mixed habitat & densely vegetated hiding places

I have joined a book club that is reading Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora. This is very exciting. The anthology includes 34 stories and essays, so it might take a while for the group to get through it. I'm just going to post my thoughts as we go rather than waiting until the end.


"Sister Lilith" by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (2000)

A retelling of the Garden of Eden story from Lilith's point of view. Lilith's voice is very Black American, which prompts thoughts not just about whose body is seen as the prototypical human body, but also whose culture is normalized and whose is othered. Every language, dialect, and culture in the modern day is of the modern day, and none has any more claim to being "neutral" or more appropriate to a mythic setting than any other. The story is brief but impactful.

In the discussion it was pointed out that many SF publications won't take Adam and Eve stories anymore because it's been done. But who has it been done by? Who hasn't had their chance to tell their version yet?


"The Comet" by W.E.B. Du Bois (1920)

The Earth passes through the tail of a comet, leaving everyone dead except one poor Black man and one rich white woman. The discussion examined Du Bois' intentions in writing, contextualizing the story in his efforts to open white readers' eyes, and speculating on whether some of the narrative choices were shaped by what would be accepted editorially in 1920. Much of the story is from the white character's POV and focuses on her changing views of the Black character and her relationship to him.

One message I took away from the story is that to fix social inequality, we can't rely on fantasy scenarios of wiping the slate clean and starting over. We have to do better in the real world as it is right now.


"Chicago 1927" by Jewelle Gomez (2000)

A queer vampire uses her powers for good in Prohibition-era Chicago. I found this an utter delight, with an intoxicating atmosphere, a diverse array of vivid queer characters, and a unique take on the ethics of vampirism that was so much fun. I was so sad there wasn't more... and then I found out that there is more!! That's going right onto the TBR list.

There seemed to be agreement that the piece left us wanting more, though for some it was "I'm ready for the novel" and for others it was "this felt incomplete as a short story". But what can I say—she had me at ethical queer vampires.


"Black No More" (excerpt from the novel) by George S. Schuyler (1931)

A medical procedure is invented that can make Black people look white. It's hard to evaluate the novel from this excerpt, as it only covers the setup of the main character undergoing this transformation, and doesn't get into what happens next. Some of us read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia, which describes the farcical satire that follows, but nobody seemed particularly enthused to read the whole book, largely because the main character wasn't very likeable. There was also some discussion of where this work sits in the genre of passing narratives and how it relates to "tragic mulatto" tropes.