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Dark Matter #2
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones is a second diverse anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction by an array of African-American authors includes both original works and previously published short fiction.
Dark Matter is the first and only series to bring together the works of black SF and fantasy writers. The first volume, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, was featured in the "New York Times", which named it a Notable Book of the Year.
Contents
Introduction (Dark Matter: Reading the Bones) • essay by Sheree Renée Thomas [as by Sheree R. Thomas]
Ibo Landing (1998) / short story by Ihsan Bracy
The Quality of Sand / short story by Cherene Sherrard
Yahimba's Choice [Dossouye] / short story by Charles R. Saunders
The Glass Bottle Trick (2000) / short story by Nalo Hopkinson
Desire / short story by Kiini Ibura Salaam
Recovery from a Fall / short story by David Findlay
Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington (2000) / short story by Douglas Kearney
The Magical Negro / short story by Nnedi Okorafor [as by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu]
Jesus Christ in Texas (1920) / short story by W. E. B. Du Bois
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (1974) / short story by Henry Dumas
'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes / short story by Kevin Brockenbrough
Whipping Boy / short story by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song / short story by Ibi Zoboi [as by Ibi Aanu Zoboi]
Whispers in the Dark (2001) / novelette by Walter Mosley
Aftermoon / short story by Tananarive Due
Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms / short story by Tyehimba Jess
The Binary / short story by John Cooley
BLACKout / short story by Jill Robinson
Sweet Dreams / short story by Charles Johnson
Buying Primo Time / short story by Wanda Coleman
Corona (1967) / short story by Samuel R. Delany
Maggies / short story by Nisi Shawl
Excerpt from Mindscape / short story by Andrea Hairston
Trance / short story by Kalamu ya Salaam
The Second Law of Thermodynamics • essay by Jewelle Gomez
Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton • essay by Nnedi Okorafor [as by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu]
Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton • essay by Carol Cooper
.
Dark Matter is the first and only series to bring together the works of black SF and fantasy writers. The first volume, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, was featured in the "New York Times", which named it a Notable Book of the Year.
Contents
Introduction (Dark Matter: Reading the Bones) • essay by Sheree Renée Thomas [as by Sheree R. Thomas]
Ibo Landing (1998) / short story by Ihsan Bracy
The Quality of Sand / short story by Cherene Sherrard
Yahimba's Choice [Dossouye] / short story by Charles R. Saunders
The Glass Bottle Trick (2000) / short story by Nalo Hopkinson
Desire / short story by Kiini Ibura Salaam
Recovery from a Fall / short story by David Findlay
Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington (2000) / short story by Douglas Kearney
The Magical Negro / short story by Nnedi Okorafor [as by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu]
Jesus Christ in Texas (1920) / short story by W. E. B. Du Bois
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (1974) / short story by Henry Dumas
'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes / short story by Kevin Brockenbrough
Whipping Boy / short story by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song / short story by Ibi Zoboi [as by Ibi Aanu Zoboi]
Whispers in the Dark (2001) / novelette by Walter Mosley
Aftermoon / short story by Tananarive Due
Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms / short story by Tyehimba Jess
The Binary / short story by John Cooley
BLACKout / short story by Jill Robinson
Sweet Dreams / short story by Charles Johnson
Buying Primo Time / short story by Wanda Coleman
Corona (1967) / short story by Samuel R. Delany
Maggies / short story by Nisi Shawl
Excerpt from Mindscape / short story by Andrea Hairston
Trance / short story by Kalamu ya Salaam
The Second Law of Thermodynamics • essay by Jewelle Gomez
Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton • essay by Nnedi Okorafor [as by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu]
Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton • essay by Carol Cooper
.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
39 people are currently reading
2222 people want to read
About the author
Sheree Renée Thomas
77 books239 followersSheree Thomas — also credited as Sheree R. Thomas and Sheree Renée Thomas — is an American writer, book editor and publisher.
Thomas is the editor of the Dark Matter anthology (2000), in which are collected works by some of the best African-American writers in the genres of science fiction, horror and fantasy. Among the many notable authors included are Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, Charles R. Saunders, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Ishmael Reed, Kalamu ya Salaam, Robert Fleming, Nalo Hopkinson, George S. Schuyler and W. E. B. Du Bois. Dark Matter was honored with the 2005 and the 2001 World Fantasy Award and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Thomas is the publisher of Wanganegresse Press, and has contributed to national publications including the Washington Post "Book World", Black Issues Book Review, QBR, and Hip Mama. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Ishmael Reed's Konch, Drumvoices Revue, Obsidian III, African Voices, storySouth, and other literary journals, and has received Honorable Mention in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 16th and 17th annual collections. A native of Memphis, she lives in New York City.
Thomas is the editor of the Dark Matter anthology (2000), in which are collected works by some of the best African-American writers in the genres of science fiction, horror and fantasy. Among the many notable authors included are Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, Charles R. Saunders, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Ishmael Reed, Kalamu ya Salaam, Robert Fleming, Nalo Hopkinson, George S. Schuyler and W. E. B. Du Bois. Dark Matter was honored with the 2005 and the 2001 World Fantasy Award and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Thomas is the publisher of Wanganegresse Press, and has contributed to national publications including the Washington Post "Book World", Black Issues Book Review, QBR, and Hip Mama. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Ishmael Reed's Konch, Drumvoices Revue, Obsidian III, African Voices, storySouth, and other literary journals, and has received Honorable Mention in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 16th and 17th annual collections. A native of Memphis, she lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 28, 2025
I'm grateful to this collection for finally getting me to read W.E.B. Du Bois, and the works by authors I already knew (Hopkinson, Delany, Shawl, Due, Okorafor) were worth reading if not always their strongest work. The Mosley story had a lot to chew over, and I enjoyed Jess and Hairston's prose. But there was also a stretch of stories that felt like polemic essays wrapped in only the thinnest skin of narrative, and others whose inclusion baffled me entirely. A good book club discussion book, but a mixed bag for reading.
December 23, 2009
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, edited by Sheree R. Thomas is the second anthology in this series, which gathers speculative fiction from the African Diaspora. The anthology includes 24 short stories and a series of essays about the role of speculative fiction in imagining or reimagining the African diasporic experience.
Overall it is a very enjoyable anthology, combining fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Some of speculative fiction's most interesting writers are represented, including Nalo Hopkinson ("The Glass Bottle Trick") and Tananarive Due ("Aftermoon"). There are also notable surprises: a piece by famed Black intellectual W.E.B. DuBois entitled "Jesus Christ in Texas." My one complaint is that the stories in the anthology are uneven - some of the fiction is imaginative and well constructed, like Hopkinson's "The Glass Bottle Trick" and Cherene Sherrard's, "The Quality of Sand," which re-imagines the slave trade and those who saved enslaved people as pirates of an entirely different sort than most of us are used to hearing about. Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu submits a scathingly funny piece entitled "The Magical Negro," which challenges the conventions of mythical and speculative fiction. While Keven Brockenbrough's noire contribution captures a tale that is so well realized that it is cinematicly evocative, while posing a series of poignant ethical dilemmas.
"The Binary" by John Cooley is a fantastic piece combining Japanese folk lore with a multi-ethnic cast in a wonderful and suspenseful tale. While this was one of my favorite pieces in the anthology, it was also the one that I found most disappointing - it was so nearly perfect, but needed some additional polishing and structure.
As a life-long fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, I appreciated the creations that each other lovingly created and shared. Even more than their works, I appreciated editor Sheree R. Thomas' committment to positioning the works of the authors she gathered. For instance, I now have an understanding of the larger umbrella under which the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy that I have so enjoyed fits: speculative fiction. Not only is this a more descriptive term, but it also seems far more accurate and respectful of the genre.
Overall it is a very enjoyable anthology, combining fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Some of speculative fiction's most interesting writers are represented, including Nalo Hopkinson ("The Glass Bottle Trick") and Tananarive Due ("Aftermoon"). There are also notable surprises: a piece by famed Black intellectual W.E.B. DuBois entitled "Jesus Christ in Texas." My one complaint is that the stories in the anthology are uneven - some of the fiction is imaginative and well constructed, like Hopkinson's "The Glass Bottle Trick" and Cherene Sherrard's, "The Quality of Sand," which re-imagines the slave trade and those who saved enslaved people as pirates of an entirely different sort than most of us are used to hearing about. Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu submits a scathingly funny piece entitled "The Magical Negro," which challenges the conventions of mythical and speculative fiction. While Keven Brockenbrough's noire contribution captures a tale that is so well realized that it is cinematicly evocative, while posing a series of poignant ethical dilemmas.
"The Binary" by John Cooley is a fantastic piece combining Japanese folk lore with a multi-ethnic cast in a wonderful and suspenseful tale. While this was one of my favorite pieces in the anthology, it was also the one that I found most disappointing - it was so nearly perfect, but needed some additional polishing and structure.
As a life-long fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, I appreciated the creations that each other lovingly created and shared. Even more than their works, I appreciated editor Sheree R. Thomas' committment to positioning the works of the authors she gathered. For instance, I now have an understanding of the larger umbrella under which the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy that I have so enjoyed fits: speculative fiction. Not only is this a more descriptive term, but it also seems far more accurate and respectful of the genre.
December 20, 2019
Dark Matter is the first (and only) series collecting sci-fi/fantasy short stories by black authors. Like Booklist says on the cover, it’s a great “who’s who of African American writers”. There were a little over 25 pieces - pretty massive for a short work collection, so it really is an excellent guide or even introduction to black writers.
content warnings:
I started taking notes for individual stories a quarter through, so I don't have warnings for the first bit, sorry!
Jesus Christ in Texas:
- racist slurs
- lynching
The Binary:
- fatphobia
BLACKout:
- the Roma slur
Corona:
- the n slur
Short story collections are usually a gamble, with some stories incredible while others fall short. This one is no different, although some of these works soared Very high (Whispers in the Dark) and others were just Not something I enjoyed (The Binary). And although short story collections usually just contain, you know, short stories, this one has transcripts of discussions on what makes science fiction as a genre work, biographies, and even works as short as a page and a half. All are equally as important. I love that the books teach you about the black authors that came before as well as the ones alive and publishing today.
Though there may have been more pieces here I disliked than those I liked, the ones I liked I liked Very Much, and it makes up for the rest. I’m a bit sad this is a library book, and one the library requested from another library, because I’d like to read some of these stories again. A lot of them are incredibly layered and deep, written to make you think a long time after the first read.
Anyway, I’ll definitely be reading the other books in this collection! And taking note of which authors strike a chord with me as I go on.
content warnings:
I started taking notes for individual stories a quarter through, so I don't have warnings for the first bit, sorry!
Jesus Christ in Texas:
- racist slurs
- lynching
The Binary:
- fatphobia
BLACKout:
- the Roma slur
Corona:
- the n slur
Short story collections are usually a gamble, with some stories incredible while others fall short. This one is no different, although some of these works soared Very high (Whispers in the Dark) and others were just Not something I enjoyed (The Binary). And although short story collections usually just contain, you know, short stories, this one has transcripts of discussions on what makes science fiction as a genre work, biographies, and even works as short as a page and a half. All are equally as important. I love that the books teach you about the black authors that came before as well as the ones alive and publishing today.
Though there may have been more pieces here I disliked than those I liked, the ones I liked I liked Very Much, and it makes up for the rest. I’m a bit sad this is a library book, and one the library requested from another library, because I’d like to read some of these stories again. A lot of them are incredibly layered and deep, written to make you think a long time after the first read.
Anyway, I’ll definitely be reading the other books in this collection! And taking note of which authors strike a chord with me as I go on.
September 17, 2013
Really good quality anthology. Highlights include Kiini Ibura Salaam's beautifully voiced "Desire", Ibi Aanu Zoboi's creepy "Old Flesh Song", Tyehimba Jess' rather funny "Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms", Nalo Hopkinson's folk tale retelling "The Glass Bottle Trick" - but there are plenty more to enjoy, with a refreshingly wide array of approaches to speculative fiction.
March 21, 2014
a great cross section of speculative african diaspora fiction. the retelling of igbo landing was fierce! the idea that vampires, zombies, telepathy, supernatural abilities, and religion transverse blackness as smoothly as leaves flowing down stream in spring time is refreshing.
December 26, 2007
check these stories. scary, realistic, good. "the whipping boy" is crazy. i want to read these again.
August 14, 2019
Science fiction comes in a number of flavors. There’s “hard” SF, which speculates from a basis in the physical sciences. There’s “soft” SF, which works from a basis in the so-called human sciences (especially anthropology). The market-driven art is further subdivided into horror, fantasy, and sword-and-sorcery. Firing shots across the bow of these main genres, though, are those writers who create what might be called, to borrow a term from today’s music scene, “mash-ups.” Joanna Russ, for instance, is perhaps best known for her feminist SF novel The Female Man, which throws gender into a mix of hard and soft science. Then there’s Samuel R. Delany, whose New Wave classic Dhalgren pointed the way toward a science fiction that was truly literary and not merely boilerplate genre fiction. Into this mix we can add what may be the oldest form of speculative fiction: the retelling of myths and legends.
Now take a gander at a collection of “speculative fiction from the African Diaspora” called Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. This unusual collection focuses on the experiences of Africans, and their descendants, in the Americas—and the experiences are chilling, as you would expect. Slavery, racism, poverty and homelessness, magic, myth and religion, and killer jazz feature in this anthology of twenty-four stories and three essays. Most of the stories are by less-published authors (and most of those, seemingly, from the editor’s adopted New York City), but there are some major lights here, too: W.E.B. Dubois, the above-mentioned Delany, the fiery Wanda Colman, and Walter Mosley among them.
Although some of the writing in Reading the Bones is fairly mediocre in execution, none of it is so in content. Cherene Sherrard’s story, for instance, “The Quality of Sand,” is exciting and original. It centers on a group of Haitian revolutionaries who, having captured a slave-transport ship, act as “pirates", freeing the prisoners of other slave ships. The story takes a magical turn when we learn that one of the protagonists is a jinni. Sherrard renders this magical twist as a moment of spiritual realism, producing a satisfying and tasty ending. Several of the stories are of the “stick it to the (white) man” variety, notably Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu’s “The Magical Negro.” This very funny short-short starts out on a trajectory of comic-book heroism but quickly (it’s only a couple pages long) resists that narrative line, running instead (so to speak, and in order not to give this little gem totally away) in an “Ain’t Gonna Work on Maggie’s Farm No More” direction.
Perhaps most startling in this fine collection of truly alternative spec lit is W.E.B. Dubois’s story “Jesus Christ in Texas.” “It was in Waco…” the story begins—but “story” is probably the wrong descriptor, since what Dubois spins here is really a parable. Jesus does turn up in Waco, but he’s not the skinny white guy we normally see pinned to a stick. Instead, Dubois manages, in just a few words, to paint a historically plausible Jesus, as a Semitic man with a “coat that looked like a Jewish gabardine” (in contrast to the cowboy’s ankle-length duster) and skin of “olive, even yellow.” This high-yellow Jesus never claims to be the son of God (which idea doesn’t come up until the historically late Gospel of John, anyway), but is, rather, in the business of witnessing and reminding folks it’s not a good idea to steal or murder or rape. It’s the black man who gets this message, of course, and again, as with “The Magical Negro,” the ending provides the satisfying crunch of misguided authority getting its comeuppance while simultaneously offering a salvational vision. Dubois’ story remains startling and relevant in still-racist twenty-first century America, and is even more so when one notices that it was written in 1920.
The anthology concludes with three nonfiction pieces: a writers’ roundtable featuring Delany, Octavia Butler, Jewelle Gomez, Tananarive Due, and the filmmaker William Hudson; an appreciation of African-American writer Virginia Hamilton; and an appreciation of Andre Norton, one of the most prolific science fiction writers ever—and an African American woman, a fact few SF fans realize and that was never revealed in all those old Ace doubles. The author of this last piece, Carol Cooper, pretty well sums up the contribution to Reading the Bones when she writes “that the world was a strange, often cruel, and dangerous place…. We need science fiction to get out of this sort of world.” Amen to that.
Now take a gander at a collection of “speculative fiction from the African Diaspora” called Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. This unusual collection focuses on the experiences of Africans, and their descendants, in the Americas—and the experiences are chilling, as you would expect. Slavery, racism, poverty and homelessness, magic, myth and religion, and killer jazz feature in this anthology of twenty-four stories and three essays. Most of the stories are by less-published authors (and most of those, seemingly, from the editor’s adopted New York City), but there are some major lights here, too: W.E.B. Dubois, the above-mentioned Delany, the fiery Wanda Colman, and Walter Mosley among them.
Although some of the writing in Reading the Bones is fairly mediocre in execution, none of it is so in content. Cherene Sherrard’s story, for instance, “The Quality of Sand,” is exciting and original. It centers on a group of Haitian revolutionaries who, having captured a slave-transport ship, act as “pirates", freeing the prisoners of other slave ships. The story takes a magical turn when we learn that one of the protagonists is a jinni. Sherrard renders this magical twist as a moment of spiritual realism, producing a satisfying and tasty ending. Several of the stories are of the “stick it to the (white) man” variety, notably Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu’s “The Magical Negro.” This very funny short-short starts out on a trajectory of comic-book heroism but quickly (it’s only a couple pages long) resists that narrative line, running instead (so to speak, and in order not to give this little gem totally away) in an “Ain’t Gonna Work on Maggie’s Farm No More” direction.
Perhaps most startling in this fine collection of truly alternative spec lit is W.E.B. Dubois’s story “Jesus Christ in Texas.” “It was in Waco…” the story begins—but “story” is probably the wrong descriptor, since what Dubois spins here is really a parable. Jesus does turn up in Waco, but he’s not the skinny white guy we normally see pinned to a stick. Instead, Dubois manages, in just a few words, to paint a historically plausible Jesus, as a Semitic man with a “coat that looked like a Jewish gabardine” (in contrast to the cowboy’s ankle-length duster) and skin of “olive, even yellow.” This high-yellow Jesus never claims to be the son of God (which idea doesn’t come up until the historically late Gospel of John, anyway), but is, rather, in the business of witnessing and reminding folks it’s not a good idea to steal or murder or rape. It’s the black man who gets this message, of course, and again, as with “The Magical Negro,” the ending provides the satisfying crunch of misguided authority getting its comeuppance while simultaneously offering a salvational vision. Dubois’ story remains startling and relevant in still-racist twenty-first century America, and is even more so when one notices that it was written in 1920.
The anthology concludes with three nonfiction pieces: a writers’ roundtable featuring Delany, Octavia Butler, Jewelle Gomez, Tananarive Due, and the filmmaker William Hudson; an appreciation of African-American writer Virginia Hamilton; and an appreciation of Andre Norton, one of the most prolific science fiction writers ever—and an African American woman, a fact few SF fans realize and that was never revealed in all those old Ace doubles. The author of this last piece, Carol Cooper, pretty well sums up the contribution to Reading the Bones when she writes “that the world was a strange, often cruel, and dangerous place…. We need science fiction to get out of this sort of world.” Amen to that.
Read
July 28, 2020This 2004 anthology collects 24 speculative fiction stories by Black authors, together with three non-fiction pieces. I loved the breadth of Sheree R. Thomas's selections, encompassing many flavors of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and extending back to include stories from as early as 1920, though most are much more recent. The three non-fiction selections are all of interest, one being a transcription of 1997 panel featuring six prominent SF/F authors of color, and the other two discussing the works of Virginia Hamiltion and Andre Norton.
I particularly liked Sheree R. Thomas's choice to bookend the fiction with two very different stories that nonetheless speak to each other. The opening story, ihsan bracy's "ibo landing," retells a folktale about transported slaves walking onto the sea to escape slavery. The final story, Kalamu ya Salaam's "Trance," is a time-travel science fiction tale that, briefly but effectively, calls back to that opening story when a character says, "I'm talking about how some of us walked into the sea and most of us stayed on the shore."
In between are a wealth of stories that tackle slavery, racism, gods, drugs, werewolves, and a great deal more. As is almost inevitable in an anthology of some two dozen stories, not every one appealed to me. There were also a few stories that I found effective, yet too bleak to describe as enjoyable, such as Pam Noles's powerful "Whipping Boy," in which a 19-year-old becomes a supernatural scapegoat.
Among my favorites were two of the older selections: "Jesus Christ in Texas," by W. E. B. Du Bois, published in 1920, all the more striking for the quiet restraint of its storytelling, and Walter Mosley's 1967 story "Whispers in the Dark," made moving by the characters' compassion for each other. I also particularly liked "Corona," by Samuel R. Delany, a vividly imagined story where two very different people (a White male ex-convict and a telepathic Black nine-year-old girl) briefly meet and each try to help the other.
My favorite of all was Nisi Shawl's "Maggies," which skilfully paints a future where modified humans (Maggies) help in terraforming, a complex, very well-told story, centered on its characters but encompassing a powerful inditement of racism, that managed all this while being a pleasure to read.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
I particularly liked Sheree R. Thomas's choice to bookend the fiction with two very different stories that nonetheless speak to each other. The opening story, ihsan bracy's "ibo landing," retells a folktale about transported slaves walking onto the sea to escape slavery. The final story, Kalamu ya Salaam's "Trance," is a time-travel science fiction tale that, briefly but effectively, calls back to that opening story when a character says, "I'm talking about how some of us walked into the sea and most of us stayed on the shore."
In between are a wealth of stories that tackle slavery, racism, gods, drugs, werewolves, and a great deal more. As is almost inevitable in an anthology of some two dozen stories, not every one appealed to me. There were also a few stories that I found effective, yet too bleak to describe as enjoyable, such as Pam Noles's powerful "Whipping Boy," in which a 19-year-old becomes a supernatural scapegoat.
Among my favorites were two of the older selections: "Jesus Christ in Texas," by W. E. B. Du Bois, published in 1920, all the more striking for the quiet restraint of its storytelling, and Walter Mosley's 1967 story "Whispers in the Dark," made moving by the characters' compassion for each other. I also particularly liked "Corona," by Samuel R. Delany, a vividly imagined story where two very different people (a White male ex-convict and a telepathic Black nine-year-old girl) briefly meet and each try to help the other.
My favorite of all was Nisi Shawl's "Maggies," which skilfully paints a future where modified humans (Maggies) help in terraforming, a complex, very well-told story, centered on its characters but encompassing a powerful inditement of racism, that managed all this while being a pleasure to read.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
December 31, 2020
I give this book a 4.5. Of course like and book of short stories, some stories are better than others but in this book there were only a few stories that I had to push through. For the most part I enjoyed all of them. The stories included range from past, present and future settings. My favorite stories in this book are:
The Glass Bottle Trick
'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes*
Whipping Boy
Aftermoon*
BLACKout
Trance
Those with stars I would LOVE to see expanded into novels.
I've read a handful of short story collections now, mostly all by one author, but of the short story collections I've read this by far was one of the best.
The Glass Bottle Trick
'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes*
Whipping Boy
Aftermoon*
BLACKout
Trance
Those with stars I would LOVE to see expanded into novels.
I've read a handful of short story collections now, mostly all by one author, but of the short story collections I've read this by far was one of the best.
October 3, 2017
Counting this as ‘read’ even though there were (7) short stories and (3) essays I didn’t get to before it was due back to the library.
Like most anthologies, it’s a mixed bag. There were a few that I really liked, a few that I appreciated but didn’t feel strongly about, and one that I ‘noped’ right away from. Overall, though, it’s worth a read. Lots of excellent stories here.
Full story list with initial thought-blurbs below the cut.
(Warning: This is a really long text post.)
Like most anthologies, it’s a mixed bag. There were a few that I really liked, a few that I appreciated but didn’t feel strongly about, and one that I ‘noped’ right away from. Overall, though, it’s worth a read. Lots of excellent stories here.
Full story list with initial thought-blurbs below the cut.
(Warning: This is a really long text post.)
February 20, 2020
Wild ride; glad I got on.
Favorites:
Whipping Boy by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
W I L D E S T:
Recovery from a Fall, David Findlay
Favorites:
Whipping Boy by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
W I L D E S T:
Recovery from a Fall, David Findlay
December 28, 2015
I wish I had enjoyed this collection of short stories more. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's because I am not a person of color, but I found many of the stories to be difficult to follow. They also are very light on the science fiction tending more toward surrealism.
That said, there is one story that really seemed prescient. It describes a United States where aliens have come promising miraculous technologies if the US will give up its entire black population. This story was written, I think, in the late 1990s so its author would not yet have experienced the recent rise in overt racism that seems to taken over this country. Nevertheless he or she really predicted the future accurately (except that we have a half-black president).
There are some interesting things about this anthology that distinguish it from typical SF. The first is the dominant role of music in the narratives. Music plays a major role or is a strong background for (I would guess) over half of the stories. The other thing that hit me was the present, even prevalence, of female characters! Finally, SF that has some idea that half of the population is women! Whoohoo!
I found Delany's essay at the end of the anthology interesting, not necessarily for what he said but for what he didn't say. Yes, he expounded on the dearth of black writers and characters in SF. This is a valid complaint. He pointed out that the original Star Trek series made a dent in this with Lt. Uhura, a black woman member of the crew. And I don't remember any other black cast members but perhaps it was because I wasn't looking for them. What I did notice was a lack of female characters and their roles on the ship and as guest stars. Women are always in subservient roles. Even Uhura is not one of the critical members of the bridge crew. Nurse Chapel is the servant of Dr. McCoy. Women guest stars are either important people's wives or love interests for the captain. In TNG, there are two very strong black characters, Geordi LaForge, chief engineer, and Warf, the Klingon security officer (I think). Women got Deanna Troy, the I-feel-your-pain poofball of an empath. I'm not trying to gloss over the lack of cultural diversity in SF, TV, or any other medium, I'm just saying that it is easy to notice that something closely related to yourself is missing while overlooking other people who are being overlooked. Delany bemoans the tendency for others to refer to him as a "black author." How many women are referred to as "female authors?" Better yet, in how many cases is a woman author's physical appearance also sited?
Okay, okay, I'm done ranting.
That said, there is one story that really seemed prescient. It describes a United States where aliens have come promising miraculous technologies if the US will give up its entire black population. This story was written, I think, in the late 1990s so its author would not yet have experienced the recent rise in overt racism that seems to taken over this country. Nevertheless he or she really predicted the future accurately (except that we have a half-black president).
There are some interesting things about this anthology that distinguish it from typical SF. The first is the dominant role of music in the narratives. Music plays a major role or is a strong background for (I would guess) over half of the stories. The other thing that hit me was the present, even prevalence, of female characters! Finally, SF that has some idea that half of the population is women! Whoohoo!
I found Delany's essay at the end of the anthology interesting, not necessarily for what he said but for what he didn't say. Yes, he expounded on the dearth of black writers and characters in SF. This is a valid complaint. He pointed out that the original Star Trek series made a dent in this with Lt. Uhura, a black woman member of the crew. And I don't remember any other black cast members but perhaps it was because I wasn't looking for them. What I did notice was a lack of female characters and their roles on the ship and as guest stars. Women are always in subservient roles. Even Uhura is not one of the critical members of the bridge crew. Nurse Chapel is the servant of Dr. McCoy. Women guest stars are either important people's wives or love interests for the captain. In TNG, there are two very strong black characters, Geordi LaForge, chief engineer, and Warf, the Klingon security officer (I think). Women got Deanna Troy, the I-feel-your-pain poofball of an empath. I'm not trying to gloss over the lack of cultural diversity in SF, TV, or any other medium, I'm just saying that it is easy to notice that something closely related to yourself is missing while overlooking other people who are being overlooked. Delany bemoans the tendency for others to refer to him as a "black author." How many women are referred to as "female authors?" Better yet, in how many cases is a woman author's physical appearance also sited?
Okay, okay, I'm done ranting.
May 12, 2010
After the spectacular Dark Matter (2000), Thomas offers something of a mixed bag in her second anthology of speculative fiction from the African diaspora. Of the stories set during the days of slavery, ihsan bracy's "ibo landing" proves that stylization of subject matter can be more powerful than historical fidelity. The shimmering, brutal outlines created by such simple sentences as "each in their own way understood the distance. they would never again be home" stay with the reader for a long time.
By contrast, the weight of research muffles the emotional impact of a story like Cherene Sherrard's "The Quality of Sand." Similarly, Charles R. Sanders's "Yahimba's Choice" seems written by an anthropologist studying a distant culture, the story unable to move past surface ritual and wooden dialogue. The strongest entry is Kuni Ibura Salaam's "Desire," an experimental retelling of a folktale that's wonderfully fresh, with exquisite detail: "Quashe's back formed one gleaming stretch of reptile skin. Her torso, neck, and arms were honey-amber, human-soft skin moist with river dew." This story will probably appear in at least one year's best collection. Other stories of note include Pam Noles's "Whipping Boy" and Tananarive Due's "Aftermoon." Solid reprints from Samuel R. Delaney and W.E.B. Du Bois, among others, round out the volume, along with several essays of varying quality.
In an excellent, idiosyncratic collection of sf, fantasy and folktale-derived fiction by African American (including Caribbean) writers, the quality of writing is uniformly high, and the contributors constitute practically a who's who of African American writers who have dealt in speculative fiction, beginning with W. E. B. DuBois, represented by a piece dating from 1920.
Samuel Delany, Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, and Walter Mosley also appear, and the tone of most of the stories, even "Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington," is serious and even desperate. One compensation for that tone is that Mosley seems much more at home in short sf and fantasy than he is at novel length, as in Blue Light (1998). But writing of this quality speaks eloquently for itself, and so do such surprises as Carol Cooper's panegyric to the consciousness-raising influence of Andre Norton, one of three essays at the end of the volume.
By contrast, the weight of research muffles the emotional impact of a story like Cherene Sherrard's "The Quality of Sand." Similarly, Charles R. Sanders's "Yahimba's Choice" seems written by an anthropologist studying a distant culture, the story unable to move past surface ritual and wooden dialogue. The strongest entry is Kuni Ibura Salaam's "Desire," an experimental retelling of a folktale that's wonderfully fresh, with exquisite detail: "Quashe's back formed one gleaming stretch of reptile skin. Her torso, neck, and arms were honey-amber, human-soft skin moist with river dew." This story will probably appear in at least one year's best collection. Other stories of note include Pam Noles's "Whipping Boy" and Tananarive Due's "Aftermoon." Solid reprints from Samuel R. Delaney and W.E.B. Du Bois, among others, round out the volume, along with several essays of varying quality.
In an excellent, idiosyncratic collection of sf, fantasy and folktale-derived fiction by African American (including Caribbean) writers, the quality of writing is uniformly high, and the contributors constitute practically a who's who of African American writers who have dealt in speculative fiction, beginning with W. E. B. DuBois, represented by a piece dating from 1920.
Samuel Delany, Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, and Walter Mosley also appear, and the tone of most of the stories, even "Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington," is serious and even desperate. One compensation for that tone is that Mosley seems much more at home in short sf and fantasy than he is at novel length, as in Blue Light (1998). But writing of this quality speaks eloquently for itself, and so do such surprises as Carol Cooper's panegyric to the consciousness-raising influence of Andre Norton, one of three essays at the end of the volume.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2018
The other Dark Matter anthology is one of my favorite anthologies, if not the favorite. This one did not move me as much. I started reading it months ago to have fiction on hand to sparingly read between all the nonfiction- something I could pick up and put down for some time. It did serve that purpose well. I do like that it had a few essays following the stories like the other Dark Matter anthology did. That is a nice touch. I did really enjoy a couple of the stories, most were ok, and some of them were kinda bad, I hate to say. That said there are some great authors who make appearances in this, including in an interview in the end with some of the greatest Black scifi authors of all time. Worth reading once. Not sure if I will read it again.
June 6, 2008
This was a book of short stories of African American writers. I love it; it’s about hoodoo, egguns, spiritual things, from writer from America to the Caribbean. I love it and had past it on to a friend of mines to read. Some of the stories in here should turn into a movie. There are even some vampire story that I love that’s set in Harlem.
July 31, 2016
There were a few stories that I liked but for the most part I thought this was just ok. I felt like I was reading the same story over and over again. This can sometimes be the hard part about anthologies. Everything feels the same. I read about half of the book and decided that I had had enough.
May 28, 2011
Loved it. Especially loved reading fiction by W. E. B. DuBois. Hadn't done that before.
October 9, 2015
So many great stories in here, especially enjoyed "Glass Bottle Trick", "Old Flesh Song", and "Sweet Dreams". Added several authors to my to-read list.
September 26, 2017
These anthologies are great. They're a great source of works and non-fiction essays. I use this (and the first anthology in the series) in the Speculative Fiction in Africa class I teach.
April 8, 2018
This is short story anthology at its finest.
October 26, 2019
Established authors and then new authors (tickled me how some of the 'up and comers' are now big names)
March 22, 2022
This collection of short stories – speculative fiction from the African diaspora – was put together in 2004. There are some really good stories in here, along with others with much less heft. If it was published today, there would be a lot more writers to choose from.
The collection includes Tannarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor, Samuel R. Delany, Walter Mosley, plus more than a dozen others. There are also speculative short stories by W. E. B. Du Bois (“Jesus Christ in Texas” – very good story about Jesus walking around a small racist Texas town) and Henry Dumas (“Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” about a club with jazz so powerful that the vibrations kill any white person who hears it). One thing that I appreciated here is an equal number of male and female writers.
The first story, by ihsan bracy, is called “Ibo Landing”, and it’s very beautiful, a retelling of the myth that enslaved people who landed at Ibo Landing were able to walk on water and go home. Then there’s “Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms”, by Tyehimba Jess, about a street guy who encounters Legba in a dream, and gains psychic abilities which make him rich, but then loses it all because he refuses to give back to the community. I loved the tongue-in-cheek writing here, and Legba’s contemporary disguise.
Another great story, “The Quality of Sand”, by Cherene Sherrard, is about a jinn pirate who sinks slave ships and frees their prisoners. Then there’s “Yahima’s Choice”, by Charles R. Saunders, which deals with clitorectomies, inventing a couple of heroic women who prevail against this tradition. Nnedi Okorafor wrote a funny story called “The Magical Negro”, in which the Magical Negro steps in to save the hero, Thor, and then thinks better of it.
The collection includes Tannarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor, Samuel R. Delany, Walter Mosley, plus more than a dozen others. There are also speculative short stories by W. E. B. Du Bois (“Jesus Christ in Texas” – very good story about Jesus walking around a small racist Texas town) and Henry Dumas (“Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” about a club with jazz so powerful that the vibrations kill any white person who hears it). One thing that I appreciated here is an equal number of male and female writers.
The first story, by ihsan bracy, is called “Ibo Landing”, and it’s very beautiful, a retelling of the myth that enslaved people who landed at Ibo Landing were able to walk on water and go home. Then there’s “Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms”, by Tyehimba Jess, about a street guy who encounters Legba in a dream, and gains psychic abilities which make him rich, but then loses it all because he refuses to give back to the community. I loved the tongue-in-cheek writing here, and Legba’s contemporary disguise.
Another great story, “The Quality of Sand”, by Cherene Sherrard, is about a jinn pirate who sinks slave ships and frees their prisoners. Then there’s “Yahima’s Choice”, by Charles R. Saunders, which deals with clitorectomies, inventing a couple of heroic women who prevail against this tradition. Nnedi Okorafor wrote a funny story called “The Magical Negro”, in which the Magical Negro steps in to save the hero, Thor, and then thinks better of it.
December 19, 2018
Wide-ranging and compelling anthology of speculative fiction by black writers. There's such a variety of stories in here, and though a small handful of them didn't do anything for me the quality is in general excellent. There's rather more focus on fantasy than science fiction, but together the stories cover everything from typical speculative creatures (such as werewolves and vampires) to more overtly political narratives (focused on, for instance, reparations and slavery). The anthology ends with three non-fiction essays, discussing various inspirations for some of the writers collected in here, and these were interesting too.
I think the standout stories for me were "Maggies" by Nisi Shawl (about genetically engineered creatures of the selkie-sort, and their effects on the human families who love them), "Yahimba's Choice" by Charles R. Saunders (looks at female circumcision, with a particularly painful and affecting ending), the super-creepy clone harvesting and rebellion of Kevin Brockenbrough's "'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes", and the beautifully written eroticism of Kiini Ibura Salaam's "Desire". Really, though, although these were my favourites I could have listed more - there's a lot of fantastic stories in here, genuinely something for everyone I think, and well worth reading.
I think the standout stories for me were "Maggies" by Nisi Shawl (about genetically engineered creatures of the selkie-sort, and their effects on the human families who love them), "Yahimba's Choice" by Charles R. Saunders (looks at female circumcision, with a particularly painful and affecting ending), the super-creepy clone harvesting and rebellion of Kevin Brockenbrough's "'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes", and the beautifully written eroticism of Kiini Ibura Salaam's "Desire". Really, though, although these were my favourites I could have listed more - there's a lot of fantastic stories in here, genuinely something for everyone I think, and well worth reading.
January 20, 2023
A follow-up to the previous anthology of the same name (different subtitle) edited by Thomas. As with the prior volume, this contains hits and misses. There is a similar effort here to hearken back to older voices to collect them, along with a number of bespoke pieces by established and up and coming writers. Of the contemporary established writers, standouts include Nalo Hopkinson's haunting 'The Glass Bottle Trick," Walter Moseley's story of a boy genius "Whispers in the Dark," Tananarive Due's werewolf tale "Aftermoon," bureaucratic dystopian tales by Charles Johnson and Wanda Coleman "Sweet Dreams" and "Buying Primo Time" respectively, Samuel Delany's "Corona" and Nisi Shawl's "Maggies." The Du Bois tale included here isn't a patch on the one in the earlier volume. New authors (to me, anyway) with terrific stories include "Whipping Boy" by Pam Noles and "BLACKout" by Jill Robinson. Was also good to see another Dossuye story by Charles Saunders—when is the novel happening? The other writings here weren't bad or boring—they simply didn't capture the fancy of this particular reader as much as the aforementioned. YMMV.
January 28, 2025
Read over five months for book club. These are good discussion stories, but not always good stories. While the good stories can be very good, they're outnumbered by the ones that, well, the collection would have been better without.
November 23, 2018
This book is excellent.
June 5, 2020
Glass Bottle Trick Nalo Hopkinson
March 22, 2021
Like a lot of collections from a range of writers, consistency is sacrificed in favour of variety. Some wonderful stories but some not so good.
to-try-authors-and-series
August 14, 2017I've listed all of the titles and authors in case you want to follow up on any of them, and it allows an easy way for me to post quick reviews of each story. The main body of the book contains 24 fictional short stories/novel excerpts, and three non-fiction essays are included at the end of the book.
Fiction
ibo landing (1998) by ihsan bracy
The Quality of Sand (2004) by Cherene Sherrard
Yahimba's Choice (2004) by Charles R. Saunders
The Glass Bottle Trick (2000) by Nalo Hopkinson
Desire (2004) by Kiini Ibura Salaam
Recovery from a Fall (2004) by David Findlay
Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington (2000) by Douglas Kearney (5 stars) - Nice. Says all that needs to be said in three paragraphs. I never thought of Spiderman and Bugs Bunny like that before. Guess I've been trippin'.
The Magical Negro (2004) by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Jesus Christ in Texas (1920) by W.E.B. Du Bois
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (1974) by Henry Dumas
'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes (2004) by Kevin Brockenbrough
Whipping Boy (2004) by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song (2004) by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
Whispers in the Dark (2001) by Walter Mosley
Aftermoon (2004) by Tananarive Due
Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms (2004) by Tyehimba Jess
The Binary (2004) by John Cooley
BLACKout (2004) by Jill Robinson
Sweet Dreams (2004) by Charles Johnson
Buying Primo Time (1988) by Wanda Coleman
Corona (1967) by Samuel R. Delany
Maggies (2004) by Nisi Shawl
Excerpt from Mindscape (2004) by Andrea Hairston
Trance (2004) by Kalamu ya Salaam
Non-Fiction Essays
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Transcription of a Panel at the 1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference Held at Clark Atlanta University (2004) by Jewelle Gomez
Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton (2004) by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton (2004) by Carol Cooper
Fiction
ibo landing (1998) by ihsan bracy
The Quality of Sand (2004) by Cherene Sherrard
Yahimba's Choice (2004) by Charles R. Saunders
The Glass Bottle Trick (2000) by Nalo Hopkinson
Desire (2004) by Kiini Ibura Salaam
Recovery from a Fall (2004) by David Findlay
Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington (2000) by Douglas Kearney (5 stars) - Nice. Says all that needs to be said in three paragraphs. I never thought of Spiderman and Bugs Bunny like that before. Guess I've been trippin'.
The Magical Negro (2004) by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Jesus Christ in Texas (1920) by W.E.B. Du Bois
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (1974) by Henry Dumas
'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes (2004) by Kevin Brockenbrough
Whipping Boy (2004) by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song (2004) by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
Whispers in the Dark (2001) by Walter Mosley
Aftermoon (2004) by Tananarive Due
Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms (2004) by Tyehimba Jess
The Binary (2004) by John Cooley
BLACKout (2004) by Jill Robinson
Sweet Dreams (2004) by Charles Johnson
Buying Primo Time (1988) by Wanda Coleman
Corona (1967) by Samuel R. Delany
Maggies (2004) by Nisi Shawl
Excerpt from Mindscape (2004) by Andrea Hairston
Trance (2004) by Kalamu ya Salaam
Non-Fiction Essays
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Transcription of a Panel at the 1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference Held at Clark Atlanta University (2004) by Jewelle Gomez
Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton (2004) by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton (2004) by Carol Cooper
August 5, 2018
I really enjoyed the inaugural collection of
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora
— in fact, I'm still mulling over a couple of the stories included in it now, months after I originally read them. Of course, I was eager to read the follow up anthology Reading the Bones and see how it compared. Most of what I wrote in my review of the first collection applies to this one as well: it's a good (if somewhat dated) compilation of African speculative fiction, it can be a dark and gritty at times, and I cared for some authors and stories over others. I'm curious to see if any of the stories will remain with me for months the way some did from the first collection, but all in all this was an equally compelling read.
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