LUNA PRESS PUBLISHING SIGNS SEQUEL TO NIKHIL SINGH’S GROUND-BREAKING CLUB DED
We are delighted to announce the aquisition of Dakini Atoll by Nikhil Singh, sequel to ground-breaking Afrofuturistic novel Club Ded. A huge thanks to Sarah Such at the Sarah Such Literary Agency, for once more, bringing Nikhil's work to the Luna family.
Dakini Atoll is a fast paced, tech-driven, metaphysical Cyberpunk third novel from Nikhil Singh, author of Taty Went West, shortlisted for Best African Novel in the inaugural Nommo Awards, and Club Ded, shortlisted for both 2021 Best Novel at British Science Fiction Awards and Best African Novel at the Nommo Awards.
Dakini Atoll is planned to be released in August 2024, just in time for Glasgow Worldcon.
Nikhil Singh continues to maintain his original and ground-breaking style. In Dakini Atoll he returns with a gritty, realistic storytelling, in a speculative setting spanning from Johannesburg, New York, London and Saudi Arabia. His words have never shied away from telling it like it was, which is what we really like here at Luna. His work is simply uncompromising.
The cover art will be created by digital artist Elena Romenkova and we are very excited to share her work with the world! (IG @romenkovaelena)
Nikhil Singh comments:
‘With Luna Press Publishing, Francesca T Barbini has built up a wonderful, eclectic imprint. One, that is bold and aesthetically challenging. I'm greatly honoured to be included in her award-winning list. I would also like to extend much deserved recognition to my magnificent agent, Sarah Such, for brokering the Club Ded series, with her usual finesse.
I grew up absorbing the (primarily) Japanese media, which paved the way for the term ‘cyberpunk’. Outside of the emergent hacking culture of the 80’s and 90’s, for me, cyberpunk peaked long before the term was coined and made palatable for Western consumption. One of the major cultural signatures of Eastern ‘cyberpunk’ was an almost ever-present metaphysical undertone. Although narratives were tech-heavy, often in the extreme, the focus was always either on spiritual development or devolution. Technology became an extension of the spirit, stylised by ancient practices – as opposed to the empirical messiah tropes rehashed by many Western authors. I felt I needed to write my personal memory of cyberpunk, in an Eastern mode, exploring developing technologies, outside their enforced paradigms and terminology. To take a look at the consequences and motive action of voluntary evolutionary processes – how they would succeed, how they would fail. Dakini Atoll is the result of this personal exploration. Looking back – but, into the future.’
Sarah Such adds: ‘Dakini Atoll is a mesmerising novel by an author who never fails to surprise, interrogate and push boundaries. Luna Press Publishing is an impressive Scottish independent who took Nikhil Singh’s Club Ded to heart and published with conviction. I’m delighted that publisher Francesca T Barbini has acquired Dakini Atoll and that it is set to be published with similar prowess and verve.’
About the Author
Nikhil Singh is a South African artist, writer and musician. Former projects include the graphic novels: Salem Brownstone written by John Harris Dunning (longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, Walker Books 2009) as well as The Ziggurat (Bell-Roberts 2003) by The Constructus Corporation (now Die Antwoord). Work has also been featured in various magazines including Dazed, i-D Online, Creative Review, as well as Pictures and Words: New Comic Art and Narrative Illustration (Laurence King, 2005) and Design Week UK. His debut novel Taty Went West was published by Kwani? Trust in 2015, Jacaranda Books (UK) in 2017, and Rosarium (US) in 2018. The book was released with illustrations by the author, a self-produced soundtrack and was shortlisted for Best African Novel in the inaugural Nommo Awards. The author was invited to submit a story to The Unquiet Dreamer, a prestigious Harlan Ellison tribute, from PS Publishing in 2019. The story The Re-Evolution of Cloud 9, was also longlisted for Best Story in the 2020 Nommo Awards. The novel Club Ded, published by Luna Press Publishing (UK) in June 2020 was shortlisted for Best Novel in the 2021 British Science Fiction Association Awards and the 2021 Nommo Awards. The author has recently completed the James Currey workshop for writing and publishing at Oxford University and was invited to chair a panel at the Oxford Literary Festival 2022, discussing current works.
To date, the author has participated in the following festivals as either an a panellist, awards presenter, featured reader: African Futures (Nairobi 2015), Time of the Writer (SA 2015), African Utopia (Southbank Centre UK 2015), Africa Writes (British Library UK / Royal African Society 2016), Worldcon 75/Hugo Awards (Hugo Awards presenter / profiled writer Helsinki 2017), South African Book Fair / Book week (SA 2017), Readercon (Boston 2018), New York Science Fiction Review (NY 2018). Cymera (Edinburgh Festival 2020), DisCon III (Washington 2021), Oxford Literary Festival (2022)