Oh! I still have a little bit of time in #Internationalwomensday, don't I? Some of the *great* sf/f writers are/were women.

I just spoke in another thread of CJ Cherryh's extraordinary skill at exposition in fiction.

But there are plenty more.

Andre Norton lit my youth, and is probably the oldest exemplar I know of.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder was there, too, with delightful tween-level fantasy, especially _Black and Blue Magic_.

Nora *fucking* Jemisin has won, so far, *three* Hugo Best Novel awards, two of them back to back, one for each book in the Broken Earth trilogy.

Ann Leckie's creations are universally regarded as top-notch sf.

Elizabeth Moon, with hard sf in usually military settings.

Octavia Butler was basically a god.

Martha Wells is big these days cuz of the MurderBot books, but her backlist is fantastic.

Ursula Leguin, who I think might have been the first female sf/f author I ever read whose name made it clear she was female, is, of course, *legendary*.

Arkady Martine has done some truly impressive work, esp. _A Desolation Called Peace_.

There are also writers who don't specialize in sf/f, but who have written there:

Margaret Atwood's _Oryx and Crake_ stands out.

As does Mary Doria Russell's *stunning* _Sparrow_ duology. (Be prepared to feel sad.)

The list goes on and on and on:

Charlie Jane Anders,
Tamsyn Muir,
Connie Willis,
Mira Grant,
Mary Robinette Kowal,
Lois McMaster Bujold,
Joan Vinge,
Nancy Kress

I am *certainly* forgetting many names I should not, but I am old and tired and working from memory.

Women have written some of the best sf/f of all time.

If you want to recommend others, just reply. We could all use a good list of women who've written sf/f on #internationalwomensday !

@GeePawHill oh boy, where to start…

Diane Duane
Jo Clayton
Carole Nelson Douglas
Ru Emerson
Barbara Hambly
Katharine Kerr
Katherine Kurtz
Mercedes Lackey
Anne McCaffrey
Robin McKinley
Patricia McKillop
Diana Paxson
Melanie Rawn
Jennifer Roberson
Midori Snyder
Sherri S Tepper
Deborah Turner Harris
Rebecca Yarros

@wndxlori JFC, Lori, you're killin' me here.

There are like 4 writers there whose work I don't know, which leaves a very great number I failed to mention.

TYSM!

@GeePawHill Largely Fantasy, although quite a few of these swing both ways.
@wndxlori Whatever. I *loved* Roberson, Kerr, Lackey. I spent *years* on Rawn.
@GeePawHill Ooo, I missed Judith Tarr
@wndxlori See? It can happen to anyone. :)

@GeePawHill Oh, man, I just went into my Kobo reader, and I have even more...

Margaret Ball
Patricia Briggs
Rosemary Edghill
Diana Pharaoh Francis
Ellen Guon
Deborah Harkness
Lydia M Hawke
Robin Hobb
Tanya Huff
Naomi Novik
Melissa Scott

@wndxlori Oh! Several new names, and a fair number of old ones. I didn't realize Robin Hobb was a woman. Good lord, there's three different series from her that are simply amazing.
@GeePawHill She has a second pen name, too... Megan ... something.
@GeePawHill Ellen Guon has co-authored with Mercedes Lackey, and Margaret Ball with Anne McCaffrey. But they both released their own books, too. Lydia Hawke's Crone Wars is a great series for women of a certain age.
@wndxlori @GeePawHill
So glad you mentioned Naomi Novik, her Temeraire series was an AWESOME read for the whole family!
@qole @GeePawHill the Scholomance series was fun, too

@wndxlori

OMG, I miss reading Katherine Kurtz _soooo_ much. The Saint Camber series was _sooo_ good.

I grew up on Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern along with her Ship Who Sang series. And now I can't remember if it was McCaffrey and Liz Moon who wrote Sassinak together or if it was Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey.

Giddy. Giddy with joy over here. <3

@GeePawHill

@401matthall @wndxlori Good lord yes, Kurtz, Saint Camber.

@GeePawHill @401matthall @wndxlori Wow, what a wonderful list! So many names I don’t know!

A few more I could think of:

Mary Stewart
Sarah J. Maas
Jacqueline A. Carey
R.F. Kuang
S.A. Chakraborty

@401matthall @GeePawHill
I could be wrong, but I thought Sassinak was all Anne’s work. Can’t find the physical book so I’ll have to finally get Calibre set up on my new computer to check.

But after the original Ship Who Sang, all others in that series are collaborations. BTW, Mercedes is working on a new book in that series but I don’t know when it’s supposed to be released.

Another Anne collaborator on that series was Jody Lynn Nye.

@wndxlori

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassinak

OK... This might come across as a I-told-you-so, pretty please with sugar on top, don't take it that way. I had to look this up because it's been a _hot minute_ since I've read this and I do _not_ trust my own memory anymore.

It does look like Sassinak was Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon. Next book in the series was with Jody Lynn Nye and then back to writing with Elizabeth Moon for the third book in the series. Kinda all over the place.

@GeePawHill

Sassinak - Wikipedia

@401matthall @GeePawHill happy to be corrected. Also, those collaborators are all over the Brains and Brawns (proper term for Ship who Sang series I now remember) series.

@wndxlori

Well, now I'm tempted to see how well these hold up against my adult expectations because, like I said, it's been a _loooong_ time since I've read these. I also never read Dinosaur Planet which apparently is the same series/universe as Sassinak.

I also can't remember but I feel like the Pern series and Sassinak were the same universe.

Now, I'm all giddy and excited about all the memories that're bubbling up. <3

@GeePawHill

@wndxlori @GeePawHill those bookshelves are beautiful. Very jealous
@sephster @GeePawHill Thanks,we renovated a few years ago, taking everything down to the studs, and the bookshelves were one of the features I focused on.

@wndxlori

OMG... Is that _your_ wall? I _literally_ put my hand on my chest and gasped.

I'm so jealous! <3

@GeePawHill

@401matthall @GeePawHill I’ve been collecting books since I was 10. About 10% of these are my husband’s paperbacks, mostly SF.

@wndxlori

<3 Seriously, that's _lovely_. I've had several decent collection that I've parted with for one reason or another over the years and I'm _so_ close to starting again.

@GeePawHill

@401matthall @GeePawHill I guess I should continue that almost all of rest of the books are my SF/F collection. And don’t be fooled by the cupboard doors. Of course there’s more books behind those.

@wndxlori

<sigh> That all brings me a profound sense of joy.

This just reminds me how much I _miss_ having my own collection.

Thanks so _much_ for sharing!

@GeePawHill

@401matthall @GeePawHill
You’re most welcome. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to find out how many realtors have been completely exasperated with me over the years, as I needed to find new homes with adequate wall space for my bookshelves. They’ve spent too many years languishing in basements, and I’m so happy to finally have them all on display in our main living space.

@wndxlori

I'll be honest the concern with _moving_ and _displaying_ my first hobby is a big part of my hesitation. <3

@GeePawHill

@401matthall @GeePawHill and your first hobby is? (Guessing… Lego?)

@wndxlori

Oh, no ma'am, I meant reading.

It's my number one, the other thing I do with my free time is video games (but nerdy ones... Not ones the kids like. (Rimworld, Crusader Kings 3, games that run on systems that can be tinkered with.)

This whole thread has just made me realize how much I miss having physical books around. The literal texture and smell of the paper and the lignin... Whew. Wild nostalgia.

@GeePawHill

@wndxlori @GeePawHill
Second many of the above, plus

Melissa Scott (Burning Bright and Dreamships / Dreaming Metal are *amazing*)
R. A. MacAvoy
Tanya Huff
Diana Wynne Jones
Patricia C. Wrede