Publisher's Weekly Review
In 11 stories and a novella, Scott returns to the setting of his debut collection, Insurrections: fictional Cross River, Md., which, in an alternate history, is the location of the only successful slave revolt in America. Most stories are set in the present day; the prose is energetic and at times humorous--often uncomfortably so--as stories interrogate racist tropes. "The Electric Joy of Service" and "Mercury in Retrograde" recast the history of master, slave, and revolt in stories about intelligent robots designed with the facial features of lawn jockeys that fail to behave as programmed. In "David Sherman, the Last Son of God," David, the last (and least exalted) son of God, tries to redeem himself by leading a gospel band at his elder brother's church. And in the concluding novella, "Special Topics in Loneliness Studies," set at Cross River's historically black Freedman's University, the narrator plots the downfall of his departmental colleague, whose course syllabus and writing assignments grow increasingly entangled with his personal life. Throughout, the characters' experiences contrast the relative safety of Cross River with the more hostile ground of the once-segregated towns that surround it. It's clear, however, that threats--whether they're siren-like water-women, academic saboteurs, or brutal family traditions--can arise anywhere. Scott's bold and often outlandish imagination makes for stories that may be difficult to define, but whose emotional authenticity is never once in doubt. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
The 21st-century surge of African American voices continues with these mischievous, relentlessly inventive stories whose interweaving content swerves from down-home grit to dreamlike grotesque.Cross River, Maryland, rural and suburban at once, exists only in the imagination of its inventor. And in his debut collection, Scott manages to make this region-of-the-mind at once familiar and mysterious, beginning with Cross River's origins as a predominantly African American community established by leaders of the only successful slave revoltwhich never really happened. Nor for that matter were there ever any sightings of God doling out jelly beans at Easter time in Cross River, as chronicled in the opener, "David Sherman, the Last Son of God," whose main character is a guitar prodigy struggling through his fraught relations with local clergy and other pious folk to play the sounds only he can hear. ("God," David remembers somebody telling him, "answers all prayers and sometimes His answer is no.") In another story, Tyrone, a doctoral candidate in cultural studies at mythical Freedman's University, submits a thesis positing that the practice of knocking on strangers' doors and running away is rooted in black slave insurrection; he recruits a friend for his thesis's practical application with lamentable results. There are also a pair of science fiction stories, set in a futuristic Cross River, in which the customsand abusesof antebellum slavery are replicated by humans on robots and cyborgs, who, over time, resent their treatment enough to plot rebellion. And there's a novella, Special Topics in Loneliness Studies, chronicling an academic year at the aforementioned Freedman's University during which professors and students alike struggle with their deepest, darkest emotions. Even before that climactic performance, you've figured out that Cross River is meant to be a fun-house mirror sending back a distorted, disquietingly mordant reflection of African American history, both external and psychic. Somehow, paraphrasing one of Scott's characters, it all manages to sound made-up and authentic at the same time.Mordantly bizarre and trenchantly observant, these stories stake out fresh territory in the nation's literary landscape. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Reminiscent of classic isolated-world fantasies like The Martian Chronicles (1950) and Kirinyaga (1998), Scott's linked-story collection, following his prize-winning Insurrections (2016), imagines the all-Black town of Cross River, peopled by descendants of the only successful slave revolt in U.S. history (a fine bit of fantasy right there). The Cross Riverians treasure their communal folklore, including a tormented poet, haunted woods, carnivorous screecher birds, and the treacherous Water Women rising naked from the depths, shifting forms to tantalize and then to crush. Equally terrifying is the adjacent all-white town of Port Yooga, which haunts the Cross Riverians in ways that feel uncomfortably familiar. Cross River denizens include robotic slaves infected with the murderous rage of rebellion, except for one with a patch to block the disease of history. Go on being content. Riverbeat artists vie for dominance at The Temple, a place of musical worship and obsession. Insurrection Day is a time for mastering the bluestream, an out-of-body experience in which escaping slaves could literally turn themselves into smoke. Scott's themes of black cultural paranoia and the destabilizing power of art, sexuality, and racial trauma combine in Special Topics in Loneliness Studies, in which two alienated professors at Freedman University pursue a self-destructive assault on academic hypocrisy. Scott's imagery and unique voice blend horror, satire, and magical realism into an intoxicating brew.--Lesley Williams Copyright 2019 Booklist
Library Journal Review
In Scott's (Insurrections) version of history, Cross River is a town founded by the leaders of the only successful slave revolt in America. The author combines several short stories and a novella here. The first half of the audiobook follows the stories of the last Son of God living in Cross River who only wants to play music in his elder brother's church, a look to the future of Cross River, and a robot named Jim that is far too obedient to its master. The second half of the audiobook is a full novella, "Special Topics in Loneliness Studies," that follows a violent PhD student as he writes a dissertation that sparks rage in the town of Port Yooga. The novella also covers two professors who are struggling to maintain their sanity and achieve their goals. The conclusion displays Scott's entire vision of this unique and disturbing world. Narrator JD Jackson does an excellent job as he maneuvers through the characters and dialog to ensnare the listener. VERDICT This social and cultural themes in this complex set of stories ensure intellectual engagement for listeners.--Jason L. Steagall, Arapahoe Libs., Centennial, CO
