rguably the most important anthology of science fiction is Dangerous Visions. Back in 1967, Harlan Ellison compiled a collection of stories written by the Young Turks of science fiction, challenging the field's readers and writers to expect more from the genre. Dark Matter provides a different vision that's dangerous to the status quo, a vision that has been sorely lacking in the genre: a collection of 28 fantasy, horror and science fiction stories--along with a handful of essays--by black writers. Revolutionary.
Sheree R. Thomas writes in her introduction, "My ... goal in compiling this collection was to offer readers an enjoyable entrée to the diverse range of speculative fiction from the African diaspora and to encourage more talented writers and scholars to explore the genre." These are heavy burdens to bear, considering the double ghettoization--literary speculative fiction and black literature--along with the presumption that, for most readers, only two black writers exist in the field: Samuel R. Delany and Octavia E. Butler. This collection goes a long way toward dismissing these misleading notions.
A strong, challenging collection
"Racism and Science Fiction" by Samuel R. Delany, first published in The New York Review of Science Fiction, is the perfect introduction to the collection. Delany, in his powerfully self-conscious prose, provides an excellent, personal short history of science fiction and the systematic racism that has, intentionally or not, been a consistent force in the genre. The two essays that follow, "Why Blacks Should Read (and Write) Science Fiction" by Charles R. Saunders and "Black to the Future" by Walter Mosley, form a natural dialogue with Delany's personal experiences and ruminations.
Among the highlights of the collection, W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Comet" makes an easy starting point. It's an apocalyptic tale of a black clerk who seems to be the only survivor in New York City after a comet wipes out the population. Then he finds a blonde debutante. The story is a racially conscious Adam-and-Eve tale that nicely plays off Honorée Fanonne Jeffers' "Sister Lilith," a retelling of the creation myth told from a strong sister's point of view. Two extremely powerful satires follow, "Black No More" by George S. Schuyler and "separation anxiety" by Evie Shockley. Schuyler's story, which is excerpted from his 1931 novel of the same name, centers around an invention by a black scientist, Dr. Crookman, that will turn a black man into a Nordic white man. Shockley's story, set in 2095, has every minority group moved to "sacred spaces," affectionately known as the ghetto, for their own safety from violent white America. The story focuses on the powerful attraction the narrator feels for the ghetto.
Other memorable stories include the sexually charged "Aye, and Gomorrah . . ." by Delany, which plays with sexual identity and perversity, and Nalo Hopkinson's "Ganger (Ball Lightning)," a futuristic update of a Caribbean folktale whose sexual heat and horror are palpable.
Additional stories with horrific elements include "Chicago 1927," which marks the return of Jewelle Gomez's famous vampire lesbian character, Gilda. Tananarive Due's "Like Daughter" and Octavia E. Butler's disturbing "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" both deal with social horrors inherited by children, either by abuse or through disease. Fantasy also shines in Charles R. Saunders' sumptuous adventure "Gimmile's Songs," in Nisi Shawl's folkloric "At the Huts of Ajala" and Linda Addison's "Twice, at Once, Separated."
The collection is far too strong to list all the stories of note. Yet a few other pieces that deserve mention include Ishmael Reed's satirical "Future Christmas" (an excerpt from his novel The Terrible Twos), Derrick Bell's "The Space Traders" and Steven Barnes's painful "The Woman in the Wall." Dark Matter is a seminal work in black American literature and in science fiction.
