Black Sci-Fi Short Stories

by Temi Oh (Foreword by), Sandra M. Grayson (Introduction), Tia Ross (Editor)

Overview

"With topics ranging from slavery to space travel, the impressive breadth of this anthology makes for a well-rounded survey. Readers, writers, and scholars alike will find great value here." — Publishers Weekly Starred Review

A deluxe edition of new writing and neglected perspectives.

Dystopia, apocalypse, gene-splicing, cloning and colonization are explored here by new authors and combined with proto-sci-fi and speculative writing of an older tradition (by W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin R. Delany, Sutton E. Griggs, Pauline Hopkins and Edward Johnson) whose first-hand experience of slavery and denial created their living dystopia.

With a foreword by Alex Award-winning novelist Temi Oh, an introduction by Dr. Sandra M. Grayson, author of Visions of the Third Millennium: Black Science Fiction Novelists Write the Future (2003), and invaluable promotion and editorial support from Tia Ross and the Black Writers Collective and more, this latest offering in the Flame Tree Gothic fantasy series focuses on an area of science fiction which has not received the attention it deserves. Many of the themes in Sci-fi reveal the world as it is to others, show us how to improve it, and give voice to the many different expressions of a future for humankind.

The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Table of Contents:

An Empty, Hollow Interview by James Beamon

The Comet by W.E.B. Du Bois

Élan Vital by K. Tempest Bradford

The Orb by Tara Campbell

Blake, or The Huts of America by Martin R. Delany

The Floating City of Pengimbang by Michelle F. Goddard

The New Colossuses by Harambee K. Grey-Sun

Imperium in Imperio by Sutton E. Griggs

Seven Thieves by Emmalia Harrington

Of One Blood: Or, The Hidden Self by Pauline Hopkins

Space Traitors by Walidah Imarisha

The Line of Demarcation by Patty Nicole Johnson

Light Ahead for the Negro by Edward Johnson

e-race by Russell Nichols

Giant Steps by Russell Nichols

Almost Too Good to Be True by Temi Oh

You May Run On by Megan Pindling

Suffering Inside, But Still I Soar by Sylvie Soul

The Pox Party by Lyle Stiles

The Regression Test by Wole Talabi

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781839644801
Publisher:	Flame Tree Publishing
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Series:	Gothic Fantasy
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Temi Oh has a BSci in Neuroscience and an MA in Creative Writing. Her degree, and a book-club she founded while at KCL called ‘Neuroscience-fiction’, provided great opportunities to write and learn about mind-centred science and science fiction. Her first novel, Do You Dream of Terra-Two, won the American Library Association’s Alex Award.

Dr. Sandra M. Grayson is a tenured full professor in the English Department at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her publications include the books Visions of the Third Millennium; Symbolizing the Past; A Literary Revolution; and Sparks of Resistance, Flames of Change.

Tia Ross is the Founder of Black Writers Collective (BlackWriters.org), Founder/Managing Editor for Black Editors & Proofreaders (BlackEditorsProofreaders.com), Editor for ColorOfChange.org and Senior Editor for WordWiserInk.com. She is a polymath entrepreneur who is passionate about great writing, as well as forging successful businesses as an information architect and event organiser.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/19/2021

Ross brings together 20 classic and contemporary writers for this excellent primer on Black sci-fi writing, with stories ranging from the pensive to the action-packed. The thought-provoking foreword by Temi Oh, who also contributes the emotionally charged short story “Almost Too Good to Be True,” and scholarly but accessible introduction from Sandra M. Grayson, set up any newbie to Black science fiction with a crash course in its historical context and contemporary relevance. Canonical authors including W.E.B. Du Bois, whose apocalyptic “The Comet” concerns the last Black man and white woman in New York City, and Pauline Hopkins, who imagines a lost African society in “Of One Blood,” are put in conversation with standout contemporary authors including Harambee K. Grey-Sun (“The New Colossuses”) and emerging writers such as Tara Campbell (“The Orb”). With topics ranging from slavery to space travel, the impressive breadth of this anthology makes for a well-rounded survey. Readers, writers, and scholars alike will find great value here. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"This comprehensive, powerful volume elevates marginalized voices of the genre, and is an excellent start for readers looking to diversify their reading material."

Booklist

"[...] the anthology contains a thrilling group of memorable, moving tales that often examine the intersections of race, gender, grief, tech and the fantastical."

Scientific American

"These tales incorporate sci-fi, dystopian, and oftentimes futuristic tales that intersect identity, technology, space, and time. While fictional, these are still great reads on the Black experience with a mix between century-old classics and more modern tales."

Reviewed

"Both wonderful and important [...] this book is nothing less than a powerful argument for Black science fiction to be recognized, to be seen, and to be appreciated on its own terms."

Lightspeed Magazine

"An excellent mix of adventure and excitement. Some of them are in the creepy-Lovecraftian style, others are terrifying glimpses into the future. A great collection to dip in and out of."

Terence Eden’s Blog

"An excellent mix of adventure and excitement. Some of them are in the creepy-Lovecraftian style, others are terrifying glimpses into the future. A great collection to dip in and out of."

Terence Eden’s Blog

06/18/2021

Henry's wife has been sold while he was away. Kade must contend with her cousin seeking her position. Belton must survive the school bully, his teacher. What do a pair of individuals looking for other survivors, a group of students nursing a strange object, a girl who speaks with the weather, a woman visiting her mother, and a handful of Mississippi slaves escaping to Canada have in common? They are all characters in this anthology of 20 short stories. In the way of speculative fiction, each story provides an issue—be it social, scientific, or both—and offers new ways to think about it. VERDICT The latest installment of Flame Tree Press's "Gothic Fantasy" series has something for every speculative fiction taste. All of the short stories, old and new, are written by authors of color, and many of the stories have appeared in other compilations. The oldest story, by Martin Delany, was first published before the American Civil War; the most recent were published in 2019. The W. E. B. Du Bois short story "The Comet" appears on several college required reading lists.—Elizabeth Masterson, Mecklenburg Cty. Jail Lib., Charlotte, NC

Library Journal