Science fiction by women authors

[chrispenycate]

I suspect the (now diminishing) paucity of female hard SF writers is due to the same factors that caused the science and technology college where I went to university to have nearly three percent of its students female, and almost half those in biological sciences.

Level with the dolls' house/meccano dichotomy, and trailing close behind the "what's the use of educating girls, they just get pregnant and become housewives" hard liners came "but if you are going to get an education, something refined, Letters, fine arts. Definitely not science, and much more definitely not engineering.

So, in a period when 'hard' science fiction outweighed 'personality based' by a fair margin, there were very few women owning up to being such (Naomi Mitchinson, memoirs of a space woman, the ship who sang, Zenna Henderson's 'the people' stories) and, as with the college, tending towards the biology/sociology rather than 'hard' sciences; a girl could have ambitions as a physician, never a physicist.

I hope and trust this is fading; anyway, there are more girls being educated in scientific studies, and more female authors are capable of doing convincing 'hard'…

Sneaks in Doris Lessing, and Martha Dodson Forward, and scoots off.

 

[Vertigo]

A few other women SF authors that I haven't seen mentioned here as yet:

Gwyneth Jones
Justina Robson
Trisha Sullivan
Leigh Kennedy (aka Mrs Christopher Priest)
Liz Williams
Lauren Beukes
Una McCormack
Lisa Tuttle...

All of these are well worth checking out. There are many, many excellent women SF (and fantasy) authors out there.

I was delighted to commission an all-new collection (okay, all new bar one reprint) of stories from women authors a few years ago:
150 Myth-Understandings NewCon Press : NewCon Press
but know full well that this barely scratches the surface.

That's the first mention I've seen of Justina Robson on these boards which I find a little surprising. I thought her quantum gravity books (those that I've read so far) wonderfullly quirky and serious fun. I have also seen them being recommended by other SF authors but never a mention on here.

Maybe that's just that dodgy search engine again.

 

[clovis-man]

So, in a period when 'hard' science fiction outweighed 'personality based' by a fair margin, there were very few women owning up to being such (Naomi Mitchinson, memoirs of a space woman, the ship who sang, Zenna Henderson's 'the people' stories) and, as with the college, tending towards the biology/sociology rather than 'hard' sciences; a girl could have ambitions as a physician, never a physicist.

I hope and trust this is fading; anyway, there are more girls being educated in scientific studies, and more female authors are capable of doing convincing 'hard'…

In another forum, Elizabeth Moon (whose name hasn't been mentioned yet) seems to include herself as at least a "space opera" writer. I know this doesn't provide automatic membership in the Kim Stanley Robinson/Stephen Baxter club, but may be suggestive at least. The book she mentions is Hunting Party. Not having read anything of hers, perhaps someone else here can enlighten me as to her "credentials"

 

[Vertigo]

You are right clovis EM hasn't been mentioned yet. I could of sworn she had, but on reviewing...no.

I have read and enjoyed some of hers; Hunting Party is from her Serrano Legacy series (first one actually) and is sort of similar to Weber's Honor Harrington stuff. Enjoyable reading but I'm not sure I would go as far as to call it space opera. Then again I'm not too sure what the definition of space opera is, it just doesn't feel right applied to her stuff, to me at least.

 

[chrispenycate]

Elizabeth Moon is ex military, and writes what she knows.

Even if, in 'Hunting Party' Heris Serrano is not actually in the military, she's been thrown out against her will, and uses military training and tactics in a civilian environment. And the rest of the series both she and Esmay Suisa are in uniform. Similarly with Vattas war, there is an entire society mapped out, but it is seen from the viewpoint of combatants.

There are a few technical details, like the messy work of cleaning out the life support system in HP, the weapons systems in Vatta's war, or the giant service craft in "Once a hero" – she's observed the mechanics of making a high tech military force work, and they're not all elegant and neat – but the accent is on human interaction between fighters, and military tactics.

 

[J-WO]

Karen Traviss and her Wess'Har War series is pretty blumin' good.

 

[Vertigo]

Elizabeth Moon is ex military, and writes what she knows.

Must admit I hadn't realised she was ex military but I'm not too surprised. As you say she does show many of the less glamorous aspects of the military machine which for my money creates a more solid foundation for this kind of story. Another aspect I am interested in is she is one of the few authors I have come across who addresses the issue of longevity creating a difficult environment for personal advancement. But that is a topic I plan to try and have a chat about on another thread in the future sometime, rather than drag this thread of topic .

 

[iansales]

Susan R Matthews is also ex-military, and I much prefer her novels to Elizabeth Moon's.

 

[Vertigo]

Susan R Matthews is also ex-military, and I much prefer her novels to Elizabeth Moon's.

I've not come across her - I shall have to take a look. I do enjoy military SciFi though it is not main genre.

 

[jojajihisc]

A few more..

Ellen Klages
Molly Gloss
N.K. Jemison
Kij Johnson
Nnedi Okorafor
Karen Joy Fowler
Elizabeth Bear

Some of those are probably fit more precisely in the speculative fiction genre but who's counting?

 

[JustPassingThrough]

Just recently I found myself getting into the stories of Kate Wilhelm.

 

[Radix]

I really enjoy most everything by Octavia E. Butler-
(never could get into her Xenogenesis trilogy)
the Patternist series (esp. "Wild Seed" & "Mind Of My Mind")
"Kindred" & the Parable Series are some of my favorites~

 

[Anne Lyle]

I would also add:

* Eleanor Arnason (reminds me a lot of Le Guin)
* Catherine Asaro (SF romance with a space opera flavour)

and the short stories of Aliette de Bodard (her novels have all been fantasy so far, I think).

I have to admit I prefer SF by women, maybe because it is more likely to be focused on the characters or on "soft sciences" such as biology and anthropology (I have a degree in zoology). Also, I work with computers all day, so technology-based SF isn't escapist enough for me!

 

[Ian Whates]

I would also add:

* Eleanor Arnason (reminds me a lot of Le Guin)
* Catherine Asaro (SF romance with a space opera flavour)

and the short stories of Aliette de Bodard (her novels have all been fantasy so far, I think).

Catherine has just written a new (long) short story for a Mammoth title I'm editing. It's set in the Skolian Empire and features my favourite character of hers, Soz (Sauscany) Valdoria.

Aliette's writing a story for the next NewCon Press anthology I'm planning, which hopefully will be coming out next Eastercon; so I certainly wouldn't argue with your choices.

 

[JustPassingThrough]

Kelly Link.

Kicks major arse.

 

[JDP]

Julian May is one of my all time favourites.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I really liked the original Many Coloured Land, but the series seemed to drag on.

 

[Connavar]

The authors who are in my fav authors and who happen to female are in ranking fav order:



Leigh Brackett
CL Moore
CJ Cherryh
Tanith Lee
Joanna Russ

I havent read many others simply because many of the famous ones today are in types of SF i dont read often. Military, Hard SF.

 

[iansales]

If you're looking for reviews of sf books by women writers, you could check out SF Mistressworks.

 

[Fried Egg]

Catherine has just written a new (long) short story for a Mammoth title I'm editing. It's set in the Skolian Empire and features my favourite character of hers, Soz (Sauscany) Valdoria.

What Mammoth title would that be, Ian?