We went silent last week at the SFF Seven to give space for
the voices that needed to be heard in the world...
#BlackLivesMatter
Our theme for the week is to suggest resources for finding
Black authors to read...
A source I turn to often is the WOC In Romance webpage …they update periodically and
have the books slotted into genres/tropes for easy searching.
May Sage writes all manner of stories but her fantasy
romances have a huge following. Her
Court of Sin series, which begins with Frostbound
Throne is a good entry point to her work.
Another favorite of mine is A. M. Griffin, with her The Hunt
series. Book one is The Game Warden’s
Mate.
I first discovered Deborah Bailey when she released book one in
her Hathor Legacy trilogy, which was Burn…and
I loved her Once Upon a Princess: Beauty
and the Faun fairy tale…
I’ve mentioned P. J. Dean before, because I so enjoyed her
scifi romance series The Felig Chronicles,
and she writes in other genres as well…
Alyssa Cole just released the ebook version of The A.I. Who Loved Me, which is
thoroughly enjoyable and her post-apocalyptic Off the Grid series is a classic.
The first book is Radio Silence.
Hugo And Nebula Award winning author N. K. Jemison’s The City We Became is an amazing book,
as is The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth
Book 1).
I can’t say enough about the Hugo and Nebula Award winning Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor.
The Deep by Rivers
Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes is a timely, tough
fantasy…
Rita Wood has written “Ode to Black Science Fiction &
Fantasy Writers” for Tor.com
and has specific book suggestions…
Don’t overlook FIYAH,
the magazine of Black Speculative Fiction….check them out!
Hopefully this small list will provide a few new-to-you
authors to check out and some resources for finding more, because a voracious
reader always needs fabulous new books to read, right?
Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments!
As it relates to the times we’re living in, I’d like
to add one more book that I personally found immensely helpful. It was hard
homework but insightful and eye opening, even after all the many hours of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion training I'd had at various times with my previous day job employer. This book, which I read earlier in the year when the RWA was imploding (wow, that seems like last century!) is challenging but turned on many light bulbs for me. White
Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin
J. DiAngelo, Michael Eric Dyson (Foreward).
Sending my best wishes to you and your loved ones to stay safe and healthy
because we’re not out of the pandemic yet, that’s for sure.
