Tag: science fiction

Categories
what's lit

‘Proud Family: Louder and Prouder’ Reboot Champions Black Literature

If you’re not looking closely, you may be missing the parade of nonfiction and fiction titles by Black authors being shown to the next generation of Proud Family viewers.

Originally debuting in 2001, The Proud Family became a fixture on the Disney Channel and ABC’s One Saturday Morning featuring an African American 14-year-old middle schooler named Penny Proud as she navigates friendships and family in the Los Angeles area. Disney+ rebooted the cartoon this year with 10 episodes streaming now under the title The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. And this is giving the creators more freedom to get their racial justice message across screens to a wider audience witnessing the Black Lives Matter and the #BlackStoriesMatter movements.

The voice of Penny Proud since the show’s inception, Kyla Pratt is the star, with her cartoon doppelgänger, but for the new series Keke Palmer joins the cast to voice Maya, a social activist who’s a new transfer to their Willy T. Ribbs Middle School. The school is named for the first Black driver to qualify and race in the Indianapolis 500. The Easter eggs of activism are really hidden in Maya’s book choices throughout the episodes.

We’re introduced to Maya in the first episode “New Kids on the Block” where she and her brother KG, voiced by rap artist A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, move into the old home of original character Sticky, who was voiced by Orlando Brown. That character was written out most likely due to Orlando’s legal troubles over the years, but Penny and her group now have two new friends. Or so they think.

Maya detects she and Penny are not compatible based on Penny trying too hard to make a connection. After all, Maya is carrying a copy of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code, a 2019 nonfiction book by sociologist and Princeton University professor Ruha Benjamin that examines how society’s focus on technology can reinforce White supremacy and push racial inequity.

Later in the premiere episode, Maya is in her school hallway, armed with a copy of Parable of the Sower, the 1993 post-apocalyptic climate fiction classic by Octavia E. Butler that is set in our current time period. A24 last year announced it secured the rights via Deadline to the Parable of the Sower and its sequel Parable of the Talents for a plan to turn the titles into two motion pictures with Garrett Bradley tapped to direct.

In second episode “Bad Influence(r),” Maya is carrying the civil rights graphic-novel memoir March: Book One by the late congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell in different scenes throughout the episode.

“It All Started With an Orange Basketball” is the third episode that explores how Penny’s love for basketball is squashed by the ambition of her father, Oscar Proud, hilariously voiced by comedian Tommy Davidson. This episode will be distributed in book form for early readers by Disney Press in September under the same name. Game scenes occur in the Bubba Wallace Recreation Center, named for the only present-day Black race car star who pushed for the ban of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events in 2020.

The episode also features Maya and LaCienega, Penny’s frenemy who’s a namesake of the famous South LA boulevard and voiced by Alisa Reyes of 1990s Nickelodeon’s All That fame, chatting in the Wendell Scott Regional Branch Library, named after the first Black race car driver to win a race in NASCAR’s Grand National Series.

LaCienega rips a copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ Between the World and Me out of Maya’s hands to use as a prop to bump into Kareem, Penny’s sorta boyfriend voiced by Asante Blackk, to get his attention. He notices the selection and says it’s his favorite book, and LaCienega lies and says it’s her favorite, too. They walk into the sunset. 

Masquerading as the woke reader, LaCienega holds the book in other scenes while Maya is now reading James Baldwin’s 1963 nonfiction essay collection The Fire Next Time.

Another literary reference is in the episode “Home School” where Maya is reading Maya Angelou‘s 1969 autobiographical debut I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. (Perhaps, this character is named after one of our most influential Black female authors?) Even in the “Snackland” episode starring an animated Lizzo voiced as herself as the musical guest for the Proud family’s amusement park venture, Lizzo’s bodyguard character is reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, but she rips it into shreds proving she can destroy Oscar for skipping on Lizzo’s payment.

The book choices, along with the intentional naming of the buildings the characters frequent, demonstrate the ability to educate children and adults on important, sometimes underappreciated Black literature and Black figures via a kooky cartoon centered on a Black family and a racially diverse cast of characters.

Some of these books, such as Race After Technology, do not appear to have a mass marketing campaign. So, if you’re interested in the intersection of race and technology, for example, this book may not end up in your web, library, and bookstore searches.

Then for classics such Parable of the Sower and The Fire Next Time that are usually not on young adult reading lists, they can be left out of searches for books covering their topics. Along with highlighting the obscure and classic works, the cartoon gives props to the more recent best-sellers by Black authors that have dominated charts over the years like Between the World and Me and The Vanishing Half.

Disney+ renewed The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder for a second season.

Categories
book reviews

Book Review: ‘Kindred’ by Octavia E. Butler

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Kindred by Octavia E. Butler takes time travel and blends the science fiction concept across race, gender, and DNA with the main character going back to the antebellum South to save an ancestor in order for her to live in the future.

The story starts with Dana, a Black woman in 1976 Pasadena, California, who is in the hospital recovering from the loss of her left arm and waiting for her White husband Kevin to finish with the police. How she loses her arm is a journey that begins on her 26th birthday when she finds herself in 1815 Maryland saving a White boy from drowning. When she asks the boy’s name, she learns it’s Rufus Weylin. The name rings a bell because the boy is her ancestor, the father to one of her foremothers, Hagar who was born in 1831. Dana needs to save him, so he can eventually plant the seed for Hagar with his slave Alice Greenwood to make sure she will exist.

Before she gets in trouble for being a free Black woman in 1970s attire, she finds herself back home to a worried Kevin. She is later summoned again by Rufus where he is burning the curtains in his bedroom. Dana realizes she returns to the past under Rufus’ control when he is in trouble and the only way back home is her own fear. As fear controls the time travel, Dana returns to the past again, but this time Kevin holds on for the ride. Now, she and her husband are stuck in the antebellum South where their interracial relationship is illegal. Kevin tries to find his place as a White man in the prior century by spending time with the slave-owning Weylins while Dana is adjusting to life as a slave and befriending Alice and the other slaves. The inhumanity and cruelty of slavery motivates her to uplift the slaves with her futuristic ideals, but it results in Dana receiving a punishment so severe that it scares her back home—without Kevin. She is determined to return to save her husband and her ancestors to make sure her existence comes into being.

This masterpiece is categorized as science fiction, but it exceeds the genre by having the main character return to the past to save herself instead of traveling to the future to save the world. The story emphasizes the complicated nature of African American ancestry with the slave master being a part of the bloodline and Dana needing Rufus to survive in order for a Black branch of the bloodline to lead to her birth.

There is a dependency between Dana and Rufus as Dana wants to exist while Rufus, who accepts Dana as a time traveler without knowing their shared lineage, also wants to exist subconsciously despite his tendency to fall into life-threatening situations. Dana sees Rufus grow up, and as Rufus becomes a man, he begins seeing Dana in a sexual light, especially with her resemblance to Alice. That development confuses Dana, who wants to keep Rufus happy for her survival and the survival of the slaves on the Weylin plantation.

What also adds another dimension to the story is Dana having a White husband in a time when their marriage is legal but still receives negative attention. Her family and his family were not too happy when they married, so as she navigates her contemporary world in an interracial couple, she finds herself 150 years in the past dependent on Kevin to save them. Also, at home she depends on Kevin, the successful author with his best-selling book giving them the money to buy their new home where Dana begins her time travel. Dana wants to be an author, too, but her dreams take a hit in boosting Kevin’s career. For survival in both worlds, Dana has to work with her husband and her forefather because the color of her skin impedes what she can do.

The more Dana drops into the early 1800s, the more she realizes she can’t present herself as a free Black woman on a plantation. She gets closer to her other ancestor, Alice, who also needs assistance especially as a slave, but their connection reaches the frustrated friendship level since Alice knows she can’t trust Dana with her disappearing acts and her tendency to stand by Rufus, Alice’s owner and rapist. Dana gets complaints from other slaves for wanting to be White and using that alleged privilege to her advantage.

The empathy fight Dana struggles with in having Rufus’ back when he follows the slavery law of the land becomes overwhelming. Every time she returns home to 1976 California, she has physical and emotional bruises and scars trying to make sense of her surroundings that are over a century and thousands of miles apart.

Overall, Kindred packs a multitude of elements into a novel that has a Black female character straddling two worlds in two different time periods and facing racism for her choices to survive in a world not set up in her favor.




View all my reviews

Categories
what's lit

Black Fantasy YA Authors Discuss How They Are Revolutionizing the Genre

Up-and-coming Black fantasy young adult authors convened on a YouTube video chat hosted by Black Girls Create to go deeper into how they gravitated to the genre and what they hope their works can achieve for readers.

Bayana Davis of Black Girls Create, a hub for Black female creators, moderated the first half of the #KuumbaKickback conversation featuring Nandi Taylor, Jordan Ifueko, Namina Forna, and Roseanne A. Brown. Porshèa Patterson-Hurst moderated the second half with authors Kalynn Bayron, Tracy Deonn, and Bethany C. Morrow.

All the authors, who also participated in a #DontRush video challenge, mentioned how they fell in love with the fantasy genre but failed to see characters that looked like them and how the lack of visibility led to their writing careers. The video of the conversations are available on the Black Girls Create’s YouTube channel now.

Nandi Taylor is the author of Given. The story is about why “island princess Yenni is searching for a way to save her father’s life, but a handsome yet infuriating shapeshifting dragon becomes an unexpected distraction,” according to publisher Wattpad. The book is out now and has reached 1.2 million reads.

Nandi opened up about how she felt when trying to insert herself into certain fantasy stories, which created a conversation among the authors about being a Black girl who loved fantasy but not seeing Black girls in the stories.

“I loved reading fantasy, but the fantasy worlds I was reading about were very Eurocentric and it felt—how do I say this?—it felt wrong to insert myself in those worlds, which is sad to say. I felt kind of guilty like I wasn’t meant to be there. So I started writing my own world, so I can do that self-insertion without feeling guilty or ashamed.”

Jordan Ifueko is the author of Raybearer. Publisher Abrams’ imprint Amulet Books says “with extraordinary world-building and breathtaking prose, Raybearer is the story of loyalty, fate, and the lengths we’re willing to go for the ones we love.” The book is available on April 14.

Jordan spoke about how African influence in fantasy and science fiction stories was historically erased or not accurately documented amid colonialism.

“I wanted to write fantasy because I wanted a story about a magical Black girl who didn’t have to endure slavery or systematic subjugation to win something. I feel like there are so very few stories based on real life, which that happens to Black girls, not because there weren’t Black girls who were awesome and powerful but because those stories were not recorded in history. Precolonial Africa, especially West Africa, had powerful women all over the place, but we don’t hear about those women because you have to dig and dig and dig and dig to even get a reference to some of those heroines because the history was written by the colonizers and they didn’t care.”

Namina Forna is the author of The Gilded Ones. The debut novel is described as “the start of a bold and immersive West African-inspired, feminist fantasy series for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther. In this world, girls are outcasts by blood and warriors by choice.” The book is scheduled for release in spring 2021.

Namina described her experience of immigrating to Atlanta from Sierra Leone at a young age and dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome once she was old enough to understand the effects of the civil war in her native country.

“One of the ways I was able to cope with everything that was happening was by disappearing into fantasy. I would read, read, read, read a lot. When you read, you’re able to ignore what is happening around you and even when I came to America and really started understanding what was happening more, for me I loved disappearing into fantasy worlds. They’re my safe space. I think that is the importance of fantasy: it’s a place in which you can disappear, in which you can deal with things you might not have the wherewithal to deal with.”

Roseanne A. Brown is the author of The Song of Wraiths and Ruin. Publisher HarperCollins calls the book “the first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction.” The book will be out June 2.

Roseanne, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ghana at a young age, said fantasy was the genre of choice for her to weave in today’s racial issues.

“While I really respect contemporary writers in what they can do to bring things in the here and now to engage on our level, I found putting it a step away and putting it in a different world—in a world that mirrors our own, reflects our own—to really come to terms with heavier things like we see in race. We have intergenerational trauma, we have violence against girls, we have self-harming—those are all real things teens in our world are dealing with.”

Tracy Deonn is the author of Legendborn. The novel is “filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic,” publisher Simon & Schuster wrote. It’s scheduled for a Sept. 15 release. Tracy also contributed to Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America.

Tracy spoke about noticing the very few Black characters in science fiction and fantasy media while she was growing up and trying to connect as a Black girl to the characters she loved.

“I remember being drawn to certain characters consistently and wanting more from them. We talked about Star Trek already. Obviously, I liked Uhura. I could’ve watched the whole show about her. I wanted to watch a whole show about her. I was drawn to any character in any fantasy TV show, cartoon, or otherwise who looked vaguely Black in any sort of way I was like that’s me.”

She mentioned her feelings when Storm Reid, who’s Black, was cast in Disney’s 2018 Ava DuVernay version A Wrinkle in Time based on Madeleine L’Engle‘s middle grade fantasy classic, which also starred bookish celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling. “

The little part of me inside was, ‘This is revolutionary. This idea that we can be Meg.’ That was fulfilling in a long arc in a way of reading that and wanting to be Meg and actually seeing it later as an adult.”

Bethany C. Morrow is the author A Song Below Water. It is “a captivating modern fantasy about Black mermaids, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today’s racism and sexism,” wrote publisher MacMillan. The book is expected to be out on June 2. Bethany also wrote Mem and edited and contributed to the YA anthology Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance.

Bethany promoted science fiction in the post-slavery diaspora since many recent Black fantasy stories take place in Africa, saying these stories are necessary to tell to incorporate all types of Black characters.

“Even when I do science fiction, I’m always dealing with what it means to be a Black American. I think that is extremely important. I think that Black American kids need fantasy and science fiction that is Black American science fiction, Black American fantasy that doesn’t make them feel like it’s second fiddle to something else, like it’s derivative, it’s not as important, to liken it to something to be ashamed of. Again feeling like you’re supposed to take ownership of something and divorce from what has been done to you is something I’m not OK with… I love all the West African folklore that’s coming out. Central African fantasy and that sort of thing. I’m in love with all that stuff. It’s never a neither nor situation but again as a Black American child who grew up on the West Coast, I deserve to see myself specifically too. I deserve not to be erased from the American tradition, from the American culture, from American histories and storytelling, so I’m specifically writing diaspora fantasy, diaspora science fiction.”

Kalynn Bayron is the author of Cinderella Is Dead. The story takes place “200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over” according to publisher Bloomsbury, which adds it’s “an electrifying twist on the classic fairytale that will inspire girls to break out of limiting stereotypes and follow their dreams!” The book will be available on June 8.

Kalynn discussed the hardships of growing up as Black girl in Portland, Oregon, where Bethany’s A Song Below Water takes place, and how reading fantasy became a refuge.

“What happens there when you are a brown girl, growing up there as a child, it makes me emotional to think about the environment there and how it affects you and how the racism is very polite…. Writing about characters that fit into the intersection of race, gender, sexuality in the fantasy genre is really important to me. It is something I want to keep doing.”