More than just white guys waving swords around
February 3, 2015 5:41 AM   Subscribe

Welcome to my database of science fiction and fantasy books that demonstrate diversity in sexuality/gender, race, disability, and other aspects. My hope is that this will both promote existing but less well-known books, and inspire authors to write more and publishers to make them available.
All Our Worlds is a "Database of Diverse Fantastic Fiction" which can be searched by tag, or you can check notable releases.
posted by MartinWisse (28 comments total) 120 users marked this as a favorite
 
THIS IS RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS

BRB ADDING A COUPLE HUNDRED BOOKS TO MY WISH LIST
posted by kyrademon at 5:50 AM on February 3, 2015 [11 favorites]


A very cool DB with a very cool social mission.
posted by IAmBroom at 6:06 AM on February 3, 2015




Huh, I was actually looking for something like this. Found a few books I want to pick up. Thanks!
posted by and they trembled before her fury at 7:09 AM on February 3, 2015


I am having one of the rare, positive "I can't evens." Because I can't. Even.

YAY!
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:11 AM on February 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.
posted by Quasirandom at 7:13 AM on February 3, 2015


I was going to ask if there was a way to send suggestions for ones that aren't on yet, but I see there's a "Suggest Book" link in the Contact menu. :)
posted by kyrademon at 7:16 AM on February 3, 2015


One of the tags on Ancillary Justice is aromatic...Is that an in-joke from the book or is there some sort of slang I'm not getting?
posted by edbles at 7:16 AM on February 3, 2015


Aromantic - someone who may want to have sex, but has no desire to have a romantic relationship with someone.

Which might be a typo on their part. Aromatic is when you smell nice. Or not.
posted by Katemonkey at 7:22 AM on February 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Aromantic - someone who may want to have sex, but has no desire to have a romantic relationship with someone.

Which might be a typo on their part. Aromatic is when you smell nice. Or not.
posted by Katemonkey at 10:22 AM on February 3 [+] [!]


It's not a typo, I'm just a terrible reader. They wrote aromantic, thank you for the explanation.
posted by edbles at 7:26 AM on February 3, 2015


I just submitted the first two Rogues of the Republic books by Patrick Weekes (writer on the Dragon Age games). Non-white, female main protagonist and a wide spectrum of other races/genders/sexuality among the supporting cast.

I buy the fiction for my library, so I'll use this site to help fill out our collection.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:29 AM on February 3, 2015


Favorited, and the link is bookmarked! This is just the sort of guide I've been looking for. Thank you so much for posting.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:32 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh no, did we crash it?
posted by trunk muffins at 7:41 AM on February 3, 2015


Wow, I've been needing and wanting something like this for decades.

Thanks for this post, MartinWisse!
posted by lord_wolf at 7:45 AM on February 3, 2015


anotherpanacea: "I am having one of the rare, positive "I can't evens." Because I can't. Even.

YAY!
"

You can even. And with our help, you will even.
posted by boo_radley at 7:46 AM on February 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


Submitted suggestions for a bunch of books I didn't see on there. I'm helping!

Super-thrilled to see a lot of authors I like who deserve to see a wider audience already on the list. (L-J Baker! Jane Fletcher! Laurie J. Marks! Chris Anne Wolfe! Yay!)
posted by kyrademon at 7:53 AM on February 3, 2015


BRB ADDING A COUPLE HUNDRED BOOKS TO MY WISH LIST

Start with Corinne Duyvis's Otherbound or Jacqueline Koyanagi's Ascension.

The first is about a Hispanic-American teenager whose crippling epileptic episodes are actually caused by the fact that every time he closes his eyes or even blinks he looks out through the eyes of Amara, servant girl and pain absorber for fugitive princess Cilla, suffering from a blood curse Amara has to act as decoy for because Amara cannot die. She can feel pain however and so can Nolan through her... Great YA story that's excellent on matters of disability and consent.

The second meanwhile is a space opera in which the heroine is a starship engineer in a far future galaxy going through a deep economic depression and no longer needing many starship engineers. Her ex wife left her for the company that has made starships obsolete, while she's suffering from an almost crippling genetic ailment, barely making ends meet. But everything changes when she stows away on a ship that came looking for her much more successful sister.

Oh, and for once the cover illustration is faithful to the book.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:15 AM on February 3, 2015 [5 favorites]


This is wonderful. Thanks so much for posting it.
posted by zarq at 8:47 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Coincidentally was going to start looking for just such a site in the near future. Thank you!
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:24 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


This is awesome. I've been looking for more diversity in my sf reading, thank you very much.
posted by nubs at 9:40 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Related:
Both Oh and Giles had grown fatigued with the diversity discussion that repeatedly arose in the children’s and YA books (or “kidlit,” as it’s called) community, only to fizzle out again. Debriefing with Giles after the panel, Oh remembers telling him of her plan: “We have to do something, and we have to do something big.” She asked him, “Are you in?”

A few weeks later We Need Diverse Books, the social media movement that has grown into a well-regarded nonprofit in a matter of months, was born. The founders had already started planning their campaign when, not for the last time, an incident of industry racism gave them momentum. In April, BookCon — a subsidiary of New York-based publishing mega-conference BookExpo — announced a panel of superstar children’s authors that consisted of all white men, while the overall conference lineup was all white people, aside from Grumpy Cat
posted by MartinWisse at 10:34 AM on February 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


This is fantastic. My reading list and imagination would be poorer without MartinWisse. And yea - a book by Melissa Scott that I missed in my first read through her work.

Also, did anyone notice what's missing from the authors? Men. (Or at least names I recognize as male). Interesting.... [rubs non-existent beard]. Female pen names? Non-gendered pen names? Less interest by men in exploring alternatives because already central in most narratives?
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 10:41 AM on February 3, 2015


> "Also, did anyone notice what's missing from the authors? Men."

I definitely did see some familiar male names as I was glancing through -- Richard Morgan, Geoff Ryman (everybody go read "The Child Garden" now now now!) But yeah, there are definitely more women than men. And for what it's worth, of the ten or so titles I just submitted for the list, there were only two male authors.
posted by kyrademon at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Thanks for posting this, I had been looking for something like it!
posted by Corinth at 11:52 AM on February 3, 2015


YES YES YES YES You are all wonderful people I love you.
posted by Deoridhe at 12:07 PM on February 3, 2015


Ooooooooooh shiny!
posted by Faintdreams at 12:10 PM on February 3, 2015


Finally! *shares this with a few hundred internet friends*
posted by Mizu at 12:15 PM on February 3, 2015


No Pratchett?
posted by Savvas at 11:18 PM on February 3, 2015


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