At 10:01 AM 7/7/97 -0500, Kym Ragusa wrote:
>I'm also an interracial woman of color, and I'm interested in SF that
>breaks down rigid notions of identity (race, gender, sexuality, nation,
>etc). I have a real soft spot for shapeshifter characters in particular!
>Can anyone recommend other books by SF writers of color?
I read an interesting book by Linda Nagata, whom I assume is Japanese
American, called *The Bohr Maker.* It's a cyberpunkish (?? if cyberpunk is
what I think it is) story set in futuristic Tokyo. Doesn't come close to
Butler's incredible range of issues and insights (*Kindred* and the
*Xenogenesis* trilogy really blew me away), but she's the only other
identifiable woman of color science fiction writer I've come across in my
very unstructured reading.
Oh, I just remembered, have you read Starhawk's *The Fifth Sacred Thing*?
Starhawk is a "Jewish witch" so I guess that counts. Most of the characters
in that novel are people of color and she does deal with race, gender,
sexual, and national identity along with alternative family structures,
pacifism/militarism, collectivism/anarchism, democracy/authoritarianism,
lots of juicy political stuff. I think she's a fascinating thinker (Marxist
pagan) and a very good writer.
I hope this thread continues, because as a Japanese American living in
Mexico (I'm in the U.S. right now, but return to San Miguel de Allende,
Guanajuato this fall), I'm also very interested in this area.
Also, the URL for the De Colores bibliography of science fiction writers of
color is:
http://www.netgsi.com/users/obelesk/Bibcolores.html
Holly Yasui
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