We’re now halfway through Black Speculative Fiction Month, and by now you’ve heard a few titles, seen a few write-ups, and maybe even watched a few movies or TV shows; but unless you already knew about Black Speculative Fiction, you may be scratching your head over why its important or why there’s a month dedicated to it.
Marcus Haynes defines Black Speculative Fiction as “an umbrella term for speculative texts with an emphasis on the people and culture of the African Diaspora”. Still confused? 
Annie Neugebauer defines speculative fiction as “any fiction in which the ‘laws’ of that world (explicit or implied) are different than ours.” These definitions may sound, at first, as though they are rather narrow, but on the contrary they are incredibly broad, with Black Speculative Fiction being broken down into many subgenres that Haynes does an excellent job of describing, so I highly recommend you read his article and then come back here. 
Black Speculative Fiction is at the core of what Mocha Memoirs Press is all about. Our founder, publisher, and owner is Nicole Givens Kurtz, a Black woman who is fiercely proud of her work, and that of her authors, but if you’re here reading this blog post, you don’t really need me to tell you that. You can see it in the fantastic range of works we carry in our catalog. We are currently open for more people to join our read and review team, but beyond that we encourage you to take a look through our selections and choose something new and different to read this month. If you’re not sure where to start, two of our most recent releases are Blood Stew: The Windshine Chronicles 3 by Todd Sullivan and Telecommuting by L. Marie Wood, two very different but very good Black Spec Fic works.
Let’s keep the conversation going! Do you have a Black Spec Fic book or author you’d like to recommend to someone new this month? You can comment here on the blog, or interact with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We want to hear from you!