A pan-African utopia in the stars

Any Star Trek will be familiar with the idea of using crystals to power a spacecraft. But what if that interstellar fuel source could be replenished not through mining, but by re-aligning used crystals with jazz music? It sounds like something Commander Riker would have approved of heartily — yet the idea didn't spring from the pages of a TNG script. It's from Sweep of Stars, a new space opera by Maurice Broaddus that blends the writer's loves of science, art, and religion in an intrigue-filled tale about a pan-African society called the Muungano that's forging a new future for itself across the Solar System.

To do so, the Muungano have to sever themselves — physically, culturally, and politically — from original Earth, or O.E. as it's known. That's not such a bad idea, because in the 22nd century O.E. isn't doing so great. Mired in endless wars and neofascist uprisings while straining under the burden of a poorly handled climate catastrophe, O.E. represents everything the Muungano people wish to leave behind in favor of a civilization that values human life, art, and exploration. But when a mysterious wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy appears beyond Titan, the scramble to explore it brings some of the most dangerous elements of O.E. and Muungano society into a headlong collision.

Sweep of Stars is a love letter to the world that could be if Black people in Africa and the African diaspora were finally free from the effects of centuries of slavery, colonialism, and ongoing systemic racism. It paints a picture of a people who innovate radically in the sciences and arts — often blending the two in unexpected ways that result in musical spacecraft and emotive AI  — while at the same time always centering the needs of the community in the development of new technologies. The result is an almost Star Trek-esque utopia, if the Star Trek future was built by Black people.

Sweep of Stars is the first book in Broaddus' new Astra Black trilogy, which the author describes as the culmination of every sci-fi story he's ever written. The Science of Fiction recently spoke with Broaddus to learn more about the origins of the Muungano, how the author's past career as an environmental scientist informs his worldbuilding, and why the discovery of intelligent alien life will likely only divide us further.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.