Loved it. Especially loved reading fiction by W. E. B. DuBois. Hadn't done that before.

check these stories. scary, realistic, good. "the whipping boy" is crazy. i want to read these again.

Science fiction comes in a number of flavors. There’s “hard” SF, which speculates from a basis in the physical sciences. There’s “soft” SF, which works from a basis in the so-called human sciences (especially anthropology). The market-driven art is further subdivided into horror, fantasy, and sword-and-sorcery. Firing shots across the bow of these main genres, though, are those writers who create what might be called, to borrow a term from today’s music scene, “mash-ups.” Joanna Russ, for instan...

This 2004 anthology collects 24 speculative fiction stories by Black authors, together with three non-fiction pieces. I loved the breadth of Sheree R. Thomas's selections, encompassing many flavors of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and extending back to include stories from as early as 1920, though most are much more recent. The three non-fiction selections are all of interest, one being a transcription of 1997 panel featuring six prominent SF/F authors of color, and the other two discuss...

I give this book a 4.5. Of course like and book of short stories, some stories are better than others but in this book there were only a few stories that I had to push through. For the most part I enjoyed all of them. The stories included range from past, present and future settings. My favorite stories in this book are:The Glass Bottle Trick'Cause Harlem Needs Heroes*Whipping BoyAftermoon*BLACKoutTranceThose with stars I would LOVE to see expanded into novels.I've read a handful of short story

Counting this as ‘read’ even though there were (7) short stories and (3) essays I didn’t get to before it was due back to the library.Like most anthologies, it’s a mixed bag. There were a few that I really liked, a few that I appreciated but didn’t feel strongly about, and one that I ‘noped’ right away from. Overall, though, it’s worth a read. Lots of excellent stories here.Full story list with initial thought-blurbs below the cut.(Warning: This is a really long text post.)(view spoiler)[Fiction...

Wild ride; glad I got on. Favorites: Whipping Boy by Pam NolesOld Flesh Song by Ibi Aanu ZoboiW I L D E S T:Recovery from a Fall, David Findlay

I wish I had enjoyed this collection of short stories more. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's because I am not a person of color, but I found many of the stories to be difficult to follow. They also are very light on the science fiction tending more toward surrealism.That said, there is one story that really seemed prescient. It describes a United States where aliens have come promising miraculous technologies if the US will give up its entire black population. This story was written, I think, i...

After the spectacular Dark Matter (2000), Thomas offers something of a mixed bag in her second anthology of speculative fiction from the African diaspora. Of the stories set during the days of slavery, ihsan bracy's "ibo landing" proves that stylization of subject matter can be more powerful than historical fidelity. The shimmering, brutal outlines created by such simple sentences as "each in their own way understood the distance. they would never again be home" stay with the reader for a long t...

Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, edited by Sheree R. Thomas is the second anthology in this series, which gathers speculative fiction from the African Diaspora. The anthology includes 24 short stories and a series of essays about the role of speculative fiction in imagining or reimagining the African diasporic experience. Overall it is a very enjoyable anthology, combining fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Some of speculative fiction's most interesting writers are represented, including Nalo

There is so much to appreciate about this mind-expanding second Dark Matter anthology of short, speculative fiction by Black writers. Sheree Thomas has pulled together a collection of diverse pieces that is consistently strong and features some real highlights, such as Nnedi Okorafor's hilarious and biting satire "The Magical Negro"; the poetic mythological story "Desire" by Kiini Ibura Salaam; the horror-laden "Old Flesh Song" by Ibi Zoboi; and the unexpected, beautiful short story "Jesus Chris...

Dark Matter is the first (and only) series collecting sci-fi/fantasy short stories by black authors. Like Booklist says on the cover, it’s a great “who’s who of African American writers”. There were a little over 25 pieces - pretty massive for a short work collection, so it really is an excellent guide or even introduction to black writers.content warnings:I started taking notes for individual stories a quarter through, so I don't have warnings for the first bit, sorry! Jesus Christ in Texas:- r...

Really good quality anthology. Highlights include Kiini Ibura Salaam's beautifully voiced "Desire", Ibi Aanu Zoboi's creepy "Old Flesh Song", Tyehimba Jess' rather funny "Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms", Nalo Hopkinson's folk tale retelling "The Glass Bottle Trick" - but there are plenty more to enjoy, with a refreshingly wide array of approaches to speculative fiction.

a great cross section of speculative african diaspora fiction. the retelling of igbo landing was fierce! the idea that vampires, zombies, telepathy, supernatural abilities, and religion transverse blackness as smoothly as leaves flowing down stream in spring time is refreshing.

The other Dark Matter anthology is one of my favorite anthologies, if not the favorite. This one did not move me as much. I started reading it months ago to have fiction on hand to sparingly read between all the nonfiction- something I could pick up and put down for some time. It did serve that purpose well. I do like that it had a few essays following the stories like the other Dark Matter anthology did. That is a nice touch. I did really enjoy a couple of the stories, most were ok, and some of...

This was a book of short stories of African American writers. I love it; it’s about hoodoo, egguns, spiritual things, from writer from America to the Caribbean. I love it and had past it on to a friend of mines to read. Some of the stories in here should turn into a movie. There are even some vampire story that I love that’s set in Harlem.

There were a few stories that I liked but for the most part I thought this was just ok. I felt like I was reading the same story over and over again. This can sometimes be the hard part about anthologies. Everything feels the same. I read about half of the book and decided that I had had enough.

So many great stories in here, especially enjoyed "Glass Bottle Trick", "Old Flesh Song", and "Sweet Dreams". Added several authors to my to-read list.

These anthologies are great. They're a great source of works and non-fiction essays. I use this (and the first anthology in the series) in the Speculative Fiction in Africa class I teach.

This is short story anthology at its finest.