May 2025 SFFKit: Authors from the Global South

The countries of the Global South are those countries that, for a variety of economic and historical reasons, have less developed economies -- higher unemployment rates, lower income, more limited educational opportunities.

According to the United Nations, the Global South comprises Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (excluding Israel, Japan, and South Korea), and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand).

This month, we're reading SF and fantasy by authors from the Global South. A sampling of some authors you might choose follows; some of these are born in the countries of the Global North, but are first-generation children of immigrants. I figure if you're close enough to the family homeland that you still identify yourself as an X-American (where X is Nigerian or Cuban or Filipino or...), that's close enough for our purposes.



There are anthologies collecting short fiction from various parts of the Global South:



More than usual, I suspect, where you live and what languages you speak may influence what authors are available to you. In the United States, recent years have seen a great increase in the number of African and Asian SFF authors; we have yet to see much recent SF making its way here from Central and South America.

The wiki is here if you'd like to add to it the books you're reading.

It seems the universe is pushing me towards Neon Yang, a Singaporean author who is the author of the month for another challenge.

I've been meaning to read Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho, so it feels like that's the direction I'll head in! That said, I've *loved* what I've read from both Tade Thompson and Nnedi Okorafor, so if anyone is torn, I don't think you can go wrong with those authors!

I'm planning to read A Fledgling Abiba by Dilman Dila.

I plan to read either A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir or Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi - or both if I manage it!

Starting an anthology, The Long List Anthology Volume 7 edited by David Steffen. I haven't looked at the bios of the authors but judging by some of the names and titles, I'm guessing at least some of them come from the Global South.

The author of the first story is Ken Liu. Wikipedia identifies him as American but says he was born in China and immigrated to the USA when he was 11, so I guess he counts.

And the second author, Sameem Siddiqui describes himself as interested in "the future realities people of South Asian ancestry and Muslim heritage will face"

Finished A Fledgling Abiba by Ugandan author Dilman Dila.

One of the best stories so far in this anthology ( >6 Robertgreaves: )has been City of Red Midnight: A Hikayat by Usman T. Malik, a Pakistani author.

I tried "A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, is Infinite Potential" (no touchstone) by Neon Yang, a Singaporean author, but it was 2nd Person POV, which I always find very heavy going, so I DNF-ed it.

The June thread is now up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/370830

Finished Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera. Not really my cup of tea. Some of the same mythology as The Saint of bright doors, but largely without plot or story.

This month prompted me to finally get around to a reread of Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell. I've been wanting to continue on with the series, but it's been so long since I had originally read this that I didn't remember anything about it other than I had enjoyed it. I would like to try to get to book 2 before the end of the month.

The Three-Body Problem

This one has been on my TBR for a while, and this month's prompt finally got me to pick it up. I really enjoyed this hard sci-fi tale which starts during China's Cultural Revolution and slowly unravels a physics-related mystery. There was a little bit of the science that went over my head (I know nothing about protons) but I was able to basically nod and accept the explanations at face value even if I wasn't sure about the actual science behind it. The tale was gripping and suspenseful and the mystery of what exactly is going on is slowly unraveled throughout the whole tale, and I enjoyed the questions the story raised about society and humanity, without being too didactic.

I did have a few gripes; full review on my page.

I finished, and deeply enjoyed, The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko.

I've just finished (and reviewed) Spirits Abroad by Malaysian author Zen Cho, and it was absolutely wonderful. If you enjoy weird fiction and/or speculative short stories of any sort, I highly recommend it. Full review written.