New Feature: DiverSFFy

My favorite genres are science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction (SFF), because I think it's so cool that people can come up with worlds, people, and creatures so different from the ones we see in real life. There is so much scope for new and unique ideas, and re-imagining the familiar.

But.

As I was writing my Fantasy Friday post last week about diversity in SFF, I realized how lacking SFF is in portraying different perspectives and cultures. On the off chance the novel or series includes people of color, they are often stereotyped. Characters that are part of the LGBTQ community are often defined by that one trait, or are a token character. Women are hardly ever important characters, and even if they are strong or complex, they are more often in supporting roles than the men. And don't even get me started on fantasy being written for men, by men.

Writing that post and talking to a few of my friends made me realize how important diversity is to me, especially in my favorite genres. I wanted to recommend books that do a great job of portraying different people and cultures, and while I created a list on the original post, I'm sure there are many more books that are worth featuring.

My new feature DiverSFFy will be sporadic, and I'll talk about books I've enjoyed that do a good job with diversity. I might break the SFF mold and recommend other good diverse novels once in a while, but it will mainly be sci-fi and fantasy. It would be awesome if more people joined in - we can spread the love and support for books that portray different people and cultures!