Octavia's Brood

Although this collection of short stories can be generally categorized as speculative fiction—and most are more specifically science fiction—there is nevertheless a strong visionary element in many of them. As I would expect when reading any book that has many authors, I relate to some stories more than others.

I particularly loved how they collectively built on the amazing legacy of Octavia Butler and did so by explicitly uniting around the social justice theme.

This one’s a bit different: a collection of short stories written by activists and community organizers.

I’ve always believed that activism is much like science fiction: both are all about seeing the world as it is and imagining how it could be different, and these stories are like a masterclass in imagining social change: some heartwarming, some chilling, all unique. Short fiction is a perfect medium to get bite-sized pieces of many different imagined futures.

Not a response to climate change per se, but rather to the whole raft of inequities that underprivileged peoples have been through, this collection of fictional imaginaries speculates on what future worlds might look like—good, bad, or ugly. But it couldn’t be more relevant to our climate breakdown future, as it shows how diverse practices of imagination can be harnessed in ways that range from the terrifying to the uplifting.  

Anthologies of science fiction often tend to be darkly foreboding. This one takes us on a journey of 20 bold, hope-inspiring stories infused with the scent of freedom, justice, emancipation. The authors, many of them black, feminist, queer, rebel artists, and the like, all involved in some kind of social action, come up with dazzling imaginations of what a better world could look like. Like any good collection of stories, it’s the kind one can dive into every once in a while, whether one has 10 minutes to read or the whole day … and having finished it, come back… show more.