Helen is a painter. And she has supernatural powers. Two days before the opening of her exhibition, all her paintings are stolen. Instead of trying to solve the case, she flies back to her Greek hometown of Egio. While Helen devotes herself to her artistic work again, her partner Lenell investigates the tectonic boundary on which Egio lies. The couple's private life is turbulent; they are increasingly unable to escape their own wounds and the devastation of the world. And the question that once arose remains: is it possible to strive only for personal fulfilment in the face of the fractures that surround us? And what should we use our own powers for – especially if, as in Helen's case, they are even telekinetic?
Plasma Drops tells of inner and outer fault zones, of plate tectonics and longing, permafrost and art. Joshua Groß does not record what happened, but imagines what could happen in a world that is becoming increasingly surreal and fairytale-like.
Novel
Sample translation
English sample available
Joshua Groß, born in 1989 in Grünsberg, studied political science, economics and ethics of text cultures. He has received several awards, among others the Anna Seghers Prize 2019, the Hölderlin Förderpreis 2021, the Literature Prize of the A und A Kulturstiftung 2021 and a residency scholarship from the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin 2021. He was nominated for the 2023 Leipzig Book Fair Prize for his previous novel, Prana Extreme, also published by Matthes & Seitz Berlin.
By the same author(s)
„Joshua Groß captures the tone and soul of a generation that perhaps has as little to gain as it has to lose.“ – Jörg Schieke, MDR, on Prana Extreme
