05 October 2023

SERPENT’S TAIL
BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPOTLIGHT

A letter from our editors…

Serpent’s Tail is proud to be publishing three brilliant debuts by Black writers in 2023, with settings spanning from South London all the way to Amsterdam and America.

To start the year off, we present prize-winning Dutch star Simone Atangana Bekono, whose novel Confrontations follows a bookish and bullied sixteen-year-old girl in a unit for young offenders. Further into spring, Gianni Washington’s chilling short story collection Flowers from the Void showcases a new and fearsome vision for American gothic fiction. And in the summer, Orlaine McDonald’s No Small Thing vibrantly depicts the joy and pain of Black and working-class life in urban Britain.

With sharp prose and dynamic characters, each of these debuts tell distinctive stories that will entertain you, move you and make you think.

Confrontations
by Simone Atangana Bekono
11 January 2024

Salomé was bullied for years and no one did a single thing to help her. One day she finally snapped. Now at just sixteen years old, she’s being held in a secure unit for young offenders. But as time passes, she finds new strength to delve into the reasons for her rage and arrive at her own understanding of punishment, penitence and the paradoxical demands made on her existence as a Black woman.

Leonora Craig-Cohen, Commissioning Editor, on Confrontations

‘In this layered, literary page-turner, the young protagonist upends common preconceptions of justice to tell her own story. Salomé’s voice is instantly engaging and the reasons for her rage difficult to turn away from.’

Flowers from the Void
by Gianni Washington
2 May 2024

Hauntingly macabre and piercingly insightful about loss and loneliness, these gothic short stories lead us into a labyrinth of other possible worlds, each one darker than the last and yet all fearfully close to our own. Living dolls serve as imperfect replacements for the deceased, a girl without a shadow finds her soulmate and spurned lovers’ bodies begin falling to pieces. In this scintillating debut collection Gianni Washington explores the limit of intimacy and empathy with the vivid intensity of your worst nightmare.

Leonora Craig-Cohen, Commissioning Editor, on Flowers from the Void

‘Gianni Washington skilfully blends elements of gothic horror, science fiction and folklore in this deliciously grotesque collection. Read with all your lights on, and sleep with one eye open!’

No Small Thing
by Orlaine McDonald
4 July 2024

Three women. For a year they live in the flat below Earl’s on Blossom View Estate. Then there are two. Spanning a year, this is a novel of hope, desire and loss which explores the damage we do to the people we claim to love the most. Told with grace and compelling clarity, No Small Thing reveals tender truths about motherhood, the intersection of class and race and the legacies of the trauma we inherit.

‘Being a mother is no small thing, and whether or not you agree with mothers Livia and Mickey, you will love them for who they are, as well as who they are trying to be. And of course, there is Summer. Eleven years old and confused, desperate to be seen, and dangerously unaware of her own vulnerability.’

Luke Brown, Publishing Director, on No Small Thing

‘I love the way Orlaine McDonald presents life on a London council estate, with all its ups and down, rather than as a symbol for social depravation. It’s a subtle look at class and race, and how they affect the generations of characters who live there. And it’s a novel that crackles with female desire, with women seeking freedom and transcendence through risky relationships with men. I really hope you’ll like it.’