Reading “Good Hunting,” which fuses Sinology with speculative fiction, makes me feel something I can’t quite articulate, between the Eureka spark of insight and the quiet thrill of winning a game.
Orcs are a species—more commonly labeled a “race”—of wicked, dangerous humanoids found en masse in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth as well as most of analog and electronic gaming. But Tolkien derived their ugly appearance and savage temperament, like almost all orcish traits common across different media, from a long and painful history.
Now it feels like a lag is happening. A disconnect between the writers and the people the books are written for. In an ideal world, YA books would be written for current teen readers, but they’re not.
The structures of Clytemnestra and Essun’s societies are built upon a foundation of subjugation and control of people like them: women and orogenes, respectively.
Yeah, the horizon is broad for African SFF, maybe too broad I fear. Like you intimated, the light is on AfroSFF and us writers are defining and redefining its boundaries every day.
Contrary to dominant post-apocalyptic literature and film, underprivileged groups are likelier to look forward, towards a future time when all they have ever known will change for the better and they can dare to look beyond basic existence and relatedness needs and push for growth. Privileged groups, however, are likelier to yearn more for a return to the old ways, to a time when they were more advantaged. Because the fall from grace will be long and hard for them, this yearning and desire will likelier be top-of-mind and come off stronger in the film and literature presenting these scenarios.
