Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color (2019)

Anthology of contemporary stories by emerging and seasoned writers of many races

There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns,” proclaimed Octavia E Butler.

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color showcases emerging and seasoned writers of many races telling stories filled with shocking delights, powerful visions of the familiar made strange. Between this book’s covers burn tales of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their indefinable overlappings. These are authors aware of our many possible pasts and futures, authors freed of stereotypes and clichés, ready to dazzle you with their daring genius.

Unexpected brilliance shines forth from every page.

Including stories by Indrapramit Das, E Lily Yu, Rebecca Roanhorse, Anil Menon, Jaymee Goh and many others. Introduction by Levar Burton.

by Nisi Shawl

Get it now here

NISI SHAWL is a writer of science fiction and fantasy short stories and a journalist. She is the co-author (with Cynthia Ward) of Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences for Successful Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Asimov’s SF Magazine, Strange Horizons, and numerous other magazines and anthologies.

In recent years, the idea of afrofuturism went from the fringes to being so central that it’s sparked debates about overuse:

https://www.tor.com/2019/06/19/white-bears-in-sugar-land-juneteenth-cages-and-afrofuturism/

But one thing is beyond dispute: Sun Ra is central to the afrofuturist canon.

In 1971, Sun Ra designed a course for UC Berkeley called “African-American Studies 198” - which had a host of subtitles, from “Sun Ra 171” to “The Black Man in the Universe” to “The Black man in the Cosmos.”

http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/full-lecture-and-reading-list-from-sun-ras-1971-uc-berkeley-course.html

As Open Culture’s Josh Jones writes, everything about this course is spectacular, even the reading list.

http://sisterezili.blogspot.com/2010/01/sun-ras-reading-list-for-african.html

But best of all were the lectures, which biographer John Szwed described:

“Sun Ra wrote biblical quotes on the board and then ‘permutated’ them—rewrote and transformed their letters and syntax into new equations of meaning, while members of the Arkestra passed through the room, preventing anyone from taping the class. His lecture subjects included Neoplatonic doctrines; the application of ancient history and religious texts to racial problems; pollution and war; and a radical reinterpretation of the Bible in light of Egyptology.”

Despite Ra’s attempts, at least one student recorded at least one of these lectures, and it’s AMAZING:

Pretty in Pink.

Lore Lowdown: Aetherytes

Secret Wars: Secret Love Vol 1 #1 (2015) // Marvel Comics

Misty Knight and Danny Rand

Story: Jeremy Whitley, art: Gurihiru

Get it here