Photo sourced from Nikhil Singh’s Twitter.

South African writer Nikhil Singh is set to publish the sequel to his Afrofuturistic cyberpunk novel Club Ded in August 2024. The sequel is titled Dakini Atoll and will be published by Luna Press. 

According to the publisher, Dakini Atoll is a “fast paced, tech-driven, metaphysical Cyberpunk third novel” from Singh, where he continues to utilize his original and groundbreaking writing style. Dakini Atoll features gritty storytelling in a speculative setting that spans across Johannesburg, New York, London and Saudi Arabia. 

Singh said he wanted to explore the genre of cyberpunk through an Eastern lens in this novel:

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.

Singh’s literary agent Sarah Such added, “Dakini Atoll is a mesmerising novel by an author who never fails to surprise, interrogate and push boundaries.” Based on such rave reviews by the publisher and agent, we cannot wait to explore the speculative worlds created by Singh and his fantastic writing style.

The cover art will be created by digital artist Elena Romenkova, so stay tuned for a cover reveal soon.

Nikhil Singh is a South African artist, writer and musician. His debut novel Taty Went West (2015) was shortlisted for Best African Novel in the inaugural Nommo Awards. The novel Club Ded (2020) was shortlisted for Best Novel in the 2021 British Science Fiction Association Awards and the 2021 Nommo Awards. 

Congrats to Singh on the sequel!