The Dark Fantastic - (Postmillennial Pop) by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

The Dark Fantastic is a groundbreaking exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction, led by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas's personal experiences as a YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education.

This book uncovers the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media, revealing how Black girl protagonists are often marginalized or subjected to violence in popular stories.

However, The Dark Fantastic offers a solution by building upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism, providing new possibilities for escape and imagination.

Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvented fantastical worlds that reflect their own experiences, challenging the status quo and offering a more inclusive vision of the future.

The Dark Fantastic is an essential read for anyone interested in exploring the intersection of race, culture, and imagination in popular media.