Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy by Authors of Color

Here’s another celebrated classic by the sci-fi legend. Set in the year 2024 (um, way too close for comfort), climate change has devastated Earth. As the world falls apart around her, a teenager born with hyperempathy must use her power to protect the people she loves. Both “Parable of the Sower” and its sequel are included in the ZORA Canon, a list of 100 of the greatest books written by African American women.

Rebecca Roanhorse brings to life Navajo folktales in this electrifying novel about the apocalypse brought on by climate change. Searching for a missing girl, monster hunter Maggie Hoskie must battle witchcraft, as well as the ancient gods and monsters who walk the earth once again.

With “Black Sun,” Roanhorse begins her new epic fantasy trilogy, “Between Earth and Sky.” Drawing on indigenous pre-Columbian cultures, Roanhorse mixes in magic, revenge, and adventure as three fierce but flawed characters embark on a collision course during a fateful solar eclipse.

Carmen Maria Machado’s collection of stories is so wonderfully weird, queer, and feminist. Genre-bending, uncanny, and often very funny, each of these unusual stories has something poignant to say about being a person and about being an artist.

Imagine the antebellum South, but set on a starship. In the tradition of Octavia Butler, the ship hurtles through space toward a mysterious “promised land,” but passengers onboard are segregated by race. With people of color brutally enslaved on the lower decks, one young woman skilled in medical care sees a chance to rise up against her oppressors.

Set in South Africa, a power-hungry demigoddess is hunting humans as she plots her return to full power. It’s up to a collective of six remarkably disparate characters to thwart her evil plans. With the bonus inclusion of dik-dik jokes!

The title story of this collection has won every single prestigious speculative fiction award — the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award. One of the most original collections of sci-fi short fiction around.