Edge of Heaven by RB Kelly
Central France’s wasteland is dwarfed by the bi-level city of Creo Basse. Creo, which was intended to be a permanent centre for displaced people to relocate, has grown to be a flashpoint for simmering animosity and discontent. The government maintains strict supervision, in part because it is common knowledge that illegal a-nauts (artificial people) hide among the populace.
Edge of Heaven by RB Kelly
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Boston Turrow is urgently looking for drugs on the illicit market for his epileptic sister when he comes upon one of the numerous ways Creo can kill a person in the gloomy, honeycomb areas of the lower city. Danae Grant, a woman who was recently forced homeless when the building she lived in was condemned, comes to his improbable rescue. Boston knows where she can stay, and Danae is familiar with individuals.
When a horrible plague breaks out among the public, Creo’s explosive situation comes to light. Do the government’s claims that the a-nauts used it as a weapon to commit terrorism hold true, or does that simply cover up a more sinister, deeper truth? Boston and Danae are committed to surviving if only to learn the truth, but that may be easier said than done.
The Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair Competition, a modest prize given to debut authors, was won by R. B. Kelly. Since Edge of Heaven was originally published in the Republic of Ireland in 2016, the winner’s book, which was published by a small publisher, is ineligible for our award. Another tiny house in the UK, NewCon Press, which has a very solid track record in UK science fiction after making its mark publishing anthologies before going into novels and novellas, picked it up later on.
Edge of Heaven, RB Kelly’s debut book, is available from NewCon Press and was named to the Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist. She has published short tales in numerous international periodicals, and one of them made the Bridport Prize shortlist. Along with her husband and two kids, she resides in Northern Ireland.
