Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora is an anthology edited by Sheree Thomas and published in 2000. The book is a collection of short stories, novel excerpts, and short essays. As the title indicates, the contributors are all writers with a shared cultural heritage of African descent, and the subject of the selections touch in one way or another upon issues related to race.
In her Introduction to the volume, Thomas expands upon the more immediately obvious meaning of the title. In addition to being about the “dark matters” related to race relations, and in addition to the compendium being an assertion that “dark writers” matter, the title is also a specific reference to the science part of science fiction. As an astronomical term, “dark matter” refers to the material existing in the universe—comprising perhaps as much as ninety percent of the total—which does not radiate light and thus makes it invisible to the eye. The important thing to distinguish here is this matter does exist—there is no argument about that—but even as it exists, it cannot be seen. To be unseen is to be invisible and to be invisible is to have one’s existence called into question. Thus, the scientific application of the meaning of the title is that while speculative fiction written about race by black writers has always existed, it has not always been detected, especially by mainstream readers.
The content of this collection is divided into two very unequal parts. The first section is comprised of fiction, mostly in the form of short stories but with a few self-contained excerpts from novels thrown into the mix. The second section is comprised of non-fiction essays about the business of writing and publishing science fiction from the perspective of the unique difficulties and experiences faced by black writers. This section takes up perhaps as little as one-sixth of the overall page count as the primary focus is on the actual speculative fiction mentioned in the title.
The oldest published story is by the great Charles Chesnutt. Published in 1887, “The Goophered Grapevine” is not just the author’s most famous story, but representative of his best short fiction as a whole. As for the most recently published story, that would be multiple ties among the many stories bearing the publication date in the book of 2000. The range of authors crosses a wide spectrum in terms of recognition. Although far more well-known for his non-fiction publications, W.E.B. DuBois is represented by his unexpected foray into apocalyptic fiction in which “The Comet” briefly leaves a black man and a white woman believing they are the last two humans on earth. Writers much more established within the genre include Nalo Hopkinson, Octavia Butler, and Samuel R. Delaney. Among other writers with established reputations outside science fiction whose presence might be a surprise in this anthology are Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, and Derrick Bell, much more famous (or infamous depending upon your educational status) as one the original innovators of critical race theory.
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora was named the Best Anthology of the Year at the 2001 World Fantasy Award as well as being recognized as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. Its commercial success and critical acclaim inspired a follow-up in 2004 titled Dark Matter: Reading the Bones and a third volume, Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, published in late 2022.
