IBARW, post 2

[minxy]

Okay, so I consider myself a fairly well-read person, on account of I like to read, I read quickly, and I enjoy little more than getting lost in a great world. I've been as fannish about some books as television shows, back in the day.

So imagine my shame when fandom started collecting a list of non-pinkish-beige SFF authors and I realized how few of the authors on this list that I hadn't ever heard of.

This is the list, btw: (blogs and webaddresses are included where it's been indicated to me that the authors are fine with it, though I haven't asked; I will take the links down in a heartbeat if anyone lets me know of objections.)
Kobo Abe
James Stevens-Arce
Ray Anthony (Empress, a futuristic, matriarchal African derived society)
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Steven Barnes
Elizabeth Bear (matociquala)
Malorie Blackman (Noughts and Crosses)
K. Tempest Bradford (ktempest)
Tobias Buckell (blog)
Octavia Butler
Brenda Clough
Ted Chiang
M. Lucie Chin (The Fairy of Ku-She)
Wu Dingbo
Tananarive Due
David Anthony Durham (Acacia, and blog)
Greg Van Eekhout
Louise Erdrich
Stella Evans
Minister Faust
Heinz Insu Fenkl
Eugie Foster (eugie)
Amitav Ghosh (The Calcutta Chromosome)
Owl Goingback
Hiromi Goto
Angélica Gorodischer (Kalpa Imperial, translation by Ursula K. Le Guin.)
Virginia Hamilton
Karen Harbaugh, (romances with fantasy elements)
Jim Hetley
Ernest Hogan
Nalo Hopkinson (blog)
Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke award, I understand)
Nora Jemison
Ruchir Joshi (The Last Jet Engine Laugh)
Jackie Kay (Scottish-Nigerian fantasy, Strawgirl)
Maxine Hong Kingston (The Woman Warrior)
Yoji Kendo/Eric Kotani
Larissa Lai (When Fox is a Thousand)
Yoon Ha Lee (yhlee)
Mary Soon Lee
Karin Lowachee
Ruth Ozeki,
Yukio Mishima (The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea)
Mary Anne Mohanraj
Toni Morrison
Walter Mosley
Haruki Murakami
E.C. Myers
Linda Nagata
Suniti Namjoshi
Gloria Naylor (Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe)
Misha Nogha
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Helen Oyeyemi
Fiona Patton
Tony Pi
Chelsea Polk
Ishmael Reed (Mumbo Jumbo)
William Sanders
Charles Saunders
Nisi Shawl
Leslie Marmon Silko (Almanac of the Dead)
Vandana Singh
S. P. Somtow
Craig Kee Strete
Cecelia Tan
Sheree Thomas
Toure (Soul City)
Michelle Sagara West (msagara)
Wrath James White
Colson Whitehead (The Intuitionist)
Frank Wu
Tetsu Yano
Lawrence Yep (YA)

Aside from Louise Erdrich (who was a favorite, lo 15 years ago), Kazuo Ishiguro (who has been high profile for a while) and the graphic novel The Changers by Ezra Clayton Daniels (v. cool, recommended.) I really, really hadn't ever heard of these authors. And I don't think it's for lack of paying attention.

Race issues are alive and well and living (among other places) in the publishing/PR industry, my friends. And, possibly, in my selective vision, but I'm educable.

Now, scifi writing is not always my cuppa. I lean towards fantasyish stuff, but often as not YA these days, because I want to just fall into it, you know? Plus the shorter length and quick read works well with my lack of huge amounts of free time (on account of which) And the covers can be soooooo cheesetastic on SciFi books, but I'm not really in it for the covers, (or rather, I shouldn't be.)

BUT, then I heard this from ltlj (she has it under flock, so I shall summarize): Charles Saunders wrote a story back in the 80's called Imaro, notable for being a fantastic black hero character in a sword and adventure type novel. The marketing was wretched, and despite critical acclaim from Black Gate (link goes to a review alongside Tolkien) and ltlj, among others, the books never gained a foothold.

Now the reprint is under threat of cancellation due to poor sales, so a grass-roots campaign is underway.

So Imaro is a mixed-race warrior in a fantastic Africa, from what I gather. His journey begins as a quest for acceptance and continues as he becomes more independent of what other people think. Saunders has been lauded for his world-building, and Black Gate, among others, say that the African setting is a character in it's own right (as well it should be, from one who has actually been there. Africa is a vast, incredible, romantic place, I'm still a little in love with it.) An interview with Saunders is here.

So, I just went to Night Shade Books and spend $14 on the first novel. It twinges a little as throwing money at the problem, but honestly, I don't think that's what it is. There was also this brilliant idea thrown about somewhere that suggested that perhaps a book by a WoC could be donated to a local library. That sounds like a marvelous idea to me.

There's a long list of WoC that I've never bloody-well HEARD OF, my people. I'm starting with Saunders.

ETA: there is a comm called 50books_poc for anyone who wishes to participate in the intention to read 50 books by a person of color by ibarw next year. I signed up, and others have too. You could watch that comm and catch short recs or reviews of these books if you want a little more information before running off to buy (and, of course, you want my or other's opinion.)

ETA2: The first week of October is a apparently banned books week. The lovely sanguinity has collected some links here.