Gbande’s novel, “The God Weaver”, has climbed to No. 10 on Amazon’s African Myths and Legends Best Sellers list, weeks after its launch at the XL Creative Hub in Abuja.
The book, which debuted amid a debate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at a live podcast hosted by JustBarny, is a novelisation of a screenplay of the same title by filmmaker Tejiri Awanovwe.
Gbande, an AI prompt engineer, said he wrote the novel using AI as a tool, a method openly discussed by panellists at the launch.
He said the novel follows Omolara, a self-made fashion designer estranged from her family’s mysterious heritage.
According to him, her story takes a turn when a forgotten dress changes her best friend’s fortunes, forcing both friends to weigh the cost of what they have been offered.
The work draws its mythological spine from Oshun mythology, the Yoruba tradition of the goddess of rivers, love and abundance.
Observers have compared its thematic core to that of “Children of Blood and Bone”, Tomi Adeyemi’s novel set for a Hollywood adaptation, which also explores the same Yoruba tradition.
While the forthcoming film is expected to bring that world to a global cinema audience, “The God Weaver” offers readers a Nigerian perspective on the tradition.
Speaking at the launch, poet and journalist, Dr Emman Usman Shehu, said AI learns from existing patterns, while the writer’s decisions give a familiar structure its meaning.
“You do not surrender your creativity to the machine,” Shehu said.
Also speaking, lawyer and performance poet, James Eneojile, said the personal experience behind a work is what allows readers to connect with it.
“The problem is not AI itself, but the use of AI,” Eneojile said.
On his part, entrepreneur, Ani Ugochukwu Bob, described AI as an aid to his thinking, noting that professional judgement was still required for major decisions.
The panellists agreed that the writer, not the machine, owns the story’s emotional life.
The Amazon ranking indicates that a work shaped with AI can still reach readers when human voice and judgement remain in charge.
For XL Creative Hub, the development also shows a story moving from screenplay to page and, in time, back to the screen.