Loved this book. So many great writers. Some I had heard of, others not.

I’m not going to finish this, the writing style was not to my taste.

"Why don't they make white robots?" is the question posed by the lyrical and tragic story The Pretended by Darryl A. Smith, one of the best stories collected in Dark Matter. It works on all levels: black themes, black author, using a future setting to say something related to the present, etc. I love this story. Unfortunately, not all the other stories are equally at home in the collection. Some, like Gimmile's Songs by Charles R. Saunders are good science fiction of their type, but use African

I've read through the first hundred pages or so of this 400+ volume of short stories, from "Sister Lilith" to "Rhythm Travel". I don't think I'm equipped to speak much to this anthology, except to say I was moved and challenged by the stories in remarkable ways. I look forward to revisiting it in the future.

As uneven as you'd expect in an anthology this length, but well worth reading. Has an Octavia Butler story that blew my mind a little. I'm in love with Nalo Hopkinson now too. Gonna read the sequel.

This anthology is a useful collection and contains some wonderful fiction. However, its subtitle, "A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora," led me to expect a collection of texts that really does attempt to represent the last century. Instead, only one third of the book is constituted by stories that were published prior to the year 2000 (ranging chronologically from 1887 to 1999). This places the emphasis of the book less on revealing how much black SF has been written in th...

Great collection covering different styles and time periods. I skipped one or two where the historical dialect was too dense for me (Goophered Grapevine) but enjoyed nearly all of them. My top five picks were:1. The Evening and the Morning and the Night - Octavia E. Butler 2. Ganger (Ball Lightning) - Nalo Hopkinson3. The Space Traders - Derrick Bell 4. Gimmile's Songs - Charles R. Saunders 5. Ark of Bones - Henry Dumas It was really hard to limit it to 5. I also really loved "Like Daughter" by

Exceptional anthology. There were only a few stories that failed to grab me. Highly recommend.

It's hard to rate such a wide variety of stories, especially encompassing so many different authors and time periods. A handful of these authors are names I know, but most were new to me. These stories fall into a few categories: Standard sci-fi and fantasy world-building tales which ranged from fairly enjoyable to stunning, myth/folktale retellings which were generally well-written but not really to my taste, and some near-future or urban fantasy pieces that tended toward a more experimental st...

While I was certainly drawn to Dark Matter by a Black History Month display at my local library, the clincher for me was seeing editor Sheree Renée Thomas' name on the cover. She's the current editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and as a long-time subscriber to that magazine (since the 1980s, in fact), I have been extremely impressed with the way F&SF has evolved during her recent tenure.I was right to pick up Dark Matter, too. The stories and essays in this book, their ebb and

excellent read by some of your favorite authors who you may not have known delve into science fiction. Worth the time.

Sister Lilith/Honoree Fanonne Jeffers -- Didn't love the story, but opening with something set in the time of Genesis (Bible, not band) felt appropriate. The comet/W.E.B. Du Bois -- Great writing. Du Bois convincingly and succinctly conveys the feelings of the protagonist under a series of abrupt, shocking changes.Black No More/George Schuyler -- Hard to assess, as it is an early-on excerpt from a novel and I don't know where it goes. Certainly seems like a good historical document regarding rac...

29 fictional stories and 5 essays. I mostly enjoyed them. There were a few I couldn't understand but that's because they were heavy on AAVE and i'm white. But I truly did enjoy most of the stories and loved several of them! I'm glad I read it.

I'm awfully lated to this party - Dark Matter was released in 2000 - but better late than never, right?Sheree Thomas did a commendable job picking stories and authors for the collection. One of my favorite gems was the opening chapter or two from a book written in the 30s about one of the first patients for a new medical procedure to turn black people into white people. The only really totally missed note for me was the story by Steven Barnes, and I suspect that's because I just don't very much

42 SHORT STORIES IN 42 DAYS*DAY 34: Sister Lilith, by Honorée Fanonne JeffersThis struck me as banal, but I suspect it contained subtleties that went over my head.*The rules:– Read one short story a day, every day for six weeks– Read no more than one story by the same author within any 14-day period– Deliberately include authors I wouldn't usually read– Review each story in one sentence or lessAny fresh reading suggestions/recommendations will be gratefully received 📚

I love this book. The short stories are all engaging. I own this and re-read it from time to time.

This collection of stories is an incredible slice of the diversity and richness of afrofuturist stories old and new. The essays at the end are wonderful for those of us who like to dive into a bit of analysis of the text, context and autors' intentions. If you're just starting to read afrofutrism or you're trying to explain the genre to a friend, start here. There are so many authors, styles and themes in this that you want to go off and explore them all.

dark' mat''er - n: a nonluminous form of matter which has not been directly observed but whose existence has been deduced by its gravitational effects.The above citation from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab glossary is referenced in the Introduction of this captivating anthology, to great effect. Indeed, the contributions of black writers to the field of speculative fiction has often been overlooked, even dismissed, whereas this collection is a testament to their presence, their influence, and to thei...

I finally got my hands on the first Dark Matter! As far as I can see, there are only two in this series? I hope there continues to be more, because it’s a very interesting series and a great way to be introduced to black writers’ styles and to black writers in general, especially those in the sci-fi/fantasy scene.Dark Matter is a collection of over thirty fiction and nonfiction works related to science fiction and fantasy, all by african American authors. The creation of these works range from w...

I find most anthologies of short fiction hit and miss, but the hits in this one were more than enough to compensate for the misses. Some standouts include:1. Chicago, 1927 - Jewelle GomezFor fans of the Gilda stories, here's a nice short one, combining Gomez's unique take on vamp lore with a queer eye view of Chicago in the roaring 20s. If you're not familiar with Gomez's other work, this is a great introduction.2. Like Daughter - Tananarive DueI can't say much without giving the story away but