Ruth de Jauregui
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| From The State of Black Science Fiction Facebook Group |
As the month of October winds down, I want to talk about
Black Speculative Fiction Month. It was born in 2013, when indie authors Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade were discussing the Alien Encounters event with the Program Coordinator at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. The concept blossomed into reality the next day.
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| Available at MVmedia |
While some science fiction and fantasy fans may wonder why a month is needed to celebrate Black speculative fiction, it is a sad fact that for many, many years publishers somehow thought that there wasn't a market for books by and for Black readers. And even more strangely, they believed that the rest of us wouldn't buy and enjoy books with Black (plus other POC and female) protagonists. Well, the creators are proving the major publishers wrong!
As Ojetade said in his blog post celebrating the first Black Speculative Fiction Month:
"Why? Because every day we meet Black people who have never imagined Black folks writing and reading speculative fiction; especially science fiction. Why? Because a recent poll among young people found that the most popular genres were science fiction and fantasy. Why? Because every prominent scientist in the US listed that they read science fiction." From the Chronicles of Harriet
blog.
Davis has his own publishing company and has put all the books on sale until October 31st.
MVmedia, LLC features his own, Ojetade's, and the founder of the sword and soul genre, Charles S. Saunders' books, plus several anthologies. There's also a selection of graphic novels for comics fans. Personally, I highly recommend
From Here to Timbuktu for older teens and adults and
Amber and the Hidden City for tweens and teens.
As an avid speculative fiction fan and aspiring author, I simply can't imagine that anyone would think there isn't a market for books by and for Black fans! Yet, that's been a reality for far too long. Thanks to the indie market, the choices for speculative fiction fans have vastly expanded and caught the attention of major publishers. New books published by traditional publishers include
Dread Nation by Justine Ireland (highly recommended by me!),
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney,
The Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and, of course, the award-winning books of Nnedi Okorafor.
Until recently, however, there was a serious lack of resources for a diverse audience of teen and YA readers. My own search through my personal library for a book for my youngest son led to the creation of
Alien Star Books. Intended for teens and young adults of Color, it has room for all teen and YA speculative fiction books, both indie and traditionally published. My focus is on diverse protagonists. There's a page for each demographic, ranging from
Black to
Differently Abled to
Non-Humans and Aliens.
As we approach the end of October and
Black Speculative Fiction Month, I invite you to check out the resources and books available to science fiction and fantasy fans. From zombies to steamfunk to outer space, there's a fantastic story for every fan!
Resources for readers:
Alien Star Books
Chronicles of Harriet
MVmedia, LLC
The State of Black Science Fiction
Facebook Group
The Black Science Fiction Society
Facebook Group and
Website
Look for my next post on hummingbird magnets for fall and winter on Friday, November 2nd.
And don't forget to
submit your flash fiction! They're due by end of the day tomorrow, October 30!
COMMENTS
Stream
This is a wonderful article, Ruth. You've not only mentioned important books that should and must be read, but you've talked about so many of our mutual friends and I am honored to share with you.
Thank you, Joe! Yes, they're wonderful authors and deserve more attention.
October is Black Speculative Fiction Month, and
#OurAuthorGang today features author Ruth de Jauregui talking about some of the books and influential writers who are bring a whole new voice to all genres of fiction.
Thank you so much for sharing!
That is a very interesting point. To be honest, I never thought there was a color in any literary production nor gender, age, social class or anything else. I just thought that there are books and they are for everyone.
I understand. Unfortunately publishers didn't see it that way. And happily, that is changing thanks to indie authors!
What a great post, Ruth! I disciovered this some time ago, but have been so busy I forgot to do anything for it this year. Thanks for the recommendations and sharing this.
Thank you! I'm glad I finally remembered to post about it. There's a lot of great Black authors out there that aren't well known -- yet!!
Fabulous selection of books here. Thanks for sharing this.
The FB group was very kind to allow me to use that graphic. It's a great collection of books!
Check out Black Speculative Fiction month with Ruth.
Great article Ruth. I was not aware that this was even an issue. I myself don't pick a book based on color, or differently- abled. When I search for a book to read I am looking at the story and not the biases that are out there.
I totally get that. Sadly publishers had this misconception that Black readers wouldn't read speculative fiction, and even weirder, that the rest of us wouldn't read books with diverse protagonists. That is just wacky -- we'll read about aliens but not Black main characters? Wow! Happily, that perception is changing!!
A great selection of kick-butt books!
Black Speculative Fiction Month
Publishers were proven wrong many times when they assumed what readers will like. Great post Ruth and it looks like a great selection of books!
I'm telling you! I've been a science fiction fan since I was in about 7th grade or so. But "women (and Black people) don't read science fiction." Wrong, wrong, wrong. I just don't read it, I devour it!! LOL
Today, Ruth de Jauregui sheds some light on the observance of Black Speculative Fiction Month and offers some recommendations.
#OurAuthorGang
Thank you so much for sharing!
Excellent article, Ruth. Thank you so much for posting this!
Thank you! I'm just sorry I didn't think to post at the beginning of the month!
October is Black Speculative Fiction Month -- Here we are, at the end of the month, and I finally remember to blog about the fantastic world of Black speculative fiction. Stop by
#OurAuthorGang and check it out!
P. J. Mann originally shared
this
That is a very interesting point. To be honest, I never thought there was a color in any literary production nor gender, age, social class or anything else. I just thought that there are books and they are for everyone.
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