New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color

New Suns:

Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color

edited by Nisi Shawl

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.

Anthologies are great, sometimes they work out well and sometimes they don’t quite reach that potential we see in them. With many of them, I have found, it’s almost always a mixed bag and this one is no different.

New Suns is filled with fiction from people of colour and this diversity made way for some truly good content, if I am being honest but I wish there was a loose theme to them all, a sort of connection that I felt lacking while I was reading them one after the other.

Overall, I gave this collection 3.5 stars but there were some that truly were noteworthy and I feel like they really made the experience so much better than it could have been. Of the entire collection, I really found Come Home to Atropos by Steven Barnes along with The Fine Print by Chinelo Onwaulu were so well written and they had such a good effect on me, I am not likely to forget them any time soon. Then there were other good ones, such as Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Freedom of the Shifting Seas by Jaymee Goh and last but not the least, Harvest by Rebecca Roanhorse. These were so good and well written and two of them were just creepy enough that I felt uneasy reading them.

Overall, this is a really mixed bag with a few gems scattered in between. I have given the starred rating for each one in below, however, do consider that this is my personal opinion and it might differ from many others. If you read this collection and found some of the low rated ones to be your favourite, please, don’t be offended.

The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias Buckell- ★★★

Deer Dancer by Kathleen Alcala – ★★

The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations by Minsoo Kang – ★ (DNF)

Come Home to Atropos by Steven Barnes – ★★★★

The Fine Print by Chinelo Onwualu- ★★★★

unkind of mercy by Alex Jennings – ★★

Burn the Ships by Alberto Yanez – ★★

The Freedom of the Shifting Seas by Jaymee Goh – ★★★

Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire by E. Lily Yu- ★

Blood and Bells by Karin Lowakee- ★

Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister by Silvia Moreno-Garcia  – ★★★

The Shadow We Cast Through Time by Indrapramit Das – ★★

The Robots of Eden by Anil Menon – ★★

Dumb House by Andrea Hairston- DNF

One Easy Trick  by Hiromi Goto – ★

Harvest by Rebecca Roanhorse – ★★★

Kelsey and the burdened breath by Darcie Little Badger- ★★