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Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy by Authors of Color
New, classic, and iconic works by top and emerging writers.
Published on December 10, 2020
Kindred
Octavia E. ButlerReaders can’t go wrong with anything by the queen, Octavia Butler, but a good place to start is with “Kindred,” one of many treasures from the godmother of science fiction. A young black woman travels back and forth in time between 1970s California and a pre-Civil War plantation in a story that’s foundational for feminist, sci-fi/fantasy, and Afrofuturism works.
The Intuitionist
Colson WhiteheadColson Whitehead has had a stunning career writing vastly different books (from “Sag Harbor” to “Zone One”) and constantly reaching new levels of success (he won the Pulitzer Prize for both “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys”). But it was Whitehead’s debut, his speculative fiction novel “The Intuitionist,” that made it onto PBS’s “The Great American Read,” a list of America’s favorite books.
Trail of Lightning
Rebecca RoanhorseRebecca Roanhorse brings to life Navajo folktales in this electrifying novel about the apocalypse brought on by climate change. Searching for a missing girl, monster hunter Maggie Hoskie must battle witchcraft, as well as the ancient gods and monsters who walk the earth once again.
Black Sun
Rebecca RoanhorseWith “Black Sun,” Roanhorse begins her new epic fantasy trilogy, “Between Earth and Sky.” Drawing on indigenous pre-Columbian cultures, Roanhorse mixes in magic, revenge, and adventure as three fierce but flawed characters embark on a collision course during a fateful solar eclipse.
Lakewood: A Novel
Megan GiddingsFans of Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” will find much to love in Megan Giddings’ chilling debut. Desperate to help her financially struggling family, Lena drops out of college and accepts a well-paying gig as a research subject in a secret government study.
The World Doesn't Require You: Stories
Rion Amilcar ScottThis inventive and exhilarating story collection is humming with adventure, fantasy, magical realism, science fiction, fresh prose, and horror. The stories take place in an alternate history in the fictional town of Cross River, made up of descendants of the only successful slave revolt in the United States.
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Carmen Maria MachadoCarmen Maria Machado’s collection of stories is so wonderfully weird, queer, and feminist. Genre-bending, uncanny, and often very funny, each of these unusual stories has something poignant to say about being a person and about being an artist.
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted ChiangTed Chiang is a sci-fi master capable of making the alien feel entirely human — his characters and worlds read like fantasy but feel like truth. Each story in this collection begs a momentary meditation on the meaning of life before going on. The title story won the Nebula and is the basis for the Hugo Award-winning movie, “Arrival.”
The Salt Roads
Nalo HopkinsonA historical fiction/fantasy set in three different times, “The Salt Roads” depicts the brutal realities of slavery, prostitution, and racism, bound together by one goddess’s consciousness.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Charles YuWhere are all the quantum physics and time-travel story-loving nerds? This post-modern science fiction novel from Charles Yu could not be more for you. Every sci-fi trope receives a hilarious spin in this existential crisis of a novel.
The Ballad of Black Tom
Victor LaValleA thrilling reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Horror of Red Hook” by the great Victor LaValle. Changing the setting to 1920s Harlem, LaValle expertly blends historical fiction with fantasy in this tale of a black musician who runs afoul of a sorcerer. Themes of racism and poverty make this NPR best books of 2016 selection a timely, exciting read.