Edge of Here
UK Publisher
Trapeze
Date Published
September 14th, 2023
Translations
West Africa (Masobe Books)
Enter a world very close to our own…
One in which technology can allow you to explore an alternate love-life with a stranger.
A world where you can experience the emotions of another person through a chip implanted in your brain.
And one where you can view snippets of a distant relative’s life with a little help from your DNA.
But remember: these experiences will not be without consequences…
In this stunning debut collection, Kelechi Okafor combines the ancient and the ultramodern to explore tales of contemporary Black womanhood, asking questions about the way we live now and offering a glimpse into our near future.
Uplifting, thought-provoking, sometimes chilling, these are tales rooted in the recognisable, but not limited by the boundaries of our current reality-where truth can meet imagination and spirituality in unexpected ways.
Allow yourself to be taken on a journey into worlds that are blazing with possibility, through stories that will lead you right up to the Edge of Here…
Reviews
Kelechi's words offer laser like accuracy and her stories penetrate straight into the areas that are missed in our lives due to the busyness of the everyday and their distractions. A must read for the hopeful!
- Lavinya Stennett
Finally, a new era of sci-fi is upon us. Simultaneously deep and casual, Kelechi has crafted quite a collection - for these times & times to come.
- Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon
Okafor's writing is bold and beautiful. Written with verve and heart, the stories are as incisive as they are thought provoking. In story after story, Okafor demonstrates an imagination that is not afraid to explore difficult questions.This is a book we need right now.
- Chika Unigwe
With Edge of Here, Kelechi Okafor has crafted an interconnected world that is prescient and truthful in the way only fiction can be. These speculative parables are an invitation to meditate on where we are and where we are headed, in a unique voice that is determined in its directness but ever hopeful in its tone.
- Jendella Benson
As surreal as a season of Black Mirror, yet as telling regarding life as we know it. Okafor’s Edge of Here pokes at our principles, twists our humour and holds us at the brink of reflection. A stunning Debut
- Yomi Sode
Perfect for Black Mirror fans
- Elle UK
A rousing collection of short stories that make you want to scream, shout, cry or just laugh at the audacity - Okafor's talent for excavating the depths of human consciousness knows no bounds. A phenomenal debut from a brilliant mind. 10s across the board.
- Melissa Cummings-Quarry
Thought-provoking, heartfelt, and incredibly original
- Lizzie Damilola Blackburn