Ring Shout
by P. Djèlí Clark
Narrated by Channie Waites
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
What if the Ku Klux Klan were literally demons you could kill with a sword — and someone finally did?
- Great if you want: dark fantasy that weaponizes history without flinching
- Listening experience: punchy and relentless — short runtime, zero filler
- Narration: Waites brings fierce, grounded energy to Maryse's voice
- Skip if: Klan violence as horror imagery feels too visceral for you
About This Audiobook
Ring Shout is set in 1922 Georgia, where the KKK is riding high in the wake of The Birth of a Nation's influence. P. Djèlí Clark takes the premise that D.W. Griffith's film was a literal summoning — that its racism opened a door for actual demons to walk into white men — and sets his resistance story in that charged gap between history and horror. Maryse Boudreaux and her crew of hunters fight these demons on the physical and spiritual plane, and Clark writes about violence, anger, and collective resistance with emotional precision.
Channie Waites's narration carries the story's Black Southern vernacular with care and authority, giving Maryse's voice an earned ferocity. The novella earned awards across horror and fantasy categories, and Waites's performance honors the seriousness beneath the genre premise. At just over five hours, Ring Shout is tightly constructed and delivers everything it promises.