Andile J. Gumbo and Aphiwe Gwiji (known pseudonymously as A.J. Gallows and A.G. Madalane) are a Johannesburg-based screenwriters and novelists and the co-authors of the 2025 African fantasy novel ‘The Bone Mage’. This is Madalane’s debut novel and the second by Gallows, having released his first dark fantasy novel ‘Hour of the Wolf’ in 2023. ‘The Bone Mage’ is set in an African inspired continent where bones are a source of power. Mages known as osteomancers draw strength from the dead - and the older the bone, the greater its potency. Across the Outlands, tombs are plundered for skeletons to trade, while in the city of Mubal, burial is forbidden and the state cult hoards the largest necropolis in history.

Amid a world of crypt raiders and rival city-states, two young osteomancers are set on converging paths. Tariro, an Obuyo refugee, strives to rise above prejudice and earn his place among Mubal's elite warriors. Kaiya, a Scavenger hardened by the lawless Outlands, plies her trade raiding tombs for profit under the employ of bone collectors. Though they walk different paths, their fates are bound by both tragedy and chance.

The second book in the Bone Mage saga is releasing this year at Comic Con Africa.