Fantasy Booklist
The third and final part of the Fantasy Literature Roundtable is up today at Fantasy magazine. (Read parts One and Two as well.) In this section the panelists recommended several excellent fantasy books by and about People of Color. I made a list of the books mentioned favorably in all three parts for ease of use. The links all go to Amazon, but I highly suggest you take the list to your local indie bookstore (better yet, your local Black book store) and ask them to order the books for you if they don’t have them in stock.
Recommended Reading – Fantasy Literature by People of Color and/or including PoC and diverse cultures
(titles in italics were published in 2007 and eligible for upcoming awards.)
- Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
- Neil Gaiman
- Tamora Pierce
- Circle of Magic series
- Heather Gladney
- Octavia Butler
- David Anthony Durham
- Justine Larbalestier
- Carole McDonnel
- Virginia Hamilton
- Nalo Hopkinson
- Brown Girl in the Ring
- The Salt Roads
- The New Moon’s Arms
- So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy anthology (editor)
- Mojo: Conjure Stories anthology (editor)
- Sheree R. Thomas (ed.)
- Naomi Novik
- Charles Saunders
- Karen Fowler
- Catherynne Valente
- Alaya Dawn Johnson
- Tananarive Due
- Colson Whitehead
- Minsoo Kang
- Of Tales and Enigmas (short story collection)
- Kim Stanley Robinson
- Sylvia Kelso
- Ursula K. Le Guin
- Samuel Delany
- Susan Vaught
- Elizabeth Lynn
- Shawna Yang Ryan
- Kij Johnson
We also recommend reading the works of the following authors:
- L.A Banks
- Francesca Lia Block
- Tobias Buckell
- Chitra Divakaruni
- Hiromi Goto
- A. H. Jennings
- Larissa Lai
- Yoon Ha Lee
- Marjorie Liu
- Mary Anne Mohanraj
- R. Garcia y Robertson
- Sheree R. Thomas
- Eileen Wilks
- Larry Yep
There are some things I’ve read recently that are very interesting, but SF, not Fantasy; does that count? Also, I saw the latest Doctor Who Christmas special yesterday and it made me think thinky thoughts. Then I read part 2 of the roundtable, where Wendy says “Is it actually a race issue or a bad plotting issue?” Ooh, yes – Russell, when are you going to start paying attention? I want to write about it but it’s too Off Topic (also, spoilers).
Thanks for collating the recommendations!
Many books and authors on that list I have not read.
*sighs*
Good for me. Bad for my paycheck…=/
Oh well!
Exxxcellent. I have or have read books by most of these folks, but there are at least three who are new to me.
My budget’s gonna take a beating, but I thank you.
Thanks for putting this list together.
A friend of mine told me about Octavia Butler and I just have to getmy hands on one of her books when I have more time.
Would you recommend Wild Seed for an introduction to Butler’s universe, or does the book read better when you’re already acquainted with her style?
Really glad to have this list. I haven’t been reading in the fantasy genre these past years, but now I finally have some time to get back to it and I’ll definitely be picking some of these up.
I’m halfway through The Orphan’s Tales now. I stayed up quite late last night reading it… didn’t get any work done because I had to finish part one. :)
How about S.R. Sarai? She’s an African American sci-fi/fantasy author out of chicago. Her new book is “Choosing Deceit” from her Shun-Ur series. http://www.srsarai.com or http://www.shun-ur.com
thx for looking out for the Black fantasy crowd too. i think we sometimes are seen as oddballs for reading this genre.
I love this site so so so much :) Cool site!!,