8 Science Fiction Novels by Authors of Color for the End Times

Onyebuchi’s first book for adults is about police brutality, being Black in the United States, and family. It begins with the 1992 L.A. Riots (which give the book part of its title), but it doesn’t stop there. Instead, it plows right past us into a near-future alternate reality. With its multifaceted exploration of incarceration and systemic racism, it couldn’t be more timely. It’s a beautiful and powerful book that uses sci-fi to address the very dystopian elements of today’s sociopolitical landscape. You should read it. Now. 

Erdrich doesn’t usually write science fiction, but her foray into the genre is a welcome development. Future Home of the Living God presents readers with a not-too-distant future in which evolution has begun to reverse itself. This fascinating premise raises questions about Native women’s bodies, issues of consent, and government control. It’s hard not to read the institutional systems of containment Erdrich imagines as descendants of real-life government-operated boarding schools for Indigenous children.

This book is one of the most Asimovian works of sci-fi I’ve read since, well, Asimov. Wilson, a Cherokee writer with a PhD in robotics, creates a future so believable it’s terrifying. Imagine that all your devices—from your smart phone to your car—developed the capacity for intelligence and decided to band together against you. Against all of humanity, actually. That’s what Wilson does in Robopocalypse. His global cast of characters is a racially diverse group of kick ass survivors whose adaptability and street smarts enable them to take on their newly aggressive A.I. counterparts.

Who doesn’t love a good zombie novel? Ma’s debut novel makes some strong connections between zombiism (here: a communicable disease linked to nostalgia) and immigration. The novel’s deserted streets amid the zombie pandemic call to mind life during COVID-19, but while we’re barricading ourselves in our homes, Ma’s protagonist is traveling with a group of survivors whose journey through the Midwest raises questions about power, capitalism, and the ideological workings of immigration.

Okay, this is technically a fantasy series, but I have to include it. (For what it’s worth, Wikipedia calls it “science fantasy.”) All three books in Jemisin’s trilogy—The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky—won the coveted Hugo Award (among others). Interestingly, the series was partially inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. The Broken Earth trilogy interrogates power from all angles. Through her various characters, Jemisin tackles racism, sexism, and heterosexism (and let’s not forget the trilogy’s concern with environmental destruction). Make sure you set aside some time for this series, because once you start reading it, you won’t be able to stop.

Jones, a Blackfeet writer who’s so prolific that his lengthy bibliography is basically a work of science fiction in and of itself, has penned everything from zombie novels to detective fiction. Don’t know where to start? Try his fiercely fast and funny werewolf novel Mongrels. It’s a smart and interesting read. If you want a more formally complex, semi-experimental read, try The Bird is Gone. It’s a wild ride, for sure, bringing together political histories in a sci-fi murder mystery that’ll blow your mind.