Written by Saschael Carter, Writing Atlas Fellow
Black Stars spotted in Times Square.
Science fiction helps us examine familiar situations outside of a familiar world. It challenges us to consider what futures may be possible if things were to change.
These stories featuring Black characters use futuristic and fantastical elements that help liberate the racial imagination. Together with Amazon Original Stories, Plympton sought to bring forth stories by Black authors that place Black characters in various unusual universes and environments. These stories help us gain an understanding of the questions: How does history follow us, and dictate our reality? What role does race have in futuristic settings? In what ways do Black people’s understanding of their function in society change in fantasy settings?
We asked six award-winning Black authors to forge their own Afro-centric realities. Black Stars is a collection of six exciting, mind-bending, and thought-provoking stories that examine how Black existence changes depending on surrounding circumstances.
“2043, A Merman I Should Turn To Be” by World Fantasy Award-winning author Nisi Shawl is a short story about a man and a woman traveling to their new underwater home. In this future, Black and other people of color are given the option to buy body modification upgrades in order to transform into merpeople. As merpeople, they receive 40 acres of underwater land meant to function as reparations.
Science fiction and fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor in “The Black Pages” tells the story of a man visiting his home city of Timbuktu during an Al-Qaeda attack. His entire town is taken under Al-Qaeda's control in a matter of a few months. Libraries and books are burning, the city’s wifi and internet are no longer available. The population believes they are helpless. Only a powerful supernatural being can rescue their home.
“The Visit” by Americanah author Chimamanda Adichie takes place in a world where gender role expectations are reversed; women are the breadwinners while their husbands stay home to take care of the children. Two male childhood best friends who once shared similar aspirations for their lives reunite after ten years apart. They reflect on their disparate experiences of living under a powerful matriarchal society.
In “These Alien Skies,” author of Scarlet Odyssey and Requiem Moon C.T. Rwizi details the story of two pilots who crash land on Malcolm X-b, a new planet where they are to collect data on the planet’s ability to support life. Soon after their landing, the pilots are greeted by the planet’s inhabitants, who must decide if they want to kill the foreigners or spare their lives.
“Clap Back” by six-time novelist Nalo Hopkinson is centered around two women within the same family, generations apart. Both women have the magical ability to perform hoodoo. They use their powers to call attention to the injustices Black people have faced in the past and continue to face in their present societies.
Victor LaValle is the creator and writer of the comic book Destroyer. In “We Travel The Spaceways,” he tells the tale of a man walking through life alone, who is on a mission to free Black Americans from emotional slavery. He is treated terribly by every person he encounters — until he meets a transgender runaway who joins him on his quest. They form an unbreakable bond, and she helps him transcend his current reality.
Each story in Black Stars is available for purchase in eBook and audiobook format and free to download for all Amazon Prime members. It is the latest collection of stories Plympton has contributed to in collaboration with Amazon Original Stories. Previous collections include Currency, a collection about wealth, class, competition and collapse; Faraway, a collection of fairy tales for the here and now; Hush, a collection about the end of truth; and Warmer, a collection of climate fiction.