Of One Blood: Or, The Hidden Self (Foundations of Black Science Fiction)

A rip-roaring lost worlds thriller written in the early 1900s by a pioneering black writer of black fiction. The story of Reuel is fuelled by love, betrayal and a heavy undertow of the supernatural; an impulsive medical student, he travels from Boston to Ethiopia, discovers a hidden city, ancient treasure and his own heritage. A new edition with a new introduction which considers Pauline Hopkin's development of the social and racial themes also explored by W.E.B. Du Bois. A new title in Foundations of Black Science Fiction series.

Foundations of Black Science Fiction. New forewords and fresh introductions give long-overdue perspectives on significant, early Black proto-sci-fi and speculative fiction authors who wrote with natural justice and civil rights in their hearts, their voices reaching forward to the writers of today. The series foreword is by Dr Sandra Grayson.

Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859–1930), acclaimed African-American novelist and intellectual, was raised in Boston, Massachusetts and first rose to prominence as a playwright and performer before later turning to journalism and literature. Her use of the romantic novel as a medium by which to explore race and social issues, through works such as Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South, made her a pioneer of her time. As an editor and director of The Colored American Magazine, she wielded significant literary and cultural influence, and went on to write stories and articles for a number of other magazines.

Patty Nicole Johnson writes sci-fi that envisions a more equitable society. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in New American Legends, On the Seawall, Midnight & Indigo, Constelación and Flame Tree’s Black Sci-Fi Short Stories. She is also revising her debut novel, The Rhythm of Reveries and has been a panellist at FIYAHCON. Visit pattynjohnson.com or Twitter & Instagram at @pattynjohnson.

Dr. Sandra M. Grayson (series Foreword) is a tenured Full Professor in the English Department at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her numerous publications include the books Visions of the Third Millennium: Black Science Fiction Novelists Write the Future; Symbolizing the Past: Reading Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, and Eve’s Bayou as Histories; A Literary Revolution: In the Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance; and Sparks of Resistance, Flames of Change: Black Communities and Activism.