Black Issues Book Review May-June 1999 Ibo Landing by Ihsan Bracy      In Ibo Landing, author Ihsan Bracy strings what he calls "an offering of short stories" into uniquely African American literary text. In 22 graceful stories Bracy displays his professional control of material, craft, and literary vision. Using a metafictional flash narration in which every word accomplishes its poetic duty, and drawing on a fusion of African American written and oral traditions, Bracy follows a Geechie family's journey in a fresh retelling of the classic walking home myth of Ibo Landing as a contemporary urban experience.      Successful literary myth building is a difficult task. Archetypical characters often resist complex contemporary characterization. It is a refreshing accomplishment that Ibo Landing succeeds, with such memorable moments as a powerful two page depiction of the Malcolm's death as seen through the eyes of a little boy who comes home one day to find his crying father, or in Big Mama's glorious graduation to ancestorship in the story "Going Home."      Bracy belongs with the group of writers who since Zora Neale Hurston have strived to manifest African American literary language as sacred texts and griotic literature as working literature. It is a significant work from a significant voice, from whom I suspect the best is yet to come.      I was once told, the more important what you have to say, the more obligated you are to say it well. So be it. -Reviewed by Arthur Flowers