I’m looking for books written by minority women. I’d love an easy read historical fiction or science fiction. I’ve been reading a lot of heavy emotional books lately. I need something lighter. Humor would be nice…anything?
Edited to clarify:
I got a lot of great suggestions. But I’m being super picky. I don’t want a dystopian earth type thing or a war of worlds. I want the moon turning into cheese or space traveling cowboys kind of sci-fi…or for historical fiction, I just want a good story of a some cool ladies who aren’t like me…a straight white, middle class lady in her 40s.
by nikki_ga_2020
17 Comments
Octavia Butler. I didn’t much care for Earthseed but I did like the Xenogenesis books.
*The Tale of Genji* by Murasaki Shikibu.
*Beloved* by Toni Morrison.
Not sure I’d log it as “humor,” but *The Space Between Worlds* by Micaiah Johnson was certainly fun SciFi.
Rivers Solomon
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto, it also has a sequel coming out next month The Obake Code
Poppy War Trilogy by RF Kuang (historical fantasy)
Any book by NK Jemisin (The Fifth Season, etc.)
The Jasmine Throne (trilogy) by Tasha Suri
She Who Became The Sun (duology) by Shelley Parker-Chan
The Sword of Kaigen; and Blood Over Bright Haven – both by ML Wang
EDIT: my bad you asked for light hearted recs! unfortunately the above recs are not, in fact, light hearted. however, these kinda are:
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Morena Garcia
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El Mohtar
The Deep Sky by Yumei Kitasei
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis. She’s Athabaskan. It’s historical fiction based on an old legend. Not humorous but you end up feeling so good at the end.
Psalm for the wild built by Becky Chamber. Cozy Scifi, queer author, has light humor. Reddit made me read it and Reddit was right.
Becky Chambers is a queer sci fi author
The Reformatory is historical horror and absolutely amazing.
Chain Gang AllStars is a sci-fi-esque idk how to describe it but overall a great read.
Both very minority centric, both bring up strong topics of race and systemic abuse, and both were so well written.
octavia butler, nk jemisin, nnedi okorafor, yumei kitasei, yoon ha lee, ryoka aoki, nicky drayden
Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn
Kristen Hannah
Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex series is about Asian American women with super-powers in an alternate-world San Francisco that keeps being invaded by demons. It’s snarkily lighthearted, although I personally found the narrative voice in the first book rather annoying at times.
The first book is just called “Heroine Complex.” (Kuhn is Asian American herself.)
I’m seeing a lot of good suggestions, but they don’t quite match your light-hearted / fun / humor request.
So I’ll suggest “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon” by Kimberly Lemming.
Some minority women authors
– Silvia Moreno-Garcia
– Celeste Ng (more fantasy than sci fi)
– Premee Mohamed
– Yoko Ogawa (maybe too dark right now)
– Malka Older
– Vaishnavi Patel
—-Books with some humor or light-hearted reads:
– Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
– The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
– The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Lee
Miye
– My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
– Strange Practice (series) by Vivian Shaw
– Ocean’s Godori by Elaine U. Cho
Sorry about the formatting. I’m on my phone.
The Adventures of Amina Al Sarafi by SA Chakaraborty. Combines fantasy and historical fiction. It’s a rollicking female pirate adventure complete with Djinn and assorted magic objects. And an ending that made me smile.