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_.
@GeePawHill With federation it gets hard to tell who has and has not been named.
As stated below @Nicolaz is a fantastic writer. As are Malka Older @m_older , Caitlin Kiernan, Pat Cadigan @Cadigan , Sage Walker. Amongst our lost friends are Kage Baker, Patricia Anthony, Vonda McIntyre. All writers whose work I have greatly enjoyed.
H. M. Hoover - mostly young adult
Sydney J. Van Scyoc - read "Daughters of the Sun Stone" trilogy.
@GeePawHill I think no one mentionned neither Ada Palmer @adapalmer nor Jo Walton @Bluejo
@jpalies @adapalmer @Bluejo They did, yes, and I'm delighted to learn they're both -- fabulous writers -- on mastodon. TYSM!
@GeePawHill - offering a Canadian author Phyllis Gotlieb. I love her aliens very much.
Vonda McIntyre.
Elizabeth Lynn (though I cannot read the Dragon books).
Gwyneth Jones.
@GeePawHill I don’t think I’ve seen
Pat Cardigan
Annalee Newitz
Kate Elliot
Kristine Smith
Aliette de Bodard
Gail Carriger
Rosemary Kirstein
Nicole Kornher-Stace
Malka Older
Justina Robson
Mary Gentle
@hypostase @GeePawHill I don’t think I’ve seen Mur Lafferty mentioned, who I came to through “Six Wakes” and whose “Midsolar Murders” I’ve been really enjoying.
@hypostase @GeePawHill Ooh, and Malka Older, whose “Mossa and Pleiti” novellas are a delight
TIL Andre Norton's gender
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.
@GeePawHill Im a huge fan of McMaster Bujold and Julian May
Jemisin was a three-peat (2016, 2017, 2018)
@vocumsineratio Hmmm, I thought there was a one-year gap after the first one.
@vocumsineratio Anyway, imagine winning the most prestigious award in sf/f three times. Imagine doing so as a Black woman.
She's a gamer, btw, and used to, not sure she still does, sometimes have a glass of wine and twitch her gameplay.
@GeePawHill
Did you mention ...
CL Moore
Nnedi Okorafor
James Tiptree Jr (Alice B (Raccoona) Sheldon)
Kage Baker
And so many more ...
@RonJeffries Hah! Brilliant! I didn't even know James Tiptree Jr was a woman. I knew the others, and I simply did not list them cuz I was working from memory.
Excellent additions!
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.)
@GeePawHill wait there's a sequel to sparrow? that book is amazing
@hjwp Indeed there is. Enjoy!
@GeePawHill Becky Chambers, for *two* whole series of anti-dystopian SF.
Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series is an intricately constructed futuristic Enlightenment, by a leading Renaissance scholar.
@GeePawHill Sparrow. That one helped me come to terms with a religious upbringing, and to see the possibility of humanity in faith, but goodness does it bight.
@hypostase A real hard one. I actually have read all of Russell's novels, and they're really quite strong.
@GeePawHill Fantastic list. Thank you. I'll be bookmarking it.
Agree re: Sparrow but "sad" is an understatement. I haven't read the second installment but the first one wrecked me.
@dlbonhaus Yes. "Sad" is too weak.
@GeePawHill
Lots of excellent suggestions in this thread!
I've read or I'm in the process of reading many of the listed authors. Noting down new ones to try out.
I think Anne McCaffrey (Dragon Riders of Pern) was the first sf/f author where the name made me sure the author was female.
I tried CJ Cherryh in my teens but wasn't ready for her excellent writing at the time. I reread Downbelow Station in 2021 and really liked it. This is a good reminder to resume reading her books.
@roytoo Of course,. I didn't even mention Anne McCaffrey! I'm a dolt. As my wife points out, I'm not very smart, but I'm not very pretty, either.
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.
@GeePawHill no love for Diana Wynne Jones?
@pozorvlak
Hm, new one to me, will check her out, thanks.
@RonJeffries you've probably heard of at least one of her books - Howl's Moving Castle. It's IMHO much better than the film.
@GeePawHill Fully support Anre Norton, she and Heinlein got me into F and SF, but one of my early favourites was Sherri S Tepper. Loved Mavin Manyshaped, and most of her books.
@GeePawHill As I'm going over the lists in the replies and recognizing many of them, I'm thinking that the SF (Speculative, including Fantasy) works that have really impacted me were predominantly by women authors
The McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga is one of my favourites.
If you want to recommend others, just reply. We could all use a good list of women who've written sf/f on #internationalwomensday !
Just dropping by to mention Joanna Russ. The story I'm thinking of is (iirc) "We who are about to".
@GeePawHill Mary Shelley invented science fiction.
@GeePawHill Marion Zimmer Bradley
@GeePawHill nobody’s mentioned R A McAvoy yet, I don’t think…
What an awesome thread of replies!
Y'all the best. I got well over a dozen new writers to explore.
@GeePawHill I started with Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle In Time)
@GeePawHill Sherwood Smith. From the early space opera stuff to Wren series to so many more.
@GeePawHill Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed and its sequel Ancient Light are terrific. The titles say fantasy, but these are first contact sf novels. As is, it now occurs to me, Nicola Griffith's Ammonite. You could happily shelve them alongside The Left Hand of Darkness, but I'm not suggesting they are at all derivative. They are bright and distinct and with your time
@GeePawHill Kate Mascarenhas' The Psychology of Time Travel is as tight a paradoxical murder mystery as you could wish for.
@GeePawHill
Sharon Lee's Liaden Universe series she wrote with her husband Steve Miller is excellent but she has some solo books as well some mystery, some fantasy
Gail Carriger
Pat Cadigan
Seanan McGuire
Vonda N McIntyre
Emma Bull
Diane Wynne Jones
Connie Willis.
@GeePawHill Wow, a ton of really great authors already. I’ll add CS Friedman and Alix Harrow too.
You've already got many of my favorites listed, but here's some more:
Catherynne M. Valente for Deathless, among others.
Susanna Clarke's Piranesi.
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus.
Barbara Hambly for more works than I can easily list, starting with Dragonslayer and going from there.
Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist
Robin Hobb's epic fantasy series Realm of the Elderlings.
The Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein is a must read if you haven't yet.
It's mind-blowingly good in a few places and just really good for most of the rest of it.
@GeePawHill two of my favourites are on Mastodon!
@adapalmer @Bluejo
@GeePawHill A few more I thought of:
Monica Byrne - I enjoyed The Girl in the Road, and The Actual Star is on my to-read list.
Isabel Yap’s story collection Never Have I Ever, spooky fantasy horror pieces drawing from Filipino folklore.
Cassandra Khaw - more horror fantasy, absolutely gorgeous language. I’ve read The Salt Grows Heavy and look forward to reading more.
Bluejay: I'm a *huge* Cassandra Khaw fan (though much of her writing requires one to have a high tolerance for gore.)
I highly highly recommend her two "Persons non Grata" books as a next entry point, starting with 'Hammers on Bone.' They're Lovecraftian detective thrillers, more or less, with an unusual main character. I also really enjoyed her SF book 'The All-Consuming World.'
And yes, her language is glorious and rich, and she's also a nice person to chat with.
@GeePawHill I thought I was ate to the party, but noone’s mentioned Pat Cadigan yet
I think James Tiptree/Alice Sheldon deserves a shoutout.
Somehow especially relevant in the context of women's day. She really saw how well scifi could be a vehicle for expressing what it's like to be a woman in our world. Uncomfortable reading, sometimes, for men.
@GeePawHill Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot books and the Wayfarers series - great hopepunk/solarpunk stuff
Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor
Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden
Kage Baker’s The Company series - outstanding, and a shame it seems to be a bit forgotten these days. Same for Rosemary Kirstein and her Steerswoman series.
Aliette de Bodard’s Vietnam-inspired space fantasies
Zen Cho - excellent British as well as Malaysian-inspired fantasies
@GeePawHill MCA Hogarth has a sprawling sf/f universe with subseries in various genres. I’m partial to her cozy Dreamhealers series, about two roommates at a galactic university studying xenopsychology so they can be therapists to alien species.
Women are writing great sf/f in graphic novels as well: Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Bitch Planet and Pretty Deadly series; Kelly Thompson’s reinvention of Diana for “Absolute Wonder Woman.” NK Jemisin has written a Green Lantern series too.
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.
@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
@GeePawHill Martha Wells, known for her scifi Murderbot series but has also published a number of fantasy books too. I recommend starting with the Witch King.
@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 Martha Wells, for the Murderbot series. Megan Lindholm, 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"
Becky Chambers
Nathalie Maher
@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
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 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
@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
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
@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 Ursula LeGuin is the GOAT. I discovered her Earthsea fantasy series around 11 or 12, and I’m do glad that I did.
More recently, I discovered @susankayequinn here on Mastodon. While I’ve only read a few of her stories, they are really good.
@GeePawHill
I'm a fan of Elizabeth Bear who has written in numerous genres.
Jenny Casey sf trilogy
White Space sf series
New Amsterdam series (steam punk, alternate history, vampire)
Karen Memory series (steam punk, western)
@GeePawHill
And I must mention Linda Nagata who has numerous great books and series.
The Nanotech Succession
Inverted Frontier
