A genre-smashing collection of short stories, touching on themes from race and religion to love and legacies — all told with sly humour and a dash of magical realism.
Welcome to Cross River, MD. Established by the leaders of the country's only successful slave revolt in the mid-nineteenth century, its residents thump out a beat that echoes its violent founding.
Among its residents — spanning decades, perspectives, and species — are David Sherman, a struggling musician who just happens to be God's last son; Tyrone, a ruthless Ph.D student whose studies channel the insurrections of his forebears through a childhood game; Jim, a Robot Personal Helper desperate to escape the master who enslaves him; and James-my-man, who travels the path of the Underground Railroad year after year.
Not to forget the water women who lure men to watery graves and the screecher birds who demand sacrificial flesh.
Contemporary and essential, The World Doesn't Require You announces the arrival of a generational talent, as Rion Amilcar Scott shatters rigid genre lines to explore larger themes of race, violence, and love — all told with sly humour and a dash of magical realism.
