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So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy is an anthology of original new stories by leading African, Asian, South Asian and Aboriginal authors, as well as North American and British writers of color.
Stories of imagined futures abound in Western writing. Writer and editor Nalo Hopkinson notes that the science fiction/fantasy genre "speaks so much about the experience of being alienated but contains so little writing by alienated people themselves." It's an oversight that Hopkinson and Mehan aim to correct with this anthology.
The book depicts imagined futures from the perspectives of writers associated with what might loosely be termed the "third world." It includes stories that are bold, imaginative, edgy; stories that are centered in the worlds of the "developing" nations; stories that dare to dream what we might develop into.
The wealth of postcolonial literature has included many who have written insightfully about their pasts and presents. With So Long Been Dreaming they creatively address their futures.
Contributors include: Opal Palmer Adisa, Tobias Buckell, Wayde Compton, Hiromi Goto, Andrea Hairston, Tamai Kobayashi, Karin Lowachee, devorah major, Carole McDonnell, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Eden Robinson, Nisi Shawl, Vandana Singh, Sheree Renee Thomas and Greg Van Eekhout.
Nalo Hopkinson is the internationally-acclaimed author of Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk, and Salt Roads. Her books have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Tiptree, and Philip K. Dick Awards; Skin Folk won a World Fantasy Award and the Sunburst Award. Born in Jamaica, Nalo moved to Canada when she was sixteen. She lives in Toronto.
Uppinder Mehan is a scholar of science fiction and postcolonial literature. A South Asian Canadian, he currently lives in Boston and teaches at Emerson College.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Arrenia Dory
reviewed So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy on May 09, 2013
So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy
We are so past the-future/fantasyland-is-filled-with-sexist-white-dudes or post-racial-so-minorities-don't-exist days and yet you'd be pressed to find evidence otherwise among wide swathes of mainstream genre fiction. Seeking to expand my reading repertoire from those sort of disappointing, over-familiar backgrounds, I really appreciate what editors Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan are trying to do with in their anthology So Long Been Dreaming. And short stories are the best when you're looking to be introduced to new writers, yes?
That being said, I'm not sure the way these stories are organized by topic really sets them off to their greatest advantage. Furthermore, there's a bit of studied "fulfilling-the-prompt" feeling that keeps many of them from feeling particularly fresh, or more like intellectual pitches for novels than emotionally fulfilling short stories in their own right.
After all is done, there's good coverage of this incredibly broad topic, including: a lively, contemporary Afro-Canadian take on selkies ('Toot Sweet Matricia' by Suzette Mayr); an amusing microcosm of cultural assimilation when a planet of mute signers joins the "Federation" ('Lingua Franca' by Carole McDonnell); and a thoughtful, Octavia-Butler meets N.K. Jemisin look at a society where humans hold a tenuous control over their Hindu-demigod-hybrid servants ('Out of Sync' by Ven Begamudre).
Butler's influence as the patron god of post-colonial science fiction reigns also in Devorah Major's wry look at inter-planetary-space negotiations in 'Trade Winds'. Greg van Eekhout's 'Native Aliens' may be the most explicit story in exploring how historical colonialism repeats itself in juxtaposing the violent "repatriation" of 20th century Dutch-Indonesians and 24th century "Brevan-Terrans". But the most successful venture of the anthology, in its seamless evocation of past and future, time-travel and mysticism, and how they converge on the individual, belongs to Vandana Singh and her vision of a teeming, surreal 'Delhi'.
Rating: 3 stars
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Add So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy, So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy is an anthology of original new stories by leading African, Asian, South Asian and Aboriginal authors, as well as North American and British writers of color. Stories of imagined , So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy to your collection on WonderClub |