There’s a movement to buy two books by Black writers this week (6/14-6/20), so I’m posting recommendations of authors/books.
Going to be more today and tomorrow because I read more speculative fiction than anything else.
Victor LaValle may be my favorite writer working today. There’s an amazing energy in his prose, making each paragraph, sentence, and individual word electric. His most famous work (which I teach in all of my Comp I classes) is his H.P. Lovecraft reclaiming novella, The Ballad of Black Tom. Find out more about him here.
Lesley Nneka Arimah debut collection What It Means When Men Fall From the Sky is incredible. The stories are magical realism with a lot of bite. There’s an image with a snake in it’s death throes that she burnt into my brain. Fantastic writer. Get her book here.
Justina Ireland has been writing for a while, but I first got exposed to her work with Dread Nation. The premise sells itself: a young woman with duel sickles fights zombies after graduating high school in an alternate history. See Dread Nation and her other work here.
Nnedi Okorafor is on her way to HBO with George R.R. Martin adapting her book, Who Fears Death. You can be like those insufferable Game of Thrones fans who brags about knowing what’s about to happen if you read the book now. Her story collection Kabu Kabu is excellent. Learn more here.
Tananarive Due is a hero in the horror community. She produced Shudder’s amazing documentary on Black horror films, Film Noire as well as writing her own terrifying novels. My favorite of those I’ve read is The Good House, a deeply creepy book that examines inherited sin. Get all of that here.
Tomorrow, more speculative fiction.
Ryan C Bradley 