As we close out Black History Month here in the US, I decided to cover a monumentally important black author who is constantly overlooked:
Samuel R. Delany (b.1942)
Delany became a major figure in what's now known as the "New Wave" of science fiction literature, where he helped shape the direction the genre would take. His first novel, The Jewels of Aptor, was written in 1961, and I need you to understand why that's so crazy:
At the time, he was a gay black teenager who was in an open marriage with a white lesbian.
I won't get into all the subtle facets of his identity and personal life, or how they shaped his early career, but it's really interesting. If you want to learn more, read his 1988 memoir The Motion of Light in Water.
Instead, I'm just going to give brief overviews of a few of his major works, along with links on where you can read them for free:
Babel-17 (1966)
Linguists and philosophers have long theorized that language might shape how we see the world. This book speculates on how language might actually be weaponized for manipulative, nefarious ends.
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Aye, and Gomorrah... (1967)
A story that feels far ahead-of-it's-time. It follows what appears to be a societal caste of androgynous, neutered "spacers," along with a subculture of what we might consider "chasers" that fetishizes them.
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Nova (1968)
A dazzling space opera on a vast scale, focused on a high-stakes hunt for a rare element that could reshape the galaxy’s balance of power. It explores class, obsession, art, and the lingering power of old stories.
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Dhalgren (1975)
There was a movement within science-fiction called the "New Wave," and this is the book that took it's ideas to their most extreme limit. Specifically: stylistic experimentation, a move away from traditional "sci fi" tropes, and a focus on more transgressive content.
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Triton (1976)
Delany’s sharpest social thought experiment, set in an incredibly permissive future society where gender, body, and identity can be changed as easily as clothing. But what if you lived in a society built for maximum freedom and inclusion... and you still couldn't fit in?
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Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand (1984)
After a planet is mysteriously annihilated, a seasoned interstellar diplomat becomes captivated by the sole survivor, a traumatized man whose importance may extend far beyond just personal desire. It's also noteworthy that the book’s radical approach to gender, sexuality, and pronouns still feels ahead-of-it's-time today.
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Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999)
Written in the wake of New York’s "clean-up" of the many seedy sex shops in Times Square, Delany reminisces on his many lurid, anonymous experiences there, and defends the value of such spots.
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Dark Reflections (1999)
In an impressive shift of subject matter, this is a bleak, intimate, deeply literary portrait of a black gay poet looking back on a life that was shaped by repression, missed chances, and resentment.
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every time I post about how awesome it is to be a girl some dude comes along and goes "this but about men" fuck youuu. hands off!! this is a girl post for girls. no boys allowed
irritating as fuck when people get mad at Black people existing in premodern historical fiction/fantasy media. like first of all, you're racist. and second of all, you are acting as though Black people didn't exist in premodern Europe which is simply false. especially when we're talking about the Mediterranean, like what the fuck do you people think is along the southern half of the Mediterranean Ocean?? everyone's on boats, there are GOING to be interactions with Black people in Northern Africa, and there are GOING to be Black people in Mediterranean Europe. stop being stupid. your imagined homogeneous white European past is not historical reality, get over it you massive losers
When Brazilian graphic designer Carol Rossetti began posting colorful illustrations of women and their stories to Facebook, she had no idea how popular they would become.
Thousands of shares throughout the world later, the appeal of Rosetti’s work is clear. Much like the street art phenomenon Stop Telling Women To Smile, Rossetti’s empowering images are the kind you want to post on every street corner, as both a reminder and affirmation of women’s bodily autonomy.
“It has always bothered me, the world’s attempts to control women’s bodies, behavior and identities,” Rossetti told Mic via email. “It’s a kind of oppression so deeply entangled in our culture that most people don’t even see it’s there, and how cruel it can be.”
Rossetti’s illustrations touch upon an impressive range of intersectional topics, including LGBTQ identity, body image, ageism, racism, sexism and ableism. Some characters are based on the experiences of friends or her own life, while others draw inspiration from the stories many women have shared across the Internet.
“I see those situations I portray every day,” she wrote. “I lived some of them myself.”
Despite quickly garnering thousands of enthusiastic comments and shares on Facebook, the project started as something personal — so personal, in fact, that Rossetti is still figuring out what to call it. For now, the images reside in albums simply titled “WOMEN in english!“ or ”Mujeres en español!“ which is fitting: Rossetti’s illustrations encompass a vast set of experiences that together create a powerful picture of both women’s identity and oppression.
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the way it has struck such a global chord. Rossetti originally wrote the text of the illustrations in Portuguese, and then worked with an Australian woman to translate them to English. A group of Israeli feminists also took it upon themselves to create versions of the illustrations in Hebrew. Now, more people have reached out to Rossetti through Facebook and offered to translate her work into even more languages. Next on the docket? Spanish, Russian, German and Lithuanian.
It’s an inspiring show of global solidarity, but the message of Rossetti’s art is clear in any language. Above all, her images celebrate being true to oneself, respecting others and questioning what society tells us is acceptable or beautiful.
“I can’t change the world by myself,” Rossetti said. “But I’d love to know that my work made people review their privileges and be more open to understanding and respecting one another.””
From the site: All images courtesy Carol Rossetti and used with permission. You can find more illustrations, as well as more languages, on her Facebook page.
My favorite thing about this is how there’s diversity in the women even when it isn’t relevant. There are more fat women than just the illustrations regarding body image. There are multiple women in wheelchairs even when the text isn’t focusing on it. there are so many different races and ethnicity even when that’s not what the words are focusing on. One of them doesn’t have a left arm and it isn’t the focus. It’s beautiful, showing the overlap between all these things.
these make me so happy. their names are diverse as well, I’m not sure if I’m wording it right but oftentimes you don’t see characters of colour with more ethnic/cultural names and I’m very happy to see that theyve included that as well.
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If six billion people are really going to watch the world cup, and that's like three quarters of the population of the world, then surely odds are that three quarters of the people I know would watch it, but I don't know anyone who is watching it
sometimes I draw bunny's weight inconsistent but that's actually pretty natural since body weight and perception of yourself does fluctuate. that's beautiful.
not just any MP, but an undersecretary for migration and citizenship. this guy is one of the MPs that has a direct hand on the genuinely horrific treatment of migrants and refugees in the UK, including shipping them off to the UK's former colony after unilaterally declaring the colony to be safe, as well as stripping the migrant and refugees of their heirlooms in the name of "paying for their migration in the UK with their own assets." Starmer's cabinet is filled with people whose bloodsoaked hands will never wash out like these.
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wait I have one more story. there's a group of anti-abortion protesters who often set up by the Ethiopian cafe I hang out in, and when I was waiting to cross one of them held up an aborted fetus sign and said "how does this make you feel?" and I said "hungry", and then I was so satisfied by my own cleverness that I missed the lights and stepped off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic
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