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booksbakingandblogging · 4 years

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It’s time to step up and do the work to eradicate racism. That’s an abrupt start to a blog post, but it’s also the truth and one that we shouldn’t ignore any longer. Over the past week, protests have erupted all over the world in response to the murder of George Floyd, and it doesn’t look like they’re stopping any time soon – and with good reason. Black people have been faced with racism every day for centuries and they are tired of it. Of course they are. It’s a gross injustice and it’s taking human lives. This isn’t a political issue – it’s a human rights issue, and we need to stop looking away and face it. We live in a world with systemic racism, where Black people (and people of colour in general) face microaggressions every single day. Racism is a system created by white people, so it will need to be dismantled by white people as well. Let’s stand up, and get to work (follow this link to find out how you can help).

That was my little speech. Now, let’s get down to specifics of this post: we need to educate ourselves. A lot of people (myself included) have been too ignorant about racism for a long time, and in order to be able to help, we need to learn. Part of that is reading books by Black authors, both fiction and non-fiction. Fiction can teach us empathy and it can create understanding, which is extremely important. On the other hand, non-fiction faces us with our history and everything that’s going on in the world in concrete terms. Let’s educate ourselves and read books by Black authors. Not just the ones that tell us about pain and trauma, but also the ones about joy and happiness. We need to learn, and this is a good way to do it. Plus, by reading more Black authors, we’re giving off a sign to the publishing industry that books by Black authors are wanted and cherished.

10 books by Black authors to read right now

While putting together this list, I realised that I can do much better myself as well: I need to read more books by Black authors too. Luckily, there are tons of other people out there making lists of books by Black authors, so I’ve found many books to add to my TBR already. I recommend checking out these two lists by Chapters of May and Electric Lit, too. If you’re looking for more non-fiction resources, including articles, films and podcasts, you can check out this list!

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1. The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas (2017)

Let’s start with the most obvious one first given the current situation. If you’re a fan of YA and haven’t read this yet: what are you doing? This novel tells the story of Starr, a Black girl who sees her best friend be murdered by the police right in front of her eyes. It deals with the aftermath of this traumatic and terrible event, as Starr struggles with what happened while having to see her friend be talked about all over the media. At the same time, it’s also a story about Starr as a teenage girl, and her loving family. This book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and it’s extremely important. I’m happy to say that it’s a bestseller and has sold millions of copies.

2. Such a Fun Age – Kiley Reid (2019)

In Such a Fun Age, our 25-year-old Black protagonist Emira works as a babysitter for a white family, caring for three-year-old Briar. The story kicks off when Emira is apprehended by a security guard in a grocery store because he thinks she has kidnapped Briar. The book deals with racism and white privilege and it’s a very eye-opening read. I learned a lot from it in terms of unintentional racism (remember: impact is more important than intent). Plus, the writing is phenomenal. I can’t wait to read more by this debut author.

3. A Different Drummer – William Melvin Kelley (1962)

I read this book last month, and it’s the best book I’ve read in a long time (read my full review here). It is a literary masterpiece: stylistically brilliant and a story that takes on epic proportions. On a random day in 1957, in a fictional state in the deep south of the USA, the entire Black population decides to leave. They pack their things and leave the state, fed up with its racist history and the way they are being treated by the white population. The story is told through the perspective of this white population that is left behind and it is so incredibly powerful. William Melvin Kelley was described as ‘the lost giant of American literature’. Why was he forgotten? Let’s just say it: it was most likely because of racism. Go read this book!

4. Let’s Talk About Love – Claire Kann (2018)

June is also pride month, so I want to add at least one LGBTQIA+ book to this list. Alice is a Black, biromantic, asexual girl in college and she is done with dating after her girlfriend breaks up with her for being asexual. But then Takumi becomes her new co-worker at the library she works at, and she can’t stop thinking about him. This novel explores asexuality in such a wonderful way and I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. I’d highly recommend picking it up!

5. There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé – Morgan Parker (2017)

Let’s throw some poetry in the mix! In this collection, Morgan Parker explores what it’s like to be a Black American woman in the 21st century. She uses pop-culture and political references as her framework and doesn’t shy away from important and difficult topics such a depression, isolation, and exoticism. Thought-provoking and confronting, this is an essential collection for anyone who is into modern poetry.

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6. Dear Martin – Nic Stone (2017)

In Dear Martin, main character Justyce tries to do everything ‘right’: get good grades, dress appropriately, and be an all-around upstanding citizen. Nevertheless, when he tries to help out his drunk ex-girlfriend, he is arrested by a (racist) white cop, and he realises he cannot escape racial profiling from the institution that is meant to protect him. He feels a lot of frustration and anger at this realisation and decides to try and apply the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. He begins to write letters to MLK as he tries to find his place in the world, dealing with white privileged, racist assholes (let’s just say it as it is) and police brutality. Another book that taught me so, so much.

7. Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017)

This is the only book on this list that I haven’t read in its entirety – but I’m in the middle of it and I am learning an awful lot about racism and white privilege in Britain. For those of you who think that racism is only a big problem in the USA: think again, and read this. Reni Eddo-Lodge didn’t plan on writing this book; she wrote a blog post with the same title, explaining that whenever she talked to white people about racism, she encountered skeptical stares and people unwilling to learn. Wanting to protect herself from that in the future, she vowed to stop talking about racism to white people. The response to the blog post was so enormous, however, that she ended up writing this book. It’s been on my radar for a few years now, but I’m ashamed to admit that it apparently took an uprising for me to get up off my lazy ass and actually read this, and educate myself. I urge you to do the same!

8. Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi (2018)

More of a fantasy reader? No problem, I’ve got a recommendation for that as well, even though fantasy is a notoriously white genre. Children of Blood and Bone is a YA fantasy novel based on West African mythology. It tells the story of a land in which magic has disappeared. When that happened, the king ordered all maji to be murdered. The children of these maji remain alive, though, but they become outcasts. They have darker skin than the rest of the population and are judged and discriminated against because of it (sound familiar?). The novel tells the story of Zélie, who finds herself with a chance to bring magic back, but has to race against the clock to do so. This is a YA fantasy story that has an all-black cast of character and explores and condemns racism: such an important addition to the genre.

9. With the Fire on High – Elizabeth Acevedo (2019)

This book tells the story of Emoni, who lives with her grandmother and is still in high school – but also has a young daughter to take care of. Emoni loves to cook, and the novel is filled with delicious descriptions of food and some of the recipes Emoni creates from scratch, which I always love in a book. It also deals with all the prejudice Emoni encounters as a Black teenage mother, however, and how it differs from how her daughter’s white teenage father is treated. Sexism and racism are both explored, but this novel is also a wonderful coming of age story as Emoni tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life.

10. The Sun Is Also a Star – Nicola Yoon (2016)

Spanning one single day in New York, this YA novel deals with racism and immigration, but it’s also a story of two people falling in love. Natasha has one day before her family will be deported to Jamaica, and she is desperate to find a way to stay in the USA. In the meantime, Korean-American Daniel is on his way to his college admission interview. They meet by chance and they spend one day together, Daniel wanting to fall in love and Natasha feeling the absolute opposite. I learned a lot about both of these two characters’ cultures and about what it is like to be an immigrant in the USA. As far as learning about other perspectives goes, this is a very good book to pick up.

With everything that's going on in the world, I wanted to do my part to raise some awareness and hopefully help educate some people. Here are 10 great books by Black authors to pick up and read today! It's time to step up and do the work to eradicate racism. That's an abrupt start to a blog post, but it's also the truth and one that we shouldn't ignore any longer.

#Black Lives Matter #Books #List #Novels #Reading #Recommendations

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Top New Science Fiction Books in December 2020

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Looking for space opera or alternate Earths? Here are some of the science fiction books we’re most excited about and/or are currently consuming…

Join the Den of Geek Book Club!

Top New Science Fiction Books in December 2020

The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2020 Edition by Rich Horton

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Prime Books Release date: Dec. 22 (Kindle)

Den of Geek says: It’s that time of year. Year’s best anthologies are here. This one draws from stories previously published in the genre’s top magazines, like Analog, Asimov’s, and Clarkesworld.

Publisher’s summary: This eleventh volume of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy features twenty-six stories by some of the genre’s greatest authors, including Marie Brennan, Maurice Broaddus, John Crowley, Theodora Goss, Xia Jia, John Kessel, Kelly LInk, Sam J. Miller, Michael Swanwick, Fran Wilde, E. Lily Yu, and many others.

Buy The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2020 Edition by Rich Horton.

Gallowglass by S.J. Morden

Type: Novel Publisher: Gollancz Release date: Dec. 10 Den of Geek says: We’re taking a chance on this one. It’s one of those SF paperbacks that sometimes get lost in the churn and probably won’t end up with much marketing. But the author’s science background and the sense of a vivid understanding of just how big space is adds to the good vibes. Publisher’s summary: The year is 2069, and the earth is in flux. Whole nations are being wiped off the map by climate change. Desperate for new resources, the space race has exploded back into life.

Corporations seek ever greater profits off-world. They offer immense rewards to anyone who can claim space’s resources in their name. The bounty on a single asteroid rivals the GDP of entire countries, so every trick, legal or not, is used to win.

Jack, the scion of a shipping magnate, is desperate to escape earth and joins a team chasing down an asteroid. But the ship he’s on is full of desperate people – each one needing the riches claiming the asteroid will bring them, and they’re willing to do anything if it means getting there first.

Because in Space, there are no prizes for coming second.It’s all or nothing: riches beyond measure, or dying alone in the dark.

Buy Gallowglass by S.J. Morden.

Doctor Who: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack

Type: Novel Publisher: BBC Digital Release date: Dec. 10 Den of Geek says: We’re going out on another limb. Tie-in novels can be tricky recommendations. What if you don’t know the source material? What if you don’t know what happened in 154 other books? But Doctor Who’s episodic nature (the story about the last creature alive on a living world) and fan-pleasing fun (multiple doctors) mean this one might be a good balance for people who love Doctor Who or only vaguely know what a Dalek is and are curious. Publisher’s summary: A wasteland. A dead world… No, there is a biodome, rising from the ash. Here, life teems and flourishes, with strange and lush plants, and many-winged insects with bright carapaces – and one solitary sentient creature, who spends its days watering the plants, talking to the insects, and tending this lonely garden. This is Inyit, the Last of the Kotturuh. In All Flesh is Grass we are transported back to The Dark Times. The Tenth Doctor has sworn to stop the Kotturuh, ending Death and bringing Life to the universe. But his plan is unravelling – instead of bringing Life, nothing has changed and all around him people are dying. Death is everywhere. Now he must confront his former selves – one in league with their greatest nemesis and the other manning a ship of the undead… Buy Doctor Who: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack.

Top New Science Fiction Books in November 2020

From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Del Rey Release date: Nov. 10

Den of Geek says: A collection of 40 Star Wars stories spanning The Empire Strikes Back and beyond, this is a smorgasbord of different authors, styles, takes, and genres within the movie saga.

Publisher’s summary: On May 21, 1980, Star Wars became a true saga with the release of The Empire Strikes Back. In honor of the fortieth anniversary, forty storytellers re-create an iconic scene from The Empire Strikes Back through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains, to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors and trendsetting artists.

Buy From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.

Stillicide by Cynan Jones

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Catapult Release date: Nov. 17

Den of Geek says: Literary fiction publisher Catapult crosses over into science fiction with this print release of a highly acclaimed series of climate fables written for radio.

Publisher’s summary: Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage.

As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life.

From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future.

Buy Stillicide by Cynan Jones.

Nucleation by Kimberly Unger

Type: Novel Publisher: Tachyon Publications Release date: Nov. 13

Den of Geek says: Virtual reality meets aliens in a space opera packed with ideas about wormhole travel and first contact.

Publisher’s summary: Helen Vectorvich just botched first contact. And she did it in both virtual reality and outer space.

Only the most elite Far Reaches deep-space pilots get to run waldos: robots controlled from thousands of lightyears away via neural integration and quantum entanglement. Helen and her navigator were heading the construction of a wormhole gate that would connect Earth to the stars . . . until a routine system check turned deadly.

As nasty rumors swarm around her, and overeager junior pilots jockey to take her place, Helen makes a startling discovery: microscopic alien life is devouring their corporate equipment. Is the Scale just mindless, extra-terrestrial bacteria? Or is it working―and killing―with a purpose?

While Helen struggles to get back into the pilot’s chair, and to communicate with the Scale, someone―or something―is trying to sabotage the Far Reaches project once and for all. They’ll have to get through Helen first.

Buy Nucleation by Kimberly Unger.

Top New Science Fiction Books in October 2020

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Type: Novel Publisher: Orbit Release date: Oct. 6

Den of Geek says: Robinson’s intricate eco-thriller-flavored SF novels have proved prescient in a world of droughts and fires. His latest novel leans in to make a statement about both humanity and science in the face of climate change.

Publisher’s summary: The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us — and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.

It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.

Buy The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Tor Books Release date: Oct. 20

Den of Geek says: Cixin Liu engages with both hard science and the human heart in a short story collection from a master novelist.

Publisher’s summary: In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physicas to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.

Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction’s most visionary writers.

Buy To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu.

Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

Type: Novella Publisher: Subterranean Release date: Oct. 31

Den of Geek says: Aliette de Bodard’s Xuyan series is a creative blend of hard science fiction and space opera based on a network of space stations. A story from the point of view of a living starship who is also a trickster sounds like it’ll fit right in.

Publisher’s summary: Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student. Sunless Woods is a mindship and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She’s come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân’s resolute integrity. When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân’s student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship and to the devastating secrets they’ve kept from each other.

Buy Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard.

Top New Science Fiction Books September 2020

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Type: Novel Publisher: William Morrow Release date: Sept. 22

Den of Geek says: This next-level meta take on superheroes looks witty and biting. But what really makes it stand out is the character’s predicament: she’s a laid-off henchman going from bad job to worse, struggling with her own moral code along the way.

Publisher’s summary: Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?

As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured. And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.

So, of course, then she gets laid off.

With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.

Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing. And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.

It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.

A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics.

Buy Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots on Amazon.

Divergence (The Foreigner Universe) by C.J. Cherryh

Type: Novel Publisher: DAW Release date: Sept. 8

Den of Geek says: Why, you might rightly ask, would we recommend #21 in a series? This is because C.J. Cherryh is a master at what she does: slow, meticulous space opera with engaging characters and a transporting sense of completeness to its world of diplomatic clashes between humans and aliens. Really, we recommend you start at #1, Foreigner, if you haven’t read the series before. And if you have, this September is a real occasion. Publisher’s summary: The overthrow of the atevi head of state, Tabini-aiji, and the several moves of enemies even since his restoration, have prompted major changes in the Assassins’ Guild, which has since worked to root out its seditious elements—a clandestine group they call the Shadow Guild. With the Assassins now rid of internal corruption, with the birth of Tabini’s second child, and with the appointment of an heir, stability seems to have returned to the atevi world. Humans and atevi share the space station in peaceful cooperation, humans and atevi share the planet as they have for centuries, and the humans’ island enclave is preparing to welcome 5000 human refugees from a remote station now dismantled, and to do that in unprecedented cooperation with the atevi mainland.

In general Bren Cameron, Tabini-aiji’s personal representative, returning home to the atevi capital after securing that critical agreement, was ready to take a well-earned rest—until Tabini’s grandmother claimed his services on a train trip to the smallest, most remote and least significant of the provinces, snowy Hasjuran—a move concerning which Tabini-aiji gave Bren a private instruction: protect her. Advise her.

Advise her—perhaps. As for protection, she has a trainload of high-level Guild. But since the aiji-dowager has also invited a dangerously independent young warlord, Machigi, and a young man who may be the heir to Ajuri, a key northern province—the natural question is why the dowager is taking this ill-assorted pair to Hasjuran and what on this earth she may be up to.

With a Shadow Guild attack on the train station, it has become clear that others have questions, too. Hasjuran, on its mountain height, overlooks the Marid, a district that is part of the atevi nation only in name—a district in which Machigi is one major player, and where the Shadow Guild retains a major stronghold.

Protect her? Ilisidi is hellbent on settling scores with the Shadow Guild, and her reasons for this trip and this company now become clear. One human diplomat and his own bodyguard suddenly seem a very small force to defend her from what she is setting in motion.

Buy Divergence by C.J. Cherryh on Amazon.

An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner

Type: Novella Publisher: Tor Release date: Sept. 15

Den of Geek says: Putting a robot on trial is an old concept in science fiction: just look at Star Trek. This novella looks like an entry in the contemporary conversation with this pleasingly retro concept. Publisher’s summary: The cybernetic organism known as 812-3 is in prison, convicted of murdering a human worker but he claims that he did not do it. With the evidence stacked against him, his lawyer, Aiya Ritsehrer, must determine grounds for an appeal and uncover the true facts of the case.

But with artificial life-forms having only recently been awarded legal rights on Earth, the military complex on Europa is resistant to the implementation of these same rights on the Jovian moon.

Aiya must battle against her own prejudices and that of her new paymasters, to secure a fair trial for her charge, while navigating her own interpersonal drama, before it’s too late.

Buy An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner on Amazon.

Top New Science Fiction Books August 2020

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Release date: Aug. 4

Den of Geek says: Muir’s necromancers in space have gained an enthusiastic following for their irreverent tone and wild gothic magic.

Publisher’s summary: She answered the Emperor’s call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman’s shoulders.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath ― but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her.

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor’s Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

Buy Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir on Amazon.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Type: Novel Publisher: Orbit Release date: Aug. 18

Den of Geek says: Portal fantasy of a sort, backed by hard science fiction from the author of the award-winning Children of Time, this novel looks inventive, rigorous, and adventurous.

Publisher’s summary: They thought we were safe. They were wrong.

Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back.

Lee thought she’d lost Mal, but now she’s miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal’s reappearance hasn’t gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn’t the only one with questions.

Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power – and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.

Dr Khan’s research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through.

Buy The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky on Amazon.

Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May

Type: Novel Publisher: DAW Release date: Aug. 4

Den of Geek says: This ensemble cast space opera fits nicely into the “Expanse” model of adventure stories with enough political detail and blood to make you feel like you could walk into the far-future world. An early review calls it “epic, if occasionally bumpy.”

Publisher’s summary: When Eris faked her death, she thought she had left her old life as the heir to the galaxy’s most ruthless empire behind. But her recruitment by the Novantaen Resistance, an organization opposed to the empire’s voracious expansion, throws her right back into the fray.

Eris has been assigned a new mission: to infiltrate a spaceship ferrying deadly cargo and return the intelligence gathered to the Resistance. But her partner for the mission, mechanic and hotshot pilot Cloelia, bears an old grudge against Eris, making an already difficult infiltration even more complicated.

When they find the ship, they discover more than they bargained for: three fugitives with firsthand knowledge of the corrupt empire’s inner workings.

Together, these women possess the knowledge and capabilities to bring the empire to its knees. But the clock is ticking: the new heir to the empire plans to disrupt a peace summit with the only remaining alien empire, ensuring the empire’s continued expansion. If they can find a way to stop him, they will save the galaxy. If they can’t, millions may die.

Buy Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May on Amazon.

Top New Science Fiction Books July 2020

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The Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 7

Den of Geek says: Kate Elliott’s long career in fantasy has proven her a master of world-building. It has a heck of a tagline: “female Alexander the Great in space.” This series promises strong science fiction action.

Publisher’s summary: Princess Sun has finally come of age.

Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected―and feared.

But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme―and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead.

To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover, and a dangerous prisoner of war.

Take the brilliance and cunning courage of Princess Leia―add in a dazzling futuristic setting where pop culture and propaganda are one and the same―and hold on tight:

Buy The Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott on Amazon.

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

Type: Novel Publisher: St Martin’s Press Release date: July 21

Den of Geek says: Lindsay Ellis is known primarily as a YouTube pop culture critic. She excels at explaining why pop culture works or doesn’t work, as well as adding context to day’s top headlines. Her first book sounds like a mix between Arrival and The X-Files, set in the early 2000s.

Publisher’s summary: The alternate history first contact adventure Axiom’s End is an extraordinary debut from Hugo finalist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis.

Truth is a human right.

It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government―and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him―until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human―and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.

Buy Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis on Amazon.

The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronauts) by Mary Robinette Kowal

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 14

Den of Geek says: The Lady Astronaut series tackles sexism (lots and lots of sexism) in an alternate world where the space race is hurried along by the arrival of a meteor strike. It has gained a lot of fans for its determined characters and convincing alternate history.

Publisher’s summary: The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened.

Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

Buy The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal on Amazon.

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angrycollectordaze-me-blog · 5 years

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Assignment代写：American ecological literature

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的assignment代写范文- American ecological literature，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了美国生态文学。在当代美国文学思潮中，生态主义以其在人类和自然关系问题上的独特观察和深刻思考令人世人关注，随之引起全球范围内的生态文学和生态批评运动。美国生态文学的创作和生态思想密切相连，作家们注重凸显生态危机意识，表达自然生态审美体验，构建和谐的生态理想。

In the contemporary American literary trend, ecologism attracts people's attention with its unique observation and profound thinking on the relationship between human and nature. Based on the current living situation of people, the American ecological literature takes the ecological concept as the connotation, expresses the ecological crisis in the form of literature, gives the ecological warning, expounds the ecological concept of reverence for nature and ecological integrity, Outlines the ecological ideal, and advocates people to shoulder the ecological responsibility and live in harmony with nature.

Ecological literature is a vigorous literary genre that emerged in the 1960s and is still developing today. It came into being with the rise of ecological ideas. American ecological literature has profound historical background and realistic factors. Although literature has described nature since ancient times, or eulogized the beauty and poetry of nature, or eulogized the process of human conquest and transformation of nature, it is strictly pre-ecological literature, not strictly ecological literature. Because the starting point of ecological literature is to break down anthropocentrism. Although there have been descriptions and descriptions of nature before, they are all viewed from the binary opposition between human and nature. So since the 20th century, with the increasingly serious destruction of the ecological environment, the awareness of ecological crisis has become prominent. As a result of the infinite expansion of human material desire, crazy demands for nature and wanton destruction, nature is overwhelmed, the relationship between human and nature deteriorates, and ecological crisis appears. Therefore, people rethink the anthropocentrism thought in human culture and realize the limitations of this thought. In the field of cultural studies, there are such concepts as ecological ethics and reverence for nature. Based on these concepts, the literary creation has formed ecological literature. Therefore, ecological literature is a kind of literature intervention, ecological writers assume the responsibility of responding to reality. Ecological literature has become a necessary expression in the field of literature for human beings to change their thoughts, establish an ecological view, understand the ecological crisis and prevent the ecological disaster.

The formation of American ecological literature has a historical process. Although the term of ecological literature was officially born with the emergence of ecologism in the 20th century, before that, the ecological thoughts of human beings had a long history. Anaximander in ancient Greece thought the laws of nature irresistible; Pythagoras was opposed to animal abuse, and the cynic school advocated plain nature. Medieval theologian st. Francis tried to make all living things equal. In the Renaissance, cesar pino talked about respecting nature. During the romantic period of the 18th to 19th centuries, returning to nature became an important idea. Wordsworth and Thoreau's works contain ecological ideas of harmonious coexistence with nature. Since the 20th century, ecologism and ecocriticism have been developing vigorously. Schweiz proposed that "reverence for life" would awaken the deaf. Nash called for "natural rights" to attract attention. The founder of ecocriticism is the American scholar grottenfelty, who advocates "ecocriticism" as a kind of literary criticism on the relationship between literature and natural environment and edited the book of ecocriticism. Jonathan bate, a representative of Britain's ecocriticism, points to the ecological crisis in "romantic ecology" and "the song of the earth". Since the 1980s, harvard, Yale, Princeton, brown and other famous universities, as well as ordinary universities in the United States, have offered courses on ecological literature or ecological criticism. Established in 1992 in the United States, the society for literature and the environment advanced the development of ecological criticism. In 2005, in the future of environmental criticism: environmental crisis and literary imagination, the American ecological literature critic Lawrence buir pointed out that the environmental imagination not only refers to the ecological literature's expression of ecological ideals, but also includes the important thought of the prediction and warning of future ecological disasters.

The development of American ecological literature is bounded by Rachel Carson's "the silent forest" in 1962, which can be roughly divided into two stages. Ecological literature before the 1960s refers to ecological literature in a broad sense. That is to say, those traditional literary works that pay attention to nature and have ecological consciousness. The main representative writers are Thoreau, John muir, Mary Austin, Henry baston, ordo Leopold, etc. The ecological literature since the 1960s refers to the narrowly defined ecological literature. That is to say, the writer has a clear position of ecologism, which reveals the ecological crisis, explores the social causes of the crisis, thinks about man and nature from the ecological totality, and advocates ecological responsibility. Representing writers such as Rachel Carson in the United States.

The prose of Henry David Thoreau, a 19th-century American writer, is known as the green bible. He also wrote a series of literary works, such as "a week on the concord and merrimack rivers," "the Maine woods," and "Cape Cod," depicting nature and ecological philosophical thinking. Keenly aware of the destructive power of industrial civilization, Thoreau also came up with the idea of "simple living" and "preserving wilderness," which influenced many readers in the United States and other countries.

The American writer John muir was called "nature's marketer" and "the saint of the American conservation movement". His masterpiece, "our national park," contains simple ecological ideas. American writer Mary Austin's "land without rain" is praised as a "desert classic." She advocated a simple and spiritual life integrated into nature. American author Henry baston's "the house far away" describes his experience of living alone on a beach in the Atlantic ocean for a year. The American writer ordo Leopold's yearbook of the sand town, put forward the concept of land ethics. In the book, the whole earth nature is placed in the perspective of human moral concern. Leopold's land ethic concept stated in the book believes that human beings should not be above all things in nature and should take care of nature.

Since the 1960s, a large number of outstanding eco-writers and eco-literary works have emerged. From the United States to France, Britain and Russia, eco-literature has become a global literary genre. On behalf of the American writer writers have Rachel Carson, John has, Edward Abbey, Annie dillard, terri. T. Williams, sigurd. F. olsen, the poet ecological snyder, etc.

In 1962, American writer Rachel Carson published silent spring, highlighting a strong sense of ecological crisis. The book describes the great threat to the ecological environment and human existence caused by the abuse of chemical pesticides. This book became the foundation of ecological literature. It inspired people's attention to environmental protection, promoted the establishment of the first earth purpose, and set off a wave of ecological literature around the world. American writer John ? burroughs, love of the natural mountains and rivers of birds, their works "wake forest" describes the American in the Hudson valley primeval forest, a wide variety of birds. American writer Edward Abbey devoted his life to the preservation of the desert region in the southwest. He is called "the modern Thoreau". American writer Annie dillard's essay "pilgrim at tinker creek" describes the author's life on the side of tinker creek in the blue mountains of Virginia. Sigurd f. olson's "moaning wilderness" depicts the northern quatico scenery of the United States as a song in the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. A series of ecological poems by snyder, an American ecological poet, such as "seclusion", "watching the waves" and "turtle island", are integrated with eastern and western ecological concepts. The creation of American ecological literature is closely connected with ecological thoughts. The writers pay attention to highlighting ecological crisis awareness, expressing natural ecological aesthetic experience and constructing harmonious ecological ideal.

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nofomoartworld · 7 years

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Hyperallergic: What Can We Learn from Dystopian Fiction About Climate Change?

Philippe Squarzoni, Climate Changed: A Personal Journey through the Science, copyright Harry N. Abrams (cover image courtesy of Abrams ComicArts)

Recently, a friend asked on social media, “What do you people read to wind down?” He was referring to the distress we all suffer from the endless negative news coming from the Trump administration. I first suggested sci-fi, but upon remembering that he is a lobbyist for international corporations’ divestiture from the fossil fuel industry, I decided to do some research on sci-fi novels which focus on climate change. That’s when I discovered the so called cli-fi (climate change fiction) genre.

If you haven’t heard of it yet, you are not alone; most of the people I mentioned it to were unaware of it too. However, you have probably either read or watched some cli-fi already. IMBd’s cli-fi page has more than a dozen titles. The Goodreads list of cli-fi novels is over 130 titles long. During the recent months, Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Book of Joan, Zachary Mason’s Void Star, Jane Harper’s The Dry, Margaret Drabble’s The Dark Flood Rises, Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140, Cory Doctorow’s Walkaway, and Sally Abbot’s Closing Down have all hit the shelves described as cli-fi. And, since February of this year, the Chicago Review of Books has published a monthly column on its web site exclusively dedicated to the genre.

Steven Amsterdam,The Things We Didn’t See Coming, copyright Anchor (image courtesy Steven Amsterdam)

Still, there is strong skepticism about the genre’s originality. When I mentioned it to my sci-fi and graphic novel enthusiast friends, they mostly rolled their eyes. Nothing was new about stories focusing on a man-made ecological disasters; they just showed up in other literary categories. For example, Alan Moore’s graphic novel The Swamp Thing, a story based on the consequences of mismanaged nuclear waste was published in 1971. This was also the year in which Dr. Seuss wrote his infamous Lorax, a children’s classic about deforestation and environmental irresponsibility. Even older is Alexander Bogdanov’s communist sci-fi novel, The Red Star – now almost 110 years old – which refers to an ecological crisis very much like ours. Older yet are the ancient religious and mythological Mesopotamian, Hindu, Chinese, and Abrahamic narratives, all of which refer to eco-disasters caused by human mischief.

Octavia Butler,, copyright Grand Central Publishing (photo courtesy of Hachette Book Group)

Yet, it is also true that there has been a growing emphasis on ecology during the last two decades in almost every field. In history, there is the so called spatial turn, which refers to a growing interest in geography and ecology. In philosophy, Glenn Albrecht has coined the term solastalgia to describe “a form of psychological or existential distress caused by environmental change, such as mining or climate change.” In the field of geology, there is widespread acknowledgment of the anthropocene, re-popularized in reference to a new epoch defined by the “significant human impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystem” according to Wikipedia. So, cli-fi can be understood as modern literature’s response to our anxieties about the current consequences of climate change.

In her book, Antonia Mehnert defines cli-fi as:

literature dealing explicitly with anthropogenic climate change,” which “gives insight into the ethical and social ramifications of this unparalleled environmental crisis, reflects on current political conditions that impede action on climate change, explores how risk materializes and effect society, and finally plays an active part in shaping our conception of climate change.

In Wikipedia, cli-fi means the “literature that deals with climate change and global warming. Not necessarily speculative in nature, works of cli-fi may take place in the world as we know it or in the near future.” Hence, cli-fi is not any eco-conscious or eco-apocalyptic literature. It focuses specifically on the current climate change, which we are experiencing. (One place to build your familiarity with cli-fi is to read a recent interview with Dan Bloom, the man who originally coined the term.)

Area X, The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, copyright FSG (image courtesy of Jeff VanderMeer)

Most commonly cited examples of the genre are Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Kim Stanley Robinson’s the Science in The Capital trilogy, Margaret Atwood’s The Maddaddam trilogy, Nathaniel Rich’s Odds Against Tomorrow, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior. However, Octavia E. Butler’s The Parable of the Sower tops my list, since it predates (in 1993) those novels mentioned above, and it seems to have inspired Atwood’s The Maddaddam trilogy and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, which are considered pillars of the genre. It also reads like a masterpiece, along the lines of Jean Rhys’s Wide Saragossa Sea. The Parable of the Sower is the coming-of-age story of a an African-American minister’s daughter who lives in a racially mixed and charged community, which gated itself due to an ongoing ecological crisis. A less acknowledged, but excellent novel is Steven Amsterdam’s Things We Didn’t See Coming, which is experimental and enchanting till the very last page. There are large gaps in the story-line, that make it read like Andre Breton’s surreal novel Nadya, but these gaps also mimic how we deal with moments of disaster and stress by taking refuge in collective amnesia. By far the best cli-fi out there must be Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach trilogy. Although VanderMeer rejects the label cli-fi, this is indeed a story about our changing climate: how a territory called Southern Reach becomes a self conscious ecology, starts to remember, thinking, and communicate with human beings. VanderMeer also shifts between genres; the first volume is a horror story that gave me serious nightmares three nights in a row. The second volume is a detective story, and the third one is a mystery.

As for graphic novels, Philippe Squarzoni’s award winning Climate Changed, a graphic documentary about his personal struggle to understand climate change is a remarkable artistic feat. Brian Wood’s, The Massive, series relates the story of an eco-activist gang who roam the international seas in the near future, trying to save the planet from further harm. The fifth volume of Paul Chadwick’s Concrete: Think Like a Mountain is also a personal favorite of mine, and the last issue of World War 3 from AK Press is entirely dedicated to climate change chaos.

The Massive, written by Brian Wood and Illustrated by Kristian Donaldson and Garry Brown, copyright Dark Horse Comics (courtesy of Dark Horse Comics)

Last but not the least, I have to mention The Dark Mountain Project, which is active since 2009. It is best known for its Dark Mountain Manifesto, which opens with the statement: “Those who witness extreme social collapse at first hand seldom describe any deep revelation about the truths of human existence. What they do mention, if asked, is their surprise at how easy it is to die.” They have so far published 10 volumes of collected short fiction, poetry, critical essays, graphic fiction, and visual art, all of which explore climate change, and how we write or tell stories about it. Its past editorial boards have included authors like the famous feminist sci-fi writer Ursula La Guin and late cultural critic John Berger. Each volume delivers a serious punch and could generate more debate about cli-fi.

Uncivilised Poetics, Dark Mountain #10, October 2016, copyright The Dark Mountain Project (courtesy of The Dark Mountain Project)

We all know the news about the future of our planet is not good. At the current rate, we have only 60 more harvests left. Marine life is in dramatic decline, and Antarctica has joined the North Pole in melting, which has far more disastrous implications. Weather temperatures are regularly record breaking, sea and river levels are rising, the salinity of our oceans is quickly changing, and the behavior of our atmosphere is evermore unpredictable. Climate refugees are no longer a thing of fiction; parts of Africa and the Middle East will become uninhabitable in the near future, and the World Bank has already advised a number of countries to revise their immigration policies, because they will be hit by a tsunami of migrants. Meanwhile, in the US, we are governed by those who prefer to erase the climate-change data, withdraw from the Paris climate accords, sell our natural reserves to the developers, and eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. Pathetic as it may sound, cli-fi offers a type of relief from this bigotry. It imagines that one day such idiocies will be washed off clean, and the earth will continue its adventure — probably without us. And even if anyone is left to survive, they would most likely strike a far better covenant with this planet than the one we have at present.

The post What Can We Learn from Dystopian Fiction About Climate Change? appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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