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Lightspeed Magazine, June 2016: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue (Lightspeed Magazine #73)

Nalo Hopkinson (Editor),

Kristine Ong Muslim (Goodreads Author) (Editor)

Dayo Ntwari (Goodreads Author) (Contributor)

Jeremy Szal (Goodreads Author) (Contributor)

Isha Karki (Contributor)

Gabriela Santiago (Contributor)

Teresa Naval (Contributor)

Fábio Fernandes (Goodreads Author) (Contributor)

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4.44 · Rating details · 117 Ratings · 30 Reviews

LIGHTSPEED was founded on the core idea that all science fiction is real science fiction. The whole point of this magazine is that science fiction is vast. It is inclusive. Science fiction is about people and for people—all kinds of people, no matter where they’re from or what they look like.

The People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! special issue exists to relieve a ...more

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Kindle Edition, 464 pages

Published June 1st 2016 by John Joseph Adams

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The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

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Jun 14, 2016 Rachel (Kalanadi) rated it really liked it

Shelves: magazines, collections

I'm consciously challenging myself to read more diversely, and I have been much more successful with this goal in short fiction than in novels, probably because of A) volume and B) economics. It's very hard to get hold of a variety of diverse SFF novels here in the U.S. Midwest. But a few magazines are doing great work - Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Uncanny, Strange Horizons - that bring me a few diverse stories every month.

I'm so lily-white it hurts. I've already had the lifelong privilege of seei

I'm so lily-white it hurts. I've already had the lifelong privilege of seeing myself - white, female, young - portrayed in the types of stories I love to read. It's time to expand my worldview, push the edges of my reading horizon, and explore cultures and values other than the whitebread American lifestyle I grew up with.

And it's only by reading a lot of diverse stories that I will become comfortable and knowledgeable about the subject matter.

At the moment, I'm still in the initial stages of trying out diverse stories, so very often my reactions are things like "This person's experiences challenges what I think families should be like," or "I don't know what these references to Hindu mythology mean, so I'm completely lost", or "This manner of storytelling is jarring and takes me out of the story". But I'm trying very, very hard to be self-aware and ask myself "Why?" Why do I feel this way? Why am I having this reaction? Can I differentiate between a story that is just different and one that actually isn't good?

It's hard, but it's a reading experience that I really appreciate POC Destroy SF gave me.

I wasn't amazed by much of the short fiction (see alll the reasons above), but I really loved a few of the reprints, like "A Good Home" by Karin Lowachee, "Empire Star" by Samuel R. Delany, and "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" by Octavia Butler. Of the original fiction, "Digital Medicine" by Brian K. Hudson, "Omoshango" by Dayo Ntwari, and "As Long as It Takes to Make the World" by Gabriela Santiago really captivated me because of either the story or the writing. I was also pretty amused by a few flash fiction pieces like "Other Metamorphoses" by Fabio Fernandes and "Chocolate Milkshake Number 314" by Caroline M. Yoachim.

This issue is packed with writers that I must keep an eye out for in the future. I think it's fantastic that I'm reading SFF in an era where I can list off more than 2 or 3 authors of color currently writing in science fiction, and not simply fall back to the usual "Delany" and "Butler". I want the community to explode with these voices - it will benefit us all.

...more

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Jun 05, 2016 Amber rated it really liked it

What an amazing collection this is! Isha Karki's "Firebird" was my favorite of these stories and it is her first published piece, which I found shocking--her exploration of social castes, scientific research in the name of academia, and an individual's often juxtaposed desires to be accepted and be oneself are seamless and emotional without being too forthright. Karin Lowachee's "A Good Home" is simple, beautiful, and compelling as it explores the sentience of androids used as replacement soldie ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Althea Ann added it

**** A Good Home - Karin Lowachee
Sensitive and relevant story about a disabled vet who agrees to take in another disabled, traumatized vet for home care. It's part of a new program to try to relieve severe overcrowding at the VA. After all, who's more suited to understanding the traumas and challenges than another vet? The catch here is that the vet needing care is actually an android. However, that doesn't really make a difference to the story, in that it still captures the very real issues wit ...more

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Jun 04, 2016 Chris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: female-authored, published-2016, scifi

I don't usually do magazine reviews but I enjoyed this edition so much I wanted to highlight it. A great collection of original fiction and essays from some writers I already love and some I am discovering.
Surprisingly to me (and Contrary to my usual bookish instincts) many of my favourites were those that only touched on the science fictional and were really just amazing character pieces.
So I am once again looking forward to the next destroy series, for everyone else, pick this up. Great value ...more

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Jun 13, 2016 Chasia Lloyd rated it it was amazing

This is an outstanding collection of works by people of color and Native/Indigenous peoples centering original sci-fi works and personal ties to sci-fi. This issue has it all - new fiction, reprints of classics (including Octavia E. Butler!), interviews, personal and academic essays, gorgeous artwork, and book reviews. There is something for everyone here.

Highlights for me among the new fiction included:
- Nick T. Chan's "Salto Mortal"
- Brian K. Hudson's "Digital Medicine"
- Terence Taylor's "Wils ...more

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Jun 19, 2016 Tiamatty rated it really liked it

This was fantastic. It's an anthology of sci-fi stories, all made people people of colour. A variety of people from around the world, bringing their experiences and perspectives to the genre. And a lot of them are truly fascinating. All the stories are, at the very least, enjoyable. But most are excellent, interesting and insightful and poignant. Some are simple, some have very complex ideas. One (which is a reprint) will make your head hurt trying to wrap your mind around it - time travel is al ...more

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Jul 10, 2016 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: diversity-challenge, science-fiction, 2017-reading-list, 5-star-sci-fi

This is an awesome collection of stories and essays; it’s another fantastic achievement by Lightspeed. I’m giving this collection 5 stars because of the strength of the collection, the poignancy and relevance of the essays, and the great production values. Not all stories were 5 stars for me, but quite a few were. My individual ratings are below for those who are interested.

Intros - 3 stars Kind of a weak beginning I thought, but maybe I was just eager to get to the stories this time. The essays ...more

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Oct 22, 2016 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: poc, october-2016-readathon

Probably the best of the Destroy series that I've read so far.

Notes on favorite stories, authors to check out, etc.

Original Short Fiction

"A Good Home" by Karin Lowachee

"Salto Mortal" by Nick T. Chan

"Digital Medicine" by Brian K. Hudson

Already reading Terence Taylor

"Fifty Shades of Grays" by Stephen Barnes

"Omoshango" by Dayo Ntwari

"Firebird by IshaIsha Karki

"As Long As It Takes To Make The World" by Gabriela Santiago (https://twitter.com/lifeonearth89) (http://writing-relatedactivities.tumb...)

Or ...more

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Jul 31, 2016 Amber rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, diverse-authors, diverse-characters

I received my copies of this book as a result of backing the Kickstarter project.

Lightspeed delivers an amazing anthology from a great selection of diverse authors from a wide array of backgrounds and experiences.

Each story was a wonderful delight to read each and every story and then to read the author interviews to learn more about them. The nonfiction articles and book reviews were an excellent addition as were the book reprints. All of the essays were incredibly touching looks at the author ...more

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Jan 31, 2017 Nicole Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

So so good. Fresh, creative, not the same-old same-old that after a few decades of reading SFF gets so boring--of course a lot of that is that these voices have been kept out of SFF and really just screw the gatekeepers who think readers don't want stories by diverse voices.

Some of my favorites:
A Good Home, Karen Lowachee
Salto Mortal, Nick T Chan
Firebird, Isha Karki
The Peacemaker, TS Bazelli
A Handful of Dal, Naru Dames Sundar -- This one made me cry and sigh with envy that I hadn't thought of wr ...more

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Jun 04, 2016 Shane rated it really liked it

A very, very high four stars. As with every short story collection, some good, some not for me (not bad, just not grabbed me as hard), together with a few short interviews with featured authors as well as a goodly collection of personal essays - written by not only a selection of the authors, but also many other POC voices within the SF/F community.

My first foray into the Destroy series, and far from my last.

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Jul 29, 2016 Matthew McVickar rated it really liked it

Shelves: kickstartered

I loved this collection. A lot of really strong, interesting work and thoughtful essays. I've now got a huge list of new authors (and things referenced in their essays and bios) to track down and enjoy.

(I donated to the Kickstarter for this.)

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Aug 05, 2016 Dymphna rated it it was amazing

Fantastic stories, brilliant essays, this issue has it all.

Thank you Lightspeed, my reading list will now be more diverse than before.

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Jul 16, 2017 Marie rated it it was amazing

This is a tight, delicious, dense package of delights. And it's big. I thought "special magazine issue" and the price wasn't bad. I got this BIG FAT ANTHOLOGY WITH COLOR ART GALLERY... and I thought "DANG THAT WAS A DEAL!"
And the content is exquisite. I stopped after the first four stories and thought, "Wait, doesn't every anthology have at least one dud story?" Well, there was one that didn't quite work for me, but it was just one in a cornucopia of the best dang stuff. Gabriela Santiago's "As This is a tight, delicious, dense package of delights. And it's big. I thought "special magazine issue" and the price wasn't bad. I got this BIG FAT ANTHOLOGY WITH COLOR ART GALLERY... and I thought "DANG THAT WAS A DEAL!"
And the content is exquisite. I stopped after the first four stories and thought, "Wait, doesn't every anthology have at least one dud story?" Well, there was one that didn't quite work for me, but it was just one in a cornucopia of the best dang stuff. Gabriela Santiago's "As Long As It Takes To Make the World" is a poem of a story, rich in language and more evocative than Walden Pond. You'll sip it slowly and savor it. I also greatly enjoyed Sofia Samatar's "The Red Thread" and Lisa Allen-Agostini's "Depot 256" with their immersive worlds. The first story in the collection, "A Good Home" by Karin Lowachee tugged all my heartstrings hard.

AND THEN THERE WERE FLASH STORIES!

Oh flash, so tasty, so quick. Rich little appetizers. I couldn't read two in a sitting, I'd be overloaded.
Great before bed or after work on the porch swing. "A Handful of Dal" by Naru Dames Sundar - a flash piece telling the story of an intergenerational colony ship through passed-down recipes. It was so perfect I cried for never having come up with something like this!

AND THEN THERE WERE REPRINTS.

Nisi Shawl collected a Star-Studded little section of The Best. I can't pick one because all five stories were THE BEST. I read Octavia Butler's "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" at the Cleveland Heights City Pool and the tale of bioengineering and pandemic - the frightening illness that turns not into an apocolypse but a new way of being and a treatment, wow! It will forever bear a trace of the 1920s coffee brick of the pool house.

John Chu's "Double Time" came for me hard on the heels of watching "Yuri on Ice" so I was all "EE I KNOW THESE SKATING TERMS." And as a child of the 80s, too, figure skating was BIG. I just... wow... what a great application of a crazy technology! and the resolution!

Vandana Singh's "Delhi" was a great companion to Gabriela Santiago's piece, another look at a place as a character, and such delicious details!

... see now I'm talking about all of them.
AND THEN THERE's A NOVEL EXCERPT
And then there's author interviews! I especially loved Gabriela's which included a URL to buy tea from her mother's farm. (Handy!)

AND THEN THERE WERE ESSAYS!
I'm a huge fan of autobiography and so the personal essays were particularly enjoyable for me. I loved hearing where science fiction entered these author's lives. I caught myself talking back to the book. "Yes! It was a paperback for me, in a spinner rack, at the school library." S. B. Divya talks about it in her essay "The Biggest Tent of All" how science fiction starts out as a solitary activity, and then you find fandom, and then we had the internet, and fandom is GLOBAL...

So yes. Buy this book. If you are at all into Science Fiction, you owe it to yourself. I am a big fan of short fiction anthologies and this is the best I've read in years! ...more

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Apr 03, 2017 Mel Staten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, owned-books

I really loved this anthology. I tend to have trouble with groups of short stories--there will always be something that leaves a bad taste, or just isn't very good. Not so with People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction. Though I definitely had preferences among the stories, there were no duds, here. I often have trouble with Science Fiction because it's so bleak, as if needing to paint a dire portrait of humanity. In this compilation, there's a lot of hope.

I did live ratings as I read the stor ...more

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Apr 17, 2017 Patrick Hurley rated it liked it

Some good stuff in here, some not-as-good stuff. Honestly? I would have been happy with an issue that was half this size. Far too many of the stories I found myself skimming. I did enjoy the collection of classics, especially Octavia Butler and Sam Delaney. The flash was great--Caroline Yoachim's story about milkshakes was lovely, as were many of the others. Lightspeed is very uneven for me, which eventually led me to cancel my subscription. Still, for those who are looking to have the most "ban ...more

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Feb 14, 2017 Guerric Haché rated it it was amazing

Another great anthology by Lightspeed Magazine! I first read Women Destroy Science Fiction! a while ago and was very impressed, so I put this on my wishlist and got it for Christmas.

I quite enjoyed the whole collection, though since this anthology includes 26 separate pieces of fiction, I figure it would be tedious or superficial to review all of them. Instead, I'll highlight a few of my favourites; as for the rest, I can say confidently that none of the stories were bad, and they're all worth r ...more

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Aug 23, 2017 D. Palmer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

An inspiring, beautiful, and expansive volume that delivers in all the best ways and will have you coming back.

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Oct 17, 2017 Marc rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this and I'm glad I backed it. It was great to read stories from my fellow People of Color. I love anthologies though and I'm glad that the only theme was that it was sci-fi written by PoC. Because of that, the stories varied greatly in what they were about.

Unfortunately, the book started to sag after the first few stories, for me anyway. And I thought one or two went on way too long. I thought it picked up again in the essay portion. I've never been a fan of essays but this might have ...more

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Jan 07, 2017 Marco rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

Lightspeed destroy is an annual initiative focusing on the writings of traditionally underrepresented minorities. The People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction special issue exists to relieve a brokenness in the genre that's been enabled time and time again by favoring certain voices and portrayals of particular characters. It brings forth a very diverse set of talented authors, some very well-established, and other very newm from around the globe to present science fiction that explores the nu ...more

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Jul 27, 2016 Cora Snow rated it really liked it

Shelves: anthologies

4/5.

Positive: My favourite story was Firebird, of which I am dying for more, even if I'll never get it. Other favourites were The Red Thread (which was so interesting), Wilson's Singularity (which made my heart hurt), Fifty Shades of Grays (which made me laugh), As Long as It Takes to Make the World (which was beautifully written), and Delhi (which made me cry).

Negative: This anthology was really great, with only two or three stories that I didn't enjoy. The ones I didn't like were because they ...more

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Jun 29, 2016 Oliver rated it really liked it

Sehr dicke Ausgabe. Highlight: The Red Thread von Sofia Samatar, eine indirekt erzählte Dystopie.

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Sep 27, 2016 Jetamors rated it it was amazing

Shelves: short-stories, science-fiction, kindle

I loved everything in this! I think my favorite stories were "As Long As It Takes To Make The World" by Gabriela Santiago and "A Handful of Dal" by Naru Dames Sundar.

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Jun 05, 2016 Joanna rated it really liked it

There was lots that was great here, and some other stuff that was perhaps not for me. But I'm glad I was able to contribute to the Kickstarter and help this happen.

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Jul 05, 2016 Noemi rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Shannon

Shelves: various-authors, speculative, audiolibros, asia, anglo-america

I listened to all of the free podcasts at Lightspeed's website. This was so good that I'm buying the issue to read the rest.

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Nov 19, 2017 Brian rated it it was amazing

A great representation of some of the most interesting work being done in contemporary SF.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2016 Amy rated it really liked it

An interesting collection of by non-white authors, providing a different perspective on the science fiction genre. Looking forward to reading the companion volume which collects sci-fi stories by LGBT authors.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 13, 2016 nikki added it

Shelves: 2016, non-fiction

"the h word: the darkest, truest mirrors" by alyssa wong - 5 stars

i need to get my hands on more of alyssa wong's writing because so far i have absolutely loved what i've read.

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Jul 11, 2018 Ruth Ann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf-fantasy

Fantastic collection of stories! I’m thrilled to find this source of authors to look for, and enjoyed all the fiction thoroughly, but in particular I want to mention Misha Nogha’s essay on the indigenous roots of science fiction and Zainab Amadahy’s essay “Music Medicine” (about biofields). Both were really thought provoking to me.

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Jan 10, 2018 Montanasmith rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018

Read the short story "How to Get Back to the Forest" by Sopia Samatar

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About Nalo Hopkinson

Nalo Hopkinson

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Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born writer and editor who lives in Canada. Her science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories often draw on Caribbean history and language, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.

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“Chief Gray of the Osage Nation said, “Today, our neighbors are beginning to understand that when tribes are strong, everyone benefits. A rising tide lifts all boats. This has been done, not on the white man’s terms, but on our own. It’s not revenge, it’s rebirth, and as our elders say, it is good.” This” — 1 likes

“How can ya think ’bout economics feelin’ like . . . this?” “Not many people can,” Ron said. “That’s the Lll’s protection.” — 0 likes

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Lightspeed Magazine, June 2016: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue (Lightspeed Magazine #73)

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