Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

What if every white person in America, suddenly and inexplicably, took their own life.

Imagine, if you will, a new America.

A country where people are happy, tolerant, fulfilled and striving for a better tomorrow. A country where people no longer fear being persecuted, marginalised, or being killed “accidentally” by the police.

Imagine, if you will, a new America — where every single white person has committed suicide, leaving people of colour to remake the country into one of their choosing.

Sky Full of Elephants

Yup, pretty provocative stuff …

The story (loosely) follows the new beginnings of Charlie Brunton — released from prison after serving twenty years after being falsely accused of rape, into a United States where (almost) every white person has walked into the nearest body of water and drowned.

Charlie is working as an engineering lecturer at Howard University, when he gets a phone call from Sidney, the daughter he didn’t know existed.

Sidney needs his help: she wants to head south to Alabama — where she’ll find the last enclave of white people left in the country.

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Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

I’m going to add Emily St. John Mandel to the list of authors I read obsessively. Each one I read always seems to be better than the last. Some authors with this many books under their belt often forget how important it is to be merciless during editing.

Sea of Tranquility

This is one of those books that my wife (along with the Matt Smith) would probably describe as “a bit Sea timey-whimey”.

The book follows the circular rise and fall of Gaspery Jacques-Roberts, a fecklessly unremarkable individual with a high-achieving sister, Zoey. Through his sister’s connection with the Time Institute, and following a rigorous five-year training programme, Gaspery graduates as a field operative: entrusted to travel through time, correcting anomalies that could impact the Institute’s agenda.

The rules of time-travel are strict, and punishment for breaking those rules are harsh and permanent, and that, for Gaspery, is where the trouble starts. …

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