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.
+1 for Nagata...
I've recently enjoyed:
Ann Leckie
Sue Burke (Semiosis)
Annalee Newitz
S.B. Divya
Nnedi Okorafor
Benjanun Sridungkaew
Essa Hansen
Martha Wells
Kimberly Unger
Audrey Schulman ("Theory of Bastards" is a fucking underrated piece of work)
Cath Valente
Charlie Jane Anders
Emily St John Mandel...
@keydelk thank you for the kind words! And thanks to @GeePawHill for lifting up female SFF authors!
You can find several ( @tkrex @BrightFlame @ana @sarenaulibarri ) in the Bright Green Futures anthology that I edited and which is now free (for awards season)! https://brightgreenfutures.substack.com/p/bright-green-futures-free-for-awards
I love each of their stories in there but @tkrex also has an upcoming solarpunk collection (Wildcraft Drones) you'll want to check out: https://www.stelliform.press/index.php/product/the-wildcraft-drones-by-tk-rex/
@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 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
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 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.
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.
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
OMG... Is that _your_ wall? I _literally_ put my hand on my chest and gasped.
I'm so jealous! <3
<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.
<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!
I'll be honest the concern with _moving_ and _displaying_ my first hobby is a big part of my hesitation. <3
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.
@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
@GeePawHill A few from my Goodreads list:
Yoko Ogawa
Alix Harrow
Olga Ravn
R.F Kuang
Kerstin Hall
Kelly Link
Katherine Arden
T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)
Tlotlo Tsamaase
Fernanda Trías
Kaliane Bradley
Madeline Ashby
S.L. Huang
Emily Tesh
Emma Törzs
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
You already mentioned Arkady Martine; but in case you are one of today's lucky 10,000: Rose/House is fucking fantastic.
I didn't see you mention Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, who teamed up under the pen name "M. A. Carrick" to deliver the "Rook and Rose" trilogy (criminal underclass plus tarot plus Zorro save the world).
Also Victoria Goddard: Lays of the Hearth Fire
@GeePawHill I love Julie Czerneda's sci-fi books. I think my favorites are in her Species Imperative trilogy: https://bookshop.org/p/books/survival-species-imperative-1-julie-e-czerneda/36f8e644f506c6e2
Editing to add: She used to have an account on mastodon, but I haven't seen her be active here in ages.
Becky Chambers
Nathalie Maher
@GeePawHill Martha Wells, for the Murderbot series. Megan Lindholm (better known as Robin Hobb), for Alien Earth - it's her only science fiction work, but it blew me away.
Of course, the first science fiction writer was Margaret Cavendish. The Blazing World is a very interesting read, although it's early long-form prose, so not as easy to read as Frankenstein, which so many people think was the first.
I'd also put Anne McCaffrey there, especially for The Ship Who Sang and Freedom's Landing.
What a wonderful list! Here's one more:
Micaiah Johnson "The Space Between Worlds"
Oh, and Becky Chambers!
@GeePawHill Thanks for the list (and thread)!
I would add JS Dewes: both her standalone “Rubicon” book and The Divide trilogy were enjoyable reads.
@GeePawHill This is a great list of women authors and a lot more in the replies! I’ve read many of their books, but see a few unfamiliar names. I’m here to add two that I didn’t see yet, then I’m bookmarking this thread to refer back to. Thank you for starting this!
Additional women sf/f authors: Kage Baker, Veronica Henry
I've read a lot of the authors you mention.
Anne McCaffrey introduced me to "good" dragons, and it took me decades to get over the awe of her and write dragon tales of my own.
I love Valdemar as a setting, and Black Gryphon is a masterpiece. (The other gryphon books less so.)
But can we look at contemporary authors, too?
I love Lindsay Buroker for her snark (and her dragons). She does great steampunk and urban fantasy.
Well... and I have a handful of books, too. Pretty please?
Samantha Shannon's "Priory of the Orange Tree" trilogy (which is *awesome*) has both good and bad dragons, and a very cool magic system quite unlike anything I'd seen elsewhere. Lovely books, beautiful to read.
Currently browsing your store. Oooo. The evil "first one is free strategy" 😉#RubbingHandsInGlee
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