The New Voices Of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Last month I gave a talk at an sff convention in Jerusalem about the new voices in genre. My criteria was authors who started publishing in 2015 or later, who have at least one novel or 3 short stories out, and who have blown me away. This post is that presentation, translated, and formatted for the web.

Cassandra Khaw

Writes shorter fiction: novellas and short stories, mostly. Also games. Khaw is mostly a horror writer, and is one of the few horror writers I can read, because her writing is stunning. She did, however, also wrote a romantic comedy about a were-bear.

My rec for those who want to sample her work is the Lovecraftian noir novella Hammers On Bone.

Sarah Gailey

Sarah Gailey's brain scares me.
A few years ago, she became internet famous when she hilariously livetweeted her first watch of the original SW trilogy, memorably calling Palpatine "Space Voldemort."
Her fiction has outshone her internet fame, however, with a slew of killer short stories and 3 terrific novellas.

My rec for those who want to sample her work is the alternate history, wild west with hippos novella River of Teeth.

Malka Older

With a rich background in international aid, Older has thought a LOT about the intersections of society, politics, and tech.
This all comes into play in her breakout series the Centenal Cycle, in which she envisions a late 21 century future that is flawed, to be sure, but actually WORKS.

My rec for those who want to sample her work is the first novel of the Centenal Cycle, Infomocracy.

Kelly Robson

Robson proves that's never too late to be an overnight sensation, as she broke into genre at 50, and has published a wide array of brilliant stories. She hops between genres and styles, and can be both funny and gruesome.
Her wife, Alyx Dellamonica, has been publishing for years under the name A.M. Dellamonica.

My rec for those who want to sample her work is delightful novella about water sprites in the gardens of Versailles, The Waters of Versailles.

Rivers Solomon

Solomon's list of credits is the smallest, as it contains only one novel, but gods, WHAT a novel. AN UNLINDNESS OF GHOSTS is the story of a generation starship where society has devolved into replicating an antebellum era plantation. It is HARROWING and powerful and the strongest debut I read in 2017. Solomon has a bright future.

My rec for those who want to sample their work, is, naturally, their novel of trauma, race, and identity in space, An Unkindness of Ghosts.

Commonalities

There is not a single man on the list. Nor is there a single hetero white woman. This was not on purpose. I didn't set out to make a list of diverse voices. I set out to make a list of the best new voices. It just so happens that those voices are, indeed, diverse.

Some years ago, author Elizabeth Bear called the current time "The Rainbow Age of Science Fiction." And for a time, I agreed. But now? Now I call this "The Golden Age of Science Fiction." The plurality and diversity of voices working in genre have made it stronger than ever. I will put 2016 or 2017 up against ANY year of the 40's or 50's or any other so called Golden Age. The say the golden age of science fiction is 12, but when I was 12, it was the early 80's, and both sf and f were mostly kinda crappy. This is my golden age. Right now.

We are, I believe, past the topping point. SFF has never really been the sole domain of white men (I strongly recommend reading Martha Well's terrific speech on this from last's year's World Fantasy Convention), but it has long been perceived as such, and that has limited its scope. No longer.