Justin C Key’s “The World Wasn’t Ready For You”
Black horror that cuts with a surgical scalpel.
On September 22, I’m (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. That night, I’ll be in person at LA’s Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key’s The World Wasn’t Ready for You. On September 27, I’ll be at Chevalier’s Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.
The World Wasn’t Ready For You is Justin C Key’s first book. It’s a short story collection, from a major publisher. This is basically unheard of. Big publishers rarely publish collections, and when they do, it’s almost always after a string of extremely successful novels:
Yes, there are exceptions. Ted Chiang. Kelly Link.
And now, Justin C Key. To be in such company is, as they say, a big fucking deal.
I can’t say I’m surprised. Key was my student at the Clarion West writing workshop — a year full of standout writers among whom Key was still a standout. I was immensely impressed with his work then, and when I found out that he was also an MD and a father, a young man juggling an unimaginably…
