Invisible 2: Personal Essays on Representation in SF/F by Jim C. Hines

Invisible 2: Personal Essays on Representation in SF/F Reviews

• 
  Christine

  This second volume is just as interesting as the first. There is more attention to native/indigenous population as well as age.
• 
  Laura Rueckert

  This important collection of essays not only illustrates how representation matters, it also makes the argument in a personal way for each of the authors. Highly recommended, especially for those of us who often don't have trouble recognizing ourselves in literature. Bonus: it also contains many recommendations of diverse literature and links to further essays.
• 
  Rivqa

  Building on its predecessor,
  Invisible, this is another thought-provoking series of essays about what it feels like to be unrepresented, or represented poorly, in speculative fiction.
• 
  L.D. Colter

  An important and and powerful collection of essays on diversity and its lack of positive and accurate representation in the genre of science fiction and fantasy.
• 
  Riah

  This is the second collection of essays on diversity and representation in SFF, originally published on
  Jim Hines' blog, and it's even better than the first. This one brings in religion, veteran status, age, size, indigeneity, immigration and surviving sexual assault, alongside essays that focus on disability, neurodiversity, race, gender (and not just binary gender) and sexuality, like the first book. The writing is strong, and the viewpoints are wide-ranging. I highly recommend reading it if you have a commitment to social justice, to help understand both the range of identities that are often excluded from or misrepresented in the media around us (and yes, media most definitely includes books), and what the effects of that exclusion/misrepresentation can be.
• 
  Melissa

  "When I didn't see myself in a mirror, I smashed it and saw myself in the pieces" (Diana Pho,"Breaking Mirrors"). This is a sequel to 2014's "Invisible" also edited by Jim Hines, and it expands upon the lack of any/positive representation in SF/F including abuse survivors, Jewish (but not a stereotype), ageism, parenting mixed race children, non-neurotypical characters, bisexuality, fat characters, asexuality, Native Americans and other indigenous peoples, and other persons of color. This volume includes a bibliography listing works with under-represented characters. I read this for my 2016 Reading Challenge "read a book of essays" (Bustle Reads).
• 
  Julie

  This is a collection of essays written by sf/f fans, about finding or not finding representation of part of their identities in sf/f.
  
  This is the second volume, and I liked it better than the first one. I'm not sure if it had more variety, or more depth in most of the essays, or maybe a combination of both. I suspect Hines had more personal essays to choose from in compiling this volume.
  
  They can be heartbreaking to read. They can be inspiring to read. They'll open your eyes to looking at the sf/f you're consuming in a different way.
  
  I highly recommend this book to anyone, but specifically to sf/f creators, writers, artists, editors, publishers.
• 
  Screaming

  A really excellent and diverse collections of essays on the importance of diverse rep in SFF. Some were completely unexpected, like Thyer's essay on the way the military/military service is portrayed vs reality and the impact that had on him as a vet. Others were expected but wonderfully nuanced, like Pho's Breaking Mirrors. I also loved Moore's essay on older women in SFF and Kwaymullina's essay on an indigenous perspective of speculative fiction. All wonderfully readable and mind-expanding. Highly recommend.
• 
  Alica McKenna-Johnson

  A must read for authors
  
  The book is powerful, inspiring, heartbreaking, and sometimes difficult to read but so very necessary. Each of us can do better, can create more diverse and complex characters. This book will help you do that.
• 
  Sarah Schanze

  Another great series of essays. Everyone who enjoys science fiction and fantasy should read these. Or even if you don't.
• 
  Rachel

  Further essays collected by Hines that show why we need representation in SF/F. I appreciated that this collection dealt with a broader variety of marginalizations than the first. In particular, I appreciated that there were essays on both asexuality and Judaism. Though the experience described in the essay about being a Jewish reader is different from my own, a lot of it still spoke to me. I was bothered that an essay on disability was written by an ally rather than a disabled person, but other than that, yet another great collection.