Media Kit

Contact: publicity@bricolagelit.com 

Woman Outside the City is... 

A poetic speculative 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

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.

Related Content

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

Tip Sheet

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

Keywords: poetic novel; speculative fiction by women authors; speculative poetry; hybrid fiction; experimental fiction; near-future novels; novels about the future of work; novels featuring female military veterans; novels featuring strong female protagonists; dystopian novels by women; poetic novel about dystopian future; novels set in the 21st century with strong female leads; speculative fiction written in verse; fiction books about cities and society; novels about poverty in America; fiction books about homelessness; fiction books about social inequality; fiction books about technology and society; novels set in the future