Tissue Boy

by W.A. Nel

Kaner is a young boy coming of age in the Facist Apartheid Regime State sponsored child assassin training camp located on the godforsaken Skeleton Coast. ““The one thing you should always remember about your enemy, and they are our enemies, each one of you and your mothers and sisters at home, they are indispensable, for the simple reason, they outnumber us, not by hundreds, not by thousands, but by millions. They are born killers. Their natural instinct is to hunt and in the most brutal manner terminate the life of their prey. Their development lags thousand years beyond each one of you. They hate our white skins. They hate our superior intellect. They hate our higher culture. Our white women. Our white children. They are our natural enemy, black against white. You can not mix the two and have a dominant entity. You get brown, a mixed affair, the downfall of any race, for you create a more powerful race, one capable of outsmarting you. We only have to look into the past, when they smashed the heads of our forefathers in the most brutal manner, they drove their assegai through the pure, Christian hearts of those who have gone before us to claim a piece of land, for we had nowhere else to go. Those who gave birth to us as a nation despised us, they spat on us and they drove us out from the only civilised land on this continent.” The heat was oppressive at ten o’ clock in the morning and radiated from the brown military canvas canopy over our heads. Our heads were shaved. Our long straight Du Preez hair belonged to the past. In a way it enhanced our blue eyes, certainly Abel’s. I have not seen my own face since our arrival. Mirrors were banned from the camp, as were shiny metals.” “A master of chilling magical surrealism storytelling.” (Bethnal Green Chronicle) “There has been no novel of any graphic scope about this up to now untold story of young boys ripped away from the apron strings of their mothers to be trained injecting snake poison concoctions into the enemies of the state.” (Royal YA Literary Review) “The focus of the plot is on the training camp that produces terrorists that operate both outside the law of Apartheid South Africa, but also with their tacit approval and knowledge. This is a very strong topic in itself. A lot of sexual elements, such as homosexuality, incest, child sexual experiences and abuse – which make for uncomfortable reading. When discussing children having sex (and this would apply to Kaner until he reaches at least sixteen), most publishers would shrink from describing the child as the instigator, or as a willing participant who experiences pleasure. Given the drugs taken by Kaner and Abel, the reader can comfortably assume that any elements of fantasy are side-effects. The animal fables are strong and work well to tie in themes and thoughts within the plot.There’s a very distinct style which works well with the topics explored.” (Cressida Downing - Senior Editor) “A great thriller, the best WANel has written. Kaner will stay with me forever. I will always wonder what happened to the Tissue Boy. Is he still alive or did his enemies caught up with him.” (The New York Reader) “A stunning story. A strong and memorable novel. What happened to the Tissue Boy? Did he find eternal love in the arms of the suave Argentinian secret agent.” (Jasmine Chebar - Buenos Aires) “Beautiful written in a strong, plain, unpretentious style, grim humour, surreal fantasy, powerful understatement.” (London Litt) “The images of Butterfly Boy Bokero and his mutilated hands and the Drunk Lion and Three Warthogs still haunt my dreams with dark passion. The story dawns on the reader with each page turned.” (Marc Schneider - Paris)

404 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2015