Friday Black - Stories
Friday Black is the bold debut by Ghanaian-American author, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. In this collection of twelve stories, he uses urban dystopian settings to tackle issues like racism and racial inequality. In the memorable, "Finkelstein 5," a young black man struggles with the "scale" of his own blackness and the aftermath of the acquittal of white man on trial for decapitating five black children and claiming self-defense. In "Zimmer Land," racism is sport inside a role-playing VR theme park which appears to serve as a cathartic outlet for racial prejudice. The name is obviously a reference to George Zimmerman, who fatally shot 17-year old Trayvon Martin in 2012 and was later acquitted. The title story, "Friday Black" and "How to Sell a Jacket as Told by IceKing" depict the horrors surrounding consumerism. "Through the Flash" is a dystopian Groundhog Day where a government weapon creates a time-loop and the victims turn to violence to cope. This softcover edition is the first edition in the U.S. There was also a U.K. hardcover edition which appears to have been issued simultaneously.
Softcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, paperbound, with French-folded flaps, deckled fore edge pages. New York: A Mariner Original / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. ISBN: 9781328911247. #11122.
Fine.