OUT NOW: The Surf by Kwaku Osei-Afrifa
17th August 2022
We’re delighted to be wishing The Surf by Kwaku Osei-Afrifa, the second of our 2022 Satellites novellas, a very happy book birthday!
Each of our Solaris Satellites novellas is available in eBook, audiobook and as a limited signed paperback, available directly from our webstore! Grab a digital or print season pass and you’ll receive all three of this year’s novellas.
In The Surf, the life of an illegal relay race’s star is turned upside down when she’s blackmailed by a childhood friend…
Elerie Astrada is hanging in almost-space, awaiting launch.
Ultsurf is a popular, high-stakes relay race contested at the edge of a planet’s atmosphere. It’s fast, hard and dangerous: it isn’t a bloodsport, but blood is often spilled. It is also highly illegal. And Ele is at the top of her game, just a few wins away from the major leagues.
But making the fastest Split isn’t Ele’s biggest challenge. When her childhood friend India blackmails her with knowledge of her Ultsurfing career, Ele’s thrown into the politics of money and power, and way over her head. As a pawn in India’s scheme, Ele digs up everything she can on her Ultsurf rivals, the Royals—through drugs, espionage and violence—to ensure her team’s victory.
It’s brought her to this moment. Everything is in place, every deal done. Then the starter whistle blows…
“A wild, hallucinatory trip through a breakneck far future. Unlike anything I’ve read before.” — Jackson Ford, author of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind
“Sharply written, very readable… Excellent stuff.” — Adam Roberts, author of The This
“The Surf is a high-octane, high-altitude look at what it means to survive and the lengths one young woman will go to exorcise her guilt at making it out. Osei-Afrifa keeps the energy and danger levels high in this stylish, voicey debut.” — R.W.W. Greene, author of Mercury Rising
“Smart, emotional and propulsive, The Surf has the addictive rush of chasing a thrill to the edge and then beyond.” — James Bradley, author of Ghost Species
“Fast-paced and fraught with danger.” — Anna Bailey, author of Tall Bones
“The struggle to find joy and meaning in an unjust world. All in all, The Surf is a wild flight that’s fizzing with energy and ideas.” — Louise Carey, author of Inscape
“A rivetingly fast-paced, inventive novella about an all-consuming tournament in a crumbling future world.” — Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells