his companion in the market at the usual place the following afternoon to discuss his further involvement...

The Up-Country Man is an autobiographical account of the first 100 days inside the breakaway region of Nigeria known as Biafra (It lasted from 1967 to 1973) and has received excellent reviews.

Kenneth Ryeland began writing for pleasure fifteen years ago by recording his adventures in Nigeria with The Up-Country Man being a personal account of the first 100 days inside secessionist Biafra.

In April 1967, a young British engineer arrives in Nigeria to take up his new job. The country is seven years into a volatile independence and Ken Ryeland struggles to come to terms with the culture shock and the endemic tribalism that pervades every level of society, On being transferred to Enugu, capital of the troubled Eastern Region, he is further challenged when the Regional Military Governor rebels against the Federal Military Government in Lagos. An act of secession quickly follows and the short-lived Republic of Biafra is born. Almost immediately the new republic is plunged into a bloody and bitter war of survival with the Lagos Government and Ryeland finds himself trapped in a rebel enclave as Federal troops close in for the kill.

The Last Bature (pronounced Batuuree) is a policeman's story set in Nibana, an imaginary West African state, shortly after gaining its independence from the British in 1962.

What begins as a straightforward investigation by the last British policeman in the Northern Region and an African inspector, quickly turns to intrigue when the intelligence services of the superpowers vie with each other to secure a breakthrough in weapons technology.

Combine this with the machinations of an irrational regional military governor hell-bent on overthrowing his brother, the head of state, and the basis for an exciting story emerges. With the cold war as a backdrop and a second coup imminent, the action moves quickly from the heat of the Omdu Hills, through the stench of the Laguna slums to the waters of the Bight of Laguna, giving the reader an insight into the grubby world of espionage and life in West Africa during the turbulent sixties.

Visit Kenneth C Ryeland website all books are now available on Kindle!
The Last Bature
Tribal Gathering
Boom Town
Hot Metal
Juju-Men
The Up-Country Man