Black science FIction (or Afro-futurism) is poorly represented in African-American literature. Few of the canonized black authors of the 20th century have attempted (or bothered) to write speculative fiction. In Russian literature, particularly during the Silver Age (roughly 1917 to 1936), futurism thrived within respected literary circles. One of the most Russian of 20th-century writers, Andrei Sinyavsky, will be remembered for his remarkable story "Pkhentz" (Fantastic Stories), which concerns an alien who lives in Moscow, makes a living as a teacher, and loves nothing more than soaking in a big tub.

In black American literature there are no such indulgences. Of the big three men (Wright, Baldwin, Ellison), and the big three women (Hurston, Morrison, Walker), none ever produced a story that took place in the near or distant future. In a survey of the big novels and short stories produced by the Harlem Renaissance, you will not find a work of speculative fiction that is as substantial as Bulgakov's "The Fateful Eggs" or Zamyatin's We.

Walter Mosley, a detective fiction writer who is to attend Black to the Future: A Black Science Fiction Festival, and whose place in the black canon will be established by Black Betty and not Devil in a Blue Dress, broke with the ranks and wrote a work of speculative fiction, Blue Light. But for the most part, the black writers who have written speculative fiction have been professional writers of speculative fiction, such as Octavia Butler (who is also attending the festival).

Why is there so little speculative fiction in black literature? This is a difficult question, considering Afrofuturism's enormous popularity in black music (Sun Ra, Soul Sonic Force, the Neptunes, and so on), and in cinema (The Brother from Another Planet, Strange Days, the Matrix series, and so on). The harsh realties of the present, and the even harsher realities of the recent past, should especially motivate black artists to speculate on the future. This has been the case in every black art except black literature. Hopefully this festival will loan us the opportunity to get to the heart of this most puzzling matter.

Black to the Future takes place June 11-13. For schedule information, visit www.cd-forum.org/bttf or call 323-4032; event prices and venues vary.