SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello! New to this group :) I'm looking to diversify my reading - any recommendations for fantasy (or scifi, I like that too) written by POC?

While you wait for people to start recommending, take a look at Adult SF by Black authors!

Hi, Mary. What's POC?

V.M. wrote: "Hi, Mary. What's POC?"


People of Colour

There's also a bunch on our shelf, and I have a shelf for authors of color on my personal profile, too, if that helps! Not knowing what sorts of SFF you like, I can't really make specific recommendations! So poke around or if you'd like to tell us some of your favorite books maybe we can get more specific :)

(Edited to add a couple more authors, add author links, and change Liu's description from just "Asian." Sorry, Asian peeps. 🥴)

Literally anything by N.K. Jemisin(Black US American). She is amazing and writes fantasy mostly.

Nnedi Okorafor (first generation US immigrant from Nigeria) writes more sci-fi with an African flair.

Ken Liu (US immigrant from China) writes gorgeous short stories and is also an excellent translator. He has longer works too. But I haven’t read them yet. He is more sci-fi/speculative fiction.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Canadian) is very popular and writes fantasy/horror, although I haven’t personally enjoyed her work.

I also haven't read anything by the following, but they are on my to-read list: Nalo Hopkinson (Canadian immigrant from Jamaica), Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigerian).

Paul wrote: "V.M. wrote: "Hi, Mary. What's POC?"

Thanks.
People of Colour"

SF/F used to be a very white field, with the SF part also being overwhelmingly male for far too long (despite arguably the first science fiction novel being by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley).


Of classic-era authors, one of the few stand outs is Samuel R. Delany, a gay, black American author.


Luckily, things have changed for the better (most of the SF I've read recently has been by women) and the fall of the gatekeepers means there is some astonishing fiction around by people from backgrounds who would not have had a look-in even twenty years ago.



Some author of colour off the top of my head:


Tade Thompson, whose Rosewater trilogy is excellent

P. Djèlí Clark; I can't wait to read his latest, Ring Shout

Nnedi Okorafor is just magnificent

Alliette de Bodard is French-Vietnamese and writes some incredibly interesting and well-realised fiction

Victor LaValle is more a horror writer, but well worth reading

and, of course, N.K. Jemisin who seems to be quickly - and deservedly - conquering the world at the moment.



When I decided some time back to diversify my reading I sought out some relevant anthologies. The tor.com best of the year are always worth checking out - consistently excellent fiction and a clear mandate to diversity. I discovered most of the above authors through these.


There are some great afrofutirism collections: Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers & AfroSFv2, for example.


In other diversifying directions, Lightspeed magazine have put out a few collections:


Lightspeed Magazine, June 2016: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue

Lightspeed Magazine, June 2014: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue

Lightspeed Magazine, June 2015: Queers Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue

Fantasy Magazine, October 2014: Women Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue

Fantasy Issue 60 - Dec. 2016: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue

Uncanny Magazine Issue 30: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue

Fantasy Magazine, December 2015: Queers Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue



I'm sure, as I have, you'll find much to love and broaden your perspectives. I think I'll keep an eye on this thread to find other recs - cause, y'know, I mustn't have enough to read...


edit: and how could I forget Ted Chiang, who may be the finest living SF short story writer!

Let me add the amazing R.F. Kuang, author of The Poppy War series to the list. Yoon Ha Lee is another highly recommended one, his work include the The Machineries of Empire series - a genrebender if you will. For classic Octavia Butler is a must; I love her Earthseed: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.

I like sampling translated works from anthologies too. Fell in love with the works of Xia Jia, Chen Qiufan, and Hao Jingfang after reading Ken Liu's anthologies: Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation and Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation Some of them have published novels too. Hao Jingfang's Vagabonds is one of my fave novels this year.

Who else....well I read only one of their work so far but could also recommend the following:
Saad Hossain - The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday
Mimi Mondal - His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light
Carmen Maria Machado - Her Body and Other Parties
Nicky Drayden - The Prey of Gods
Indra Das - The Devourers
Ahmed Saadawi - Frankenstein in Baghdad
Hiroshi Sakurazaka - All You Need Is Kill
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain - Sultana's Dream
Arula Ratnakar - Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ratna...
Zen Cho - Spirits Abroad
Isabel Yap - https://isabelyap.com/fiction
Marlon James - Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Saladin Ahmed - Abbott

Octavia E. Butler
Samuel R. Delany
Sabaa Tahir
Fonda Lee
Evan Winter

I can't believe I missed Octavia Butler, especially as I've just queued up Parable of the Sower on my kindle!

There are so many amazing authors already listed! I'm going to add:

Roseanne A. Brown
Whitney Hill
C.L. Polk
Tomi Adeyemi
Hafsah Faizal
Jon Herrera

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid is fantastic - literary magical realism that definitely fits under the spec/fic umbrella. MR usually isn't my jam, but I loved this one.

Kazuo Ishiguro is another. Most people love his SF/dystopian book Never Let Me Go. It didn't personally work for me, but I'm definitely the minority on that one.

Oh wow - thanks so much everyone! So many authors to check out! This will keep me going a while 😅

K.S. Villoso has some great epic fantasy.

I just got a notification of a new blog post on BIPOC Writers of SFF, check it out for 2020 releases by BIPOC authors!

Based on your GR profile you may also like:

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry - this is a witchy urban fantasy set in a high school in the 80s in which an all-female hockey team turn to dark magic to help them win (literary, funny, rave reviews, just came out)

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi - if you like lush, beautiful writing, a Victorian era setting, some romance, a heist plot, and a large cast of young characters (this is YA, but not childish), then this will be your jam
or if you prefer an Indian setting: The Star-Touched Queen by the same author

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong - an Asian Romeo and Juliet retelling in a fantasy world, just came out

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh - an anthology of retellings of Asian fairy tales and myths

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin - YA fantasy set in a world inspired by Ancient Africa, this also has an enemies-to-lovers romance

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir - forced to serve in an evil empire's military academy, young Laia becomes a spy for the rebels, one of Time Magazine's 100 best fantasy novels of all time

Actually, have a look at the lower third (=newest) books on Time Magazine's list: https://time.com/collection/100-best-...
It's a controversial list overall (many painful snubs, some obvious bias, etc.) BUT it's really great for finding new fantasy written by writers of color.

I've read mostly short stories by him, but there's Somtow Sucharitkul AKA S.P. Somtow.

Anna wrote: "I just got a notification of a new blog post on BIPOC Writers of SFF, check it out for 2020 releases by BIPOC authors!"

this is great, thanks! on quarterly basis too.

*bookmarked*

..The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso
The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Winterglass byBenjanun Sriduangkaew
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
Lost Gods by Micah Yongo
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra
The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang
The Salvage Crew by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Sea Is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia edited by Jaymee Goh
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction edited by Grace L. Dillon
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora edited by Sheree Thomas
So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Nalo Hopkinson

Caillen wrote: "..The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
Labyrinth Lost by [aut..."

great stuff, many titles I have not heard. which of these have highest recommendation?

It all depends on what you like. The Iron Hunt is urban fantasy, Son of a Trickster is urban fantasy or maybe magical realism, An Unkindness of Ghosts is scifi, and Midnight Robber is sort of a scifi/fantasy blend. Those are my personal favorites.

And I forgot to add So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Nalo Hopkinson which is excellent, not just for the stories but because a variety of cultures are represented.

a group of short stories I liked

Not So Stories

is Kipling's Just So Stories as written by POC. It's pretty good