Last year, as part of r/fantasy‘s post series in support of Black Lives Matter, I posted 2020 SFF New Releases by Black Authors. I thought Black History Month would be a good time to refresh that post with a list of 84 Speculative Fiction Books by Black Authors – New Releases for 2021. Edit: There were 81, now 84 books, added 3 to the end
Some personal recs before I throw tables at you:
I’ve already read The Conductors which is a historical murder mystery, set in Philadelphia a few years after the Civil War, following a married couple. I thought it was a lot of fun, read it real quick and I’m so excited to know the sequel The Undertakers is coming out this year too.
Currently reading Root Magic which is set about 100 years after The Conductors, and this coincidence really makes me want to search out books set in the 2060s or 1760s to stick to my pattern. It’s an MG story that leans a bit creepy and heartbreaking. The main characters are twins that are growing up and growing apart, and they’ve just lost their grandma, but they get to learn magic, so that’s cool. Loving the narration.
I’ve started but I’m only 5% in on The Unbroken, but so far it’s promising, really exploring colonialism in a North-African-inspired setting (as opposed to the others I’ve read that have been set in the US or Caribbean).
I’ve read book 1 and am eager to continue:
- Soulstar (secondary-world historical fantasy with a sort of Edwardian setting and good amounts of romance, the third book will follow a character I’m super excited about)
- Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis (sci-fi with a matriarchal society on a living spaceship)
- Master of Djinn (Djinn and mysteries in steampunk Cairo, words cannot express how excited I am for this one)
- A Chorus Rises (Teen siren finds her voice, contemporary story on the backdrop on Black Lives Matter protests)
- Requiem of Silence (secondary world romance series, each book follows a different couple, really enjoyed the first one and very curious where the main story will go from there)
- Redemptor (secondary world YA epic fantasy with great West-African inspired worldbuilding and lots of found family goodness)
If you know of other books, please let me know and I’ll add them.
The info in the tables is from Goodreads, so genre and audience info is more of a guideline, some books only had very little on GR yet, as release dates are pretty far away. If you notice anything inaccurate let me know and I will fix it. Title links go to Goodreads and image links between tables are of the covers.
| Title and series | Author | Date | Audience/Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root Magic | Eden Royce | Jan 5 | MG historical fantasy |
| A Test of Courage | Justina Ireland | Jan 5 | MG sci fi |
| After the Rain | Nnedi Okorafor , John Jennings, David Brame (Illustrator) | Jan 5 | adult comics/GN |
| A River Called Time | Courttia Newland | Jan 7 | adult sci-fi – parallel world |
| Remote Control | Nnedi Okorafor | Jan 19 | adult fantasy/sci fi |
| Amari and the Night Brothers Supernatural Investigations #1 | B.B. Alston | Jan 19 | MG fantasy |
| Wings of Ebony Wings of Ebony #1 | J. Elle | Jan 26 | YA contemporary fantasy |
| Gutter Child | Jael Richardson | Jan 26 | adult sci fi |
| Amber and the Enchanted Sword | Milton Davis | Feb 1 | MG/YA fantasy |
| The Vanished Shuri: A Black Panther Novel #2 | Nic Stone | Feb 2 | MG comics/GN |
| Yesterday Is History | Kosoko Jackson | Feb 2 | YA Time Travel |
| The Year I Flew Away | Marie Arnold | Feb 2 | MG historical fantasy |
| The Gilded Ones Deathless #1 | Namina Forna | Feb 9 | YA fantasy |
| A Dance for The Gods The Last Warrior King #2 | E.O. Odiase, K.N. Pumpuni | Feb 16 | adult fantasy |
| Soulstar The Kingston Cycle #3 | C.L. Polk | Feb 16 | adult fantasy |
| Reaper of Souls Kingdom of Souls #2 | Rena Barron | Feb 18 | YA fantasy |
| Symbiosis Escaping Exodus #2 | Nicky Drayden | Feb 23 | adult sci -fi – living spaceships |
| Ethereal Secrets Shadows of Otherside #3 | Whitney Hill | Feb 23 | adult urban fantasy |
| Nubia: Real One | L.L. McKinney | Feb 23 | YA comics/GN |
| How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions | Stephanie Andrea Allen | Mar 2 | adult short stories |
| The Conductors Murder and Magic #1 | Nicole Glover | Mar 2 | adult historical fantasy |
| Of Ruin & Silk: An Esowon Story The Sky Pirate Chronicles Book 2 | Antoine Bandele | Mar 5 | adult fantasy |
| Judd | J.D. Toombs, Erika Schulze | Mar 5 | YA fantasy |
| Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda | Jesse J. Holland (Editor) | Mar 9 | short stories |
| A Queen of Gilded Horns A River of Royal Blood #2 | Amanda Joy | Mar 16 | YA fantasy |
| The Place Beyond Her Dreams | Oby Aligwekwe | Mar 16 | YA fantasy |
| Creatures of Passage | Morowa Yejide | Mar 16 | adult fantasy |
| The Library of the Dead Edinburgh Nights #1 | T.L. Huchu | Mar 18 | adult urban fantasy |
| Clash of Flesh and Metal Flesh and Metal #2 | Alicia Ellis | Mar 18 | YA sci fi |
| Requiem Moon Scarlet Odyssey #2 | C.T. Rwizi | Mar 23 | YA fantasy |
| The Unbroken Magic of the Lost #1 | C.L. Clark | Mar 23 | adult fantasy |
| The Eden Project | A.T. Nartey | Mar 30 | YA sci |
| Peaces | Helen Oyeyemi | Apr 6 | adult fantasy |
| The Cost of Knowing | Brittney Morris | Apr 6 | YA contemporary fantasy |
| Witches Steeped in Gold Witches Steeped in Gold #1 | Ciannon Smart | Apr 20 | YA fantasy |
| Dream Country | Ashaye Brown | Apr 27 | YA fantasy |
| Last Gate of the Emperor | Kwame Mbalia, Prince Joel Makonnen | May 4 | MG fantasy |
| Sorrowland | Rivers Solomon | May 4 | adult fantasy/horror |
| Rising Dragon Bones #2 | Celeste Harte | May 4 | YA fantasy |
| Etta Invincible | Reese Eschmann | May 11 | MG contemporary fantasy |
| A Master of Djinn Fatma el-Sha’arawi #3 | P. Djèlí Clark | May 11 | adult historical fantasy |
| Son of the Storm The Nameless Republic | Suyi Davies Okungbowa | May 11 | adult fantasy |
| Ophie’s Ghosts | Justina Ireland | May 18 | MG historical fantasy |
| Bacchanal | Veronica Henry | May 25 | historical fantasy |
| Miles Morales: Shock Waves | Justin A. Reynolds, Pablo Leon | Jun 1 | Comics |
| Across the Broken Tide | Lakase Cousino | Jun 1 | historical fantasy |
| A Chorus Rises A Song Below Water #2 | Bethany C. Morrow | Jun 1 | YA contemporary fantasy |
| The Fruit Wrath & Athenaeum #3 | Na’amen Gobert Tilahun | Jun 1 | adult urban fantasy |
| Blood Like Magic Blood Like Magic #1 | Liselle Sambury | Jun 15 | YA fantasy |
| Black Panther, Vol. 9: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, Part Four Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates #9 | Ta-Nehisi Coates (Text), Chris Sprouse (Illustrations), Ryan Bodenheim (Illustrations) | Jul 6 | comics/GN |
| The Freedom Race | Lucinda Roy | Jul 13 | adult sci fi, dystopian |
| The Taking of Jake Livingston | Ryan Douglass | Jul 13 | YA horror |
| This Poison Heart This Poison Heart #1 | Kalynn Bayron | Jul 15 | YA fantasy |
| Josephine Against the Sea | Shakirah Bourne | Jul 16 | MG fantasy |
| When the Reckoning Comes: A Novel | LaTanya McQueen | Aug 3 | adult horror |
| The Sisters of Reckoning The Good Luck Girls #2 | Charlotte Nicole Davis | Aug 10 | YA fantasy |
| (Me) Moth | Amber McBride | Aug 17 | YA Fantasy, novel-in-verse |
| Requiem of Silence Earthsinger Chronicles #4 | L. Penelope | Aug 17 | adult fantasy |
| The Upper World | Femi Fadugba | Aug 19 | YA sci fi |
| Bad Witch Burning | Jessica Lewis | Aug 24 | YA contemporary fantasy |
| The Half-Class The Class Chronicles #1 | Kayvion Lewis | Aug 24 | fantasy |
| A Psalm of Storms and Silence A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #2 | Roseanne A. Brown | Aug 31 | YA fantasy |
| No Gods, No Monsters | Cadwell Turnbull | Sep 7 | adult fantasy/horor?/sci fi |
| The Bones of Ruin The Bones of Ruin #1 | Sarah Raughley | Sep 7 | YA historical fantasy |
| Maya and the Return of the Godlings Maya and the Rising Dark #2 | Rena Barron | Sep 21 | MG fantasy |
| Beasts of Prey | Ayana Gray | Sept 28 | YA Fantasy |
| Descendants of the First The Return of the Earth Mother #2 | Reni K. Amayo | Oct 5 | YA fantasy |
| A Crown So Cursed | L.L. McKinney | Nov 9 | YA contemporary fantasy |
| Within These Wicked Walls | Lauren Blackwood | Nov 9 | YA fantasy |
| The Undertakers Murder and Magic #2 | Nicole Glover | Nov 9 | adult historical fantasy |
| Forging a Nightmare | Patricia A. Jackson | Nov 23 | adult urban fantasy |
| The Dawn of the Coven Bethel #2 | Alexis Henderson | Dec 9 | adult fantasy/horror |
| Shattered Midnight The Mirror #2 | Dhonielle Clayton | July 2021 | YA historical fantasy |
| Destroyer of Light | Jennifer Marie Brissett | 2021 | adult sci-fi |
| Flowers for the Sea | Zin E. Rocklyn | 2021 | fantasy |
| Redemptor Raybearer #2 | Jordan Ifueko | 2021 | YA fantasy |
| & This is How to Stay Alive | Shingai Njeri Kagunda | 2021 | fantasy |
| Destroyer of Light | Jennifer Marie Brissett | 2021 | sci fi |
| The Women Could Fly | Megan Giddings | 2021 | fantasy/horror |
| Speculation | Nisi Shawl | 2021 | MG historical fantasy |
| The Leopard Behind the Moon | Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev | 2021 | MG fantasy |
Added later:
| God of Mercy | Okezie Nwoka | Nov 2 | |
| Oculta (A Forgery of Magic #2) | Maya Motayne | Apr 6 | YA Fantasy |
| Darling | K. Ancrum | Jun 22 | YA Fantasy |
If you enjoyed this post of 84 Speculative Fiction Books by Black Authors – New Releases for 2021 check out these r/fantasy threads highlighting SFF books by Black authors check out these links:
And over here:
Wow, amazing list! I have a lot of these on my TBR already.
Welp I’m just gonna have this bookmarked. This is a fantastic list, Dia <3 Also, what is The Sky Pirate Chronicles and how has a series about airships and pirates fallen through my radar??
Thanks! I had a lot already … but that didn’t stop me from adding more, the TBR must grow, always grow
Thanks <3 I think The Sky Pirate Chronicles is self-pub, I was going to read it last year for Bingo but it got reshuffled when I had my can’t-read-on-kindle slump, so got it planned to read this year, looks like a lot of fun!
Wow, this is an amazing list! So many books that I’m dying to read and so many more I hadn’t heard of before! Definitely bookmarking this for future reference!!
This must have been a lot of work, so thank you for compiling this list 🧡
Thank you, it was easier to find books this year than last year, I dunno if that’s just me having more practice or the info being more easily available.