Lovecraft Country

Matt Ruff's initial vision for the book encapsulates it perfectly. He imagined it as TV series pitch ala X-Files where characters explore the unnatural, giving Ruff the opportunity to examine horror, sci-fi and fantasy tropes and how they change when you put a black character at the centre instead.

Atticus Turner and his friends and family find themselves embroiled in a power struggle amongst the Order of the Ancient Dawn. Each chapter follows a distinct character, set within familiar genre standbys like the ancient cult, alien horror, haunted house, evil doll, Jekyll and Hyde and others. The stories are linked and build to an overarching climax but it can be jarring going from chapter to chapter. The paranormal horror also pales in comparison to the realities of being black in Jim Crow America circa 1954.

It's no mean feat being a white author telling the stories of black characters while invoking a racist white writer to inform the themes of the story that explores the black experience against the backdrop of a racially charged America. There is so much that could have gone horribly wrong so it's tellingly significant that my biggest beef is that it didn't offer up enough traditional horror scares.