The first published novel by Florida native Justin Bryant, titled “Season of Ash,” explores the realities of political change and the adversities of township life in South Africa as the country’s first free elections approach in 1994.
Published by Emperor’s New Clothes Press, a boutique New York fiction publisher, “Season of Ash” ventures into the lives of four young people coping with the approaching changes sure to result from the upcoming elections. Bornwell Malaba is a young apprentice game ranger, ambivalent to the elections, while his cousin, Chanda, is a dreamer searching for a purpose in his life. David Themba is a would-be revolutionary who sees a potential successor in Chanda, and Alex Stanzis is an American who complicates life for all of them when he gets lost in Soweto.
Bryant is a 2001 Elon alumnus and a former professional soccer player who served as assistant women’s soccer coach at Elon from 1998-2004. He developed the idea for “Season of Ash” while visiting his father in South Africa in 1993 and 1994. Bryant traveled to large cities such as Johannesburg, but also visited small Afrikaner farm towns and black settlements. While Bryant found young adults in places like Johannesburg to be optimistic about South Africa’s prospects under the anticipated new black leadership, he soon learned their optimism was not shared by young blacks in smaller towns, settlements and national parks.
Bryant’s short fiction has appeared in The Iconoclast, Thin Air, The Rockhurst Review and The Chiron Review. Two recent anthologies, “Punch and Pie” (Gorsky Press, 2002) and “Words on Ice” (Key Porter Books, 2003) have also included Bryant’s work. He recently returned to Florida and plans to pursue a master’s degree in creative writing.
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