What if men were forced to be female for a day? What if a global wealth tax turned into an addictive game for the super-rich? Bright Matter can be read as a humanistic manifesto between hope and surrender. 13 stories that explore unconventional behaviour and introduce new kinds of borders with huge media acclaim.

Each story is a brief, tight twist on the modern world, its contradictions, and the personal struggle to find direction within it. Funny, absurd, tragic, unexpected.

These visions of utopian social innovations for the future nonetheless remain closely tied to our present daily lives and ever-never-changing human nature. The narratives open up unthinkable paths; traveling down them may, at times, feel like sex in space.

Not as technically constructed as the work of Ted Chiang, and not as pessimistic about human nature as Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, Kaufmann’s stories target a growing audience of individuals who feel doubt about themselves and about the future. Without giving pre-formatted answers, she takes doubts and desires seriously and explores different possible ways forward.

Without any media spending, the book has been widely recognised and has already received a number of excited reviews.

The 13 stories in Bright Matter address the questions we all carry around with us: what the hell is going on? And: where are we going? Sample translations into English available.