A River Called Time
by Courttia Newland

“Newland … imagines a world where colonialism never happened at all. Which isn’t to say it’s some airy-fairy paradise. It’s a traditional sort of dystopia: the have-nots eke by in an urban wasteland while the tech-addled haves are ensconced in a bubble they call the Ark. But rather than enslaving Africans, the Europeans of Newland’s alternate history traded with them, and the resulting world is full of the legacies of that choice, one of which is magic. The book’s protagonist, Markriss Denny, can astral project, which lands him a spot in the Ark and in a slipstream of alternate timelines, one of which is our own. It’s speculative fiction that genuinely made me speculate.” —Wired

The Ark was built to save the lives of the many, but rapidly became a refuge for the elite, the entrance closed without warning.

Years after the Ark was cut off from the world—a world much like our own, but in which slavery has never existed—a chance of survival within the Ark’s confines is granted to a select few who can prove their worth. Among their number is Markriss Denny, whose path to future excellence is marred only by a closely guarded secret: without warning, his spirit leaves his body, allowing him to see and experience a world far beyond his physical limitations.

Once inside the Ark, Denny learns of another with the same power, whose existence could spell catastrophe for humanity. He is forced into a desperate race to understand his abilities, and in doing so uncovers the truth about the Ark, himself, and the people he thought he once knew.