People Like Us

Two Black writers - with stories to tell, and some they'd rather forget.
One wins the big prize, gets the book tour, walks into the spotlight of global success.
The other is about to walk into a place ripped apart by violence - a school that's recently suffered a shooting - with only a speech to offer them.
Some stories are simple, and stay neatly in the lines.
This one wanders, bends time, breaks rules. This one has sea monsters, floating handguns and ridiculously tiny French cars.
Some stories are true.
This one is - mostly - made up.
Some people turn the page and move on.
Some people survive by forgetting.
But those people? They're not people like us.

Jason Mott has published four novels. His first novel, The Returned, was a New York Times bestseller and was turned into a TV series that ran for two seasons. He has a BFA in fiction and an MFA in poetry, both from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His poetry and fiction have appeared in various literary journals, and his most recent novel, Hell of a Book, was named the winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 2021.