Today @ Fantasy I posted part 1 of an interesting roundtable discussion about PoC in the genre, both as writers and as characters.  The discussion this week focuses on the state of PoC characters in the genre and it names names!  Next week we’ll get more into what writers of color are offering up.  The week after that we’ll discuss specific books, stories, and authors that we love.

Not coincidentally there is also an interview with Catherynne Valente up on the Angry Black Woman blog today.  There we discuss why The Orphan’s Tales is rarely praised for it’s multiculturalism or even recognized has having a significant number of characters of color.  A dollop for you:

Catherynne: Sigrid is black–which has resulted in the most bizarre conversations, where I mention that, and a reader will blink and say “No she’s not.” At which point I blink, and assure them that she is. And then I have to quote my own book in regards to the brownness of her skin, which is mentioned repeatedly.

ABW: Well, Sigrid is a hero and a saint and the protagonist of her own story. Unfortunately, that’s not usually the space where you find black women in genre fiction.

Catherynne: Yashna is also meant to be black, though for some reason no one ever seems to notice the black, female pope.

Quite a bit of interesting stuff going on in both posts–go read!