As I mentioned in “12 Fantasy Books by Black Authors,” I don’t think reading books by black authors, or any POC authors, should be a trend. Being a POC isn’t a genre, and I believe in promoting diverse books year round. But I realize that some of us may not know where to start looking for books to read.
As a bookish community, we can support black authors by buying, reading, and sharing about their works. We can also post reviews on our social media platforms, Goodreads, and retail sites. Visibility is crucial for word to spread about a book.
Amistad Books has declared this week of June 14 – June 20 as a time for us to demonstrate our power in the publishing industry by purchasing any two books by black writers to blackout bestseller lists. Again, we should support POC authors year round, but while publishers are listening this is a good time for us to support black writers.
My purchases are N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy and Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning, both of which I’ve featured on my list below.
The following list of books that I’ve compiled is meant to be a starting place. Reading can’t replace going out and taking action in the community, but it can be a place to build empathy. I believe in the power of stories to examine the human condition and teach us about people who look different, people with different experiences, people from different backgrounds. And it can be a starting place for conversations to happen. Because we won’t understand, we can’t empathize, until we listen to the stories of people who have suffered from our broken system.
12 Science Fiction Books by Black Authors
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
For generations, the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, who they consider to be less than human. When the autopsy of Matilda‘s sovereign reveals a surprising link between his death and her mother’s suicide some quarter-century before, Aster retraces her mother’s footsteps. Amidst the spark of civil war, Aster learns there may be a way off the ship if she’s willing to fight for it.
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
Humanity, which has spread throughout the universe, is involved in a war with the Invaders, who have been covertly assassinating officials and sabotaging spaceships. The only clues humanity has to go on are strange alien messages that have been intercepted in space. Poet and linguist Rydra Wong is determined to understand the language and stop the alien threat. To do so, she will have to risk herself as the target of the next outer-space attack.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti #1
Binti is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer, she must give up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Binti’s stellar travel will bring her into the conflict between Oomza University and the Meduse, an alien race, that the University has wronged. If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself—but first she has to make it there alive.
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways-farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.
Everfair by Nisi Shawl
What if the African natives developed steam power ahead of their colonial oppressors? What then might have come of Belgium’s disastrous colonization of the Congo? In this reimagining of an often ignored period of history, Fabian Socialists from Great Britain join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo’s “owner,” King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from abroad.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
The Broken Earth #1
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. The mighty Sanze Empire collapses as its greatest city is destroyed by a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, a great red rift has been been torn across the continent; it spews enough ash to darken the sky for years, or centuries. But this land is long familiar with struggle, and orogenes—those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon—are feared far more than the long cold night. Essun has remembered herself, and she will have her daughter back even if, to do so, she must break the world.
Futureland by Walter Mosley
Projecting a near-future United States in which justice is blind in at least one eye and the ranks of the disenchanted have swollen to dangerous levels, Mosely offers nine interconnected stories whose characters appear and reappear in each others’ lives. For all its denizens, from technocrats to terrorists, celebs to crooks, “Futureland” is an all-American nightmare just waiting to happen.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given.
Mindscape by Andrea Hairston
Mindscape takes us to a future in which the world itself has been literally divided by the Barrier, a phenomenon that will not be ignored. For 115 years this extraterrestrial, epidimensional entity has divided the earth into warring zones. Although a treaty to end the interzonal wars has been hammered out, power-hungry politicians, gangsters, and spiritual fundamentalists are determined to thwart it. Celestina, the treaty’s architect, is assassinated, and her protegee, Elleni, a talented renegade and one of the few able to negotiate the Barrier, takes up her mantle. Now Elleni and a motley crew of allies risk their lives to make the treaty work. Can they repair their fractured world before the Barrier devours them completely?
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
Ella and Kev are brother and sister, both gifted with extraordinary power. Their childhoods are defined and destroyed by structural racism and brutality. Their futures might alter the world. When Kev is incarcerated for the crime of being a young black man in America, Ella—through visits both mundane and supernatural—tries to show him the way to a revolution that could burn it all down.
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
The Wormwood Trilogy #1
In Rosewater, a Nigerian community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, residents yearn for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers. Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn’t care to again—but when something begins killing off others like himself, Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer, facing his dark history and coming to a realization about a horrifying future.
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Sixth World #1
While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters. Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter. In her search for missing girl, Maggie uncovers information about a monster that is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine. She reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel to the rez to unravel clues from ancient legends, trade favors with tricksters, and battle dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology. As Maggie discovers the truth behind the disappearances, she will have to confront her past—if she wants to survive.
Let’s Chat
Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts?
What are some books that you would add to this list?
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction says
Trail of Lightning and Binti are both on my TBR, but I haven’t gotten to reading either of them yet. I need to move them up on the list!
Crystal (Kester) says
Trail of Lightning and Binti are high on my TBR as well. I hope you enjoy them!
theorangutanlibrarian says
Great list! Really want to read fifth season, binti, kindred and rosewater!
Crystal (Kester) says
I hope you enjoy them!
Samantha says
Thank you for creating this great list! So many great authors and books here. I’ve linked to this post (and your fantasy books list) on my blog to share it with my audience too, if that’s okay!
Crystal (Kester) says
Yes, that’s great. I hope that you and your audience finds the lists helpful!
Sammie @ The Bookwyrm's Den says
Another great post! Found a few books to add to my TBR. Actually, I just bought Trail of Lightning and got it in today! Really looking forward to reading it, since I’ve heard such good things. 😀 I so need to read The Fifth Season, too!
Crystal (Kester) says
I’m glad that you found some books to add to your TBR. Yes, Trail of Lightning looks so good. I’ve also heard great things about it!
Sophia Rose says
Kindred and Binti!!! Love that they made your list.
And, well said, Crystal. All year long with a diversity of authors, characters, and stories.
Crystal (Kester) says
Kindred and Binti look so good!
I’ve been trying to read more diversely for years now. It’s a struggle, but the more we try, the more we’ll be conscious of doing so!
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight says
Riot Baby was SO good! I need to read a few others on this list, and own several so that should be easy haha. Especially The Fifth Season and Trail of Lightning, I have wanted to read both for ages! I need to check out more of these because I am a big fan of sci-fi! Thanks for sharing them!
Crystal (Kester) says
The Fifth Season and Trail of Lightning have been on my TBR for ages too. I’m planning to read both of them this summer. I hope you find new books to love from this list!
Ethan says
I didn’t know Mosley had a sci-fi book. I’ve read some of his others before.
Crystal (Kester) says
I checked out his other work. It seems like he’s written in quite a few genres!
Danyelle AKA Cowgirl says
That’s a great idea. Great list. I like what you did with this post.
Here is my TTT.
https://dmhoisington.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/top-ten-tuesday-6/
Susan (Bloggin' 'bout Books) says
Empathy-building is one of my favorite things about reading. Reading about people who are different from ourselves really just shows us how similar we all are, regardless of race, religion, socio-economic status, etc.
I haven’t read any of the books on your list, but several of them are on my TBR list. I hope we both enjoy them 🙂
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Crystal (Kester) says
Yes, I think reading helps to show us the common threads of humanity. It’s also great for learning about cultural differences and to respect diversity. Happy reading! 🙂
Aj @ Read All The Things! says
I don’t read a ton of Sci-fi, but I’m planning on picking up Riot Baby and Kindred for sure.
Crystal (Kester) says
Riot Baby and Kindred look great. Happy reading!
Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse says
I love what you did with this post! I wasn’t aware there were so many science fiction books by Black authors. Probably because I read mostly romance and don’t know many science fiction authors anyways…Thanks for sharing with us! I will try to get one of their books on audio to try out.
Crystal (Kester) says
I hope you find a new book to love from this list! 🙂
Astilbe says
Binti was a wonderful story.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Crystal (Kester) says
Great to hear you enjoyed it! I look forward to reading it 🙂
Lydia says
I love this post and am saving it for future reference. Thank you for it.
Kindred was one of the first Octavia E. Butler books I ever read. It was incredible.
My TTT .
Crystal (Kester) says
I hope you find more books to love from this list, Lydia! I’m glad to hear you loved Kindred. I need to read it (and all the books on this list)!
Dini @ dinipandareads says
Great list! So many of these authors are on my TBR but I loved Trail of Lightning when I read it a few years ago. Such an underrated book imho. I still have to continue on with the series but I’m excited to do so. Thanks for sharing these recs 🙂
Crystal (Kester) says
That’s great to hear. I look forward to reading Trail of Lightning!
Happy reading! 🙂