Diverse Fantastic Fiction Database

[jesse_the_k]

Every few months I'll see a call for "SFF with these sorts of characters." Kate Diamond is making it possible to generate those lists yourself, by creating and curating: All Our Worlds: Diverse Fantastic Fiction, a highly searchable database of SFF. Today there were 819 books. The more-than-twenty search criteria available now include characters of color, disability, transgender, agender, queer and many other qualities/attributes/identities. This All Our Worlds database includes older works as well as hot new titles, anthologies, and even webcomics! It just launched in December 2014, and your contributions are welcome.

begin quote This project was partially intended as a response to the sort of discussions that had led me to assume there was very little diversity in SFF. I wanted an alternative to what felt like endless criticism of popular books and disdain of new ones, focusing on the problem rather than the solution.

While criticism has its place, I think promotion is a more dynamic method of activism. Instead of talking about the flaws in one popular book, I want to bring two better ones to the table (or six hundred!) and promote them with enthusiasm and without snide comments about the popular one. Share good books. Promote indie authors who need the attention. Dig up old gems. Encourage new authors who work in webcomics and ebooks. If people can see the momentum already in the diverse book scene, if they buy newly published books and make them popular, more authors, especially minority authors, might be inspired to write, knowing they have a support base. Big publishers will see a new market. Readers will be excited to discuss new books instead of being afraid that their childhood favorites will be cynically dissected. It's a win for everybody: the authors get the attention, diverse works become more popular, and readers have something new to celebrate. quote ends