4 Minnesota Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books by Black Authors for Black History Month

For me, Black History Month starts January 1 and runs through December 31. But for many others, February is the time of year to acknowledge, educate, and celebrate Black culture, chronology, and contributions.

Far too often, the “Black history” of Black History Month gets truncated down to a handful of people (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson, and more recently Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama) and hyperfocused on certain broad topics (slavery, the civil rights movement of the 1960s, athletes breaking the color barrier). This is a woefully incomplete approach. For starters, Black history is an integral, inalienable aspect of American history—and it didn’t start with slavery, take a break, pick up again with the 1950s and 1960s, and then retire. To adapt the tagline from the History channel, Black history is made every day.

Inspired by the Black Author Challenge (which was itself inspired by Sunili Govinnage’s “12 months of Black authors” piece for the Guardian), here are four sci-fi and fantasy works by four Black authors, one for each week of February—all from Minnesota authors and/or publishers. I hope that this Black History Month, in addition to learning about Black history, you’ll support Black creators.

Passion Publications/Sewn Together Reflections

1. Bright City by DC Edwards

Bright City will make you angry. Not because of anything wrong with the story—which is gripping, compelling, and wildly entertaining—but rather because it’s the only book currently available from author DC Edwards. When you finish it, you’ll definitely want a lot more. It’s fast-paced, female-fronted, dystopian Afrofuturism that could be (and hopefully one day will be) the source material for a host of cinematic and televised adaptations. The characters are relatable, and the world in which they reside is fascinating.

2. magnifiqueNOIR: I Am Magical by Briana Lawrence

A group of powerfully gifted queer Black women facing monsters with magic in an beautifully realized urban setting? Oh. Hell. Yeah. Author (and fellow Twin Cities Geek contributor) Briana Lawrence is impossibly talented, the kind of writer that inspires you to take up writing—but at the same time, once you do, you might feel a little apprehensive because she’s set the bar is set so fantastically high. I Am Magical is the first book in the magnifiqueNOIR series; book two, You Are Magical, was released in January 2020.

3. Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

An “African Game of Thrones.” Do I really need to say more? Okay, I’ll give you more than that—because really, that description doesn’t do Black Leopard, Red Wolf justice. Marlon James’s latest book has already won numerous accolades, including finalist selection for the National Book Award for fiction, and was a New York Times bestseller. I have always been solidly on the sci-fi side of “sci-fi/fantasy,” but I came across this book and could not put it down. In fact, I dug Black Leopard, Red Wolf so much, I read it twice. Two times.

4. Speculative Blackness by André M. Carrington

Close out February with the media analysis of André M. Carrington’s Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction, published by the University of Minnesota Press. Carrington examines the connections and contentions among a diverse array of genre works—Star Trek, Buffy, Harry Potter, Big Two comics, and more—and past and present American attitudes and ideas about race. Speculative Blackness is informative, of course, but it’s also thought-provoking and insightful.

Riverhead Books/University of Minnesota Press

This list is just the teeny-tiniest point at the tippy top of a massive Black author iceberg. There are a huge number of Black sci-fi/fantasy authors and artists in the Twin Cities area alone, and their work covers a near-infinite variety of media and platforms, tastes and subgenres. In addition to the color of their skin and shared cultural heritage, the one common bond they all share is the need for increased awareness and support.

And don’t just think you have to get hip in February. You can—and absolutely should—support local Black sci-fi/fantasy authors year-round.

If you enjoyed this list, you may also enjoy my look at forgotten and overlooked Black characters in science-fiction films and television.