Black History/FUTURE Month

The Water Dancer (Oprah's Book Club)

“Ta-Nehisi Coates understands something big and he understands it better than anyone else right now. The Water Dancer led me on a journey up and down the landscape of American slavery with a narrative that feels like The Book of Exodus meets, well, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Over 400 pages I have cried, I have laughed, I have been educated, and I have been enlightened. Coates writes with an honesty that can only come from a sublime, even spiritual, understanding of the souls of the white man and the black man in America. Written with poignancy and humanity, The Water Dancer left me stunned but clear-headed, like I had just been woken up from a deep, dream-filled sleep.”

Norris Rettiger, Lemuria Bookstore

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

“If I had to pick one word to describe this book, it would be feral. James creates a fantastical Africa that invokes the violence and brutality of the old world, but wraps it in delicate layers of myth and magic that make the reader want to cozy up to the savagery in order to get a better look. The characters add to the effect, as they are mysterious enough to entice and real enough to despise. The sense of displacement and lack of certainty enforces the message that nothing and nobody in this world can be trusted, not even the self. If people want to call this the African Game of Thrones, I won’t necessarily argue, but I will say that the Tracker and his frenemies would make any of the big baddies in Westeros run for cover with their tail cut off. ”

Linda Sherman-Nurick, Cellar Door Books

Winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella!

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do... Read more »

Children of Blood and Bone

“Children of Blood & Bone, is a story told in a world where magic no longer exists. Years ago, this was not the case. Once, magic and the Gods were celebrated. Now, Diviners (those with Maji blood, but no magic) are treated poorly, and all the Maji have been killed. One of those including our main protagonist, Zélie’s, mother. Determined to find a way to bring back magic, Zélie, along with her brother Tzain, and Orïsha’s only princess, Amari (gone rogue), set out on a quest against all odds. Told from Zélie, Amari and Amari’s brother and crown prince, Inan’s viewpoints, Tomi Adeyemi weaves together a tale so beautifully and tragically relevant, it will leave you craving for answers and more.”

Jen, Vroman's Bookstore

The first science fiction written by a Black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of Black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably... Read more »

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler paints a stunning portrait of an all-too-believable near future. As with Kindred and her other critically-acclaimed novels, Parable of the Sower skillfully combines startling visionary and socially realistic concepts. God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose... Read more »

International award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor enters the world of magical realist literature with a powerful story of genocide in the far future and of the woman who reshapes her world.In a post-apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways, yet in one region genocide between tribes still bloodies the land. After years of enslaving... Read more »

The Fifth Season

“The Fifth Season is an amazing, dark, and gripping work that will hook you from the first sentence. I cannot express to you how much this book stunned me. Robin's narration is well paced and engaging. While I wish this was a book for everyone to listen to, it isn't; destruction, trauma, and rage follow the women and girls who tell their stories. This book is about the end of the world, that you actually don't want to stop reading.”

Jessica, Once Upon A Time

In Dhalgren, perhaps one of the most profound and bestselling science fiction novels of all time, Samuel R. Delany has produced a novel that rivals the best American fiction of the 1970s.Bellona is a city at the dead center of the United States. Something has happened there … the population has fled. Madmen and criminals wander the streets.... Read more »

In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like "Precious," in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In "A Habit of Waste," a self-conscious woman... Read more »

Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from... Read more »

An Unkindness of Ghosts

“Aster is a misfit. A monster. And a frequent target for humiliation and punishment by the guards stationed on Matilda. Rivers Soloman’s debut novel, An Unkindness of Ghosts, is a fantastic allegorical analysis of the antebellum south via life aboard a spaceship, searching for a new place to live after Earth became uninhabitable. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing the story to life and all of the voices fit the characters perfectly. Trigger Warnings: suicide, self harm, sexual assault, racism, homophobia ”

Ryan, Page 1 Books

Three-time Hugo Award winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories.

"Marvelous and wide-ranging." -- Los Angeles... Read more »

Rosewater

“Want mystery? A vision of near-future, post-alien occupation Earth? Afro-centric? Psychics? A relatable protagonist with a criminal past who is the only hope for saving human kind? How about some zombies and angels? A love story? Rosewater has it all, and somehow it all weaves together into an irresistible, absorbing tale. And the best news? It’s the first in a trilogy, so when it leaves you wanting more, your wish will come true.”

Jessica, Bookbug

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side." Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of... Read more »