As a writer of color who grew up reading predominantly white stories, I have been making it my mission in my adulthood to read stories written by writers of color about characters of color. I love genre fiction and for many years I was under the impression that stories about characters of color in fantastical or futuristic settings, going on cool adventures was practically non-existent. Of course. I knew there had to be works out there, but I didn’t know how to find them. At first, I felt a little weird googling “sci-fi written by black women”, but that is exactly what I did and what I have found has been not just eye-opening, but downright inspiring. Now, if I find genre fiction written by Dominican-American writers, then THAT will be even more inspiring for me—and that is what I’ll being doing next. For now, I want to talk about a couple of short stories I read by award winning writer N.K. Jemisin that have been inspiring to me.
N.K. Jemisin is the first African-American woman to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel for her Broken Earth Trilogy. Recently, I found her speculative short stories titled Effluent Engine (2011) and Valedictorian (2014) published in Light Speed Magazine (I read them on their website). Effluent Engine takes place in the 1800s and is about a savvy Haitian spy named Jessaline who is sent to New Orleans to find the engineer Monsieur Rilleux. Her goal is to get Rilleux to develop a process that will turn effluent into gas that could power their airships. Things, however, become tricky when a secret society has gotten word of Jessaline’s visit and try to thwart her plans. There’s action, small bits of adventure and even romance. What I enjoyed about this story was our protagonist, Jessaline. She is intelligent, observant, savvy and quick-witted. I also enjoyed how well Jemisin captures the time period through setting and the interactions between characters (such as between the black characters and the black characters with the whites). I also like the different representations of the black experience—particularly as a woman—during this time period with the contrast between a black woman from a predominantly black country of free slaves such as Haiti in a place like New Orleans where black people were still enslaved or just becoming freed, and where white people were still the predominant class.
Valedictorian is not so much about race as it is about being human, even though our protagonist is black. It takes place some time in the future, from what I gather, after a civil war between sentient robots and humans. These robots have become the superior race and the humans who have refused to conform have been sectioned off. Our protagonist, Zinhle, is a teenage girl struggling to find her place among her peers, in society and in world in which a human being is no longer the superior species. Zinhle must finally learn the truth about these robots that all of the adults have been keeping from her. What she finds marks a change in her. Zinhle is different to everyone else: she is smart, ambitious and brutally honest which rubs most people the wrong way. Jemisin, again, does a great job with character as Zinhle really lifts off the page, as does the robot Zinhle. I liked how this high concept was scaled down to a teen in school dealing with school things. It is a sort of coming of age story with the robots being some kind of metaphor for finding identity.
If you’re a fan of speculative fiction or steampunk, and you also want to read works written by writers of color, check out these two short stories. If you have already read The Effluent Engine or Valedictorian, let me know what you thought of them in the comments! And, if you have any recommendations, also let me know below!
Hi! Shantal here. I’m a writer and a storyteller. I created Shantal Writes to share my experiences with writing fiction. I also provide new writers with tips, tools, and writing advice. I hope you find something helpful while you’re here!
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