World Doesn't Require You

Finalist PEN / Jean Stein Book AwardLonglisted Aspen Words Literary PrizeBest Books of the Year: Washington Post, NPR, Buzzfeed and EntropyBest Short Story Collections of the Year: Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, the New York Public Library, and Electric LiteratureWelcome to Cross River, Maryland, where Rion Amilcar Scott creates a mythical universe peopled by some of the most memorable characters in contemporary American fiction.Set in the mythical Cross River, Maryland, The World Doesnt Require You heralds a major unique literary talent (Entertainment Weekly). Established by the leaders of Americas 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 generationslike the screecher birds who swoop down for their periodic sacrifice, and the water women who lure men to wet death.Among its residentswildly spanning decades, perspectives, and speciesare David Sherman, a struggling musician who just happens to be Gods 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 Doesnt 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.