All Our Worlds: Diverse Fantastic Fiction

54 YA, Adult, Middle Grade fantasy, sf, superhero, mixed genre books, anthologies, comics from any date containing any selected tags: race

Cover Title and Author Summary (Scroll) Reasons (Scroll) Tags Date Audience

Abengoni: First Calling
by Charles R Saunders
Matile Mala, once the most powerful empire in the black continent of Abengoni, is slipping slowly into decadence, and becoming more and more vulnerable to aggression from the nations and tribes it once dominated. In the capital, Khambawe, ancient rituals endure, dominated by dreams and delusions. As Tiyana, who is both priestess and princess, conducts one such ceremony, known as First Calling, the rite is disrupted by the arrival of a half-wrecked ship from Fiadol, a far-distant land across the sea that is almost forgotten by the Matile. Led by a Seer called Kyroun, the pale-skinned people on the ship seek refuge among the Matile. But the Matile themselves are in need of aid, as they soon come under attack from their ancient enemies, the Uloans, who have flourished while the Matile waned. Along with her father – the High Priest Gebrem –Tiyana marshals the waning forces of Matile magic in conjunction with the powerful new sorcery wielded by Kyroun and his followers in an effort to forestall the threat of imminent annihilation. As the Matile and Uloans clash, other foes of the fading empire wait on the sidelines, like vultures circling a battlefield. The newcomers from Fiadol hold the balance of destruction – and Tiyana must anticipate which way the scale will tip …
Black/African setting
setting, , race African, Black 2014 Adult

Adrift
by Dominica Malcolm
It's the 21st century, and Jaclyn Rousseau is not where she should be. 1661 disappeared before her eyes, and there's no way home. That matters not to Jaclyn—she lost her lover, and everything else that meant anything to her, in the West Indies. In an adventure that crosses time and the Atlantic, a murderous pirate must find a place for herself in this new world. Can she escape her past, or will it catch up with her?
bisexual protagonist, 3 other lesbian/bisexual characters, racial diversity including characters of African, Latino, Chinese, and Japanese ancestry.
lesbian, bisexual, race, African, Black, Latino, East Asian 2013 Adult

AfroSF
by Ivor W Hartmann (editor)
AfroSF is the first ever anthology of Science Fiction by African writers only that was open to submissions of original (previously unpublished) works across Africa and abroad.
Science fiction by African authors
race, setting, , race Black, African 2012 Adult

Akata Witch
by Nnedi Okorafor
Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she's albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a “free agent,” with latent magical power. Soon she’s part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too?
Kids with magic powers in Nigeria
setting, disability,, race African, West Africa, Genetic 2011 MG

Anansi Boys
by Neil Gaiman
Anansi Boys God is dead. Meet the kids. When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed -- before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life. Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun ... just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie. Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.
Black characters, West African mythology. Same universe as American Gods
race, setting, , race Black, African, West Africa 2005 Adult

Blade of Fire
by Stuart Hill
Many years have passed since Queen Thirrin and her allies defended the Icemark against a brutal invasion. But now General Bellorum is back, along with his bloodthirsty spawn, twin sons even more vicious than him. Thirrin and Oskan also have a family: two girls and three boys. But darkness lurks within the House of Lindenshield: Medea, the couple's cold-hearted, fifteen-year-old daughter, who's just coming into her magical powers, may be the downfall of the kingdom. It's up to her brother, Charlemagne, crippled by polio as a child, to return from exile and rescue the land he loves.
Submitter's comments: "One of the main protagonists of this novel (a sequel to a less diverse book that can be read as a standalone) is a young teenager stricken with polio at a young age. He is a prince living in a medieval society in which the ability to fight is valued, so when his country is attacked he is sent away as a refugee. In these far away parts (the multiple culture aspect- most of these reflect Middle Eastern and African cultures) he meets people who teach him how to fight from horseback in spite of his disability."
race, setting, multiple culture, disability, , race Mobility, Middle Eastern, African 2007 YA

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.
African characters, class issues
race, class, Black, African 1998 Adult

The Chronocar
by Steve Bellinger
Simmie Johnson was born the son of a slave. He was also a genius. After earning a PhD in physics from Tuskegee Institute, he wrote a paper outlining a theory for time travel, including plans for a time machine—called a Chronocar—which was published in a scientific journal in the early 1900s . Since the technology required to build the chronocar did not yet exist, the paper and its brilliant writer faded into obscurity. A century later, a young Illinois Tech student, Tony Carpenter, discovers the journal article and decides to build a Chronocar so he can travel back to 1919 to meet the black scientist he hopes to emulate. Unfortunately, time is not on his side.
Black protagonists, discusses Black life at various points in history
race, Black, African 2014 Adult

The Dark Universe Anthology
by Milton J Davis
The Dark Universe Anthology tells the origin story of the Cassad Empire, from its ambitious beginning to its evolution to the first great human Galactic Empire and its eventual fall. Milton Davis, Gene Peterson, Balogun Ojetade, Penelope Flynn, Malon Edwards, K. Ceres Wright and DaVaun Sanders are the storytellers that lay the foundation of this amazing empire. Dark Universe is space opera like you've never seen. The time has come; Dark Universe is here!
Space Opera tales set about the rise and fall of a futuristic African Empire. Racially and culturally diverse characters and settings.
race, setting, multiple culture, Black, African 2016 Adult

The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm
by Nancy Farmer
General Matsika's children steal out of the house on a forbidden adventure--and disappear. In Zimbabwe, in the year 2194, the children's parents call in Africa's most unusual detectives--the Ear, the Eye and the Arm--who have powers far beyond those of other human beings. The children must avoid the evils of the past, the technology of the future, and a motley assortment of criminals in order to return home safely.
Set in Zimbabwe
setting, race African, Southern Africa 1994 YA

Everfair
by Nisi Shawl
An alternate history / historical fantasy / steampunk novel set in the Belgian Congo, from noted short story writer Nisi Shawl. Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian 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, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated.
Focus on native people and colonialism
race, setting, class, African, Central Africa, East Asian, Black 2016 Adult

Fire And Clay
by Kaaronica Evans-Ware
Banished from her clan for being a Muslim, a 400 year-old jinn named Zamar is hiding from her past. But an ancient evil is about to surface, unearthing her secrets and carrying painful reminders of the life she once lived. Ages ago, Zamar had lived in solitary exile along the banks of the Senegal River. Then a lone man entered her world, altering it forever. Spanning several centuries, book one of Fire & Clay, pulls you into the unseen world of mankind's distant cousins, the jinn. Like humans, these beings were given the gift of free will. And like us there are a few that choose the way of good, some that choose the way of evil, and many that live their lives torn between the two. But what happens when the lives of creatures cast from smokeless fire, and those shaped from the clay of the Earth become intertwined? The story told here takes readers on a journey of mystery, imagination, and magic to search for the answers. It plunges into the depths of jealousy, fear, and greed-as well as violence, sorrow, and loss. But it also scales the heights of love and faith, hope and deliverance. This story may be fictional, but it is true. Its truths are about what it means to be human, what it means to have the power to choose. Fire & Clay is no mere fairytale. What we can see, touch, and taste is only a narrow sliver of reality. There is a war being fought all around us, even within us. And sooner than we might think, our final battle is coming.
et in West Africa (Senegambia region), it is a fantasy involving djinn, elements of Islamic mysticism, and traditional West African beliefs.
race, setting, class, , race African, West Africa, Muslim 2013 Adult

Fledgling
by Octavia Butler
Fledgling, Octavia Butler's new novel after a seven year break, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly inhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted--and still wants--to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.
Bi black vampire girl
race, class, bisexual, Black, African 2005 Adult

Imaro
by Charles R Saunders
Imaro was, his name -- Imaro of the Ilyassai, Imaro the outcast, Imaro the legendary hero of the jungle continent. This is the epic, action-packed, novel of how Imaro achieved manhood, won his rights among the people, and began his long march against the fantastic and unearthly terrors of that alternate-Africa known as Nyumbani. Imaro's saga will be compared with that of Conan and other heroes of history and legend and will rise above them for authenticity, for vivid conception, and for gripping reading.
Pre-colonial African setting and cast.
setting, , race African 1981 Adult

Lagoon
by Nnedi Okorafor
When a massive object crashes into the ocean off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and legendary city, three people wandering along Bar Beach (Adaora, the marine biologist- Anthony, the rapper famous throughout Africa- Agu, the troubled soldier) find themselves running a race against time to save the country they love and the world itself… from itself. Lagoon expertly juggles multiple points of view and crisscrossing narratives with prose that is at once propulsive and poetic, combining everything from superhero comics to Nigerian mythology to tie together a story about a city consuming itself. At its heart a story about humanity at the crossroads between the past, present, and future, Lagoon touches on political and philosophical issues in the rich tradition of the very best science fiction, and ultimately asks us to consider the things that bind us together – and the things that make us human.
Set in Nigeria
setting, , race West African, African, Black 2014 YA

Mazalan Book of the Fallen Series
by Steven Erikson
The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting, and bloody confrontations. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze. But it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand....
Submitter's comments: Point of view characters include people of colour from all kinds of fantasy culture equivalents (african, asian, etc.). There's at lest one canon lesbian couple, bisexual characters, and one of the big heroes of the end battle is gay. Also, lots and lots of deep and commited friendships for the less romantically enchanted reader. Book 7 also includes an autistic PoV. However, all of this is worked into the story in such a way that it does not take centre stage (throw-away dialogue lines like 'Among the Meckros, men marry each other all the time.') and the sexual diversity only becomes apparent as the series goes on.
gay, lesbian, bisexual, race, setting, multiple culture, disability, , race Autism, African, East Asian, MULTIPLE 1999 Adult

Mothership
by Tenea D Johnson (editor)
Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond is a groundbreaking speculative fiction anthology that showcases the work from some of the most talented writers inside and outside speculative fiction across the globe—including Junot Diaz, Victor LaValle, Lauren Beukes, N. K. Jemisin, Rabih Alameddine, S. P. Somtow, and more. These authors have earned such literary honors as the Pulitzer Prize, the American Book Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker, among others.
"Afrofuturism and Beyond"
race, setting, , race Black, African 2013 Adult

Octavia's Brood
by Walidah Imarisha (Editor)
Whenever we envision a world without war, without prisons, without capitalism, we are producing speculative fiction. Organizers and activists envision, and try to create, such worlds all the time. Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown have brought twenty of them together in the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. The visionary tales of Octavia’s Brood span genres—sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism—but all are united by an attempt to inject a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our political practice and to try on new ways of understanding ourselves, the world around us, and all the selves and worlds that could be. The collection is rounded off with essays by Tananarive Due and Mumia Abu-Jamal, and a preface by Sheree Renée Thomas.
Science fiction stories focusing on social justice issues
race, setting, queered culture, multiple culture, disability, class, , race African, Black, East Asian, Unspecified_Disability, Mobility 2015 Adult

Order of the Seers
by Cerece Rennie Murphy
What would you do if you held infinite power in the palm of your hand? Order of the Seers poses this question within a story that fuses action, mystery, romance, and adventure in a science fiction novel that keeps you at the edge of your seat. Order of the Seers begins with the journey of Liam and Lilith Knight, a brother and sister who are hunted by The Guild, a ruthless world organization that seeks to capture and exploit Lilith s unique ability as a Seer to envision the future. Soon after they are forced to leave their home, Lilith and Liam discover that she is not alone. Other Seers like Lilith are routinely kidnapped and enslaved by the Guild for the purpose of consolidating wealth and power around the world. But from within the organization, Marcus Akida, a captured Seer with powerful visioning capabilities, quietly plots his daring escape with the help of a beautiful and tortured Seer named Alessandra. When the escaped Seers are drawn to the same remote commune in Iowa as Liam and Lilith, they each find a place where they can rebuild their lives and rediscover their passion for life and love. As the Guild s efforts to find them intensifies, the Seers ban together with outlaws from the commune to fight back against the organization that threatens their lives setting off a chain of events that will unleash the full power of the Seers and change everything we know about the true potential that lies dormant in each of us.
Author's comments: "The Order of the Seers Trilogy is about a group of diverse characters who can see the future and are enslaved for that ability. The books feature characters from Tanzania, Cape Verde, Brazil, Japan, China and Italy, as well as the US and emphasize their need to come together to defeat the evil in their world. The 2nd book also features a positive portrayal of a lesbian couple."
race, African, South American, East Asian, Unspecified 2012 YA

Redwood and Wildfire
by Andrea Hairston
At the turn of the 20th century, minstrel shows transform into vaudeville which slides into moving pictures. Hunkering together in dark theatres, diverse audiences marvel at flickering images. This “dreaming in public” becomes common culture and part of what transforms immigrants and “native” born into Americans. Redwood, an African American woman, and Aidan, a Seminole Irish man, journey from Georgia to Chicago, from haunted swampland to a “city of the future.” They are gifted performers and hoodoo conjurors, struggling to call up the wondrous world they imagine, not just on stage and screen, but on city streets, in front parlors, in wounded hearts. The power of hoodoo is the power of the community that believes in its capacities to heal and determine the course of today and tomorrow. Living in a system stacked against them, Redwood and Aidan’s power and talent are torment and joy. Their search for a place to be who they want to be is an exhilarating, painful, magical adventure. Blues singers, filmmakers, haints, healers, and actors work their mojo for adventure, romance, and magic from Georgia to Chicago!
Diverse cast
race, class, multiple culture, African, Black, Native American, Unspecified, MULTIPLE 2011 Adult

The Salt Roads
by Nalo Hopkinson
A landmark work by a brilliant young author, THE SALT ROADS transports readers across centuries and civilizations as it fearlessly explores the relationships women have with their lovers, their people, and the divine. Jeanne Duval, the ginger-colored entertainer, struggles with her lover poet Charles Baudelaire...Mer, plantation slave and doctor, both hungers for and dreads liberation...and Thais, a dark-skinned beauty from Alexandria, is impelled to seek a glorious revelation-as Ezili, a being born of hope, unites them all. Interweaving acts of brutality with passionate unions of spirit and flesh, this is a narrative that shocks, entertains, and dazzles-from an award-winning writer who dares to redefine the art of storytelling.
three black female protagonists, one lesbian, one bisexual and one heterosexual, in three different time periods. Won Gaylactic award
lesbian, race, class, Black, African 2004 Adult

The Scorpion Rules
by Erin Bow
A world battered by climate shift and war turns to an ancient method of keeping peace: the exchange of hostages. The Children of Peace - sons and daughters of kings and presidents and generals - are raised together in small, isolated schools called Preceptures. There, they learn history and political theory, and are taught to gracefully accept what may well be their fate: to die if their countries declare war. Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan-Polar Confederation, is the pride of the North American Prefecture. Learned and disciplined, Greta is proud of her role in keeping the global peace, even though, with her country controlling two-thirds of the world’s most war-worthy resource — water — she has little chance of reaching adulthood alive. Enter Elián Palnik, the Prefecture’s newest hostage and biggest problem. Greta’s world begins to tilt the moment she sees Elián dragged into the school in chains. The Prefecture’s insidious surveillance, its small punishments and rewards, can make no dent in Elián, who is not interested in dignity and tradition, and doesn’t even accept the right of the UN to keep hostages. What will happen to Elián and Greta as their two nations inch closer to war?
(Note: Due to the futuristic setting and new national borders, ethnicities don’t exactly match up to modern-day labels) Da-Xia is from a Chinese/Central Asian empire, Thandi is from an African union, Elián (and most of North America) is indeterminately brown-skinned. Grego and Atta are a same-sex couple, Greta is possibly bi/pan. Eventual F/F pairing.
lesbian, bisexual, race, African, East Asian, Black 2015 YA

The Shadow Speaker
by Nnedi Okorafor
In West Africa in 2070, after fifteen-year-old "shadow speaker" Ejii witnesses her father's beheading, she embarks on a dangerous journey across the Sahara to find Jaa, her father's killer, and upon finding her, she also discovers a greater purpose to her life and to the mystical powers she possesses.
African setting and characters
setting, , race African, West Africa 2007 YA

So Long Been Dreaming
by Nalo Hopkinson (editor)
So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy is an anthology of original new stories by leading African, Asian, South Asian and Aboriginal authors, as well as North American and British writers of color.
Post-colonial science fiction
race, setting, class,, race Indigenous, Black, Unspecified, African, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, MULTIPLE 2004 Adult

Sorcerer To The Crown
by Zen Cho
At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, freed slave, eminently proficient magician, and Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers—one of the most respected organizations throughout all of Britain—ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up. But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain—and the world at large…
Black protagonists, Malaysian characters
race, class, Black, African, Southeast Asian 2015 Adult

Steamfunk
by Milton J Davis (editor)
A witch, more machine than human, judges the character of the wicked and hands out justice in a ravaged Chicago. John Henry wields his mighty hammers in a war against machines and the undead. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman rule a country of freed slaves that rivals – and often bests – England and France in power and technology. You will find all this – and much more – between the pages of Steamfunk, an anthology of incredible stories by some of today’s greatest authors of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Steamfunk – African and African American-inspired Steampunk. Editors Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade have put together a masterful work guaranteed to transport you to new worlds. Worlds of adventure; of terror; of war and wonder; of iron and steam. Open these pages and traverse the lumineferous aether to the world of Steamfunk!
African and Black steampunk
race, setting, class, , race Black, African 2013 Adult

Steampunk World
by Sarah Hans (Editor)
Steampunk is fascinating. There's something compelling about the shine of clicking brass clockwork and hiss of steam-driven automatons. But until recently, there was something missing. It was easy to find excellent stories of American and British citizens... but we rarely got to see steampunk from the point of view of the rest of the world. Steampunk World is a showcase for nineteen authors to flip the levers and start the pistons and invite you to experience the entirety of steampunk. Edited by Sarah Hans, this anthology's nineteen authors bring us the very best steampunk stories from around the world. The full list of the award-winning authors - including the introduction's author, Diana M. Pho, founding editor of the oldest-running multicultural blog Beyond Victoriana - can be found below. The cover artwork is by James Ng.
International anthology
race, setting, VARIOUS, Southeast Asian, East Asian, African, Middle East 2014 Adult

Steeplejack
by AJ Hartley
Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga, Ang for short, repairs the chimneys, towers, and spires of Bar-Selehm, the ethnically-diverse industrial capital of a land resembling Victorian South Africa. The city was built on the trade of luxorite, a priceless glowing mineral. When the Beacon, a historical icon made of luxorite, is stolen, it makes the headlines. But no one cares about the murder of Ang's new apprentice, Berrit—except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician, who offers Ang a job investigating Berrit's death. On top of this, Ang struggles with the responsibility of caring for her sister's newborn child. As political secrets unfold and racial tensions surrounding the Beacon's theft rise, Ang navigates the constricting traditions of her people, the murderous intentions of her former boss, and the conflicting impulses of a fledgling romance. With no one to help her except a savvy newspaper girl and a kindhearted herder from the savannah, Ang must resolve the mysterious link between Berrit and the missing Beacon before the city is plunged into chaos.
diverse cast
race, setting, class, Southern_Africa, Black, African 2016 YA

Wind Follower
by Carol McDonnell
Although it is not entirely to her liking, grief-stricken Satha, a dark-skinned woman from a poor Theseni clan weds young Loic, the wealthy Doreni son of the king's First Captain. Loic, graced with ability to see into the hearts and minds of others, begins to help Satha overcome her sorrows. Despite coming from different tribes, they begin to forge a life together. But when Satha's own compassion is used against her and a treacherous enemy contrives to dishonor her in Loic's absence, Loic's love turns to anger and disgust. Embittered, Loic must still avenge his honor and Satha's and he sets out on a journey that brings despair as well as spiritual discovery. Battling him are the Arkhai, the spirits of the land who know his quest will lead him toward the God whom they have usurped. After his departure, Satha is kidnapped, sold into slavery and learns, first hand, how cruel the pioneering Angleni tribe can be. Both face great hardship, danger and anguish apart, but with the Creator's aid there remains hope they will be reunited and heal the love the world has torn asunder.
Diverse cast, issues of slavery
race, setting, class, , race Black, African 2007 Adult

Zahrah the Windseeker
by Nnedi Okorafor
In the northern Ooni Kingdom, fear of the unknown runs deep, and children born dada are rumored to have special powers. Thirteen-year-old Zahrah Tsami feels like a normal girls life. - she grows her own flora computer; has mirrors sewn onto her cloths; and stays clear of the Forbidden Greeny Jungle. But unlike other kids in the village of Kirki , Zahrah was born with the telling dadalocks.
Black fantasy world
race, setting, , race Black, African 2005 MG

Zoo City
by Lauren Beukes
Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons. Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own.
African characters and setting
setting, , race African, Southern Africa 2010 Adult

Griots
by Milton J Davis (editor)

Series: Griots
Book 1 of 2
Magic. Myth. Warfare. Wonder. Beauty. Bravery. Glamour. Gore. Sorcery. Sensuality. These and many more elements of fantasy await you in the pages of Griots, which brings you the latest stories of the new genre called Sword and Soul.The tales told in Griots are the annals of the Africa that was, as well as Africas that never were, may have been, or should have been. They are the legends of a continent and people emerging from shadows thrust upon them in the past. They are the sagas sung by the modern heirs of the African story-tellers known by many names - including griots.Here, you will meet mighty warriors, seductive sorceresses, ambitious monarchs, and cunning courtesans. Here, you will journey through the vast variety of settings Africa offers, and inspires. Here, you will savor what the writings of the modern-day griots have to offer: journeys through limitless vistas of the imagination, with a touch of color and a taste of soul.
anthology of black sword/sorcery
race, setting, ANTHOLOGY,, race African 2011 Adult

Griots: Sisters of the Spear
by Milton J Davis (editor)

Series: Griots
Book 2 of 2
Griots: Sisters of the Spear picks up where the ground breaking Griots Anthology leaves off. Charles R. Saunders and Milton J. Davis present seventeen original and exciting Sword and Soul tales focusing on black women. Just as the Griots Anthology broke ground as the first Sword and Soul Anthology, Griots: Sisters of the Spear pays homage to the spirit, bravery and compassion of women of color. The griots have returned to sing new songs, and what wonderful songs they are!
Black women sword/sorcery
setting, race,, race African 2013 Adult

Dawn
by Octavia Butler

Series: Xenogenesis
Book 1 of 3
Lilith lyapo awoke from a centuries-long sleep to find herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. Creatures covered in writhing tentacles, the Oankali had saved every surviving human from a dying, ruined Earth. They healed the planet, cured cancer, increased strength, and were now ready to help Lilith lead her people back to Earth--but for a price.
Black sci fi
race, poly, nonbinary, queered culture, genderqueer, Black, African 1997 Adult

Adulthood Rites
by Octavia Butler

Series: Xenogenesis
Book 2 of 3
In this sequel to Dawn, Lilith Iyapo has given birth to what looks like a normal human boy named Akin. But Akin actually has five parents: a male and female human, a male and female Oankali, and a sexless Ooloi. The Oankali and Ooloi are part of an alien race that rescued humanity from a devastating nuclear war, but the price they exact is a high one the aliens are compelled to genetically merge their species with other races, drastically altering both in the process. On a rehabilitated Earth, this "new" race is emerging through human/Oankali/Ooloi mating, but there are also "pure" humans who choose to resist the aliens and the salvation they offer.These resisters are sterilized by the Ooloi so that they cannot reproduce the genetic defect that drives humanity to destroy itself, but otherwise they are left alone (unless they become violent). When the resisters kidnap young Akin, the Oankali choose to leave the child with his captors, for he the most "human" of the Oankali children will decide whether the resisters should be given back their fertility and freedom, even though they will only destroy themselves again.
aliens with other genders and their relations with humans
alien, poly, genderqueer, nonbinary, race, queered culture, Black, African 1997 Adult

Imago
by Octavia Butler

Series: Xenogenesis
Book 3 of 3
The futures of both humans and Oankali rest in one young being's successful metamorphosis into adulthood.
aliens with other genders interacting with humans
genderqueer, poly, nonbinary, race, alien, queered culture, Black, African 1997 Adult

The White Gryphon
by Mercedes Lackey

Series: The Mage Wars (Valdemar)
Book 2 of 3
It has been ten years since the magical Cataclysm, which destroyed the twin strongholds of the two world's most powerful Mages, killing Urtho, creator of the gryphons, and sending his forces into exile. Now Urthro's peoples--human and non-human alike live in a terraced city carved into the face of a gleaming white cliff on the edge of the Western Ocean. Secure at least, ...until the fleet of the mysterious Black Kings appears in their harbor, bringing envoys who inform the residents of White Gryphon that their newfound home lies on the northern perimeter of lands claimed by this powerful kingdom. Desperate not to lose their hard won home, Skandranon, along with his longtime friend Amberdrake--agree to accompany the envoys back to the Court of the Black Kings, hoping to negotiate an alliance. ...When a high ranking noble who opposes this alliance is found murdered--Skandranon and Amberdrake realize that they are up against unknown enemies who will stop at nothing, even the use of diabolical Blood Magic, to destroy White Gryphon.
Diverse cast. African-inspired empire features heavily.
race, multiple culture, African, FPOC 1995 Adult

The Silver Gryphon
by Mercedes Lackey

Series: The Mage Wars (Valdemar)
Book 3 of 3
A dozen years of peace have passed in the city of White Gryphon - providing well deserved and much needed security for the people who had lost their homes in the magical Cataclysm which killed the Mage Urtho, creator of the gryphons. But the inhabitants of White Gryphon have not forgotten their long struggles, and have trained an elite guard force, the Silver Gryphons, to protect their city, and if necessary, to join with the army of the Black Kings for mutual defense.
Diverse cast
race, multiple culture, African, FPOC 1996 Adult

Dark Matter
by Sheree R Thomas (editor)

Series: Dark Matter
Book 1 of 2
This volume introduces black science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction writers to the generations of readers who have not had the chance to explore the scope and diversity among African-American writers.
African science fiction
race, setting,, race Black, African 2001 Adult

Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
by Sheree R Thomas (editor)

Series: Dark Matter
Book 2 of 2
Dark Matter is the first and only series to bring together the works of black SF and fantasy writers. The first volume was featured in the "New York Times," which named it a Notable Book of the Year.
Black SF/F
race, setting, , race Black, African 2005 Adult

Parable of the Sower
by Octavia Butler

Series: Earthseed
Book 1 of 2
When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death Lauren Olamina, a minister's young daughter, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny... and the birth of a new faith.
African-American science fiction
race, class, Black, African 1993 Adult

Parable of the Talents
by Octavia Butler

Series: Earthseed
Book 2 of 2
This Nebula Award-winning sequel to "Parable of the Sower" continues the story of Lauren Olamina in socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s. Convinced that her community should colonize the stars, Lauren and her followers make preparations. But the collapse of society and rise of fanatics result in Lauren's followers being enslaved, and her daughter stolen from her. Now, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order.
African-American science fiction
race, class, Black, African 1998 Adult

Wild Seed
by Octavia Butler

Series: Patternmaster
Book 1 of 4
Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex or design. He fears no one until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu is a shapeshifter who can absorb bullets and heal with a kiss and savage anyone who threatens her. She fears no one until she meets Doro. Together they weave a pattern of destiny (from Africa to the New World) unimaginable to mortals.
African characters
race, class, Black, African 1980 Adult

Mind of My Mind
by Octavia Butler

Series: Patternmaster
Book 2 of 4
For 4,000 years, an immortal has spread the seeds of a master race, using the downtrodden as his private breeding stock. But now a young ghetto telepath has found a way to awaken--and rule--her superhuman kind, igniting a psychic battle as she challenges her creator for her right to free her people.
African and African-American characters and inspirations
race, class, poly, Black, African 1977 Adult

Clay's Ark
by Octavia Butler

Series: Patternmaster
Book 3 of 4
In a violent near-future, Asa Elias Doyle and her companions encounter an alien life form so heinous and destructive, they exile themselves in the desert so as not to contaminate other humans. To resist the compulsion to infect others is mental agony, but to succumb is to relinquish humanity and free will. Desperate, they kidnap a doctor and his two daughters as they cross the wasteland--and endanger the world.
African and African-American characters and inspirations
race, class, poly, Black, African 1984 Adult

Patternmaster
by Octavia Butler

Series: Patternmaster
Book 4 of 4
The Patternist is a telepathic race, commanded by the Patternmaster, whose thoughts can destroy, heal, rule. Coransee, son of the ruling Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to get it, including venture into the wild mutant-infested hills to destroy a young apprentice--his equal and his brother. Previously out of print.
African and African-American characters and inspirations
race, class, poly, Black, African 1976 Adult

My Soul to Keep
by Tananarive Due

Series: African Immortals
Book 1 of 3
When Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man: brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach. Soon, as people close to Jessica begin to meet violent, mysterious deaths, David makes an unimaginable confession: More than 400 years ago, he and other members of an Ethiopian sect traded their humanity so they would never die, a secret he must protect at any cost. Now, his immortal brethren have decided David must return and leave his family in Miami. Instead, David vows to invoke a forbidden ritual to keep Jessica and his daughter with him forever. Harrowing, engrossing and skillfully rendered, My Soul to Keep traps Jessica between the desperation of immortals who want to rob her of her life and a husband who wants to rob her of her soul. With deft plotting and an unforgettable climax, this tour de force reminiscent of early Anne Rice will win Due a new legion of fans.
Set in Ethiopia
setting, race, class,, race Black, African, East Africa 1997 Adult

The Living Blood
by Tananarive Due

Series: African Immortals
Book 2 of 3
Jessica Jacobs-Wolde's life was destroyed when her husband, David Wolde, disappeared after killing both their daughter Kira and Jessica herself--and reviving Jessica to immortality with his healing blood. David was a Life Brother, member of an ancient, secret, and immortal African clan. Now Jessica, hiding with her surviving daughter in rural Botswana, attempts to make sense of her new existence as she uses her altered blood to save the incurably ill. But her daughter Fana was born with the living blood in her veins, and at the age of 3 can raise a storm, kill with a thought, and possess her mother's mind. The true extent of her abilities is unknown. Jessica's only hope of teaching Fana to control her dangerous talents is to travel to Ethiopia and find the Life Brothers' hidden colony. But the Life Brothers despise the new immortals and may possess the knowledge to end even immortal lives. And others, unknown to Jessica, are searching for her and Fana: Lucas Shepard, a Florida doctor driven to desperation by his young son's untreatable leukemia; ruthless mercenaries in the pay of an aging medical-company executive, who will stop at nothing to gain immortality and the billion-dollar profits that a drug based on the living blood would bring; and a supernatural being or force called the Bee Lady, who stalks Fana in the world of dreams, seeking to possess Fana's mind and powers for her own evil purposes.
Diverse cast
race, setting, class, , race African, Black, East Africa 2002 Adult

Blood Colony
by Tananarive Due

Series: African Immortals
Book 3 of 3
There's a new drug on the street: Glow. Said to heal almost any illness, it is distributed by an Underground Railroad of drug peddlers. But what gives Glow its power? Its main ingredient is blood - the blood of immortals. A small but powerful colony of immortals is distributing the blood, slowly wiping out the AIDS epidemic and other diseases around the world. Meet Fana Wolde, seventeen years old, the only immortal born with the Living Blood. She can read minds, and her injuries heal immediately. When her best friend, a mortal, is imprisoned by Fana's family, Fana helps her escape and together they run away from Fana's protected home in Washington State to join the Underground Railroad. But Fana has more than her parents to worry about. Glow peddlers are being murdered by a violent, hundred-year-old sect with ties to the Vatican. Now, when Fana is most vulnerable, she is being hunted to fulfill an ancient blood prophecy that could lead to countless deaths. While her people search for Fana and race to unravel the unknown sect's mysterious origins, Fana must learn to confront the deadly forces - or she and everyone she loves will die.
Diverse cast
race, setting, class, , race Black, African, East Africa 2008 Adult

My Soul to Take
by Tananarive Due

Series: African Immortals
Book 4 of 3
Essence bestselling and award-winning author Tananarive Due delivers a heart-stopping new novel continuing the story of descendants of an immortal line of people are the only ones capable of saving the world. Fana, an immortal with tremendous telepathic abilities, is locked in a battle of wills. Her fiancé is Michel. But Johnny Wright, a mortal who is in love with her, believes that if she doesn’t stay away from Michel, they will become the Witnesses to the Apocalypse described in the Book of Revelation. Fana and the Life Brothers are rushing to distribute their healing “Living Blood” throughout the world, hoping to eliminate most diseases before Fana is bound to marry Michel. Still, they cannot heal people faster than Michel can kill them. Due weaves a tangled web in this novel, including beloved characters from her bestselling Joplin’s Ghost, in a war of good against evil, making My Soul to Take a chilling and thrilling experience.
Diverse cast
race, setting, class, , race Black, African, East Africa 2011 Adult

Blue Remembered Earth
by Alistair Reynolds

Series: Poseiden's Children
Book 1 of 3
BLUE REMEMBERED EARTH is the first volume in a monumental trilogy tracing the Akinya family across more than ten thousand years of future history...out beyond the solar system, into interstellar space and the dawn of galactic society. One hundred and fifty years from now, in a world where Africa is the dominant technological and economic power, and where crime, war, disease and poverty have been banished to history, Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey's family, the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans. After the death of Eunice, Geoffrey's grandmother, erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur, something awkward has come to light on the Moon, and Geoffrey is tasked - well, blackmailed, really - to go up there and make sure the family's name stays suitably unblemished. But little does Geoffrey realise - or anyone else in the family, for that matter - what he's about to unravel. Eunice's ashes have already have been scattered in sight of Kilimanjaro. But the secrets she died with are about to come back out into the open, and they could change everything. Or shatter this near-utopia into shards...
Future in which Africa is the dominant world power. Main characters are Black. Prominent East Asian characters as well. Gay couple as side characters.
gay, race, setting, , race Black, African, East Asian 2012 Adult

On The Steel Breeze
by Alistair Reynolds

Series: Poseiden's Children
Book 2 of 3
It is a thousand years in the future. Mankind is making its way out into the universe on massive generation ships. On the Steel Breeze is the follow-up to Blue Remembered Earth. It is both a sequel and a standalone novel, which just happens to be set in the same universe and revolves around members of the Akinya family. The central character, Chiku, is totally new, although she is closely related to characters in the first book. The action involves a 220-year expedition to an extrasolar planet aboard a caravan of huge iceteroid 'holoships', the tension between human and artificial intelligence ... and, of course, elephants. Lots of elephants.
Future in which Africa is the dominant world power. Has a character who uses ve/ver/vis pronouns.
genderqueer, race, setting, pronouns, nonbinary,, race Black, African 2013 Adult

Binti: Home
by Nnedi Okorafor

Series: Binti
Book 2 of 3
The thrilling sequel to the Nebula and Hugo winning Binti. It’s been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since Binti was declared a hero for uniting two warring planets. A year since she left her family to pursue her dream. And now she must return home to her people, with her friend Okwu by her side, to face her family and face her elders. But Okwu will be the first of his race to set foot on Earth in over a hundred years, and the first ever to come in peace. After generations of conflict can human and Meduse ever learn to truly live in harmony?
WOC characters, trans woman character
transgender, race, setting, African, Black 2016 YA

Binti: The Night Masquerade
by Nnedi Okorafor

Series: Binti
Book 3 of 3
Binti has returned to her home planet, believing that the violence of the Meduse has been left behind. Unfortunately, although her people are peaceful on the whole, the same cannot be said for the Khoush, who fan the flames of their ancient rivalry with the Meduse. Far from her village when the conflicts start, Binti hurries home, but anger and resentment has already claimed the lives of many close to her. Once again it is up to Binti, and her intriguing new friend Mwinyi, to intervene--though the elders of her people do not entirely trust her motives--and try to prevent a war that could wipe out her people, once and for all.
WOC characters
race, setting, African, Black 2017 YA

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