I told J10 I'd drop in here and do a little science-fiction coverage from black authors and non-black authors who regularly have black main characters, so here it is.
Let's lead off with a catch all site:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/
The title is pretty self-explanatory. The website is ugly as sin, but they cover new and old fiction by black authors in most of the speculative genres.
Science-Fiction (Black Authors):
Octavia Butler:
The Queen of Black Science Fiction, Octavia Butler not only is well-regarded in the science fiction world, but also in the literary world for books like Kindred, a time travel story where a modern black woman is transported to 19th Century Maryland, where she meets her ancestors -- a white slave owner and his slave.
But she also writes straight up, badass, science fiction, including the Patternist series (a secret history that ranges from Ancient Egypt to the far future, involves telepathy, aliens, etc.) , the Parable duology (about a girl with hyperempathy and the collapse of American civilization), and Lilith's Brood (about humanity being saved by aliens after a nuclear war).
Butler is a take no prisoners writer. She doesn't blanche from tackling racial and social issues head on in her writing.
Samuel Delany:
One of the greatest writers in the genre, full stop. Samuel Delany is a gay black man whose work dominates science fiction. He's been inducted to the Science fiction Hall of Fame. He's been awarded four Nebulas and two Hugo awards, putting him in a very small class with people like Arthur C. Clarke. And his writing buries most of the rest of those guys.
The Einstein Intersection: The surface story tells of the problems a member of an alien race, Lo Lobey, has assimilating the mythology of earth, where his kind have settled among the leftover artifacts of humanity. It digs deeper, though, with discussions of what it's like to deal with a majority culture to which you don't entirely belong.
Dhalgren: One of the great science fiction novels, it's primary plot is about a city cut off from the rest of reality, with a protagonist who has lost his memory. One of the most complex science fiction novels written, sometimes mentioned in the same breath with classics like Finnegan's Wake by Joyce. People have been teasing new meaning out of this book for decades now.
Return to Nevèrÿon (series): These stories take place before history, and feature an nearly all black or brown set of protagonists, as the white barbarians to the south aren't ready for any sort for civilization yet. Essentially sword and sorcery books, these go well with other black fantasy, like Sword and Soul (which we'll get to in the next post).
Steven Barnes:
Steven Barnes is one of my favorite black science fiction writers, although he deals with less "black themes" than some of the others on this list. He's a hard science-fiction writer who has a history of working with Larry Niven (who is one of my absolutely favorites...Ringworld!)
The Dream Park Series (with Larry Niven): Before there was matrix, there was the Dream Park, where anything could happen, including terrible malfunctions that killed the people playing in the Dream Park. Niven and Barnes create four wonderful romps through this world, including Dream Park, The Barsoom Project, The California Voodoo Game, and The Moon Maze Game.
The Heorot Series (with Niven and Pournelle): Straight up interplanetary fiction. colonists settle on a world only to discover it contains an alien species they name "grendels." A great duology, full of action, cool interplanetary science, and giant monsters that need some killing.
The Insh'Allah series: A duology about a world where the Islamic Africa is the center of the technological world, while Europe remains a backward, parochial place. If you want to see Arab warriors battling Aztecs, while Europe is still a bunch of tribes taken as slaves by the dominant African culture, this is for you.
Barnes has about thirty novels out there, most of which are worth reading. He's recently been writing with his wife, Tananarive Due, who will be discussed in the fantasy portion.
Walter Mosley
You may know Walter Mosley from his novel Devil in the Blue Dress, which was made into a movie starring Denzel. Well, he also writes science fiction, and it's very, very good stuff. I stumbled on his stuff in the library one day and went out and bought most of it.
Blue Light: A blue light hovers over North Carolina and everyone it touches either dies, goes mad, or gains a new power. Cool and freaky.
Futureland: A collection of science fiction short stories by Mosley, it's full of interesting ideas and fascinating characters.
I love Mosley's writing and characters, and while his science is sometimes a little soft, it never bothered me in the slightest.
----
Okay, if people are interested, I'll do black fantasy writers next, then some non-black writers who have series that are of special interest tou readers into multiculturalism and black protagonists.