This is a refreshing and original reflection on racial theory and contemporary cultural production that speaks aptly to the tensions and anxieties of our times while demonstrating how literature and film can offer salutary alternatives to ongoing racial injustice.

Jane Hiddleston, Professor of Literatures in French, Oxford University, UK

Nicole Simek's Alchemies of Blood and Afro-Diasporic Fiction offers a trenchant critique of cultural and political bloodlines in contemporary Black thought. In a bold series of case studies, from genealogical analysis to a wonderful juxtaposition of work by Whitehead and Condé, Simek provides fresh thinking on a passion for the real in Black writing. An impressive contribution.

Peter Hitchcock, Professor of English, Baruch College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, USA