Sheep the Evicted Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I was asked, by a friend, to recommend him some SF/F with a dark skinned hero/villian - though i suppose we can expand that to any dark skinned leading character. Also he mentioned dark skinned races - so they don't just have to be human either. He said he has already read Black Man and the Enigneer Trillogy already so that made my job harder. I couldn't in good faith recommend the Arabesk series by Grimwood so i just ended up having to recommend Midnights Children by Rushdie despite the fact its not really SF/F. Any ideas ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubies & Jade Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Any of Octavia Butler's books (I enjoyed them all, Lilith's Brood is my favorite) Delaney's Dahlgren is wonderful classic. Morgan's latest book, The Steel Remains has a dark skinned race. I'll try and think of some more, but those are the first that come to mind. edit to add: [url="http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/?p=325"]http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/?p=325[/url] here is a round table discussion about this very subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sio Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 First thing that comes to mind is Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson (the protagonist is half black, half Japanese). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Lots of Erikson's heroes are black (Kalam, Quick Ben, all the Andii etc); I believe the main character in Iain M Banks's [i]the Player of Games[/i] is described as black-skinned; most of the characters in Le Guin's Earthsea stories are black... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sio Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Oh, one more that might count: the Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin. The protagonist isn't black, but he's brown-skinned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decius Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Richard Morgan's "Thirteen" has a black protagonist. Same with Neil Gaimans "Anasi Boys" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Epic fantasy or sci-fi is a little harder, but there is a lot of urban fantasy that would apply, and that is based more on Afro or Caribbean or Afro-Caribbean mythology. Nalo Hopkinson. Minister Faust (Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad). Anansi Boys as mentioned before. Toni Morrison (how is Beloved anything but SF?) or Octavia Butler (who gets shelved with black lit) for more African-American themes. Of course there is also a lot of magic realism from Africa or, if you want just generic brown, the Indian subcontinent or Latin America. (GGM, Rushdie, Ben Okri) The protagonist of Mieville's UnLunDun seems to be South Asian, from her name and description. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince of the North Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 R.A Salvatore's Icewind Dale trilogy, Dark Elf trilogy, etc. all have Drizzt the Drow Elf (dark skinned)as a main character. He's good but there are many Drow that are bad and out to get him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 All of Tobias Buckell's books have black or dark-skinned characters especially [i]Crystal Rain[/i]. The book is set on a world colonized by descendants of Afro-Caribbean cultures. CJ Cherryh's Foreigner and Faded Sun series both have dark-skinned races. I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any right now. [quote name='Decius' post='1648610' date='Jan 14 2009, 10.43']Richard Morgan's "Thirteen" has a black protagonist. Same with Neil Gaimans "Anasi Boys"[/quote] [i]Thirteen[/i] was published as [i]Black Man[/i] in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sio Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 [quote name='Prince of the North' post='1648669' date='Jan 15 2009, 03.53']R.A Salvatore's Icewind Dale trilogy, Dark Elf trilogy, etc. all have Drizzt the Drow Elf (dark skinned)as a main character. He's good but there are many Drow that are bad and out to get him.[/quote] Hm. I wouldn't really go around recommending it to anyone though. In fact, not even my worst enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattD Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 [i]Wheel of the Infinite[/i] by Martha Wells and [i]The Innkeeper's Song[/i] by Peter Beagle are two books I enjoyed that meet your criteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince of the North Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 [quote name='sio' post='1648677' date='Jan 14 2009, 11.30']Hm. I wouldn't really go around recommending it to anyone though. In fact, not even my worst enemy.[/quote] I figured it wouldn't take long for someone to come up with this and I agree :) However, that's not what the OP requested. They requested SF/F books with dark-skinned main characters, not the best quality SF/F anyone could come up with. Not knowing anything about the person to whom the OP wants to recommend books, they may enjoy Salvatore. I know I did about 20 years ago. It depends on what they are looking for. Anyway, ASoIaF has ruined anything else for me. I've read Erickson, Bakker, Hobb, Williams, Stephenson, Wolfe, etc. and, imo, none of them are as good. Oh well, I wouldn't have it any other way because ASoIaF is [i]that[/i] special ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Steven Barnes' stand alone work has black heroes and characters. In his collaborations with Larry Niven and others, race isn't not given as much emphasis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Second the recommendation on C. J. Cherry's Foreigner series and the Faded Sun trilogy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Callers Only Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Nalo Hopkinson, more or less anything. Liked Midnight Robber. There is one by Elizabeth Bear - Carnival, but i can't remember if both protagonists were black. But definitely gay. On the other hand there is Black Man by Morgan (duh). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Daniel Abraham's [i]The Long Price Quartet[/i] is set in a southeast Asia analog. David Anthony Durham's [u]Acacia[/u] has many dark skinned characters, but the main characters lighter skinned iirc. [quote name='beniowa' post='1648674' date='Jan 14 2009, 10.28']All of Tobias Buckell's books have black or dark-skinned characters especially [i]Crystal Rain[/i]. The book is set on a world colonized by descendants of Afro-Caribbean cultures.[/quote] These for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Callers Only Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Oh the Bangkok series by John Burdett, is entertaining, even if the first is the best for me (kinda like the A dangerous man for Huston). Bangkok as I'm sure you know is that [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgmoEHnUpjk&feature=related"]city[/url], but no histrionics. Ok, maybe a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheep the Evicted Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 I greatly appreciate the help guys, thank you very much. But really if you didn't think the book that your recommending was great - then at least say so. No point giving rec's if the book is shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince of the North Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 [quote name='Sheep the Evicted' post='1648774' date='Jan 14 2009, 12.21']I greatly appreciate the help guys, thank you very much. But really if you didn't think the book that your recommending was great - then at least say so. No point giving rec's if the book is shit.[/quote] Hmm... The Salvatore books are not shit (if that's what you're getting at). They are quite entertaining if a bit juvenile. That's why I enjoyed them when I was a teen. The Drizzt character is certainly a Gary Stu but it's a D&D series fer chrissake! If you want to recommend only the best SF/F there is then forget the color of the leads' skin and recommend only ASoIaF! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronn Stone Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Alan Dean Foster's [i]Journeys of the Catechist[/i] series is good light fare. IIRC, it starts out with a hunter guy wandering along the coast and finding a dying man wash up on the shore whose pale skin is a shock. The protagonist then makes a promise to him then eats his body. The incident is somewhat represented on this [url="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0446606979/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link"]cover[/url]. Not great. But fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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