This cocktail of X-Men superpowers, the prison industrial complex, hyper-militarization of police, and hundred of years of racism spotlighted with viral videos of today is an ambitious novella. The alternate history, just a little bit, to the left of our world takes on a lot, maybe too much.

We discuss trauma porn, actual prison rodeos, god-like powers, and the future of incarceration in Tochi Onyebuchi's novella Riot Baby.