Ring Shout by p. Djèlí Clark

Author: P. Djèlí Clark

Title: Ring Shout

Publisher: Tor.com

Published: 2020

Pages: 176

Genre: Historical Horror 

     In America, demons wear white hoods. In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die. Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bombs, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

     I think it took me the longest time to get into written horror. For me, Horror was the thing of the big screens. It was emotionless killers splashing blood ten ways from Sunday or Asian ghosts trying to creep into my midnight dreams. It was only when I started delving into this genre proper that I started to see that its blood runs a great deal deeper than that of its celluloid counterparts. I'm starting to see that when it comes to its written form it allows the authors to talk about much more than what it would first appear. In some ways it allows them to say the bits that are usually quiet out loud. This is where Ring Shout comes into play. I only happened upon this book by absolute chance. I had just finished a book and the online subscription service I use, recommend this one as a possible next novel to get stuck into. Now the closest I've come to another book in a similar vein was Lovecraft Country. Which I greatly enjoyed. But is still much like a great many other similar works a white American writing about African American struggles all be it under the cover of horror. So I wanted to see how Djèlí Clark would tackle this subject. Would there be noticeable differences in how he blended in America's history with elements of horror?

      Djèlí Clark has created some of the most memorable characters that I have come across this year. Within these two hundred pages you become to be completely captivated by them and their plight. The author writes with a strong hand and his heroes grab you by the collar and stare you right in the eyes and demand you pay attention to everything they go through. You can just see them in the trailer for the latest HBO adaptation demanding you tune in the fall. They have the perfect blend of kick-ass action heroes and weaknesses as they struggle to deal with everything in their world. He has created people that you so desperately want to see succeed in their mission. Because if they fail then that means the world will decent to pure hatred and suffering. This brings us to the flip side of his work, these villains for me were so easy to hate. He has created these beings of true terror. After all the author has already taken a focal point of hatred in the Klan and ramped it up. It is almost as if their bile and hate have twisted their bodies so much that their very physical form has evolved into these demons. How this ugliness spreads out and tears apart everything it touches and ultimately can never no peace or happiness. I think it's also a way of slipping in the idea of tackling such subjects for some readers who would otherwise not read a novel about this time in the civil rights movement. And maybe that's letting them off easy but it might also spur them on to look into some of the real horrors that took place then and now.   

     Djèlí Clark has managed to blend a great many trains of thought into his amazing work of fiction. We get this fast-paced quick talking action-adventure set in the deep south back in the day. There are moments that seem so familiar wrapped up in new twists and turns. He keeps us on our toes as we skip and dance around these terrors as they come bounding at us trying to overrun the world. But it also feels like we are getting so much more. We get these moments and people that really did exist, just twisted about to suit the author's narrative. They become amplified to stop us from looking away from the damage that was caused in the name of purity and bigotry. A big part of this revolves around the film The Birth of a Nation a movie we watched in my film studies class.  It is worth saying my teacher would point out that he did not believe in the context of the film, but wanted to show us the mechanics of how it was shot. And that we should be offended by the message of this movie. Either way, I remember them saying that before it came out the Klan had pretty much disappeared, but after, the nation was whipped up into a furor and the Klan came back over the next couple of years with a vengeance. My point here is that he has done a great job of picking out these treads and twisting them around the horror to create his tale.

     Ring Shout is one of those books that feels like I read it far too quickly. I wanted it to last far longer than it does so wrapped up in our hero's tales. Djèlí Clark is clearly very good at writing historical horror tales. And I guess at the end of the day you can choose to take from it what you want. For me, it is definitely one of those books that will stay with me for the foreseeable future. And I wish there were more people in my life that I could ask to read it.