Back of Book:

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color showcases emerging and seasoned writers of many races telling stories filled with shocking delights, powerful visions of the familiar made strange.  Between this book’s covers burn tales of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their indefinable overlappings.   

These are authors aware of our many possible pasts and futures, authors freed of stereotypes and clichéd expectations, ready to dazzle you with their daring genius

Unexploited brilliance shines forth from every page. 

Foreword, LeVar Burton

The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex, Tobias S. Buckell

Deer Dancer, Kathleen Alcala

The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations, Minsoo Kang

Come Home to Atropos, Steven Barnes

The Fine Print, Chinelo Onwualu

unkind of mercy, Alex Jennings

Burn the Ships, Alberto Yanez

The Freedom of the Shifting Sea, Jaymee Goh

Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire, E. Lily Yu

Blood and Bells, Karin Lowachee

Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Shadow We Cast Through Time, Indrapramit Das

The Robots of Eden, Anil Menon

Dumb House, Andrea Hairston

One Easy Trick, Hiromi Goto

Harvest, Rebecca Roanhorse

Kelsey and the Burdened Breath, Darcie Little Badger

Afterword, Nisi Shawl

Book Number: One 

Genre: Adult | Anthology | Science Fiction | Fantasy | Horror | Short Stories

Review: 🌟

This has to be one of the few books that I have full on struggled, but finished (SBF, which is my own form of DNFing). I eventually got through it, but it was an extraordinarily painful process. There were only a couple of stories I actually enjoyed, so I feel forced to give this a one start due to all the negative emotions it brings up in me. I feel so bad giving all of these stories such low ratings. I love the idea of this collection, but it totally flopped for me. 

"The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex" 🌟🌟

This one wasn't a bad start to the anthology. It featured the death of an alien and their family wanting to know what happened to them. 

"Deer Dancer" 🌟

I barely remember this story, but I know I was bored the entire way through. My notes pretty much say Native American dreamer and not much else. 

"The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations" 🌟🌟

This one I at least saw the point of. It talks about how women are often edited out of history despite their important contributions. 

"Come Home to Atropos" 🌟🌟

This one had a very touristy vibe to it, while also being very threatening. I remember that this one is well written, but over all not too memorable. 

"The Fine Print" 🌟🌟🌟

This was one of my favorite stories of the collection. It is set in this bizarre futuristic world in which a Djinn grants the wishes of the masses and a man can order a fox wife from a catalog. 

"unkind of mercy" 🌟🌟🌟

This one was super ominous. It features a girl who has lost someone close to her through mystical means. It left me with a pit in my stomach upon finishing it. 

"Burn the Ships" 🌟

This one kind of felt like reading some bizarre version of a concentration camp. Not memorable and very confusing. 

"The Freedom of the Shifting Sea" 🌟🌟

This one was messed up. Pretty much it follows this family that keeps coming back to the sea to have sex with this half-human/half-worm creature. Gross, but at least unique. 

"Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire" 🌟🌟

This one is a spin on "The Emperor's New Clothes" which at least allowed me to easily understand what was going on. However, I can't really recall much about it now. 

"Blood and Bells" 🌟

I literally remember nothing about this one. My notes read, "Nine Nations; Young Son." Yeah, I have no idea either. 

"Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister" 🌟🌟

This one was super short, which allowed me no time to get bored. It followed a women who was being stalked by a creepy man with a lustful hunger. Everything else about this tale eludes me. 

"The Shadow We Cast Through Time" 🌟🌟

I feel that this world could have been very interesting if it was in a full length novel. It features two females giving birth, humans that turn into demons, and a foreboding ending. 

"The Robots of Eden" 🌟

This one was odd. I pretty much only remember that there were robot creatures who claimed that they once lived in Eden and then one of them committed suicide.

"Dumb House" 🌟

This one had some undercover agents trying to convert an elderly women to transfer her "dumb house" into a smart house. An amusing concept, boring as heck. 

"One Easy Trick" 🌟🌟

I was intrigued by the beginning of this one. A women loses her belly fat in the woods and tries to reclaim it as her own. I thought that the self-love in this one was sweet, but everything else was a bit flat. 

"Harvest" 🌟

This story was well organized but GROSS. I couldn't handle it, so that's why I gave it such a low rating. I also didn't appreciate the whole revenge aspect in this one. I understand that the white man wronged the native people, but this just seemed unhealthy. 

"Kelsey and the Burdened Breath" 🌟🌟🌟

The best story by far. I have read other of Little Badger's work, which is the main reason I picked up this collection. This one is a mystery surrounding haunted spirits. 

Overall, "New Suns" was a roller coaster of a ride I never want to think about ever again. This book is totally not for me, and I am most definitely not reading the second one. 

Back of Book: 

The stunning follow-up to the multiple-award-winning anthology of SFF by people of colour

Octavia E. Butler said, “There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.”

New Suns 2 brings you fresh visions of the strange, the unexpected, the shocking—breakthrough stories, stories shining with emerging truths, stories that pierce stale preconceptions with their beauty and bravery. Like the first New Suns anthology (winner of the World Fantasy, Locus, IGNYTE, and British Fantasy awards), this book liberates writers of many races to tell us tales no one has ever told.

Many things come in twos: dualities, binaries, halves, and alternates. Twos are found throughout New Suns 2, in eighteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories revealing daring futures, hidden pasts, and present-day worlds filled with unmapped wonders.

Including stories by Daniel H. Wilson, K. Tempest Bradford, Darcie Little Badger, Geetanjali Vandemark, John Chu, Nghi Vo, Tananarive Due, Alex Jennings, Karin Lowachee, Saad Hossain, Hiromi Goto, Minsoo Kang, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Malka Older, Kathleen Alcalá, Christopher Caldwell and Jaymee Goh with a foreword by Walter Mosley and an afterword by Dr. Grace Dillon.

Book Number: Two 

Genre: Adult | Anthology | Science Fiction | Fantasy | Horror | Short Stories

Review: ?