''Dark Matter'' is an anthology series of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
,
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
, and
horror stories and essays produced by people of African descent. The editor of the series is
Sheree Thomas. The first book in the series, ''Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora'' (2000), won the 2001
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...
for
Best Anthology. The second book in the Dark Matter series, ''Dark Matter: Reading the Bones'' (2004), won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology in 2005. A forthcoming third book in the series is tentatively named ''Dark Matter: Africa Rising''.
In the introduction to the first book, the editor explains that the title alludes to cosmological "
dark matter
Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not a ...
", an invisible yet essential part of the universe, to highlight how black people's contributions have been ignored: "They became dark matter, invisible to the naked eye; and yet their influence — their gravitational pull on the world around them — would become undeniable".
Book I contents
Stories
*
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His ...
, "Aye, and Gomorrah..."
*
Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowshi ...
, "
The Evening and the Morning and the Night"
*
Charles R. Saunders
Charles Robert Saunders (July 12, 1946May 2020) was an African-American author and journalist, a pioneer of the "sword and soul" literary genre with his Imaro novels.Tattrie, Jon.The extraordinary inner world of Charles R. Saunders, father of ...
, "Gimmile's Songs"
*
Steven Barnes, "The Woman in the Wall"
*
Tananarive Due
Tananarive Priscilla Due ( ) (born January 5, 1966) is an American author and educator. Due won the American Book Award for her novel '' The Living Blood''. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a cours ...
, "Like Daughter"
*
Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing†...
, "Chicago 1927"
*
George S. Schuyler
George Samuel Schuyler (; February 25, 1895 – August 31, 1977) was an American writer, journalist, and social commentator known for his conservatism after he had initially supported socialism.
Early life
George Samuel Schuyler was born in ...
, "
Black No More" (excerpt from the novel)
*
Ishmael Reed, "Future Christmas" (novel excerpt)
*
Kalamu ya Salaam
Kalamu ya Salaam (born March 24, 1947) is an American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher from the 9th Ward of New Orleans. A well-known activist and social critic, Salaam has spoken out on a number of racial and human rights issues. For years h ...
, "Can You Wear My Eyes"
*
Robert Fleming, "The Astral Visitor Delta Blues"
*
Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', '' Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as th ...
, "Ganger (Ball Lightning)"
*
W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Comet"
*
Linda Addison, "Twice, at Once, Separated"
*
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (born 1967) is an American poet and novelist, and a professor of English at the University of Oklahoma. She has published five collections of poetry and a novel. Her 2020 collection ''The Age of Phillis'' reexamines the l ...
, "Sister Lilith"
*
Evie Shockley, "separation anxiety"
*
Leone Ross, "Tasting Songs"
*
Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', '' Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as th ...
, "Greedy Choke Puppy"
*
Amiri Baraka, "Rhythm Travel"
*
Kalamu ya Salaam
Kalamu ya Salaam (born March 24, 1947) is an American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher from the 9th Ward of New Orleans. A well-known activist and social critic, Salaam has spoken out on a number of racial and human rights issues. For years h ...
, "Buddy Bolden"
*
Akua Lezli Hope, "The Becoming"
*
Charles W. Chesnutt
Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Ci ...
, "The Goophered Grapevine"
*
Nisi Shawl
Nisi Shawl (born 1955) is an African-American writer, editor, and journalist. They are best known as an author of science fiction and fantasy short stories who writes and teaches about how fantastic fiction might reflect real-world diversity of ...
, "At the Huts of Ajala"
*
Henry Dumas
Henry Dumas (July 20, 1934 – May 23, 1968) was an American writer and poet. He has been called "an absolute genius" by Toni Morrison, who as a commissioning editor at Random House published posthumous collections both of his poetry, ''Play Ebo ...
, "Ark of Bones"
*Tony Medina, "Butta's Backyard Barbecue"
*
Kiini Ibura Salaam, "At Life's Limits"
*
Anthony Joseph
Anthony Joseph (born 12 November 1966 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) is a British/Trinidadian poet, novelist, musician and academic.
Biography
Joseph was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he was raised by his grandparents. He b ...
, "The African Origins of UFOs" (excerpt from the novel)
*
Derrick Bell
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. (November 6, 1930 – October 5, 2011) was an American lawyer, professor, and civil rights activist. Bell worked for first the U.S. Justice Department, then the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he supervised over 300 scho ...
, "
The Space Traders"
*
Darryl A. Smith, "The Pretended"
*
Ama Patterson, "Hussy Strutt"
Essays
*
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His ...
, "Racism and Science Fiction"
*
Charles R. Saunders
Charles Robert Saunders (July 12, 1946May 2020) was an African-American author and journalist, a pioneer of the "sword and soul" literary genre with his Imaro novels.Tattrie, Jon.The extraordinary inner world of Charles R. Saunders, father of ...
, "Why Blacks Should Read (and Write) Science Fiction"
*
Walter Mosley
Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...
, "Black to the Future"
*
Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, "Yet Do I Wonder"
*
Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowshi ...
, "The Monophobic Response"
Reviews
''The New York Times Review''by Gerald Jonas (2000)
by Joe Monti, Issue 167 (July 2000)
by Martin Arnold, ''New York Times'' (2000)
African American Review
by Candice M. Jenkins (Winter 2000)
*Locus Magazine Review by Gary K. Wolfe (July 2000)
*Locus Magazine Review by Faren Miller (June 2000)
by Colleen R. Cahill (November 2001)
by Isiah Lavender III (March 2001)
by Greg L. Johnson (2001)
A.V. Club Review
by Tasha Robinson (2002)
Awards
Honourable Mention
Book II contents
Stories
* Ihsan Bracy, "ibo landing"
* Cherene Sherrard, "The Quality of Sand"
*Charles R. Saunders
Charles Robert Saunders (July 12, 1946May 2020) was an African-American author and journalist, a pioneer of the "sword and soul" literary genre with his Imaro novels.Tattrie, Jon.The extraordinary inner world of Charles R. Saunders, father of ...
, "Yahimba's Choice"
*Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', '' Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as th ...
, "The Glass Bottle Trick"
* Kiini Ibura Salaam, "Desire"
*David Findlay, "Recovery from a Fall"
*Douglas Kearney
Douglas Kearney (born 1974) is an American poet, performer and librettist. Kearney grew up in Altadena, California. His work has appeared in ''Nocturnes'', ''Jubilat'', ''Beloit Poetry Journal'', ''Gulf Coast'', ''Poetry'', ''Pleiades'', ''Iow ...
, "Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington"
* Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, "The Magical Negro"
* W. E. B. Du Bois, "Jesus Christ in Texas"
*Henry Dumas
Henry Dumas (July 20, 1934 – May 23, 1968) was an American writer and poet. He has been called "an absolute genius" by Toni Morrison, who as a commissioning editor at Random House published posthumous collections both of his poetry, ''Play Ebo ...
, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"
* Kevin Brockenbrough, "'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes"
* Pam Noles, "Whipping Boy"
* Ibi Aanu Zoboi, "Old Flesh Song"
*Walter Mosley
Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...
, "Whispers in the Dark"
*Tananarive Due
Tananarive Priscilla Due ( ) (born January 5, 1966) is an American author and educator. Due won the American Book Award for her novel '' The Living Blood''. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a cours ...
, "Aftermoon"
* Tyehimba Jess, "Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms"
* John S. Cooley, "The Binary"
* Jill Robinson, "BLACKout"
* Charles Johnson, "Sweet Dreams"
* Wanda Coleman, "Buying Primo Time"
*Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His ...
, "Corona"
*Nisi Shawl
Nisi Shawl (born 1955) is an African-American writer, editor, and journalist. They are best known as an author of science fiction and fantasy short stories who writes and teaches about how fantastic fiction might reflect real-world diversity of ...
, "Maggies"
* Andrea Hairston, "Mindscape" (novel excerpt)
*Kalamu ya Salaam
Kalamu ya Salaam (born March 24, 1947) is an American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher from the 9th Ward of New Orleans. A well-known activist and social critic, Salaam has spoken out on a number of racial and human rights issues. For years h ...
, "Trance"
Essays
*Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing†...
, "The Second Law of Thermodynamics"
* Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, "Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton"
* Carol Cooper, "Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton"
Reviews
*''Locus Magazine'' Review by Gary K. Wolfe (November 2003)
*''Locus Magazine'' Review by Faren Miller (December 2003)
SF Site Featured Review
by Steven H Silver (2004)
by Pamela Sargent, Issue 354 (2004)
BookLoons Review
by Martina Bexte (2004)
by Brian Charles Clark (2004)
''Austin Chronicle'' Review
by Belinda Acosta (2005)
Awards
See also
*
*
*
* Africanfuturism
*Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocultu ...
* Black science fiction
External links
Official Website of Sheree Renée Thomas
on AALBC
Black Science Fiction and Fantasy
on NPR (audio)
Publishers Weekly Starred ReviewBook Page for "Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora"
on Grand Central Publishing Group USA
Book Page for "Dark Matter: Reading the Bones"
on Grand Central Publishing Group USA
on Hachette Book Group USA
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080307152610/http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/82/0446693774/index.html Book Page for ''Dark Matter: Reading the Bones''on Hachette Book Group USA
The Carl Brandon Society
A Community of Speculative Fiction Writers of Color
on ScifiDimensions
{{World Fantasy Award Best Anthology
Science fiction anthologies
Fantasy anthologies
Horror anthologies
2000 anthologies
African diaspora literature
African-American literature
Afrofuturism