In his sharply crafted, unnerving first collection of speculative fiction shorts, Courttia Newland envisages an alternate future as lived by the African diaspora.
Robots used as human proxies in a war become driven by all-too-human desires; Kill Parties roam the streets of a post-apocalyptic world; a matriarchal race of mer creatures depends on inter-breeding with mortals to survive; mysterious seeds appear in cities across the world, growing into the likeness of people in their vicinity.
Through transfigured bodies and impossible encounters, Newland brings a sharp, fresh eye to age-old themes of the human capacity for greed, ambition and self-destruction, but ultimately of our strength and resilience.
"A rich, diverse collection of short stories" - * Guardian *
"Deeply satisfying . . . Newland is a class act" - * Times *
"Whether it's the uncanny dream made flesh or the old Manichean battle far into the future, these stories surprise, are dizzying and intricate" - * Irish Times *
"It's no small feat to so immediately and repeatedly appeal to readers' hearts and minds, and Newland's mastery of short-format storytelling is sure to impress. Speculative fiction fans won't be able to put this down" - * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
"An exquisitely imaginative collection of speculative short stories, unlike anything I've ever read . . . Newland succeeds in capturing the reader's attention and refusing to let go of it until the very end . . . an important addition to Black British literature . . . Newland becomes a paramount figure within the genre" - * Bad Form *
"The combination of excellent world and character building and the rising intensity of each story as the book progresses means Cosmogramma is hard to put down" - * New Scientist *
