Grayson examines how black science fiction writers such as Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delaney and Steven Barnes interweave memories of African enslavement in their works, revealing journeys in time through Africa that are both metaphorical and literal in their span of physical space, traditional beliefs and African history. By looking backwards and forwards in their novels these authors create a notion of the past, present and future as inseparable and recurring. Confronting a variety of socio-cultural concerns, these novels call for positive activism.