The World Wasn’t Ready for You

The eight horror shorts in Key’s equally unsettling and thought-provoking debut collection dip into different subgenres, including historical fiction (“Afiya’s Song”), science fiction (“The Perfection of Theresa Watkins”) and medical horror (“Now You See Me”), but are united in their deep explorations of racial, gender, and class inequality—and in their truly stomach-churning imagery. Key has a talent for crafting memorable characters, among them Darnell Lee in “Spider King,” a father and ex-con whose prison sentence is erased in exchange for his participation in a drug trial that causes him to hatch spiders from under his skin. The conceit is emblematic of the way Key employs fantastical elements to highlight social justice issues, in this case the exploitation of the incarcerated. The horror elements hit just as hard: “One Hand in the Coffin,” in which an autistic child’s late abusive brother is reanimated in a puppet, is so upsetting many readers may struggle to get through it. Key’s influences are wide-ranging, from genre greats like Octavia Butler to B-movies, and he has a sure-handed command of horror tropes. Readers will welcome this formidable new voice in Black speculative fiction. Agent: Adam Eaglin, Cheney Agency. (Sept.)