books about space – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Condomnauts, by Yoss, translated by David Frye

A paperback of Condomnauts is held up against a cloudy night sky. The cover shows a red mouth open to reveal a starry galaxy, all on a sky blue background.

(Buy this book in the Equal Opportunity Bookshop) Whew this was a weird book. But, here goes. Josué is a queer, light-skinned AfroCuban with locs, a survivor of the cutthroat slums of future Havana, and part of a highly specialized intergalactic ambassadorial sex worker class. Known as “condomnauts”, Josué and his colleagues are responsible forContinue reading “[REVIEW] Condomnauts, by Yoss, translated by David Frye”

[REVIEW] Black Star, written by Eric Glover, drawn by Arielle Jovellanos

The Kindle cover of Black Star, depicting a woman trapped in a glowing space tube, is held up in a dark movie theater in front of a projection screen. The movie playing is the classic camp film Dark Star.

(Buy this book here.) I’ve had a remarkably pleasant year in reading, by which I mean I’ve liked almost everything I’ve read. If I haven’t liked it, I’ve understood it, so my reviews in 2024 have all been pretty positive, although mildly so. Everything’s been good, but nothing’s really knocked my socks off. (Let’s ignoreContinue reading “[REVIEW] Black Star, written by Eric Glover, drawn by Arielle Jovellanos”

[REVIEW] Survivor, by Octavia Butler

A tablet displaying the cover of Survivor(a woman trapped in a green tree with a furry blue man growing from the top of it, on a red background) held in front of metal stakes chained together standing in the grass

(UPDATE, May 11 2021: I just found out that the Afro-Speculative bookshop Sistah SciFi has this title available as an ebook! Find it HERE and enjoy!) (This novel is out of print. Find other works by Octavia E Butler HERE.) This novel was originally published in 1978. It’s been out of print since 1979–unlike allContinue reading “[REVIEW] Survivor, by Octavia Butler”

[REVIEW] Emergency Skin, N.K. Jemisin

By now we’ve all heard the incredible news that the Grande Dame Nouvelle of Black speculative fiction, and spec-fic in general, N.K. Jemisin herself, is one of the 2020 recipients of the MacArthur Genius Grant. (If you hadn’t heard–well, now you have!) I’m a huge Jemisin fan, considering her the heir apparent to the throneContinue reading “[REVIEW] Emergency Skin, N.K. Jemisin”