Locked Gray / Linked Blue: Stories

This is an extraordinary collection of stories. Debut author Kem Joy Ukwu is already a master at conveying--with admirable elegance--the small and large emotions and the tensions the moments of generosity of betrayal and of hope that define the human experience. This is sure to be the beginning of a long and important career and I cannot wait to read what comes next.--Robin Black author of Life Drawing and If I Loved You I Would Tell You ThisA finalist for the New American Fiction Prize this glinting and razor-sharp collection of linked short stories draws power from Ukwus crystalline characterization and a voice that is as singular as a champion slam-poets.Family dynamics bad romance work and money haunt the New Yorkers in these stories as they nevertheless triumph. A sister is faced with the individual human reality of family separation; a daughter navigates her difficult mothers wedding-day crisis; an unexpected proposal from a neighbor represents hope and resignation in equal measure.These stories invite readers into the most private of hearts with clear forceful and memorable prose. Ukwu wields the constraints of the short story as if she had invented them expressly to connect us to each other.Kem Joy Ukwu writes of faith and families of mercy of birth and death. She examines the cool dark shadows of regret and the knife of obligation holds who and how we are supposed to be up against who we actually are. Ukwu is a jewel of a writer--graceful sparkling.--Leesa Cross-Smith author of Every Kiss a War and Whiskey & Ribbons