I concur with the overall consensus: we need more Black writers in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy world.
A few years ago, I became a fan of the late Robert Jordan. Mr. Jordan, although a white man, wrote a series a books around a concept similar to what is found in the non-European world - life-force energy. He was very detailed about this concept that is sounded much like the Yoruba "ase." He also mingled different worlds, very familiar historical/esoteric items and a very vivid rendering of the cultural/ethnic composition of various societies inhabiting the lands in his work.
Some things found in his book:
One power - the source of all that can be wielded for both good or evil
Aes Sedai - a secretive initiatory group of women committed to using the feminine side of the One power
Children of Light - a hypocritical secretive military organization that professes purity of a distant god, yet seek esoteric knowledge (Knights Templar knockoff)
Another author of non-Black extraction whose concepts I like is Raymond E. Feist. His series of work is called the "Riftwar Cycle". He also provides a very vivid detail of the demographic landscape of his worlds. One thing I like most about his work is his Empire of Great Kesh. The name tells you about it.
As we continue I have a few concepts in mind for my own work. It is would incoporate the knowledge of invisibility reputedly known by the marabouts in the Senegambia region, the knowledge of bilocality of the Nri dibia, the knowledge of invincibility thought to be possessed by the inhabitants of northern Ghana, Togo and Benin, among other things our people are said to have known or possessed.
Malidoma Some stated (I'm paraphrasing or course- going off memory) that his Dagara elders perceived Star Trek to be real because in their reality things like this take place. The African world and the African mind is fertile for the development and narration of so-called Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Just ask the Black Man at the Crossroads.
A few years ago, I became a fan of the late Robert Jordan. Mr. Jordan, although a white man, wrote a series a books around a concept similar to what is found in the non-European world - life-force energy. He was very detailed about this concept that is sounded much like the Yoruba "ase." He also mingled different worlds, very familiar historical/esoteric items and a very vivid rendering of the cultural/ethnic composition of various societies inhabiting the lands in his work.
Some things found in his book:
One power - the source of all that can be wielded for both good or evil
Aes Sedai - a secretive initiatory group of women committed to using the feminine side of the One power
Children of Light - a hypocritical secretive military organization that professes purity of a distant god, yet seek esoteric knowledge (Knights Templar knockoff)
Another author of non-Black extraction whose concepts I like is Raymond E. Feist. His series of work is called the "Riftwar Cycle". He also provides a very vivid detail of the demographic landscape of his worlds. One thing I like most about his work is his Empire of Great Kesh. The name tells you about it.
As we continue I have a few concepts in mind for my own work. It is would incoporate the knowledge of invisibility reputedly known by the marabouts in the Senegambia region, the knowledge of bilocality of the Nri dibia, the knowledge of invincibility thought to be possessed by the inhabitants of northern Ghana, Togo and Benin, among other things our people are said to have known or possessed.
Malidoma Some stated (I'm paraphrasing or course- going off memory) that his Dagara elders perceived Star Trek to be real because in their reality things like this take place. The African world and the African mind is fertile for the development and narration of so-called Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Just ask the Black Man at the Crossroads.
