FutureTense

SF is, among other descriptions, a literature of “meeting the other.” Heroes, aliens, time travelers, cyborgs and biomods populate the SF landscape. The genre couldn’t exist without them, yet many writers are frightened of the implications of dealing with racial issues of real, right now races whenever those races differ from that of the writer.

I’ve treed myself. I’m of Irish descent but I wouldn’t dare write about what it means to be Irish, not without a tremendous amount of research. How can I possibly imagine what it means to be Black in America today, much less a hundred years from now?

Nisi Shawl’s essay, “Transracial Writing for the Sincere” is for all of us who flinched, especially for those who flinched for reasons of sensitivity and the desire to do a good job.