Dark Matter

This is an anthology of speculative fiction by black authors, published in 2000. There are over 30 pieces of writing in here, which are mostly short stories, but there are a couple of novel excerpts and essays to round off the anthology. The quality and editing of the selection is largely excellent. In anthologies like this one can often find the content to be a little hit and miss but here pretty much every story is thought provoking or engaging, with only a few that had less of an impact.

The anthology describes itself as, 'a century of speculative fiction from the African Diaspora' but the book is quite heavily weighted towards the years 1995-2000, which I guess in some ways has shown how long it has taken for black writers to get their voices heard (and published). I also reflected that having read this in early 2024 that there is basically another quarter of a century passed by and that black and other people of colour are far more visible in the speculative fiction world. In turn, speculative fiction, especially fantasy worlds not modelled on European medievalism is far richer.

The weighting towards 'turn of the century' pieces reflects some of the challenges writers have had in breaking through. Samuel Delany's essay about racism in science fiction in here is excellent, describing how racism acts not just by act or word, but also how it is systemic. What he does note, is that for decades he and Octavia Butler were continually paired up as 'the voices of black science fiction', and though they both get along, their writing hasn't influenced each others. It is almost as if for decades if one wanted representation they wheeled out these two giants as a pair.

Nisi Shawl (who has work in this book), in their 'A Crash Course in Black Science Fiction' makes the point that there is a huge gap from the 1930's to the 1960's and that is evident in this book too. The argument is made that much science fiction was written for magazines and authors may have used pen names. For many published works we simply do not know the race of the author.

As a historical study, there are three pieces which are especially interesting. 'The Goophered Grapevine' by Charles W. Chesnutt is the oldest piece in the book from 1887 which I have reviewed separately here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... It's a parable about greed, but I think in the context of the writing it is also a story of hope, of change, and how in the imagination of the writer, how slavery was dead and a new future beckoned.

'The Comet' by W.E.B. Du Bois (also reviewed separately here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) is from 1920 is quite a simplistic story which just pleads for people to see each other for who they are, and not the colour of their skin.

One of the most challenging stories, certainly from a modern perspective is the excerpt from the novel, 'Black No More' by George S. Schuyler from 1993. It's quite uncomfortable to read, in that a scientist finds a way to turn black people white, hence ending racial prejudice because anyone with money can turn themselves white. The excerpt shows the 'now white' characters enjoying the privileges of white society once they have transitioned. What was challenging for me, is thinking that, 'why would someone gleefully disown their heritage to be white'. It sounds really ugly, but at the same time these characters were experiencing prejudice I will never know about or understand. The novel is clearly satire though, and I did read more about the book and some of the implications I imagined come to fruition. It does ask the question, 'what are you racists going to do when you can't work out who to be racist too'?

Off the more modern pieces, I'll list some of my favourites but won't discuss everything, but everything I mention here is definitely worth seeking out.

Jewelle Gomez's 'Chicago 1927' features a story with a lesbian black vampire called Gilda. I got the impression reading the story that she has featured elsewhere and she is from a book called 'The Gilda Stories'. If I say she is essentially an activist for creating a better world and she uses her vampirism to do so then you get the idea. I loved it because it subverted so many of the vampire tropes.

'Tasting Songs' by Leone Ross is such a beautiful story about love, passion, infidelity and change, and loving ourselves for who we are. It's rather sad too, but it touches so many emotional notes. It stayed with me for such a long time after and I was left with a lot of conflicting emotions. There are definitely lots of ways to read this story and I suspect perspectives will vary but it was a definite highlight.

'Can You Wear My Eyes' by Kalamu ya Salaam is a short story exploring misogyny and sexism. In quite a lot of these stories and essays when I was thinking about them I was reflecting on my own white privilege and how race impacts me and not others. This was a difficult reflection for me on being a man and how I may see the world and how it is different for women. I 'know', but do I 'really know'...

Tananarive Due is another new author for me and if I do anything over the next week or so I should explore what else she has written because her story, 'Like Daughter' absolutely wrung my heart out. It was so sad I wanted to reach out into those pages and hold the characters and wipe away their pain and trauma. Again, it's beautiful, but emotional and harrowing.

Nalo Hopkinson's 'Greedy Choke Puppy' is a fun exploration of folkloric monsters, with a twist that I really should have seen coming but didn't.

Octavia Butler has a story in here called, 'The Evening and the Morning and the Night' which is very good. If you like deadly illnesses that cause people to mutilate themselves and murder, and what the implications are for society and families it's worth a read. It's not like 'zombie fiction', and I guess it's more a reflection on how we have learnt to live with illnesses and pandemics.

As soon as I read 'Gimmile's Songs' by Charles R. Saunders I was sure the story was from a bigger world and the main character was from somewhere else or a series. She seemed well crafted and set in the world instantly. The story is one of many which takes Africa as the basis for the fantasy world rather than Europe. There was an element of the story that felt quite unpleasant from a consent point of view but it was only a minor detraction to a good story. I since read that this story and other short stories were 'fixed up' into a novel based on the world called Imaro. Saunder's essay alongside Delany's are the two hard hitters here too. Saunders in 'Why Blacks Should Read (and write) Science Fiction' examines the racist tropes used by and alienation of Africa by white authors. What's shameful is that it is one thing to reflect upon long dead people with their 'standards of the time' but even in the 90's mainstream authors were othering Africa as a deep, dark, alien continent and not a continent of rich and diverse cultures and stories.

My favourite story was 'The Space Traders' by Derrick Bell which posits a simple question. Aliens land and tell America that they can have a clean environment, cheap energy and more gold than they could ever need with one condition, that they can take all the black Americans with them into space. When I was reading this I was practically pleading for the story to take the black Americans to some kind of sanctuary, but even that was harrowing to contemplate as a 'best outcome'. What Bell asks is, 'are you prepared to give up a whole tranche of your population' so the rest can be better off. It's an inhumane question. It's a racist question.

And yet, in a generation of culture wars it is one being played out every day. I imagine a significant proportion of the UK would vote 'yes' to sending Muslims into space, or trans people, or black people, or any oppressed group. I imagine the US is no different. The story is so powerful - it views the black population as a scapegoat for all societies ills, they are in a lose-lose situation. The story is framed as much in protecting white people's conscience as much as the moral implications. It depicts black - and by extension working class people as valuable only in so much as they generate profit.

The book predicts with scary accuracy the demagoguery of Trump and (in the UK) the notion of 'enemies of the state' and how legal apparatus is perverted and used to justify any kind of evil. It is scarily prophetic and in many respects represents today as reality (okay we have no aliens) but it seems society is more racist now than in the 90's.

A great anthology, lots of new authors and thought provoking and entertaining throughout