The World Wasn't Ready for You
Stories
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Narrated by:
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Adam Lazarre-White
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Susan Dalian
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By:
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Justin C. Key
About this listen
“The most profound terror is rooted in love—the terror of losing love, of love betrayed, of love in peril. Justin C. Key’s work is a cold knife through a hot heart, a surgical blade unleashing gouts of searing fear.”—Cory Doctorow, author of Red Team Blues, Little Brother, and Radicalized
“An electrifying collection of stories that would make Octavia E. Butler smile.”—Ebony
Black Mirror meets Get Out in this gripping story collection reminiscent of the work of Octavia E. Butler, which deftly blends science fiction, horror, and fantasy to examine issues of race, class, and prejudice—an electrifying, oftentimes heartbreaking debut from an extraordinary new voice.
Justin C. Key has long been obsessed with monsters. Reading R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps as a kid, he imagined himself battling monsters and mayhem to a triumphant end. But when watching Scream 2, in which the movie’s only Black couple is promptly killed off, he realized that the Black and Brown characters in his favorite genre were almost always the victim or villain—if they were portrayed at all.
In The World Wasn’t Ready for You, Key expands and subverts the horror genre to expertly explore issues of race, class, prejudice, love, exclusion, loneliness, and what it means to be a person in the world, while revealing the horrifying nature inherent in all of us. In the opening story, “The Perfection of Theresa Watkins,” a sci-fi love story turned nightmare, a husband uses new technology to download the consciousness of his recently deceased Black wife into the body of a white woman. In “Spider King,” an inmate agrees to participate in an experimental medical study offered to Black prisoners in exchange for early release, only to find his body reacting with disturbing symptoms. And in the title story, a father tries to protect his son, teaching him how to navigate a prejudiced world that does not understand him and sees him as a threat.
The World Wasn’t Ready for You is a gripping, provocative, and distinctly original collection that demonstrates Key’s remarkable literary gifts—a skill at crafting science fiction stories equaled by an ability to sculpt characters and narrative—as well as his utterly fresh take on how genre can be used to delight, awe, frighten, and ultimately challenge our perceptions. Wildly imaginative and powerfully resonant, it introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction.
©2023 Justin Key (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.
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A ferrari with no motor
- By will on 11-18-17
By: Andy Weir
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Temporal
- By: Julian Simpson, Richard MacLean Smith, Bec Boey, and others
- Narrated by: Nicola Walker, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jessie Mei Li, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
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In the not-too-distant future, a 21-member crew launches from Earth. Their mission: to establish a temporary colony on Mars. Little do they know that colony will become permanent–and the last stand of the human race. Because, without warning, every single person left on Earth simply...vanishes. Now, a thousand years later, the resources needed to sustain life are running out, and the very existence of the Mars colony is threatened. Humankind has only one option–to return to its home planet.
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It was ok.
- By Cregg Terasa on 08-06-24
By: Julian Simpson, and others
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A chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from the multiple award-winning author of the national best seller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts. A masterful anthology featuring 19 pieces of short fiction, Growing Things and Other Stories is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination.
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And a Happy New Year!
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Keisha Lewis lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day Alice disappeared. After months of searching, presuming she was dead, Keisha held a funeral, mourned, and gradually tried to get on with her life. But that was before Keisha started to see her wife, again and again, in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn't dead, and she is showing up at every major tragedy and accident in the country. Following a line of clues, Keisha takes a job as a long-haul truck driver and begins searching for Alice.
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Great story, but conditionally recommended.
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The Man Who Lived Underground
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Fred Daniels, a Black man, is picked up by the police after a brutal double murder and tortured until he confesses to a crime he did not commit. After signing a confession, he escapes from custody and flees into the city’s sewer system. This is the devastating premise of this scorching novel, a never-before-seen masterpiece by Richard Wright. Written at the height of his creative powers, it would see publication in Wright's lifetime only in drastically condensed and truncated form, and ultimately be included in the posthumous short story collection Eight Men.
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If you enjoy the author Richard Wright...
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Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work? For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named Kaitlyn Day, the stakes are far higher than money, and her reasons for entering the test more personal than anyone imagines. When the timer hits zero, there will only be one winner…
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Good Summer Quick Read
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What listeners say about The World Wasn't Ready for You
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SBJ
- 01-12-24
Excellence!!!
Okay, so mentioning Octavia Butler in the description sold me on this purchase, but the captivating stories and excellent writing have me leaving this review. Each story was interesting and captured me in different ways. My favorite was Customer Service because it had me laughing out loud at points. There's a little something for everyone in this collection. I would definitely recommend as I'm about to recommend to my son, who is a huge fantasy fiction fan.
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- Mark
- 03-14-24
Come memorable short stories
I am a huge fan of The Twilight Zone. This book of short stories is very Twilight-Zone-ish with an updated feel and a racial piece as part of most of these tales. Some of the stories were good, some very good, and a few amazing. Each story was so different from any other. Only one of the stories was boring to me. I really liked this fun / creepy / cool / original set of tales! Stories included: a body-clone that goes rogue, a prisoner released for participating in an experiment where spiders were housed in him, a black man's wife is dying and he has her brain transplanted into the body of a white female prisoner, and more!
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- SummerM
- 01-13-24
Can't wait for next book!
Such a fun and enjoyable book! It's like watching a sci-fi mini series. Highly recommend.
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- sweetypt
- 01-15-24
Love Keyes take on where scary raises its head
Love Key’s take on where scary raises its head Looking for more. Can’t wait to read what else he has in store
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- Jami
- 05-29-24
Interesting collection
This was an interesting collection of short stories with a sci-fi/horror element. The stories also make you think about race, society and biases. There were a few stories that I felt ended abruptly but overall I enjoyed most of them. The audio version was well narrated.
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- L. Rodriguez
- 12-15-23
Loved the storytelling and characters
I decided to buy this audiobook after reading an article on People Magazine. I hadn't heard anything about the author or the book before that, I'm glad I did 😉 When the stories started I didn't quite know where the characters were leading me, but then without realizing it, I was caught up and fully invested and often wished to know more once they ended. Loved Spider King... Looking forward to more of your work in the future.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Linda Long
- 01-15-24
A very strange group of short stories
The narrator was perfect. The emotions that it generated me left me sad somehow.. congratulations to the author for exploring those feelings.. The book is well worse to read. Hope to hear more from him.
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- Justin Key
- 09-25-23
Review by the author
Full disclosure: I wrote this book! It’s my debut and I’m super proud of it.
I usually wouldn’t review my own work but I couldn’t help myself: the performances by Adam and Susan are PHENOMENAL! I cried on launch day listening to it. They did so well bringing these stories to life.
By the time a book is published the author has read through it so much that reading it again is far down on their list. But I am listening to this entire thing and am falling in love!
I hope you do, too!
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118 people found this helpful
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- Bobbie J.
- 01-22-24
Great stories
These stories were awesome. Loved them all, but my favorite was about the spiders. So creepy! I was sorry when the book ended.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-06-24
Real Life Horror
This book has some great stories from a minority point of view. The stand outs for me were The Perfection of Theresa Watkins, One Hand in the Coffin, and Customer Service. I recommend checking out this book for some real life slow burn horror.
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