P. Djèlí Clark is well known in the world of speculative fiction for his unique ability to seamlessly take key pieces of history and morph them into the fantastical. As an academic historian, this is not surprising. His ability to do so is award-winning, in fact. Clark’s short story The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington won the 2019 LOCUS award and the 2019 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. He also received the 2019 Alex Award for his novella The Black God’s Drums.
Clark is back in October 2020 with a new release likely to be just as successful with fans and critics alike: Ring Shout. Tagged a “dark fantasy historical novella,” Ring Shout tells the story of Maryse Boudreaux and her band of badass women as they storm through early 1920s Georgia on a quest to find and eliminate the monsters she calls “Ku Klux.” The physical embodiment of racism, these Ku Klux are embedded among the well-known Klan, using their superhuman size and strength to spread hatred throughout the nation. And it appears they are adapting and evolving day by day to become even more dangerous…
Not everyone has “the sight,” the ability to see the Ku Klux for the monsters they really are, but Maryse and her team of women surely do. Merely 25 years old, Maryse is hell-bent on stopping this virulent expansion, no matter the cost. She has already lost too much to give up now. She is aided in this calling by a sword that appears magically when she draws it to mind. A sword that sings. A sword that calls on the long dead enslaved, the spirits of the ancient chiefs and kings bound to the sword as penance for selling these individuals into slavery, and the power of the mighty African gods. Maryse is accompanied by Sadie, a young woman of just 21 who fears no man (or monster, for that matter). Sadie’s favourite companion is her Winchester 1895 and she’s one hell of a shot. Chef rounds out the team, the oldest and the most experienced in combat, having served in World War I with the Harlem Hellfighters, one of few combat regiments composed of Black soldiers. She isn’t known for her culinary masterpieces, though; rather her nickname derives itself from her ability to cook up quite the effective bomb.
The foundational concept of Ring Shout is ingenious — Clark turns the monstrous humans who were members of the Ku Klux Klan into actual monsters that must be destroyed. However, there are also many other historical counterpoints which Clark creatively twists and moulds into his unique fantasy world of prohibition-era Georgia. Take D.W. Griffiths, for example. In Clark’s world, he is not just the filmmaker who created the ultra-racist propaganda The Birth of a Nation; he is also a sorcerer who brings about the second coming of the Ku Klux Klan. Through this film, he lures white people into thinking the Klans are heroes, and thus hatred seeps further into the fabric of the country. Then there’s the use of the ring shout: a traditional religious ritual full of song and movement which gave strength to the enslaved and now gives strength to fight back against the return of the Klan in the world Clark has created here. History buffs will also take note of references to places like Tulsa, the setting of a historically significant race massacre, and key historical figures like Marcus Garvey, a well-known Black nationalist who led the Pan-Africanism movement.
Simply put, Ring Shout is a brilliant piece of speculative fiction. In just the length of a single novella, Clark presents a history lesson, copious amounts of action and adventure, social commentary that is critically important in the United States today, and all the elements of fantasy one could desire. The core theme of the horrors of racism sadly continues to be just as pertinent today, almost 100 years after the time period this novella takes place. Clark also cleverly examines the line between anger and hatred. While so many characters in this story have experienced horrible hatred and tragedy in their lives, they do not turn to feed on hatred as do the monstrous Ku Klux. In fact, this hatred is rejected by characters like Maryse, in favour of embracing the continued fight against that which is fundamentally wrong. Centering strong Black voices and tenacious women at the helm of this story, Ring Shout — like Clark’s body of work at large — fills a gap in the genre, delivering a story readers won’t soon forget.
There are so many more layers readers need to unfurl for themselves as this cleverly crafted, vastly moving novella builds in intensity until the very end. So, I will simply leave you with this … go grab a copy of Ring Shout!
Ring Shout is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 13th 2020. Many thanks to Tor.com Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this phenomenal novella. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns with Ring Shout, a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror.
D. W. Griffith is a sorcerer, and The Birth of a Nation is a spell that drew upon the darkest thoughts and wishes from the heart of America. Now, rising in power and prominence, the Klan has a plot to unleash Hell on Earth.
Luckily, Maryse Boudreaux has a magic sword and a head full of tales. When she’s not running bootleg whiskey through Prohibition Georgia, she’s fighting monsters she calls “Ku Kluxes.” She’s damn good at it, too. But to confront this ongoing evil, she must journey between worlds to face nightmares made flesh–and her own demons. Together with a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter, Maryse sets out to save a world from the hate that would consume it.
