A quick but brilliant read. I loved part three the most. Highly recommended reading to all SFF authors and readers out there.

Short but well argued.

Short and to the point. Very well thought out. Will read again.

An excellent though brief examination of pervasive racial problems in some of the most culturally dominant works of fantasy. Many helpful links to further reading were scattered throughout the text, which I greatly appreciated. I only wish it had been longer! I'm off to peruse Clark's other works, and to hope that he might return to this topic in a full-length book someday.

Great essay but shorter than expectedThis essay tackles the excuses often churned out to defend fantasy fiction against accusations of appropriation, othering or exclusion of people of colour. It also offers links as a handy resource of extra reading. And Clark provides tips for writers on avoiding the traps in their own fiction. Recommended reading for writers and reviewers should also read it because I find them largely blind to this issue.The only issue is it's short. I expected a short book

Want to be a more critical consumer/creator of SFF? Read this book. It’s worth every penny and, for white people, this is advice you SHOULD pay for. It would be a great discussion group primer if you are in book clubs/writing groups (among others) that consume/create SFF. And frankly, othering happens in every genre and beyond the bounds of art. Good advice all around!

Before reading this essay (which is really three essays compiled in one volume), I told one of my friends:I feel like I'm going to disagree with a lot of the phrasing in this, while agreeing for the most part with the overall thesis. I also predict a lot of it is going to feel like 21st-century Edward Said. But those are just guesses.Well, I was right on the money. First essay The first paragraph links to a Tumblr blog, an article hosted by the Daily Mail, and the results of a Google search. N...

Really interesting and insightful essay on fantasy and race/racism issues.

this is all online to read just...in case you wanna do that (part one | part two | part three)

#6 out 12 for my nonfiction goal for the yearThis was really interesting. The entire time I was reading I just kept think about the Demon Cycle series. I only read the first two books and DNF'd the third and it was largely due to the "othering" that was going on with the people who lived in the desert and were clearly based on middle eastern culture. They were the evil, backstabbing, ruthless, uncivilized, barbarians. This pissed me off so much to the only POC characters represented this way. I

Fantasy’s Othering Fetish by P. Djeli Clark came onto my radar recently and after reading the comments in Goodreads about this book made me want to read it. Actually, it is more of a long-form essay than a full-length book, Clark makes the argument about how the fantasy genre has treated the non-European as an “other.”Clark provides examples from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series, George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Series (AKA Game of Thrones for TV) and the Patron Saint of the Genr...

Great read about the history and prevalence of Othering in Fantasy popculture, from Tolkien to Wheel of Time to Game of Thrones and more. Plus it's free: here's part 1, here's part 2 and here's part 3.

A great look at a problem that most SFF epics have. I would have loved a longer dive into the issue but this was a good primer.

There are no black people in fantasy lands of ladies, horse lords and knights–because there were no black people there. . . Well, there were no dragons, hobbits or elves either. You made that sh*t up.Quite an interesting essay applying Orientalism to SFF.

Required reading.I was a little disappointed that it wasn't longer, especially at $7; I expected a short book instead of a longish essay. Still, worth every penny.I would have loved more examples, and I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had ever gotten around to reading The Wheel of Time. Slightly disagreed about Clark's assessment of George R.R. Martin's books, but only (and specifically) about the Daenerys story line, which I don't think is given enough credit for subverting and averting...

Fantasy's Othering Fetish By Phenderson Djeli Clark - 3/5(Note: This is based on the free online version found in three parts on the Media Diversified website, if there are any differences between this version and the £5.65 Kindle version then sorry in advance - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3)This is an incredibly interesting and informative article that I think any and every fantasy fan should read. It very effectively explains the huge issue that much of fantasy literature has with 'othering'

An interesting, historical analysis about race in fantasy and science fiction. A large part of this short essay looks at Edward Said's theory on Orientalism and othering and how that plays out in the SFF genre. This essay also mentions Critical Race Theory and its place in fiction and the onus on all writers to create diversity in fiction, not just #ownvoices writers, which I think is best demonstrated in this quote: I should be able to write stories that aren’t about my particular ethnic-rac...

Highly recommend to anyone who reads and/or writes fantasy. This is free to read onhttps://mediadiversified.org/2015/04/...It's sort of a short read, and I read it back in2020, so I wasn't sure I wanted to add it as a book on Goodreads, but it stuck with me and it was so validating and enlightening of every problem I have in fantasy. I wish it was extended into a fully wrought book because that would do so much to improve fantasy, which is not only often problematic but also really boring in its...

How is it that I didn't know of this essay-series up until now? I've been lucky to have found it online, otherwise I don't know if I would have bothered as regretful as that may sound. The articles themselves are very short, so it's a quick read that I would highly recommend if you have 10-15 minutes to spare.Anyway, it's always great to read something which challenges your view of the world. I was aware of the problems surrounding the orientalist caricatures often found in speculative fiction,

Clark's little volume offers great insight into what he calls "othering" in SFF literature (and its eventual adaptation for the screen). It's basically about how non-white Western characters are used as a foil to present differences to the main, white culture in SFF literature, and debunks some myths about what writers can and cannot do about them in their work. Although I'd been aware of this issue, it still offered great insight, and it was good to know that my idea wasn't too far off. The tex...