Media Diversified
Foregrounding voices of colour
by Kelly Kanayama Star Wars: Rogue One is a rare thing in mainstream media: a movie about revolution that actually tries to be revolutionary. Taking place right before the original Star Wars movie, Rogue One centres on a band of scrappy misfits who unite to save the galaxy from the evil Empire by stealing the blueprints for the Death… Read More
by Suzy Wrong Cleverman is a superhero story, similar in style and format to many predecessors of the genre, but unique in its cultural context. Koen West is the first Aboriginal superhero to emerge on our screens, bringing along with him a wealth of tales and philosophies from Australia’s Indigenous communities. Conceptualised by Ryan Griffen,… Read More
by Micah Yongo ‘A person’s identity,’ Lebanese-French author Amin Maalouf once wrote, ‘is like a pattern drawn on a tightly stretched parchment. Touch just one part of it, just one allegiance, and the whole person will react, the whole drum will sound.’ It was these words that came to mind as I finished reading Haris A.… Read More
by Vipasha Bansal “I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.” This is how the story of Dana begins in Kindred, my first Octavia Butler novel. I read these words on a bus, home-bound from New York. I had heard of this author and knew to expect some mystery, some fantasy, some… Read More
by Haris A. Durrani I remember learning about the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, that moment when Britain and France drew lines on a map of what is now known as the Middle East. I was in high school in the U.S., and the so-called Arab Spring had just erupted on the other side of the… Read More
by Rod Thomas For comic book fans and fans of science fiction movies, 2014 proved to be a banner year. Whether it was the #BlackStormTrooper outrage or the cancellation of Syfy shows there was much to discuss. Here is my rundown of the worst of the best, or the best of the worst Nerd Culture… Read More
by Ytasha L. Womack This story is a prequel to the Rayla 2212 series and explores the early years of a new colony turned independent on Planet Hope, the first Earth colony beyond the solar system. This story is part of the Race in Space Conference initiative first launched at Duke University with Ytasha L. Womack… Read More
An Exclusive interview with Bill Campbell by Micah Yongo How did your interest in science fiction begin? It was in college and, like so many things in college, it was because of a woman. A friend of mine who knew I’d wanted to be a writer and knew my “left of center” tastes gave me… Read More
Editors note: Dieselpunk is shorthand to describe a fantasy society with an industrial level of development, informed by Cyberpunk sensibilities, The dieselpunk narrative is characterized by conflict vs the undefeatable (nature, society, cosmic), strong use of technology, and Grey and Gray Morality. The protagonists are often Heroic Neutral and have low social status. Black Empire:… Read More
by Chardine Taylor-Stone The visibility of Black women in Speculative fiction may be small but it is memorable. High profile Black female characters that have appeared before us on screen sometimes saving the world and putting the universe to rights include Uhura (Star Trek), Storm (X-men), Zoe Washburne (Firefly), Anastasia Dualla (Battlestar Galactica) and most… Read More
