This is part of what’s probably my first (and possibly only–I’m not much of a ranter) rant about the whiteness of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Originally posted on my old blog (http://jsisthinking.blogspot.com/2015/03/afrocentric-books.html) in 2015.
Afrocentric Books first novel was released in December 2017 (discounted through February!). The second novel is now in the pipeline.
Now that I’ve said it, I think that sentence is a little misleading. So, instead, let me post the company’s Mission.
People of African descent live and thrive all over the world. Yet, when it comes to the most popular literature, the settings and the characters are decidedly Eurocentric. We are here to change that. We are here to start a new movement. We are here to immerse you in the colors of the African diaspora.
As you can see from the mission statement, we are hoping to publish novels with an African twist. By African, we don’t mean “bred in the Motherland”, we simply mean that at least one main character is of African descent.
I am a HUGE fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy stories, but I have to admit that over the years, I’ve read less and less of them. Why? Because of the dearth of Black characters. My search for characters with whom I could relate took me further and further away from the traditional SciFi/Fantasy that has dominated the mainstream for so long. I no longer wanted to read about pasty white vampires or Saruman the White or good white elves and evil black elves.
I know that our preference towards stories featuring characters of African descent makes Afrocentric Books about as biased as the Big Houses who apparently think SFF is strictly white bread. Indeed our slogan is “Unapologetically Biased”.
So how do we differ?
1) We are a tiny publishing company.
2) We don’t give a shit about the status quo–White people aren’t the only ones living on alien planets or facing down dragons with a sword in one hand and a flaming ball of magic in the other.
3) We haven’t forgotten about the other people of color–the remaining characters can and should be diverse–Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Maori, whatever! Only one main character must be of African descent, and as you can see by our submission guidelines, that character doesn’t necessarily have to be Black.
If you’re an author with a kick-ass story to tell, particularly if it is unconventional or non-mainstream, check us out.
In the meantime, stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen!
One Response
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