Hey folks!

Firstly I apologise for being silent for the last month. March is the busiest time of year in my area and April has been a revolving door of sickness, but I’m getting back on top finally! I have a bunch of content that I just need to transfer form my blogging notebook to here (I old school it first with pen and paper) so you should see some more content in coming days.

Secondly I’d like to shout out to Amy at  Talking Tales.  I was picking up an order (Down the Hume by exciting new author Peter Polites) and Amy recognised my name and introduced herself.  It was very exciting to meet someone from the web in my suburb! Make sure you check out Amy’s web site – she’s a book seller who knows her stuff and her blog is just beautiful.

And so, on to today’s topic. I’ve joined the Book Riot Insiders group (you can find more about that here) part of which is membership to some slack channels for the group, which is proving to be a tonne of fun. Today Jenn from Book Riot was raging over a list of fantasy books brought out by Barnes and Noble for people starting off in the genre. All the authors mentioned were white.

So I thought I would put together a little list of fantasy books from a more diverse range of authors. I haven’t read all of these, but those I haven’t read are on my TBR. Fantasy is more a genre I flirt with than commit to. Let’s go.
1.  Zen Cho Sorcerer to the Crown.

 

This book is so good. Imogen has criticised it for being a little slow to start, but once Prunella arrives in the scene it fairly rollicks along. Great story with some unique takes on things and feminist AF.

2.  N. K. Jemisin The Fifth Season.

You may wish to time your reading of this, as the final instalment in the trilogy isn’t going to be out until later this year. And once you’ve read the first, you’ll be champing at the bit to get your hands on the others. Jemisin is an amazing fantasy writer and she’s written a pile of books. Check them out!

3. Roshani Chokshi The Star Touched Queen.

I had only read rave reviews about this book prior to picking it up, and they were completely justified. Chokshi uses the world of Indian mythology as her playground and brings it to life. A Crown of Wishes, more of a companion book than the next in the series, is out in the US now and is just as good.

4. Octavia Butler Fledgling.

 Vampires!! Octavia Butler is an amazing writer. This book will make you ask yourself lots of questions about all sorts of relationships.

5. Ellen Van Neerven Heat and Light. 

Ellen Van Neerven is a Yugambeh woman and for this collection of stories, she draws from her people’s Dreamtime stories. I’m not aware of other Australian Aboriginal writers dabbling with fantasy quite like this (but am more than happy to be corrected if I’m wrong about that!)

6. Nnedi Okorafor Binti series, Akata Witch series

Okorafor’s Binti stories are just amazing. She writes a beautiful mix of tradition and fantasy which I love. I haven’t read the Akata Witch books yet (actually the second is only due out in the US in October, but Okorafor has been tweeting covers 😊) but I’m hoping to get to them soon.

7. Nalo Hopkinson Brown Girl in the Ring.

Full disclosure, I found this author mentioned while I was refreshing my memory for this article, and her stuff looks amazing. Distopian fiction,organ farms, and a pantheon of gods harassing the main character for attention. I’m in!

8. Keith Liu The Grace of Kings.

Another I haven’t read, but has won a bunch of awards and is described as epic fantasy. Get on it!

9. Rin Chupeco The Bone Witch.

Another from my TBR, I’ve heard so much good stuff about this one. Witches, necromancy and Asian styled fantasy. Yes please.

10. Karuna Riazi The Gauntlet.

This is being touted as a middle grade novel, and I’ve heard such good stuff about it! This is described as a ‘steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair’ and I’m really looking forward to reading it.

I was also tempted to mention Zone One by Colson Whitehead, my favourite zombie book, but I think zombies are technically horror?

Tell me, who are you diverse fantasy author faves?