Celebrate Black History Month with Aliens

The Carl Brandon Society, a group for people interested in great scifi by and about people of color, has released a list of cool books to read for Black History Month. They include classics and new books that deal with race and ethnicity — on other worlds as well as Earth. io9 pal Claire Light just sent the list to us, so check 'em out, and get reading!

Here's the list:

So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust
Mindscape by Andrea Hairston
Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
Futureland by Walter Mosley
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

11:45 AM on Wed Feb 6 2008
By Annalee Newitz
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8 comments

Comments

ceejeemcbeegee at 02:01 PM on 02/06/08
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Connectedness Index: 767

Y'all need to find those lost episodes of "Cosmic Slop" that aired on HBO back in the day. True gems of black science fiction, as presented by George Clinton.

PS. Thanks for the book list... headed to Borders today!
metalkate at 04:18 PM on 02/06/08
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dhalgren was the first thing to come to my mind when i read this topic! totally perverse/perverted sprawling mindfuck. can't so much say 'i loved it' as 'i was sucked in and mesmerized and felt compelled to finish, though the non-ending and anticlimactic final section were somewhat of a letdown.' haven't caught any of these others though. anyone recommend?
galatea2.2 at 05:08 PM on 02/06/08
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@metalkate: I can vouch for Parable of the Sower. Science fiction in the tradition of "if this goes on" that will chill you (not in a horror movie way, but in a collision course kind of way).

Loved Dhalgren.

Now, to pursue some of those other books on the list...
azeo at 06:22 PM on 02/06/08
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@galatea2.2: @metalkate: I second Parable of the Sower - the follow-up, Parable of the Talents, was interesting too, in part because the two narrators have opposing views, and neither is presented as being more valid than the other. Unusual to see no clear good or bad guy.

I was surprised Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber didn't make the list (or any of her other books, although this is my favorite). I'm not familiar with the other books on the list, so maybe her style of Caribbean-flavoured SF was already covered?
montsnmags at 06:30 PM on 02/06/08
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@metalkate: Hey, you could be channelling my own thoughts. I really want to read it again though - on my first, teenage reading of it I was already so totally mindfucked anyway that it's a wonder Dhalgren didn't come across to me as a "Kill them all/Make love to them all" personal message from the Gods.

I'm all better now though. ;)
tzarry at 09:26 PM on 02/06/08
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Dhalgren was rather mind-blowing to me when I was young, perhaps a bit overwhelming at that time, but deeply influential in retrospect.

Many of Delany's earlier Space Opera stories, while not quite as intense, are still fascinating, such as 'Empire Star'.
JoshJasper at 06:55 AM on 02/07/08
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Racing the Dark by Alaya Dawn Johnson. Debut novel. Really frigging great.
galatea2.2 at 07:33 AM on 02/07/08
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@tzarry: *Empire Star* does its own bit of mind-bending, too, you betcha. Anybody looking for an "in" to Delany's work might start with that one or *Babel-17*...*Dhalgren* is an annual read for me, now.