Snowflakes and Spider Silk

We talk about how the fantasy genre is dominated by European-inspired medieval castles and knights and princesses, but I think we take it for granted that most of the science fiction genre is very Euro-centric and focused on the western world. Although science fiction is growing to be more inclusive and include people of color, a lot of the times the setting and culture is still very much a reflection of America or Europe. I have found a few gems that are inspired by other cultures, though, and I wanted to share them! I'll also have some honorable mentions for the books that include characters of multiple cultures even if the overall setting is still western. 1. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin Jemisin's Fifth season draws a lot of its cultural inspiration from Africa. Skin tones of people vary from dark brown to alabaster, but the majority of the characters are people of color. The villages in this book are described in such a way that the village of my great

I'm pretty new to the graphic novel/comic book scene. I was never a comic book collector when I was a kid, and I was just so overwhelmed about figuring out where to start that I didn't get into graphic novels until last year! One of the things that make graphic novels harder to break into is how interconnected a lot of different series are. Especially with DC and Marvel superhero comics, there are so many cross-overs and reincarnations and references to past volumes and events happening in other series. I still haven't quite figured all of that out yet (like I said, I'm still new!) but I have found other comics that are more newbie friendly! Here are my recommendations for standalone graphic novels and entrypoint series without a lot of cross-overs! I've enjoyed them all and I didn't feel like I was missing out on too much. Saga I absolutely love this series! I have only read the first volume so far, but I am really excited to keep readi

It's been a while, but here I am! Grad school has been really intense, and I've had so many panic attacks/super anxious days because I've been so stressed and overwhelmed while I adjusted, so blogging took a backseat. Despite the mental health challenges, I am really glad I'm here, I'm learning so much, and I've made really great friends! I just set up a blog post reminder alarm on my phone so every week I get a nudge to put something up :) Honestly half the reason I haven't posted in over a month is because I was so overwhelmed with school and research that I just completely forgot about setting aside time for blogging. I'm really excited about #RRSciFiMonth though, so here I am! I'm gonna try and keep commitment low and have 1 sci-fi post per week so I don't add to my stress level, but if I get really excited and have more ideas I'll put them up! I really want to do a buzzfeed-style quiz, we'll see if I have time to put one