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New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color by Nisi Shawl

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In New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, did you enjoy ...

... a wide range of cultures and voices reimagining speculative fiction’s possibilities?

How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin

If what grabbed you was the sheer range—from the alien-tourism satire of Tobias Buckell’s “The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex” to the sea-creature romance of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “The Freedom of the Shifting Sea,” the translator-duo statecraft in Minsoo Kang’s “The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations,” and Hiromi Goto’s body-bending “One Easy Trick”—you’ll love Jemisin’s collection. Stories like “The City Born Great” (New York as a living, fighting entity), “Red Dirt Witch” (folklore and civil rights braided together), and “The Ones Who Stay and Fight” (a sharp moral thought experiment) deliver that same thrill of discovering radically different worlds and perspectives in every piece.

... idea-driven, socially attuned speculation that probes ethics, culture, and consequence more than tech specs?

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

If stories like “The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations” and Anil Menon’s “The Robots of Eden” drew you in with their what-if scenarios about communication, governance, and engineered happiness, Chiang’s tales will scratch the same itch. “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” wrestles with responsibility toward sentient AIs; “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” combines time travel with moral reckoning; and “Exhalation” itself is a meticulous meditation on entropy, freedom, and self-knowledge—thoughtful, humane SF that lingers the way the best pieces in New Suns do.

Book Cover for Where the Wild Ladies Are

... folklore-tinged, contemporary retellings that make old spirits and legends feel startlingly alive?

Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda

If you were captivated by the mythic undercurrents in Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Harvest” (the Deer Woman walking our world) and the seductive oceanic lore of “The Freedom of the Shifting Sea,” Matsuda’s modern reimaginings of Japanese ghost tales will hit that same sweet spot. These witty, tender stories turn yūrei and yokai into co-workers, aunties, and neighbors—much like New Suns recasts myth to explore love, agency, and survival in the present.

... idea-rich stories wrestling with memory, translation, and identity across cultures and histories?

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

If Minsoo Kang’s “The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations” and Chinelo Onwualu’s deft moral puzzles in “The Fine Print” stuck with you for how they braid theme and emotion, Ken Liu operates on that same wavelength. “The Paper Menagerie” explores heritage and language through a magical mother–son bond; “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” contemplates cognition and culture via alien literature; and “The Man Who Ended History” interrogates memory, testimony, and justice—philosophical yet deeply affecting, much like your favorite New Suns pieces.

Book Cover for So Long Been Dreaming

... an anthology’s many perspectives challenging empire, history, and the future?

So Long Been Dreaming by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan

If part of the appeal was moving from Buckell’s sharp alien satire to Goto’s surreal body-portal tale to Roanhorse’s mythic realism—all in one book—this collection offers that same kaleidoscope of viewpoints. You’ll find spacefaring futures, haunted pasts, and reimagined epics that interrogate colonization and identity from multiple angles, echoing how New Suns shifts voice, form, and setting to keep you surprised and engaged with every turn of the page.

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