Race (and other perspective formers) in SFF

[alanajoli]

As some of you may already be aware (I heard about it from Steven Brust's blog), an editor from an SF magazine wrote a rejection letter including extremely racist language, and it was, of course, posted online--the usual chaos ensued. I don't really want to talk about that here (there are already excellent discussions going on on the sites to which Brust links, which I recommend reading), but reading the commentary on many of the sites made me start thinking about race in the SFF world. I made the mistake once of calling a writer a "token" representative of their race and gender inside the SFF world, meaning only that they were the stand-alone at the time, and had it explained to me very clearly why using the word "token" was offensive. (It implies that they're only included because of the race/gender combination, not on their own merit.) It was an embarrassing experience, but one that I hope has made me have a better understanding of how some casual language can end up being hurtful.

So, here's the thought I had this morning. I don't read writers based on their race--certainly not intentionally. I read fiction that I like because it's in a genre that appeals to me or has a concept or story-selling-point that makes me want to pick it up. But I also like fiction that comes from perspectives other than my own white, female, straight, middle-class, Christian, Midwestern perspective. I think a lot of elements can shape the perspective with which you approach your fiction, and race, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, and geography are certainly among them. (Though region-ism is far less inflammatory than prejudices, there are *definitely* ideas about people based on where they grew up, and while in the U.S. itself the South v. the North is probably still the most obvious one I notice, I do hear expectations about Midwesterners that baffle me on occasion. Expanded internationally, it gets further skewed, both against Americans and from an American perspective of those abroad.)

What I'd really love (for those willing to respond here) are recommendations of SFF titles that you feel are excellent examples of SFF that comes from a perspective really different from the one I've listed above. I'd also love to have recommendations of SFF writers who are using their "non-traditional" in SFF (still reputed to be the domain of white men in many circles) perspectives to push the genre in new directions. Alternately, if you have recommendations for SFF writers, regardless of their own background, who do a model job presenting SFF from a "non-traditional" perspective, I'd love to hear about those, too.

Not that I need to add a bunch more books to my TBR pile--but I'd love to hear more about what's out there that I'm missing.

Comments

[dmoonfire.livejournal.com]

As much as darkfluffy hates it, Gossamer Axe is one of those books I like. It has some nice Wicca influences, but I found her other books to be "church is bad, witches are good" that seems to me somewhat common with some Wiccans. Plus, it has fey, sidhe and rock music. :) And a kick-ass guitar.

Sadly, I have no clue about most of the writers. No clue what they look like or even who they are, I just care if I like what they write or not. Well, I have my other byline which differs from your "white, female, straight, middle-class, Christian, Midwestern" on 3 points. :P

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I do often have trouble with books that seem blatantly anti-anything (exceptions being where the anything is clearly an evil, made-up group, like actual soul-less vampires or, you know, Sauron). But from the description you linked to, Gossamer Axe sounds like a ton of fun!

[dcopulsky.livejournal.com]

I've been reading "Dhalgren" for the past year (it's 800 pages, I keep putting it down for a while and coming back to it). It's pretty good, I think, and Delany is gay and black, and race and sexuality definitely come up in the book in interesting ways (but, also, in some way, in not particularly science fiction ways, 'cause the whole book is kind of weird in regard to how much or what sort of sciencec fiction it is), and he's definitely pushing the genre in new directions, but he's more apparantly doing that through the book just being very experimental, though his having kind of pornographic bisexual sex scenes in the novel is pretty boundary pushing too.

I'm also a big fan of Orson Scott Card, who's kind of less diverse in that he's a straight, white, man, but is relevant since the way he's different, being Mormon, comes up repeatedly in his fiction in all sorts of weird ways (more or less depending on the book -- like a whole lot in "Folk of the Fringe," which is all about Mormons, and, a bit more subtly, a bunch in his Homecoming series, which is about, kind of, prophet space colonists).

[dragonladyflame.livejournal.com]

Man, Dhalgren is so hard to read. I literally think I've met one person who got through it. But it's so brilliant that you do come back to it after a while every time!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I think the best aliens I've seen have been Gwyneth (Gwenyth?) Jones' sf series.

[basseykay.livejournal.com]

One of the things I like best about Ursala Le Guin's writing is her habit of playing with our expectations of race and gender, as well as her ability to immerse us in cultures so very alien to our own.