# Black characters and creators in sci-fi, fantasy and horror (1996-2006) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187 "2006-06-10T09:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/61 "2006-06-11T13:27:10Z")
For some reason, I thought that the Greyjoys in the George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series Song of Fire and Ice were black. Re-read the series and then saw it was not so. There is at least, but AFAIK, none of them played a role in the series other than as a bystander. Does anime count? **Bob** in Tenjo Tenge is a major character, and is black. He’s a sidekick, but a sidekick to an Asian. There is a black character in Alice 19th who represents America, but can’t remember his name and Google isn’t helpful. In Battle Angel Alita, there is a black female Motorball champion. In Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, the leaders of the space-age Earth, including Alita’s primary enemy, are black (see this picture: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alita-calendar.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alita-calendar.jpg) ). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/62 "2006-06-11T14:57:40Z")
All of the major characters in Walter Mosley’s _Futureland_ anthology/series are black, and the story lines are all about race relations in a future dystopia. Yes, that’s the same guy who writes the “Easy Rawlins” mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/63 "2006-06-11T15:11:42Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Quick quiz: without looking it up, was Hari Seldon’s colour mentioned in the first book? IIRC they had cosmetic pills that would let one change one’s skin color to match one’s outfit or mood, so race certainly wouldn’t matter in that society. Or am I thinking of some other story? The woman in Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, Ellen IIRC, was black, but that wasn’t relevant to the story line. Jonesy, the genius sonar operator in “The Hunt for Red October”, was race-unspecified in the book but black in the movie - but that might be more military/intelligence porn than SF. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/64 "2006-06-11T15:24:49Z")
> [@dre2xl](#): > > For some reason, I thought that the Greyjoys in the George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series Song of Fire and Ice were black. Re-read the series and then saw it was not so. There is at least, but AFAIK, none of them played a role in the series other than as a bystander. The Summer Islanders are black, and they play a larger part in the latest book. They’re portrayed as a very open, friendly society. She may have been mentioned, but what about Susannah Dean/Odetta Walker from Stephen King’s _The Dark Tower_? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/65 "2006-06-11T16:06:50Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Interesting that the thread has gone this far without a mention of Samuel R. Delany. I kept forgetting to look up the author of Stay Black And Die. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/66 "2006-06-11T16:32:14Z")
I came in here specifically to pimp Larry Fishburne in _Event Horizon_. In regards to the earlier contention that the captain doesn’t make it, but the last two crew members do, one of whom is black… I beg to differ- I thought when I saw that hatch iris closed, that NOBODY was getting off of that ship! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/67 "2006-06-11T17:01:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Interesting that the thread has gone this far without a mention of Samuel R. Delany. That may be because it’s not immediately apparent what an author’s race is, unlike the case with actors. It’s quite possible to read and enjoy a book without having a clue as to the author’s identity. In some genres, the press for a book will bill the author as “a great black writer”, or otherwise emphasize race, but this doesn’t seem to be so much the case in science fiction (a fact which I like to think reflects positively on the ideals of the science fiction community). ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/68 "2006-06-11T18:21:09Z")
Mahlon “Momma” Maxwell, a police officer in Lee Killough’ series of cop novels set in a future Topeka, Kansas. Brilliant guy, but he will drive you crazy. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/69 "2006-06-11T18:46:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I must be missing something: in most sci-fi I’ve read, the colour of the person isn’t relevant, and in much of it isn’t even mentioned. […] How about Menolly? I’ve just read one of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books and the only human skin colouring mentioned is the colouring of a person’s bruises. Menolly’s always depicted as a white redhead in Pern coverart. But speaking of Pern… Pretty sure it’s mentioned in at least one book (White Dragon?) that MasterHarper Robinton is dark. I’ve always pictured him as black, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/70 "2006-06-11T19:52:03Z")
I wrote: \> Interesting that the thread has gone this far without a mention of Samuel R. \> Delany. DocCathode writes: \> I kept forgetting to look up the author of Stay Black And Die. It’s a play by Addena Sumter-Freitag, although I never heard of it before and only know that by Googling on the title this very minute. What does that have to do with my comment about Delany? I don’t see any relationship. Furthermore, is the play _Stay Black and Die_ science fiction, fantasy, or horror? If not, have we transitioned to talking about any literary work with black characters or creators? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/71 "2006-06-11T20:41:51Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > … have we transitioned to talking about any literary work with black characters or creators? Not in MY thread, Buck-o. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/72 "2006-06-11T20:44:34Z")
That’s fine with me, but would DocCathode please explain why he brought up _Stay Black and Die_? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/73 "2006-06-11T20:50:48Z")
Perhaps he thought Delany [wrote the play.](http://www.citypaper.net/articles/062101/cs.bq.delany.shtml) He’s writing a memoir with that title. That’s a shortened version of an old defiant saying in African-American culture… the full quote is, “I don’t have to do a goddamn thing except stay black and die!” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/74 "2006-06-11T22:25:32Z")
Mickey Smith in the new _Doctor Who_ has the dubious distinction of being the Doctor’s first black companion (at least in the TV shows, I don’t know about the audio dramas and novelizations). Other British stuff in the right approximate timeframe: Gerry Anderson’s CGI remake of _Captain Scarlet_ has the same racial mix as the original marionette version (Lieutenant Green and Melody Angel are black, Harmony Angel is Asian). The BBC’s atrocious _Invasion: Earth_ in 1998 included one black actor, playing a computer genius/linguistics type who was trying to talk to the aliens instead of machine-gunning them like the (white) military types were doing. I think he ended up walking into the aliens’ extra-dimensional construct in an attempt to make contact, and never being seen again, though … Also in 1998, Idris Elba played a lead character in the _Ultraviolet_ mini-series, and made it all the way to the end. The 1999 post-apocalyptic mini-series _The Last Train_ included one black actor (Treva Etienne) and three Asians (Amita Dhiri, Sacha Dhawan, Dinita Gohil). Can’t remember which of them lives, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/75 "2006-06-11T22:42:39Z")
Laurell K. Hamilton’s works contain black characters. In her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter’s one of Richard’s bodyguards is black–I think his name is Jamil. I’m pretty sure that there are other minor but possibly recurring characters who are black, they just are mentioned too slightly to cause me to remember names. In her Meredith Gentry, Faerie series, one of the male harem guarding/surrounding Meredith is black–but I can’t be sure of the name of the character, maybe Doyle? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/76 "2006-06-11T22:54:18Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > In her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter’s one of Richard’s bodyguards is black–I think his name is Jamil. Yes. > [@Eureka](#): > > I’m pretty sure that there are other minor but possibly recurring characters who are black, they just are mentioned too slightly to cause me to remember names. I think the evil voodoo priestess from _The Laughing Corpse_ was black. > [@Eureka](#): > > In her Meredith Gentry, Faerie series, one of the male harem guarding/surrounding Meredith is black–but I can’t be sure of the name of the character, maybe Doyle? Yes, it’s Doyle, but he’s not black-person black; he’s _really_ black, like he was “carved from ebony”. I don’t think his facial features are ever implied to have an African cast, either. He’s Sidhe, not human after all. IIRC either his skin or his hair or both has a faint rainbow sheen to it as well. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/77 "2006-06-12T01:14:43Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > He’s writing a memoir with that title. Which would make him the Stay Black And Die guy .Delany spoke about his memoirs and that saying in an interview with a local paper a few years ago. Here we go [Sex, Race, And Outer Space](http://citypaper.net/articles/062101/cs.bq.delany.shtml) > [@](#): > > t is the tension between this emphasis on race and an emphasis on humanity that has given birth to his current project: a memoir about growing up in Harlem called Stay Black and Die. The title is from the old defiant boast, “I don’t have to do anything but stay black and die.” ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/78 "2006-06-12T01:20:50Z")
Um, **Doc?** (Points to post #73) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/79 "2006-06-12T01:29:44Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Um, **Doc?** (Points to post #73) Yeah. But I saw post 72 and felt the need to explain myself. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187/80 "2006-06-12T01:40:21Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I love Terry Pratchett, but he ain’t a literary writer, no way, no how. Excuse me? Them’s fightin’ words! Several very importanr characters in Eric Flint’s _1632_ universe are black, including the head of Grantville’s army. Isn’t Mike Henke (Honor Harrington) black? (On review, I see **Der Trihs** has tangentally mentioned her.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-characters-and-creators-in-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-1996-2006/360187.md?page=5)