Fables and Spells, a gathering of adrienne maree brown’s short stories and poems, is a vibrant selection of visionary works, both previously published and brand new. Included here is her most beloved story, ‘The River,’ as well as the two sequel tales of her Water Trio. The remaining fourteen tales and nineteen poems explore moments of beauty, conflict, and transformation that weave deep, radical lessons into the folds of the fantastical. Reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans lead to surprising biological changes. An found audio fragment from the year 2067 shows the triumph over competition and death by those who understand that ‘our roots are intertwined.’ Her ‘spells’ play on the edge of poetry with directives, chants, and world-bending efforts to engage the present towards a different future. adrienne maree brown sometimes calls herself a fiction writer temporarily writing nonfiction, a poet trying to change the world.