The Mothership: Does it Bring the Funk?

This month’s review is of Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, an anthology that came out in 2013. It sets itself as an invitation to readers to explore the range of speculative fiction written by people of color in America. I wanted to survey the field, so I bought the book. The book, like the field it surveys, is huge. It includes 40 short stories, ranging in size from “flash” fiction of barely 500 words to much longer treatments. If you’re looking for something you can take your time and wander through, this much content can’t be beat. But is it good? Oh, yeah, it’s good. There are some ringers in here, to be sure. Well-known speculative fiction authors like N.K. Jemisin, Daniel José Older, Charles R. Saunders, and Nisi Shawl are included. These are talented authors whose works have earned fans and awards. I expected them to deliver and they didn’t disappoint. Jemisin and Shawl bend scientific philosophies into the most personal of stories; Saunders paints a dream of an Africa that never was or maybe we’ve just forgotten; and Older just brings it, with a story that is funny and a little terrifying and terrifically satisfying one after the other. If you want to own some material from these folks, then this is a safe bet. It is also a good move by the editor to open and close with known successful writers, thereby baiting readers into reading unknown authors and maybe finding something new to enjoy. Don’t misunderstand: All the authors pull their weight. There’s n…