Dakini Atoll is the stand-alone sequel to Nikhil Singh's Club Ded (Sarah Such Literary Agency).
The cover of Club Ded was by Hong Kong artist Ruby Gloom, and both the book and cover were shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards and Nommo Awards.
For Dakini Atoll, Nikhil had in mind a specific artist, Elena Romenkova, after seeing one of her works, a few years back. Where Club Ded was pushing the boundaries of Afro-futurism, Dakini Atoll is a fast-paced, tech-driven, metaphysical Cyberpunk novel, and Elena's work "New Dimensions" fits the story perfectly: you will know what I mean once you read it!
Behind the artwork "New Dimension".
Elena explained what inspired her to create this artwork and her fascination with Glitch Art.
“A human consciousness tries to open a new dimension by searching for the meaning of things. A glitch appears during this search. Driven by curiosity, the human mind embarks on a metaphysical journey, hoping to transcend the known boundaries of thought and perception. "Glitch" is not a mistake it's an alternative way. In this dimension, the human body becomes a centre of different energies. Physical appearance transforms from the creative expressions of the subconscious. The person looks like a mix of all the different ways they've been, showing the memories of going through different dimensions. The past, present, and future intertwine in a harmonious dance of coexisting realities.”
About the Artist:
Elena Romenkova (1986) is an artist from St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2009 she graduated from the Pedagogical University a faculty of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. After getting a classical art education she continued to develop in 3D digital and glitch art. Since 2017 she has lived and worked in Austria. She has taken part in art exhibitions since 2004. She is currently working as a 3D digital artist, in the field of data manipulation and "glitch art". She creates still images and animations.
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Dakini Atoll will be out on Monday the 5th of August 2024, and will be launched at Worldcon Glasgow 2024 - a party you cannot miss! The HB, PB and Ebook will be in pre-order at the same time, from the spring - more on our monthly newsletter.
The Hardback edition will carry bonus content, including several black-and-white illustrations from Nikhil.
The reviews for the book that are coming in are already incredible.
Mame Bougouma Diene – Caine Prize Winner
“Nikhil Singh is a surrealist. His words read like a cadavre exquis. Like you’re reading slam poetry and making up the story yourself as you go along. His critiques are acerbic and pull no punches, reflecting on the contemporary literary scene while challenging it by creating something truly original and unique. African writing at its finest. I cannot recommend Dakini Atoll enough.”
Preston Grassmann, Shirley Jackson Award finalist
In this compelling sequel to Club Ded, Nikhil expands on his groundbreaking narrative with a story that moves with the alacrity of a Charles Mingus tremolo. His words strike the eyes like strobe-flashes in the dark, revealing an uncompromising hyper-noir world that never lets up, and reminds us that such singular minds should never be constrained by the paradigms of any genre.'
Adri Joy, Hugo Winning Senior Editor at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
Has Nikhil Singh ever met a literary boundary he didn't want to cross? Told in machine gun prose from a multitude of perspectives, Dakini Atoll is an exquisitely bewildering story of exploitation, resistance and alien bodies, in which motives and allegiances are constantly shifting amidst the story's deeper currents. Strap in and prepare for an experience you won't forget.
Steven Shaviro
Nikhil Singh's new novel reads like a breathless account of the near future, ripped from the headlines of a decade from now, and delivered, with staccato prose, in all its sinister, transformative glory. Dakini Atoll is something like the love child of Akira and Gravity's Rainbow, hopped up on adrenochrome, mainlined directly into your nervous system, and sent out to overload the worldwide communications network.
Adam McGovern - editor, HiLobrow/writer, Nightworld
“The end of the world is a luxury, and DAKINI ATOLL takes us on a highspeed dredge though everything that comes next. Zooming out from the fragmented colonial decay, class desperation, high-stakes media opiates and deranged posthuman upgrade schemes of its predecessor CLUB DED, DAKINI projects a wide-angle panorama of collapse, in pandemic ghost cities, aeries of inconceivable wealth, entirely artificial realities inhabited by the masses and messianic mad science unfolding out of sight. Nikhil Singh has woven a grand associative network of possible endgames and illogical conclusions for the human race, and what may take its place. It’s a staggering master plan of ecological and biological transformation, running subroutines of spy-thriller, backstage melodrama, robot-fight and out-of-body-horror movie in a startlingly idea-saturated yet character-driven dance on the precipice between primal and futuristic, organic and mechanical, simulated and sensory, mystical and cynical. My mind reels at where this ongoing trilogy can expand to next, but Singh has, terrifyingly, miraculously, prepared the space.”