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Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

INSURRECTIONS

Rion Amilcar Scott

A suicidal father looks to an older neighbor?and the Cookie Monster?for salvation and sanctuary as his life begins to unravel. A man seeking to save his estranged, drug-addicted brother from the city's underbelly confronts his own mortality. A chess match between a girl and her father turns into a master class about life, self-realization, and pride: "Now hold on little girl. . . . Chess is like real life. The white pieces go first so they got an advantage over the black pieces."

These are just a few glimpses into the world of the residents of the fictional town of Cross River, Maryland, a largely black settlement founded in 1807 after the only successful slave revolt in the United States. Raw, edgy, and unrelenting yet infused with forgiveness, redemption, and humor, the stories in this collection explore characters suffering the quiet tragedies of everyday life and fighting for survival.

Rion Amilcar Scott's lyrical prose authentically portrays individuals growing up and growing old in an African American community. Writing with a delivery and dialect that are intense and unapologetically current, Scott presents characters who dare to make their own choices?choices of kindness or cruelty?in the depths of darkness and hopelessness. Although Cross River's residents may be halted or deterred in their search for fulfillment, their spirits remain resilient?always evolving and constantly moving.

Rion Amilcar Scott teaches English at Bowie State University. He earned an MFA at George Mason University, where he won both the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award and a Completion Fellowship. His work has appeared in publications such as the Kenyon Review, Crab Orchard Review, PANK, The Rumpus, Fiction International, the Washington City Paper, The Toast, and Confrontation.
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Published 2016-07-01 by University Press of Kentucky

Comments

“These terrifyingly funny stories . . . comprise not just a dynamic collection but a whole haven for misfits.” Read more...

“Scott joins a growing tradition of African-American authors fusing the folksy dystopian humor of George Saunders with the charged satire of Ishmael Reed, and expands on it brilliantly.” Read more...

Rion Amilcar Scott's Insurrections announces an urgent, clarion new voice in the American short story. This is a collection bursting at the seams with voice, with lexicon and ache, with the beating heart of a broad chorus on a confined canvas. It brings to mind a wide range of our finest story writers, past and present: Flannery O'Connor and Edward P Jones, Junot Diaz and even David Foster Wallace. Read this book. Read it slowly, like it deserves, but read it right now, and savor it.?Daniel Torday, author of The Last Flight of Poxl West

"Powerful and revelatory." Read more...

“Scott's interweaving story collection covers generations and defies genre restrictions in a series of wry, magically tinged character studies. The book affirms Scott, who won awards for his first collection Insurrection, as a major unique literary talent.” Read more...

Winner of the 2017 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction Read more...

LitHub's "Most Anticipated Books of 2019 – Part 2" Read more...

“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.” (starred review)

"A must read." Read more...