Media Kit

Contact: publicity@bricolagelit.com 

Woman Outside the City is... 

A poetic science fiction masterpiece about technology, social class, and the future of work, featuring a female veteran protagonist.

A provocative post-monetary dystopia. Woman Outside the City imagines a future where people are digitally coded as "valid" or "invalid," and a system glitch suddenly overturns the social order, raising urgent questions about identity, access, and human worth.

A literary novel with a poetic voice. Blending fiction and poetry, the novel offers an emotionally rich and innovative reading experience that stands apart from traditional dystopian narratives.

A deeply human story of systemic change. Through the lives of three women, the novel explores how technological and economic upheaval reshapes ordinary lives in profoundly personal ways.

A timely exploration of belonging and exclusion. The story examines who gets seen, valued, and included in society, making it especially relevant to contemporary conversations about inequality, homelessness, and social marginalization.

Speculative fiction that feels startlingly real. Drawing on trends already visible today—from digital governance to algorithmic decision-making—the novel offers a compelling vision of a future that may be closer than we think.

What Others Are Saying

"This innovative novel takes us to the edge of what it means to be human. Ntoso challenges us to grapple with the truth about the world we inhabit. In Ntoso, we find a writer that has the courage to pull the curtain away and show us the harsh realities of what it means to be unseen." —Donnelle McGee, author of Ghost Man

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"Woman Outside the City is unlike anything else on the shelf. When I first started reading, I couldn't quite catch the thread. The structure felt fragmented, and I was actually ready to walk away—I promised myself just one more reading session before calling it quits.

Then, suddenly, it hooked me. And wow.

What initially feels like disparate fragments turns out to be a brilliant, tapestry-like convergence. The author winds together prose, poetry, isolated quotes, raw ramblings, and deep, unflinching truths. By placing current real-world events right alongside a haunting dystopian future, the book achieves a rare, electrifying rhythm.

It feels like stepping directly into the mind of a savant madman—someone who sees the hidden connections between our present reality and where we're headed, and possesses the literary nerve to piece it all together. If you start this book and feel lost, keep reading. Once the picture comes into focus, you won't be able to turn away."

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"I have to start with a *Chef's Kiss* I love how topics being discussed about world-wide problems everyone is facing in today`s society [are] expressed through poetry. I like how boldly every word surrenders the page. My favorite poem was 'The city is full of people' even after finishing the book this specific poem still lingered... Thanks so much Abena Ntoso for allowing us into your AUTHOR WORLD"

What makes Woman Outside the City unique, interesting, and different from other literary science fiction novels?

It imagines inequality through a single terrifying question: What if society could erase you overnight? Many dystopian novels explore oppressive governments or economic collapse. Woman Outside the City asks a different question: What if your social status, citizenship, access to housing, and ability to participate in society depended entirely on a digital designation—and that designation suddenly changed?

It is dystopian fiction told through a poetic lens. The novel blurs the boundaries between literary fiction, speculative fiction, social criticism, and poetic storytelling. Rather than racing readers through a sequence of twists, it invites them to dwell in language, reflection, and emotional experience. For readers who love both novels and poetry, this hybrid approach is unusual.

It centers women often pushed to the margins of speculative fiction. The story follows three women whose lives intersect with the social upheaval caused by the system glitch. Instead of focusing on the traditional dystopian hero archetype—a rebellious teenager, elite insider, or chosen savior—the novel foregrounds experiences connected to: aging, gender, migration, economic instability, invisibility, and survival.

It explores systems rather than villains. Many dystopian narratives rely on an identifiable antagonist. In Woman Outside the City, the true threat seems to be the system itself: bureaucratic classification, technological dependence, social indifference, and unquestioned assumptions about human worth. The novel asks: Who gets recognized as fully human? Who belongs? Who becomes invisible? How much of identity is socially assigned? The conflict becomes philosophical as much as political.

It feels less like distant science fiction and more like an extension of the present. Although set in a future world, its concerns are unmistakably contemporary: digital identity, algorithmic decision-making, homelessness, migration, veterans' experiences, economic precarity, social exclusion, and the fragility of rights many assume are permanent. The book explicitly frames itself as: "The future is now..." Rather than asking readers to imagine an alien future, it asks them to reconsider the systems already shaping modern life.

It pairs social critique with the search for belonging. Many dystopian novels end with resistance or revolution. Woman Outside the City appears equally interested in a quieter question: How do people make themselves at home in an unstable world? The women are described as trying to become: "at home in the body, in the city, in the universe." This emphasis on interiority, meaning, and spiritual belonging gives the novel an almost metaphysical dimension.

Concept Q&A

Why did you write this book?

Ntoso wrote Woman Outside the City because she wanted to explore a possible future world through the eyes of characters who experience social and economic exclusion, and it made her wonder what individual empowerment might look like in the future. This led her on a journey during which she discovered the value of creative alchemy, and it made her more empowered in her own life.

The story itself is like a kaleidoscope—each chapter reveals another view of the severed world in which the characters find themselves. Poetry becomes a way of trying to see into each situation and each moment, and as each narrator finds the words to tell her story in her own voice, she also discovers a key to understanding their kaleidoscopic world. 

Why would someone want to read it?

Woman Outside the City is for readers who want to see the world from a whole new perspective. The story reflects and refracts our current world and sends it back to us in a story of the future, and it will expand readers' views of what’s possible in literature, language, and society itself.

Press Release

MODERN RENAISSANCE WOMAN BREAKS BARRIERS WITH DEBUT HYBRID NOVEL

HOUSTON, TEXAS, June 9, 2026 — Bricolage Lit, an innovator in reader engagement, is set to release its first title this fall, launching its literary publishing initiative to produce groundbreaking books that inspire authentic conversation. Available October 6, 2026, Woman Outside the City is already inspiring dialogue as a highly-anticipated, genre-bending tale of a future that makes us question how we live in the world now. The book asks an urgently relevant question, "If the systems that define our value disappeared tomorrow, who would we become—and how would we recognize one another as human?"

Woman Outside the City is an existential tale told through the prismatic lens of three women whose poetic voices testify to the challenges of making a meaningful life in the midst of social and economic upheaval. Sequoia, a female veteran and former school teacher, and her granddaughter Zane both have all the privileges that come with being “valid” citizens in a society where money is no longer required—all they need is their ID—that is, until “The Switch,” when they are suddenly thrust into the category of “invalid” and lose everything that made their lives secure. Eve, on the other hand, has spent most of her life as an “invalid” person, and suddenly finds herself in the privileged class, with access to anything she could ever want or need.

Ntoso, a Houston-based literature and creative writing teacher, started working on the novel during the pandemic as an imaginative outlet for the stress of living in a chaotic and rapidly changing world, and she soon realized the literary writing process held the possibility for creative alchemy in her own life.  The most difficult part of the writing and publishing process was finding time to devote to the project while teaching full-time and raising a daughter and son who were teenagers at the time. 

For Ntoso, her novel presents a way to start having conversations about important social issues, especially poverty and homelessness. When it comes to eradicating poverty, many of us have conflicting beliefs and behaviors that lead to anxiety, guilt, or shame around what we do and don’t do to help the others in need, which leads us to shut down and avoid discussing the issue altogether. Ntoso shares, “We avoid dealing with our own cognitive dissonance. All of us know poverty and homelessness exists—but do we really deal with it? Most of us don’t even discuss it. Those of us who can get involved in fixing it tend to avoid the nuts and bolts because it’s complicated. Our relationship to poverty is mired in cognitive dissonance.” Over time, she hopes dialogue and introspection inspire people to re-examine what’s possible for their individual lives and for society as a whole.  

Ntoso also hosts the literary podcast Backlit and cofounded the Veterans Writing Group, an intellectual creative community for military veterans inspired by literary practice. She is also the founder of Bricolage Lit and views her novel as an invaluable stepping stone for publishing and supporting other writers.

Bricolage Lit is an independent literary publisher connecting readers with groundbreaking literary works that inspire authentic and meaningful human connection, creating opportunities for diverse perspectives to engage with critical issues in a spirit of open dialogue. For more information about Bricolage Lit, visit http://www.bricolagelit.com.  

Contact: publicity@bricolagelit.com  

Tip Sheet

Contact publicity@bricolagelit.com to request an article or blog post by the author.

8 Tips for Turning Chaos into Success

1. Look for synergy

2. Embrace hybridity

3. Make time for a creative project

4. Seek out other perspectives

5. Create your own system of organization

6. Practice patience — Be patient with yourself and with the process

7. Commit to life-long learning

8. Find your ikigai

9. Find a mentor (or two)

10. Prioritize your health 

11. Find ways to support others 

Fact Sheet

Facts About the Book

• The novel takes place in the year 2096 in Austin, Texas, with some chapters exploring a backstory that takes place over the course of the twenty-first century, from the post-9/11 period to the years leading up to 2096.

• It took six years to write and publish Woman Outside the City. 

Related Nonfiction Facts

• Austin, Texas really does sit along a geological fault line called the Balcones Fault, but it has been inactive for nearly 15 million years and is one of the lowest risk zones for earthquakes in the United States.

• As of 2024, the official national poverty threshold is set at $31,812 for a family of four.

• 59% of the U.S. population will have spent at least one year below the official poverty line by the time they reach age 75. (Confronting Poverty)

• In 2025, an estimated 745,652 people in the United States were homeless, and another 713,239 were staying in temporary rehousing for homeless individuals. (2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress)

• Between 7-14% of the U.S. population has experienced homelessness in their lifetime. (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine)

• More than 7.2 million U.S. households are severely housing cost burdened, and nearly 3.2 million people live doubled up across the U.S. (State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition)

• “Literal homelessness is defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as people staying in emergency shelters (ES), transitional housing programs (TH), safe havens (SH), or unsheltered locations such as staying in cars, on the street, or in encampments. [It] does not include people who are staying with family or friends (often referred to as “doubling-up” or “couch-surfing”) or in other unstable living situations. Point-in-time counts also do not include people living in permanent housing programs, such as permanent supportive housing (PSH), rapid rehousing (RRH), or other permanent housing (OPH) set aside for homeless persons.” (2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress)

More information on poverty and homelessness

• Poverty in the United States: 2024 from U.S. Census Bureau

• Annual Homelessness Assessment Reports from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 

• Confronting Poverty: Tools for Understanding Economic Hardship and Risk

• National Alliance to End Homelessness

• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness

• Data on Poverty in the United States from the Center for American Progress

• “Counting the Number of People Experiencing Homelessness” in Permanent Supportive Housing: Evaluating the Evidence for Improving Health Outcomes Among People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

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