Excellent collection. Great mix of horror, fantasy, sci fi elements! Not for general teen consumption but I’ll be buying for my personal collection.

The thing about anthologies? No matter how promising the topic sounds, I usually end up liking no more than half the stories in the anthology. And unfortunately that held true for NEW SUNS as well. There were some utterly amazing stories in it but also a bunch I was bored by or didn't understand the point of or that just didn't match my taste at all. And of course a lot of stories which were nice and okay but no more than that so that I had pretty much forgotten them by the time I finished NEW SUNS. Overall it's a nice anthology, I liked the topic and the majority of the stories seemed to match that overall topic very well (no matter how much I personally enjoyed them). But as with almost all anthologies I've ever read, it's a mixed bag and for every story I loved, there was one I hated and two I forgot about by the end of the anthology.

ARC through NetGalley

Actual rating: 2.5/5

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Colour, edited by Nishi Shawl, assembles science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by new and veteran authors. I'm in the mood for more Sci-fi. And I appreciate good covers and this one looks stunning. Yoshi Yoshitani's art rocks. I wonder why more authors don't get their art from him.

I have a love/hate relationship with anthologies. Let's face it - each anthology is a grab bag. In a batch of stories, some will hook me, some won't.

The art of short fiction is damn difficult. An author has only a few pages to hook me and make me root for the characters. Not an easy task. My ratings of short stories are always brutal. I'm not trying to deconstruct them to assess their structure, prose, crucial plot points. Nope. I rate my enjoyment. The stories that get one star from will become other readers' favourites.

Below you'll find my thoughts on all stories assembled in New Suns.

Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias S. Buckell - 4.5/5

A fun one. Intergalactic tourism became the main source of income for US citizens. Aliens seek for a real American experience and they want a full range of what's Earth has to offer.

When a stoned alien cephaloid falls to his death from a flying cab, intergalactic relationships become tricky. And no one desires complications when and where money is involved.

Smart, entertaining and well written. I loved it.

Deer Dancer by Kathleen Alcala - 2.5/5

A decent read showing that indigenous ways can increase the chances of survival in a decayed reality. Not surprising but interesting nonetheless. The weakest part of the story - forgettable characters.

The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations by Minsoo Kang - 1/5

Well written, but wordy and descriptive. I won't lie - it bored me.

Approach it as a tale about the limitations of scholarly and historical reconstruction, set in an Asian-based fantasy world.

Come Home to Atropos by Steven Barnes - 3/5

Short and decent, it offers an interesting take on the tourist economy of post-colonial countries. It seems even suicide can become an exotic and desired experience.

The Fine Print by Chinelo Onwualu - 5/5

An excellent story about human desires, paternal loves and djinni. I loved it. It has a strong opening, it engages the reader emotionally and delivers a nice ending.

Quality stuff.

unkind mercy by Alex Jennings - 3/5

Ok. I didn't find it thrilling but it's clever. I appreciate it, but don't particularly like it.

Burn the Ships by Alberto Yáñez - 2/5

Nope. Nothing in this story worked for me. I'm sure other readers will enjoy it, though.

The Freedom of the Shifting Sea by Jaymee Goh - 1/5

I liked the idea of a mermaid tale retelling. Eunice Aphroditois - an aquatic predator, known also as a Bobbit Worm, is a top pick for such a retelling.

The story, though, with its porno-horror vibe and fatal fellatio didn't appeal to me at all.

Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire by E. Lily Yu - 3/5

An interesting and bloody reinterpretation of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes. I liked it.

Blood and Bells Karin Lowachee

Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 3/5

The Shadow We Cast Through Time by Indrapramit Das - 2.5/5

The story features exoplanetary folklore, deep space myth, and extraterrestrial demons that wear the bodies of our dead. Interesting, but experience proves Indra Das's writing isn't for me. Nothing wrong with it, I'm sure others will love it. I simply don't feel it. His flow isn't mine.

The Robots of Eden by Anil Menon - 2.5/5

The story tries to see if post-humans outgrew their need for fiction. In the end, children outgrow their imaginary friends.

Great idea, decent execution.

Dumb House by Andrea Hairston - 3.5/5

It's an episode/vignette presenting the life of Cinnamon Jones, an old tech geek who used to love the theatre. After the Water Wars, she lives in a dumb house on her grandparents’ heirloom farm with her dog, Bruja, and three Circus-Bots.

Weird(ish) and interesting.

One Easy Trick, Hiromi Goto - 2/5

On a day off in the forest, Marnie loses her belly fat somewhere along the way. It literally disappears. Her voluminous belly roll is gone and she doesn't know if she should rejoice or despair. Her friend thinks Marnie had done a surgery somewhere in Mexico and feels betrayed.

Marnie returns to the forest to find her Bellyfat.

It's a weird story with interesting ideas. Ultimately, though, it didn't convince me. An ok read, but nothing more.

Harvest by Rebecca Roanhorse - 3.5/5

The story tries to answer the question is falling in love with Deer Woman a good idea. A bloody business. Well written and punchy.

Kelsey and the Burdened Breath, Darcie Little Badger - 3.5/5

Interesting take on gathering breaths (souls). I liked it and if I have any criticism it's the fact the story is a bit unclear.

All in all, I find the anthology rather disappointing. I like when a collection of short stories has a common theme/leitmotif. Here I see no such thing apart from authors' ethnicity and race.

Don't misunderstand me. I love the idea of promoting diversity in fantasy and sci-fi literature. That said, my reading expectations are very simple - I want to be thrilled. New Suns didn't thrill me. There were only two stories that spoke to me on a personal level. I didn't care much about the rest.

It's always so hard to review anthologies, as there are bound to be some stories that work and some that don't. Overall, this is an anthology that is strong on the dystopia and bleak side of science-fantasy, which isn't my favourite thing, but there are some great pieces in here.

Stand outs for me are:

Minsoo Kang's The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations - a clever psuedo-historical text on the ways in which translation can be as crucial as the original texts.
Rebecca Roanhorse's Harvest - creepy and atmospheric.
Steven Barnes's Come Home to Atropos - so good I read it twice straight through. The perfect use of satire to unnerve.
Darcie Little Badger's Kelsey and the Burdened Breath - I'd read a whole series of this paranormal investigator's adventures!

Some didn't work for me, but are clearly well-written:

Chinelo Onwualu's The Fine Print - clever story of a deal with the devil, but I found it quite misogynistic.
Jaymee Goh's The Freedom of the Shifting Sea - some gorgeous writing, but I'm not hugely keen on body-horror, and there's a lot of quite graphic sex scenes featuring a 'worm-woman' who has chitinous segments and can unhinge her jaw. Without the sex, I would have put this in the 'standout' list.

Some were just okay:

Tobias Buckell's The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex could have been found in any of the yellow-spined sci-fi anthologies of the 70s or 80s.
Lily Yu's Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire would have been better if it had just been the initial variation, as I think the reader had got the point by then!

And some were downright bizarre, such as Hiromi Goto's One Easy Trick, which is about a woman whose belly fat runs away. Suuuper weird.

So, a mixed bag for me. I really would have liked more cohesion in the theming of the anthology, but I understand that as I am not an #ownvoices reviewer for any of the stories in this book, I may well be missing something. I think it will make a lot of people happy, and would recommend it to any sci-fi reader looking to broaden their horizons.

This is an excellent anthology. Much of the most dynamic and powerful speculative fiction at this point in time is being written by people of color, and this book gives an excellent sampling. I cannot write about all the stories individually in this comment, but I will mention the ones I particularly loved. Tobias Buckell's "Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex" gives a satirical and very funny description of a future in which the entire Earth has become a backwater that subsists entirely on tourism from wealthier and more technologically powerful species from other planets. This story brings home post-colonial dependency to American readers who might well themselves be on the other side of the equation (as tourists in poorer countries themselves). Kathleen Alcala's "Deer Dancer" shows how indigenous ways might give the best hope for survival in a decayed post-climate-catastrophe landscape. Minsoo Kang's "The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations" is a witty parable about surviving the stupidity of the powerful, and about the limitations of scholarly and historical reconstruction, in an Asian-based fantasy world. Steven Barnes' Come Home to Atropos goes along well with Buckell's story, as it is a sarcastic take on the tourist economy of poorer, post-colonial countries seeking to attract dollars from the affluent white world; in this story, even suicide becomes a fancy and "exotic" experience. Jaymee Goh's "The Freedom of the Shifting Sea" brilliantly rewrites the mermaid tale in terms both of white/Asian colonial relations, and of some rather unusual (but actual) facts of biology. Lily Yu's "Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire" sarcastically rings a number of social and political changes on Hans Christian Anderson's tale of The Emperor's New Clothes. Those are my favorites, but in fact all the stories in this anthology are really good.

When I see a collection like this, I never know if I should be glad that a potentially underrepresented group of writers is getting recognized or disappointed that we are remaining segregated. A big part of me wants everyone to be in the same anthologies based on merit and popularity rather than on color. If we do want to showcase certain segments of writers, why not base it on geographic region rather than color? Many of these are Caribbean or Asian, so there's certainly room for that.

The collection opens with an enthusiastic intro by Levar Burton. He does a good job of getting me thinking why we do need a collection like this but then he ends with a dig to President Trump. Why make this political? Burton's comment pertains more to Star Trek than to this book, anyway. What if we had a collection of stories stated to be by white writers only that began with a dig to President Obama? Take the high road, please!

Moving onto the contents, the first story is so enjoyable that I looked up the author to see what else he has written. Imagine my surprise to see that he is white! Now I'm really beginning to doubt the collection. Despite its apparent good intentions, it is getting bogged down with internal issues.

The other stories are of various quality. My preference is to science fiction over fantasy, but that's just me. The book has a mix of both. Some are interesting or enjoyable; others don't work for me. Some are outright racist, which really gets me back to "why segregate by color?"" I think they probably meant well but didn't realize their own prejudices still needed some work. Are we supposed to get along or not?