Che-Michelle Tales

Did you know October is Black Speculative Fiction Month?

Discovering Black Speculative Fiction Month was a delightful surprise for me. I’m thrilled to share some background and reading suggestions that you might find intriguing during October.  I stumbled upon this fascinating event through a TikTok video. Here’s the link for you to explore: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMMvMaWk/

Black Speculative Fiction Month is a vibrant celebration of diversity within the speculative fiction genres. It’s an annual tribute to the rich contributions of Black authors in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.  This month-long celebration was co-founded by authors Balogun Ojetade and Milton Davis. It’s a platform that shines a spotlight on works that center Black experiences, envision new futures, and offer profound critiques of social structures.  The choice of October as the month for this celebration was made to coincide with the existing Alien Encounters event, a gathering for speculative and imaginative arts that took place around 2012.

Why does it matter?  Many authors and artists’ work gets lost in the volume of other writers or a lack of publicity, making it difficult to grab people’s attention. The goal of providing a platform for Black artists to explore their identity, challenge oppression, and create worlds that reflect Black excellence and possibility enables these writers’ stories to be read, studied, and enjoyed by everyone.

Participating in Black Speculative Fiction Month is an opportunity to be adventurous and explore the works of non-traditional authors. You can start by checking out the recommended books on Amazon Kindle. BookTok is a real thing, and you can find intriguing suggestions on Instagram. Barnes & Noble, as well as small, independent bookstores, will be highlighting these books during October. The employees at these stores often have great suggestions.   In my experience, being open to new authors and books can lead to some misses, but the hits far outweigh them. Expanding the worlds you read about and visit is a thrilling adventure.

One of my Favorite novellettes that is Speculative Fiction is N.K. Jemisin’s “Emergency Skin” is a story read from the perspective of an AI instructing a Robot (I think it’s a Robot) to collect cells for humans living in space. As the story unfolds, readers gain insight into how they arrived at this point and the harsh reality of the situation.  This book is found in the Forward Collection on Amazon, so you can read all six books that will expand your mind in the realm of Speculative Fiction.

Here are some authors that you can check out: N.K. Jemisin, Tomi Adeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia Butler, and Victor LaValle are notable examples of authors whose work falls under this umbrella. Several novels, short stories, and anthologies such as Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark, New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl, and the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. These works often explore themes of identity, power, and social justice in unique and imaginative ways. 

Amazon Originals has several Speculative Fiction collections, one called Black Stars: A Galaxy of New Worlds, which is a collection of six Kindle short stories that explore various kinds of Black Speculative Fiction from some of the premier authors in this genre. All the books are under 2 hours long and will definitely prompt questions that you may have never asked before. I may go back and re-read both of these series.

There are podcasts about Speculative Fiction. If you want to get your old school Reading Rainbow kick, check out LeVar Burton’s ended podcast “LeVar Burton Reads the episodes are still available à https://levarburton.com/podcasts/

Here are some previous posts that feature Black Speculative Fiction:

House of Gold by C.T. Rwizi was the first book to steal my heart https://chemichelletales.com/2023/12/30/my-first-five-star-book-of-2023/

How to Be a Better Adult by Jacque Aye: https://chemichelletales.com/2023/12/28/being-an-adult-is-hard-unless-you-have-a-manual/

There are many ways to support, read, and enjoy speculative fiction; these are just a few that stand out to me. Maybe in October,  I will focus on speculative fiction book reviews. P.S. I am happy I found out about this month, cause I was trying to read horror books, but all the books I chose were more speculative fiction than horror.

Until Next Time,

Che Michelle

P.S. Perhaps later this month, I will release my short story, “Electricity.”