Content Warning: This section discusses anti-Black racism and violence, enslavement, and hate crimes such as lynching.

“But like I said already, I hunt monsters. And I got a sword that sings.”

In this quote, Clark introduces a major piece of world building by describing the sword. In introducing the sword, Clark incorporates a convention (a weapon of power that selects a wielder) associated with fantasy. Like many works that belong to speculative fiction, the novella includes conventions from other genres. This quote also shows that Maryse sees wielding the sword as an important part of her identity, making this line one in which Clark characterizes her.

“You see, the Second Klan was birthed on November 25 back in 1915. What we call D-Day, or Devil’s Night—when William Joseph Simmons, a regular old witch, and fifteen others met up on Stone Mountain east of Atlanta. Stories say they read from a conjuring book inked in blood on human skin. Can’t vouch for that. But it was them that called up the monsters we call Ku Kluxes. And it all started with this damned movie.”

This quote is one of the major premises of this novel, the moment when Clark defines his “what if.” Shifting just one or a few elements of reality outside of the world of the novella is what makes the novella a work of speculative fiction. Historically, Stone Mountain was the site of an important meeting that fueled the resurgence of the Klan, but there was certainly no magic involved.

“The Shout come from slavery times. Though hear Uncle Will tell it, maybe it older than that. Slaves would Shout when they get some rest on Sundays. Or go off to the woods in secret. They’d come together and carry on like this: the Leader, the Stick Man, and the Basers, singing, clapping, and stamping, while the Shouters move to the song. In the Shout, you got to move the way the spirit tell you and can’t stop until it let you go. And don’t call it no dance! Not unless you want Uncle Will to set you down and learn you proper. See, the Shout ain’t really the song, it’s the movement. He say the Shouts like this one got the most power: about surviving slavery times, praying for freedom, and calling on God to end that wickedness.”

The Shout is an important part of Gullah culture and, more broadly, of the world that enslaved people made. This practice is one that helped enslaved people gain enough resilience to survive the harrowing experiences of slavery. Like many cultural practices in the novella, this one serves as a source of healing and resistance.