James Baldwin is my favorite writer of all time and, in my opinion, the best writer to ever live. Every word that he uses serves a purpose. There is no wasted space, no filler, and no shortage of prophetic insight to glean. I had already spent so much time in my life contemplating and reflecting on the sentences that this man has written before starting this book. I had extremely high expectations going in, and of course, he did not disappoint.

The Fire Next Time consists of two essays that Baldwin wrote and published in the early 1960s. Both contain his meditations on racial injustice in the United States during his lifetime. But honestly, describing these essays this way feels to me a flattening of their contents. Although Baldwin heavily focuses on the issue of race, these essays contain philosophical explorations of the nature of love and hate, the spirit of the United States, and how a person facing unrelenting state violence is to persist despite it. His words feel prophetic because of how true they ring to this day, not just in applying them to the continuing problem of racism today, but all other forms of marginalization that have become more apparent in the 21st century. Homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and classism can all be analyzed through the lens that Baldwin applies to racism. His words feel to me like a universal truth about human nature.

These essays, like all of Baldwin’s work, struck me very deeply. I will be thinking about these words for the rest of my life. My only complaint is that Baldwin is no longer living and cannot continue to share his genius with us.

When Sam O’Nella posted a new video on youtube about publishing this short story collection that he had been working on several years, I immediately went to purchase a copy. Sam O’Nella is a youtuber I have loved for a while (thanks to my spouse who introduced me to him) but I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this short story collection.

I’m happy to say I was thoroughly impressed and immensely enjoyed every single one of these stories. They were the perfect combination of absurd, nihilistic, and deeply meaningful. Sam has a lot of really interesting commentary on the human condition which was not only entertaining, but also thought-provoking.

Each of the short stories felt creative and original, explored themes of modernity that never felt corny or cliche, and several times left me in awe by the end. I highly recommend this short story collection if you're interested in sci-fi and/or absurdism.