Black Femme/Female Sci-fi and Fantasy
I've been spending a lot of my time culling a list of books with Black girl/women protagonists*, and I've decided to share what I have so far. This has taken over the time that I would usually spend reading and reviewing, but now that I have this list, I definitely have my future work cut out for me because I haven't read them all...yet. When I first started this list, I was only looking for books written by Black women authors of speculative fiction, but I have broadened the scope to include any speculative fiction book with a Black female protagonist because I think it's important to show how many are out there. Although I have added what I could find, I'm also open to including more, especially those by indie and self-published authors and those including nonbinary individuals.
One of the main reasons I started this list was because I don't remember having a list like this when I was younger. In fact, I don't remember seeing speculative stories with protagonists who looked like me. But, I also made this list because I was getting tired of people asking me if the books exist and were Black women even writing speculative fiction. If so, where were they? If not, why weren't they? Although I hated those questions, they had a point. I didn't have a list, so it was hard to back up what I was saying. I could have been just speculating about speculative fiction with Black women and girls leading the action.
Before I give the list, I should probably define what speculative fiction is. According to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia for Literature, #SpecFic is defined as the following:
So, this is a list for those who love speculative fiction stories. This is a list for those who never knew these books existed. This is a list for those who wanted to see Black women and girls wielding magic, slaying dragons, being vampires, attending interplanetary universities, and creating new scientific innovations. This is a list where Black women and girls are shown in realms beyond reality. Seriously, how cool is that???
A few things:
S.R. Toliver
One of the main reasons I started this list was because I don't remember having a list like this when I was younger. In fact, I don't remember seeing speculative stories with protagonists who looked like me. But, I also made this list because I was getting tired of people asking me if the books exist and were Black women even writing speculative fiction. If so, where were they? If not, why weren't they? Although I hated those questions, they had a point. I didn't have a list, so it was hard to back up what I was saying. I could have been just speculating about speculative fiction with Black women and girls leading the action.
Before I give the list, I should probably define what speculative fiction is. According to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia for Literature, #SpecFic is defined as the following:
- The term “speculative fiction” has three historically located meanings: a subgenre of science fiction that deals with human rather than technological problems, a genre distinct from and opposite to science fiction in its exclusive focus on possible futures, and a super category for all genres that deliberately depart from imitating “consensus reality” of everyday experience. In this latter sense, speculative fiction includes fantasy, science fiction, and horror, but also their derivatives, hybrids, and cognate genres like the gothic, dystopia, weird fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, ghost stories, superhero tales, alternate history, steampunk, slipstream, magic realism, fractured fairy tales, and more.
So, this is a list for those who love speculative fiction stories. This is a list for those who never knew these books existed. This is a list for those who wanted to see Black women and girls wielding magic, slaying dragons, being vampires, attending interplanetary universities, and creating new scientific innovations. This is a list where Black women and girls are shown in realms beyond reality. Seriously, how cool is that???
A few things:
- The list is in alphabetical order by author's last name. The books under the author's names are grouped by series or just randomly put in there for now. Black women/femme authors are in purple and Black men/masculine authors are in blue (if I know for sure).
- The single books are ones where I could only find one book written by the author with a Black woman/girl protagonist. I may find others, and if/when I do, they will be added to the larger list. They are in alphabetical order by title.
- If I could tell the difference, books written for young people have no special font, books categorized as adult (including new adult) are italicized, books written by smaller publishers or self-published are underlined. Of course, people like reading all kinds of books, but I figured it would be good to have if people were looking for specific things.
- To make it look better and to highlight some awesome films/tv shows, I've included speculative fiction films/tv shows/music/books featuring Black female/femme characters on the right.
- Book reviews are now housed on my Goodreads account because it's much easier to update. Access the reviews and add me as a friend!
S.R. Toliver
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