“With this first collection of short stories, Nduka Otiono takes us on an impressive, multi-textual journey of resourcefulness and creativity that combines the best of the oral and scribal in Nigeria literary culture: traditional storytelling strategies and conventional narrative forms are overlaced with a fragmentary, postmodern reflexivity; the voice propels the pen, only to be trapped in the tape recorder” – Harry Garuba
“…attempts a synthesis of the archetypal forms of the oral tradition with modern urban realism.” – D.S. Izevbaye, Foreword
“…challenges the stereotype notion that modern African prose lacks experimental forms. The…collection defies, and indeed straddles across genre classification.” – Monitor Review
“Otiono’s ability to capture true life experiences manifests in stories like ‘A Will to Survive’, ‘Wings of Rebellion’…” – Sunday Times
“Several years of craftsmanship have transformed the ten short stories in this collection into gems of chiseled prose…In these stories, we see the dreams of an entire generation reaching up for the lights or sinking into the fetid swamp of the nation’s grave.” – The Guardian
