9 Comments

  1. Of course in the West we didn’t have the same problems with accessibility and cost of books (though I used to save up my pocket money just to buy books.) I can also relate the the introversion, and it was genre fiction that took me out of myself. My early influences were Robert Heinlein’s juveniles – what they now dub young adult fiction – and I soon moved to adult fiction, with Asimov, Clarke and the rest. In terms of women in genre, if you are talking specifically about science fiction and fantasy, my favourites are Connie Willis and Ursula K. LeGuin. Connie Willis is probably my number one pic, though. Others worth mentioning, of course are Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ, and Alice B. Sheldon. Sheldon wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jnr, and her books were very special, and quite unique. Is your Women in Genre focussing exclusively on science fiction and fantasy? Because there are so many wonderful writers in crime, horror and slipstream fiction as well.

    • 14468785_10155275918788275_4846562397247002011_o
      Haralambi Markov
      4/1/2013
      Reply

      Every woman writing, editing and reviewing in genre, including horror, weird and slipstream. I even have superhero comics lined up at one point. It’s a place for all.

    • 14468785_10155275918788275_4846562397247002011_o
      Haralambi Markov
      4/1/2013
      Reply

      Fantastic to hear there was this as a project that early on. I would like to get a hold of that book.

  2. Lee
    4/2/2013
    Reply

    Some women whose work in SF/F has meant a lot to me:

    – Diane Duane, whose views on religion have seriously influenced my own.
    – Janet Kagan, writer of wonderful alien worlds.
    – Patricia Wrede, who wrote the story I’d always wanted to read about princesses and dragons.
    – Jo Clayton, one of the first to write a strong female protagonist without shying away from her sexuality.
    – Ursula Vernon, trope-subverter supreme.
    – C. S. Friedman, author of (IMO) the single greatest closing line in SF/F.

    And that’s not even counting the household names — MZB, Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, and today’s hottest rising star Seanan McGuire. There are many more who operate primarily in the realm of short stories, and whose work I therefore encounter mostly in theme anthologies.

    • Ashley
      4/18/2013
      Reply

      Excuse my ignorance, can someone enlighten on what a trope-subverter is? I goggled it up and there were not enough information so I am assuming it is a relatively new term. Aside from this, great article, Haralambi! I confess that I don’t read many fantasy books as I am a hardcore science fiction and horror reader but my daughters already read Harry Potter books so I owe them by giving me a chance to read and find out why you and my daughters are so wrapped up in the series.

      • 14468785_10155275918788275_4846562397247002011_o
        Haralambi Markov
        4/19/2013
        Reply

        It basically means (the way I understand it) that the author takes a trope that has already been established and then does something completely different and fresh. It reclaims it and adds something new to it.

        As far as Harry Potter goes, I don’t think they will make thrilling books for adults. I read them as a kid (12) and for that age group, I have to say the series is great as an introduction to fantasy.

        Who are your favorite hardcore SF female authors?

        • Ashley
          4/20/2013
          Reply

          Haralambi,
          I want to thank you for the explanation of that term. For my favorite hardcore science fiction authors, I have not read that many but I would say it is Nancy Kress and Kristine Kathryn Rusch as I read their short stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazines. My name may implies that I am a female but I am really a male. I was exposed to mainly male hard SF authors’ works like Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, and others. I have Doomsday by Connie Willis that I need to read soon.

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