October is Black Speculative Fiction Month so I thought I’d join in with a list of some of my favorite SFF books by Black authors. The blurbs were getting too long for a single post, so the ..more leads to goodreads

LEGENDBORN BY TRACY DEONN

I LOVE THIS BOOK. Seriously, loved it, it had so much going and so many mysteries and the characters were great I just couldn’t put it down

Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residenti …more

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

I know, I know, everyone knows this book, but it took me this long to read it, and then I loved it, and in case you’ve also been putting it off, stop, read it, it’s great, you can get used to second person.

This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilizat …more

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

I did not know historical zombie-slaying YA novel would be my thing but here were are. I loved this one, the main character has some great snark and it manages to be a super fun book even in a (post?) zombie apocalyptic setting

A Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope

This one is a lot more chill than the previous books on my list, a lovely fantasy romance about a woman who is considered a dangerous outsider in her own land and the mysterious army officer who ends up lost in her neck of the woods.

A treacherous, thrilling, epic fantasy about an outcast drawn into a war between two powerful rulers.

Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring w …more

A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

A short story and novella set in alt-history Cairo, in a world where Djinn have brought amazing technology to that part of the world. The setting is so captivating and the stories are great murder mysteries. There’ll be a novel coming that I’m also very much looking forward to.

Egypt, 1912. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine. What starts off as an odd suicide case for Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi leads her through the city’s underbelly as she encounters rampaging ghouls, saucy assassins …more

The Deep by Rivers Solomon with 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.

The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award nominated song “The Deep” from Daveed Diggs’ rap group Clipping.

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants …more

A Blade so Black by L.L. McKinney 

An Alice in Wonderland retelling in modern day Atlanta, where Alice is a highschool fighting dangerous nightmares that are seeping into our world from Wonderland. I’m a big fan of the original story and I loved how the author played with the characters in this one.

The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she’s trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.

Life in real-world Atlanta isn’t always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slippi …more

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

I was expecting a nice chill love story between two men, maybe some sort of fantasy of manners. I was not prepared for the wild ride this book had in store for me. Yes there was a love story and it was very sweet and I liked it, but oh boy was there a lot of story beyond that, and it got seriously dark.

C. L. Polk arrives on the scene with Witchmark, a stunning, addictive fantasy that combines intrigue, magic, betrayal, and romance.

In an original world reminiscent of Edwardian England in the shadow of a World War, cabals of noble families use their unique magical gifts to control the fates of nations, while one young man seeks only to live a life of his own.

Magic marked M …more

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow 

Currently reading this but I’ve only got a little bit to go, I’m super curious to see how it ends because atm the hope levels are pretty low. I think this book does a great job of mixing very current issues with fantasy elements.

Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Never mind she’s also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secre …more

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

Escaping Exodus is sci fi story taking place on a living spaceship. A huge, goey, often disgusting, beast flying through space with humans modifying it so they can live inside. A lot of the focus is on the ship itself, all the challenges it poses, and on the society that inhabits it. I really loved it and I’m so excited for the sequel coming up next year.

Escaping Exodus is a story of a young woman named Seske Kaleigh, heir to the command of a biological, city-size starship carved up from the insides of a spacefaring beast. Her clan has just now culled their latest ship and the workers are busy stripping down the bonework for building materials, rerouting the circulatory system for mass transit, and preparing the cavernous …more

TBR:

I’m hoping to finish my two current reads pretty soon:

• A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
• Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Then I’ll be continuing with my BLM Bingo reads, probably won’t finish them all in October especially since a few are still somewhere in the postal system, grumble grumble grumble

• The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord
• The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
• Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
• Gloom Town by Ronald L. Smith
• Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown
• Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron
• Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

For more Black speculative fiction recommendations check out this more recent posts I made for Black History Month.