Welcome to the Tarot Black Lives Matter book bingo, presented by The Tarot Sequence fandom! This is run primarily by Kathy @pages below vaulted sky. 

If you’re looking for books to use, we’ve got some great lists on reddit in our /r/Fantasy Black Lives Matter Megathread

Information about the challenge:

This is s reading challenge event running from July 6 to December 6 aimed to help us discover, read, and support Black authors and their work.

Absolutely ZERO knowledge of The Tarot Sequence series is required in order to participate, as the event is meant to be, first and foremost, a celebration of Black voices within the book community. It’s a chance to show our love for Black authors, especially queer Black authors, and encourage each other to read more diversely and smartly, to read beyond the reaches of our comfort genres, and further educate ourselves on the subjects that are raised in these stories. And most importantly, to make that a habit, not just a one-off.

We have created a bingo card with each square corresponding to a tarot-specific prompt (the 22 Major Arcana, plus a few custom additions). After reading a book that fulfills said prompt, you can cross it out. For each filled square you will gain ONE (1) entry, with a bonus entry if the book is LGBTQ+, into a raffle for some incredible prizes detailed below. For each line of five squares in a row that is completed, you will gain an additional THREE (3) entries. By completing the entire grid, you’ll gain a bonus of SIX (6) entries. The overall number of squares you’ve filled out will count towards your ranking, which comes with a cool badge that you can show off for bragging rights.

You can go for as few or as many squares as you want, and you’re welcome to do update posts, TBRs posts, reviews, recommendation lists, and share on your blog and other social media using #TarotBLMBingo.

RULES

• Books must be written (or co-written) by Black authors.
• Unless specified, books can be fiction or non-fiction; prose, verse, or graphic novel.
• Only one square may be filled by a re-read, and each book can only be used once. Multiple books by the same author is perfectly okay!
• After each book, we highly encourage you to write a review (or draw or film–get creative!) and share on Goodreads, Amazon, and social media (please do NOT tag authors in negative reviews). 
• Email your bingo cards to tarotsequenceevents@gmail.com, along with country of residence (for prize purposes) and, if you’re comfortable sharing, social media usernames (so that we know to tag you in winner announcement posts).

End date: December 6 (11:59 PM PST)

For more info about prizes please check the original post on Pages below vaulted sky

Tarot BLM Book Bingo Guidebook

Tarot Bingo Card (Prompts)

As I noticed last year when I did my stats post, my reading is very white, I was of course super excited to join in and find some more great books to read!

The challenge started on July 7th, so I figure it’s fair game to use what I’ve been reading since then. So here’s what I’ve read and what books I’m looking at for other squares, all links go to Goodreads 

The Fool: a middle-grade book: Gloom Town by Ronald L. Smith

The Martyr: a book with the theme of change, surrender, or letting go: Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin

This won the Hugo award for best novelette this year and I fully agree. It’s hard to describe without giving too much away, and I wouldn’t want to to that as it was brilliant being in the character’s mind as he figured stuff out. I loved how is story managed to be very hopeful in the future it imagines, and a stark and depressing critique at how improbable it is due to our fucked society.

The Magician: a book set in a secondary world (i.e. a world that is not our own): Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender

Queen of the Conquered is set in a secondary world, inspired by the US Virgin Islands under colonial rule. We’re in the head of Sigourney, who through a mix of circumstances and scheming is the only one of the islanders allowed to participate in high-level politics. The story has a lot of manipulating, some mind-reading magic, and a classic murder mystery story. Sigourney is interesting, but she’s not a likeable protagonist.

The Chariot: a memoir: Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown

Justice: a book based on or inspired by real-life injustice: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Hierophant: a coming-of-age story or a YA contemporary: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Temperance: a book set during the 1920s or 1930s: Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

The High Priestess: a mystery book The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

This is the second mystery novella set in alternate history clockwork+djinn Cairo, in this case investigating the haunting of a tram car. It’s a fun mystery, with cool characters, on the background of the women’s suffragette movement. I really enjoy this series and am very much looking forward to the full-length novel.

The Tower: a book with a building or a structure on the cover: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

The Emperor: a book with a father as the main character/narrator, or one that focuses on a father-child relationship: Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron 

The Moon: a book that explores mental health: A Song of Wraiths and Ruins by Roseanne A. Brown

The Sun: an optimistic, hopepunk book: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

The Misfit: a book featuring the found family trope: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

The Lovers: a book featuring strong friendships or romance: A Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope

Strength: an action-adventure book: By Sea & Sky: An Esowon Story by Antoine Bandele

The Hermit: a biography: Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
by Audre Lorde or The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Wheel of Fortune: a book with the theme of “actions lead to consequences”: Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Death: a book published in the second half of 2020: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko 

Judgment: a book featuring an overused trope (villain redemption, soulmates, etc).: A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole

The Devil: a book you’ve been putting off or have been hesitant about reading: The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes

The Deep is about a race of mermaids born of pregnant women thrown overboard to their deaths from slaver ships. Initially, I didn’t want to read it, because it sounded too dark for me, but I’m very glad I did because it was so good! There’s an afterward in the audiobook, which I highly recommend, in which Daveed Diggs explains how great it was that Rivers Solomon told a such a personal story in this super interesting setting that they had thought up, and I loved how that story talked about how history and memory are such an important part of identity. I’d been putting it off because I thought it would be grim, but while it is harsh and often about pain, the story itself had enough hope for me to enjoy it. 

The Empress: a book with a mother as the main character/narrator, or one that
focuses on a mother-child relationship: LaGuardia by Nnedi Okorafor 

The Star: a book set in outer space: Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden (which has been pushed back to December 1st, so this will cutting it short)

New Atlantis: an urban fantasy: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow 

The World: a book set in a country that’s not your own: Rosewater by Tade Thomson

Rosewater in set in Nigeria, in the 2050s and 2060s. It follows a senstive, a man who can connect to the xenophere and read others’ thoughts as a consequence of aliens showing up. There’s a lot going on in this novel, and I kinda wish I had not gone for an audiobook, because chapters and interludes frequently jump from past to present, and it wasn’t always easy to follow along.