Dark Matter (prose anthologies)
Dark Matter is an anthology series of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories and essays produced by people of African descent. The editor of the series is Sheree Thomas. The first book in the series, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, won the 2001 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. The second book in the Dark Matter series, Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology in 2005. A forthcoming third book in the series is tentatively named Dark Matter: Africa Rising. This was finally published at the end of 2022 under the title Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, from Tor Books.
In the introduction to the first book, the editor explains that the title alludes to cosmological "dark matter", an invisible yet essential part of the universe, to highlight how black people's contributions have been ignored: "They became dark matter, invisible to the naked eye; and yet their influence — their gravitational pull on the world around them — would become undeniable".
Book I contents
Stories
- Samuel R. Delany, "Aye, and Gomorrah..."
- Octavia E. Butler, "The Evening and the Morning and the Night"
- Charles R. Saunders, "Gimmile's Songs"
- Steven Barnes, "The Woman in the Wall"
- Tananarive Due, "Like Daughter"
- Jewelle Gomez, "Chicago 1927"
- George S. Schuyler, "Black No More"
- Ishmael Reed, "Future Christmas"
- Kalamu ya Salaam, "Can You Wear My Eyes"
- Robert Fleming, "The Astral Visitor Delta Blues"
- Nalo Hopkinson, "Ganger "
- W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Comet"
- Linda Addison, "Twice, at Once, Separated"
- Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, "Sister Lilith"
- Evie Shockley, "separation anxiety"
- Leone Ross, "Tasting Songs"
- Nalo Hopkinson, "Greedy Choke Puppy"
- Amiri Baraka, "Rhythm Travel"
- Kalamu ya Salaam, "Buddy Bolden"
- Akua Lezli Hope, "The Becoming"
- Charles W. Chesnutt, "The Goophered Grapevine"
- Nisi Shawl, "At the Huts of Ajala"
- Henry Dumas, "Ark of Bones"
- Tony Medina, "Butta's Backyard Barbecue"
- Kiini Ibura Salaam, "At Life's Limits"
- Anthony Joseph, "The African Origins of UFOs"
- Derrick Bell, "The Space Traders"
- Darryl A. Smith, "The Pretended"
- Ama Patterson, "Hussy Strutt"
Essays
- Samuel R. Delany, "Racism and Science Fiction"
- Charles R. Saunders, "Why Blacks Should Read Science Fiction"
- Walter Mosley, "Black to the Future"
- Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, "Yet Do I Wonder"
- Octavia E. Butler, "The Monophobic Response"
Reviews
- by Gerald Jonas
- by Joe Monti, Issue 167
- by Martin Arnold, New York Times
- by Candice M. Jenkins
- Locus Magazine Review by Gary K. Wolfe
- Locus Magazine Review by Faren Miller
- by Colleen R. Cahill
- by Isiah Lavender III
- by Greg L. Johnson
- by Tasha Robinson
Awards
**
Book II contents
Stories
- Ihsan Bracy, "ibo landing"
- Cherene Sherrard, "The Quality of Sand"
- Charles R. Saunders, "Yahimba's Choice"
- Nalo Hopkinson, "The Glass Bottle Trick"
- Kiini Ibura Salaam, "Desire"
- David Findlay, "Recovery from a Fall"
- Douglas Kearney, "Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington"
- Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, "The Magical Negro"
- W. E. B. Du Bois, "Jesus Christ in Texas"
- Henry Dumas, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"
- Kevin Brockenbrough, "'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes"
- Pam Noles, "Whipping Boy"
- Ibi Aanu Zoboi, "Old Flesh Song"
- Walter Mosley, "Whispers in the Dark"
- Tananarive Due, "Aftermoon"
- Tyehimba Jess, "Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms"
- John S. Cooley, "The Binary"
- Jill Robinson, "BLACKout"
- Charles Johnson, "Sweet Dreams"
- Wanda Coleman, "Buying Primo Time"
- Samuel R. Delany, "Corona"
- Nisi Shawl, "Maggies"
- Andrea Hairston, "Mindscape"
- Kalamu ya Salaam, "Trance"
Essays
- Jewelle Gomez, "The Second Law of Thermodynamics"
- Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, "Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton"
- Carol Cooper, "Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton"
Reviews
- Locus Magazine Review by Gary K. Wolfe
- Locus Magazine Review by Faren Miller
- by Steven H Silver
- by Pamela Sargent, Issue 354
- by Martina Bexte
- by Brian Charles Clark
- by Belinda Acosta