About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarperCollins

ISBN-10006329043X

ISBN-139780063290433

eBay Product ID (ePID)2334459764

Product Key Features

Book TitleWorld Wasn't Ready for You : Stories

Number of Pages288 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2025

TopicScience Fiction / Collections & Anthologies, African American / General, Fantasy / Historical

GenreFiction

AuthorJustin C. Key

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Weight9 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

TitleLeadingThe

Synopsis"The most profound terror is rooted in love--the terror of losing love, of love betrayed, of love in peril. Justin C. Key's work is a cold knife through a hot heart, a surgical blade unleashing gouts of searing fear."--Cory Doctorow, author of Red Team Blues, Little Brother, and Radicalized "An electrifying collection of stories that would make Octavia E. Butler smile."-- Ebony Black Mirror meets Get Out in this gripping story collection reminiscent of the work of Octavia E. Butler, which deftly blends science fiction, horror, and fantasy to examine issues of race, class, and prejudice--an electrifying, oftentimes heartbreaking debut from an extraordinary new voice. Justin C. Key has long been obsessed with monsters. Reading R. L. Stine's Goosebumps as a kid, he imagined himself battling monsters and mayhem to a triumphant end. But when watching Scream 2 , in which the movie's only Black couple is promptly killed off, he realized that the Black and Brown characters in his favorite genre were almost always the victim or villain--if they were portrayed at all. In The World Wasn't Ready for You , Key expands and subverts the horror genre to expertly explore issues of race, class, prejudice, love, exclusion, loneliness, and what it means to be a person in the world, while revealing the horrifying nature inherent in all of us. In the opening story, "The Perfection of Theresa Watkins," a sci-fi love story turned nightmare, a husband uses new technology to download the consciousness of his recently deceased Black wife into the body of a white woman. In "Spider King," an inmate agrees to participate in an experimental medical study offered to Black prisoners in exchange for early release, only to find his body reacting with disturbing symptoms. And in the title story, a father tries to protect his son, teaching him how to navigate a prejudiced world that does not understand him and sees him as a threat. The World Wasn't Ready for You is a gripping, provocative, and distinctly original collection that demonstrates Key's remarkable literary gifts--a skill at crafting science fiction stories equaled by an ability to sculpt characters and narrative--as well as his utterly fresh take on how genre can be used to delight, awe, frighten, and ultimately challenge our perceptions. Wildly imaginative and powerfully resonant, it introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction., "The most profound terror is rooted in love--the terror of losing love, of love betrayed, of love in peril. Justin C. Key's work is a cold knife through a hot heart, a surgical blade unleashing gouts of searing fear."--Cory Doctorow, author of Red Team Blues, Little Brother, and Radicalized "An electrifying collection of stories that would make Octavia E. Butler smile."--Ebony Black Mirror meets Get Out in this gripping story collection reminiscent of the work of Octavia E. Butler, which deftly blends science fiction, horror, and fantasy to examine issues of race, class, and prejudice--an electrifying, oftentimes heartbreaking debut from an extraordinary new voice. Justin C. Key has long been obsessed with monsters. Reading R. L. Stine's Goosebumps as a kid, he imagined himself battling monsters and mayhem to a triumphant end. But when watching Scream 2, in which the movie's only Black couple is promptly killed off, he realized that the Black and Brown characters in his favorite genre were almost always the victim or villain--if they were portrayed at all. In The World Wasn't Ready for You, Key expands and subverts the horror genre to expertly explore issues of race, class, prejudice, love, exclusion, loneliness, and what it means to be a person in the world, while revealing the horrifying nature inherent in all of us. In the opening story, "The Perfection of Theresa Watkins," a sci-fi love story turned nightmare, a husband uses new technology to download the consciousness of his recently deceased Black wife into the body of a white woman. In "Spider King," an inmate agrees to participate in an experimental medical study offered to Black prisoners in exchange for early release, only to find his body reacting with disturbing symptoms. And in the title story, a father tries to protect his son, teaching him how to navigate a prejudiced world that does not understand him and sees him as a threat. The World Wasn't Ready for You is a gripping, provocative, and distinctly original collection that demonstrates Key's remarkable literary gifts--a skill at crafting science fiction stories equaled by an ability to sculpt characters and narrative--as well as his utterly fresh take on how genre can be used to delight, awe, frighten, and ultimately challenge our perceptions. Wildly imaginative and powerfully resonant, it introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction.