I should probably preface this by saying I haven’t seen Ad Astra and have no plan to. It’s not that I have anything against the story or the star; it’s that I’m bored of genre films being filled to the brim with cishet white men. I’ve seen The Martian several times. I really love it. But I don’t need to see it vaguely rewritten and starring A Similarly Generic Hero 57 times.

It’s 2019. Let’s move on, shall we?

I have some ideas in no particular order:

Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

A young woman longs for the galaxy beyond her home planet and the racism inherent in its system. She applies to a faraway intergalactic university against the wishes of her parents and is accepted, going despite the reservations of not only her immediate family but also her entire tribe. On her outbound trip, Binti’s living ship is attacked by one of humanity’s most feared enemies, the Medusae. Binti is spared and manages to negotiate with one of the Medusae, Okwu, to work out a truce between the Medusae and the residents of the university planet – one that allows Okwu to study alongside Binti and to live among humans for a time in the hopes of a more permanent peace. The road is not smooth and there is more than one disaster along the way, but Binti and Okwu eventually become family to each other, each willing to risk their lives for the other as well as for their respective, and each other’s, people.

Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, #1) by Tade Thompson

In 2066, the town of Rosewater, Nigeria, has grown up around a mysterious, alien biodome. Its residents are mostly hopeful supplicants, desperate to try the rumored healing powers of the dome. Kaaro, a former criminal, now a government agent who also happens to be psychic, has seen the inside of that dome and would prefer not to do so again. When other psychics start developing a mysterious illness, however, he is forced to face his past as well as the troubled present, lest a horrifying future manifest.

A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy, #1) by Sangu Mandanna

Sent away by her mother as an infant in the hopes of protecting her, Esmae grows up as a servant on the starship kingdom Wychstar, knowing who she was born to be and instructed in combat by a secret benefactor, but keeping her identity otherwise secret to protect herself from those with a vendetta against her house. When the King of Wychstar sets a contest for which the prize is the sentient warship Titania, however, Esmae can’t resist the opportunity to win the sacred weapon and help her brother retake the throne from their usurping uncle. Revealing herself to the world, Esmae finds herself unexpectedly competing against her brother for Titania, which throws her whole plan into chaos and pits them against each other rather than reuniting them. Inspired by The Mahabharata and other epic Indian tales, A Spark of White Fire has a little bit of everything: curses, family, and the eternal cycle of jealousy and love.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason

I reviewed this one ages ago (I mean, like way, way back in June), but I’m always happy to talk about how much I love it and its protagonist, the eponymous Rory Thorne. Part Princess Leia, part Buttercup, (supposedly) cursed by a fairy, and betrothed to a man she’s met once in her life and didn’t particularly care for, Rory should have inherited the kingdom upon her father’s death but is forced to step aside for her new brother. Packed off to her fianceé’s space station and under the watchful eye of his shady regent, Rory has to figure out how to outmaneuver her enemies with only a handful of allies, rescue the prince, and then ditch him so she can spend her life with a man of her choosing. Oh, and possibly destroy the universe to save it.

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

The music has died. Terrorist attacks and biological disasters have led the government to ban concerts, just as Luce Cannon’s first hit started climbing the charts. She still performs for small groups but always while dodging the police and with the very real danger of being caught and punished.

Rosemary Laws doesn’t remember live concerts; she spends most of her time in the virtual Hoodspace helping her customers locate what they need and organizing delivery by drone to minimize human contact. Then she finds a new job: finding musicians and setting up broadcasts of their concerts across virtual reality. Of course, to do so, she actually has to go out in public, which changes her worldview and her vision for the future along with it.

Salvaged by Madeleine Roux

Rosalyn Devar hates her life and tries to escape it by becoming a “space janitor,” part of a crew who cleans up research expeditions gone wrong. Even that can’t save her from herself and her mistakes, though her employer gives her one last chance: salvage the Brigantine, a research vessel gone dark. All crew presumed dead.

Except they’re not. And they’re infected with a parasitic alien. Only the ship’s captain, Edison Aries, seems to be able to summon any humanity, but his time is running out. Of course, if Rosalyn and Edison can’t figure out a way to halt the parasite’s progress, the entire human race may be doomed.

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

Zahra and her crew have a detailed plan to claim the abandoned space exploration vessel, House of Wisdom, abandoned by the Earth government a decade prior when a virus tore through the crew and passengers, killing all hands, with the exception of Jaswinder Bhattacharya, in just a few hours. Part of their plan involves kidnapping Bhattacharya, of course, because they need his genetic signature to get on to the ship.

Turns out, the government was completely honest about what happened on House of Wisdom. Mayhem ensues.

Reboots and remakes and white dudes, oh my. There is so much more out there. I would like some of it in my eyeholes, please.