The World Doesn’t Require You: Stories

Set in the mythical Cross River, Maryland, The World Doesn’t Require You heralds a major unique literary talent (Entertainment Weekly). Established by the leaders of America’s only successful slave revolt in the mid-nineteenth century, the town still evokes the rhythms of its founding. With lyrical prose and singular dialect, Rion Amilcar Scott pens a saga that echoes the fables carried down for generations-like the screecher birds who swoop down for their periodic sacrifice, and the water women who lure men to wet death.

Among its residents-wildly spanning decades, perspectives, and species-are David Sherman, a struggling musician who just happens to be God’s last son; Tyrone, a ruthless, yet charismatic Ph.D. candidate, whose dissertation about a childhood game ignites mayhem in the neighboring, once-segregated town of Port Yooga; and Jim, an all-too-obedient robot who obeys his Master. Culminating with an explosive novella, The World Doesn’t Require You is a leap into a blazing new level of brilliance (Lauren Groff) that affirms Rion Amilcar Scott as a writer whose storytelling gifts the world very much requires.