One Quote Response: How Long 'Til Black Futures Month? by N. K. Jemisin

How Long 'Til Black Futures Month? by N. K. Jemisin was a collection that arose from one of the threads in my reading.  I've been wanting to read her work for a while now, though, particularly since she is a black woman reading all the awards in genres that regularly imagine a future without black people or people of color at all.  I'm a sci-fi nerd, mostly in the visual sphere, though:  films, television series, etc.  I rarely get to do pleasure reading these days - mostly reading books that are directly related to my teaching practice in one way or another - so I haven't been able to read a short story collection in way too long. 

This was a delight that also, unexpectedly, opened me up to writing some short fiction of my own. 

Jemisin in the introduction wrote: 

How much I’ve had to fight my own internalized racism in addition to that radiating from the fiction and the business. How terrifying it’s been to realize no one thinks my people have a future. And how gratifying to finally accept myself and begin spinning the futures I want to see.

In reading that, I thought of how much I love to find sci-fi with strong women characters, particularly black or Latinx women.  I'm a writer who has dabbled in fiction; why don't I write some, what have I internalized that has allowed me to critique the absence of people like me and yet not create something to fill the gap? 

I say, forget that. 

So, since finishing the book, I've written two flash fiction pieces and outlined a longer short story.  I've written a few ideas for additional pieces I think I could see to fruition with some time.  I have my eyes set on applying to Viable Paradise.  Applications are due by June 1 so I have time to finish a few short stories, edit, send them out into the world to see how they land.

How Long 'Til Black Futures Month?  Maybe it's coming soon and maybe I'm a part of it. 

I have a few collections on my list for sci-fi by poc and radical visioning texts, which I think fit with the trend that I've been exploring of revolutionary mothering, because mothering is, of course, a project in creation, in visioning a future and being a part of nurturing that future. 

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