I'm once again beyond thrilled to have discovered Rion Amilcar Scott's writing in Out There Screaming.

I read Insurrections first, as for whatever reason, I was unaware of the existence of this book. When the author was kind enough to point this out to me, I purchased it as soon as I got my next paycheck.

There is so much praise I could laud onto Rion Amilcar Scott's shoulders: the depth of the prose's poeticness, the humanity behind the text, the characters that seem torn from real life. This one (unless I am remembering Insurrections incorrectly) has a dialogue between them. Whether overtly through shared characters, or through subtle references, this truly makes Cross River come aive. Of course, Insurrections had shared locations/town geography, but I thought this collection connected differently. This is not to detract from the second one, however. This book just has its own particular strengths.

Also, there is some toying with genre in this edition. Sci-fi, horror, historical-fiction, and magical realism infiltrate this collection to outstanding effect. Speaking of horror, this collection had the prequel, as it were, to the story in Out There Screaming.

It's hard to pick a story as my favorite, as a lot of them (as I mentioned) are either successors or spiritual successors to one another. With that being said, if I had to pick one, it would be the ending novella, "Special Topics in Lonliness." Apart from being enthralled by the story, I saw familair names from my own studies like bell hooks and Paulo Freire, which was pretty neat.

Anyways, if you haven't read Rion Amilcar Scott, I highly, highly, highly recommend it.