Ring Shout (Hardcover)

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Ring Shout By P. Djèlí Clark Cover Image

Ring Shout (Hardcover)

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November 2020 Indie Next List


“The emotionally charged, wild ride of Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark was one I did not want to end. Clark pulled me into the life of Maryse and her band of monster hunters and held me hostage. With beautiful language, deep characters, and a fully immersive world, this story of vengeance and self-forgiveness unfolds. By the end, I was in tears. Ring Shout perfectly takes on a dark, violent history, but also an uncertain, terrifying future. Everyone needs to read Ring Shout.”
— Sophie Giroir, Cavalier House Books, Denham Springs, LA

Staff Reviews


Magic demon-slaying swords! Monstrous hell beasts! Mystical dimensions! Witchcraft! Haints!

"Ask me, it's plain evil them Klans let in, eating them up until they hollow inside. Leave behind  bone-white demons who don't remember they was men."

In alternate 1920s America, demonic aliens possess and inhabit the bodies of KKK members. A small group of black women and some witchy, mystical aunties fight to take down the bloodthirsty monsters of the Klan and the demons that wear their skin. Their best hope is to put a stop to a ritual screening of of Birth of a Nation, and event that could suck hundreds of lives down the funnel of hatred and rain down hell upon the world.

This is certainly serious subject matter. The book includes discussions of love and hate, ancestral anger and pain. Author P. Djèlí Clark infuses his characters with playfulness and humor, which keeps the adventure fun so that they are fully-realized human beings. Clark deftly captures the dialect of the 1920s South that is passed between his witty characters and sprinkles the story with bits of spooky folklore and Gullah traditions. I obsessively searched the internet for pieces of history and culture referenced in the book so I could learn more. 

Ring Shout is an important contribution. It joins other books that wrestle with learned perceptions of truth and draw attention to missing voices. At less than 200 pages, this wild ride could easily slip anywhere into your reading life.

— Nate

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

“A fantastical, brutal and thrilling triumph of the imagination...Clark’s combination of historical and political reimagining is cathartic, exhilarating and fresh.” —The New York Times

A 2021 Nebula Award Winner
A 2021 Locus Award Winner

A New York Times Editor's Choice Pick!
A Booklist Editor's Choice Pick!

A 2021 Hugo Award Finalist
A 2021 World Fantasy Award Finalist
A 2021 Ignyte Award Finalist

A 2021 Shirley Jackson Award Finalist
A 2021 AAMBC Literary Award Finalist

A 2021 British Fantasy Award Finalist
A 2021 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award Nominee
A 2020 SIBA Award Finalist
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist

Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | Library Journal | Book Riot | LitReactor | Bustle | Polygon | Washington Post

IN AMERICA, DEMONS WEAR WHITE HOODS.

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.

Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up.

Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

Born in New York and raised mostly in Houston, P. DJÈLÍ CLARK spent the formative years of his life in the homeland of his parents, Trinidad and Tobago. He is the author of the novel A Master of Djinn and the novellas The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, Ring Shout, The Black God’s Drums, and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. He has won the Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon Awards. His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies, including Griots, Hidden Youth, and Clockwork Cairo. He is also a founding member of FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.
Product Details ISBN: 9781250767028
ISBN-10: 1250767024
Publisher: Tordotcom
Publication Date: October 13th, 2020
Pages: 192
Language: English

A 2021 Nebula Award Winner
A 2021 Locus Award Winner

A New York Times Editor's Choice Pick!
A Booklist Editor's Choice Pick!

A 2021 Hugo Award Finalist
A 2021 World Fantasy Award Finalist
A 2021 Ignyte Award Finalist

A 2021 Shirley Jackson Award Finalist
A 2021 AAMBC Literary Award Finalist

A 2021 British Fantasy Award Finalist
A 2020 SIBA Award Finalist
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist

Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | Library Journal | Book Riot | LitReactor | Bustle | Polygon | Washington Post

P. Djèlí Clark couldn't write a bad book if he tried. Ring Shout is fantastically fun even as its core is as serious as can be.” —Victor LaValle

A fantastical, brutal and thrilling triumph of the imagination...Clark’s combination of historical and political reimagining is cathartic, exhilarating and fresh.” —The New York Times

“Once the story picks up, it keeps hitting hard, climbing — no, soaring — to a cinematic finish, with character beats that hit beautifully.” —NPR

“A thrilling narrative that mines African folklore, body horror and pulp adventure.” —USA Today

“[An] emotional and riveting novella infused with Black folklore and rich friendships.” —Buzzfeed

Ring Shout is a wild ride into America's nightmarish history, a fantastical cross between Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” —Annalee Newitz

Slyly told and laced with dark humor, this haunting tale pulled me into a richly realized world I didn't want to leave.” —Rivers Solomon

Ring Shout is a fearless punch to the heart and head!” —Jonathan Maberry

“A sublime work of revolutionary body horror.” —Sarah Gailey

“Brutal and hopeful, farcical and factual, Ring Shout is a book that speaks to the ridiculous and beastly nature of racism in a story that is difficult to put down.” —Justina Ireland

“From the start, Ring Shout explodes into vivid color with a voice that's at once joyous and harrowing.” —Bethany C. Morrow

A thrilling and provocative inferno of a story. One of the most powerful and propulsive pieces of speculative fiction I've read in years.” —Tochi Onyebuchi

“Feverishly inventive period adventure…. At once rousing, boisterous, and clever.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Readers will be both captivated and entertained by this fast-paced alternate history, which doubles as a meditation on the all-consuming power of hate and violence.” Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This is a story of Black female power, drawn from both the old and new worlds, a tale that honors the Black American experience in all its complexity, and yet also delivers in its Lovecraftian delight.” —Library Journal, starred review

“Clark's latest is set in a visceral world, steeped in historical detail and full of engaging characters, that asks the question, 'Who is to blame for the hate that hate made?'.” —Booklist, starred review

"Clark does a brilliant job of grounding his spectacle in a convincing and unnerving portrait of the 1920s South, with a few chilling instances of the real costs of racism. What may be more important is how he does this without forgoing the energetic, almost cheerfully musical celebration of the power of resistance and belief." —Locus

"A smart cultural conversation, awesome characters, empowerment, positivity, and more. Accomplishing so much in such a cohesive, unobtrusive way, while pulling off a solid story with engaging, often really funny dialogue, is nothing less than brilliant. This book is a gift to American culture." —Lightspeed

"[Ring Shout] is a skillful feat of establishing distinctive characters, fleshed-out relationships, multiple set pieces, and exploration of racism and hate in the world, without feeling rushed or underdeveloped. That’s a magic trick that makes the KKK’s sorcery pale in comparison." —FIYAH

"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." —Nerd Daily

"Ingenious alternate-history, speculative fiction." —Goodreads Blog