An excellent anthology of short stories from writers from the African diaspora. There are also several nonfiction pieces included at the end, most of which are very short, although the essay "Racism and Science Fiction" by Samuel R. Delany was one of the highlights of the book. The stories themselves frequently have, unsurprisingly, a close focus on race. Given that they cover a century of fiction writing, there's some variation in how each author grapples with this topic, although it's unfortunately clear from the results that the conflicts and issues that arise from this are sadly far from resolved.

That being said, as is the case in every anthology, there were a few stories that didn't quite work for me for one reason or another. Those few were overshadowed, however, by some really outstanding writing. No surprise to anyone, I'm sure, that Octavia E. Butler's "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" was one of the best on offer here, mixing mental health and genetics and the opportunities of healthcare in a quietly moving story of genuine power. Butler's was not the only story that really spoke to me, though. "The Woman in the Wall" by Steven Barnes was unflinching in its character work (and his prose is so smooth, I always find myself gliding through it with deep pleasure). "The Pretended" by Darryl A. Smith mixed race and robots in a really original and interesting way. I think my favourite of them all, though, was the incredible story "The Space Traders" by Derrick Bell. I'd not heard of Bell before this but I'm going to have to find more from him because this was reserved and thoughtful and absolutely, brutally convincing. I'm not going to say any more than that because I don't want to spoil it, but I was blown away (and it had endnotes! Referenced endnotes! Which warms the cockles of my nerd-academic heart...).