Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Female spec fic writers and romance in sf/f

What a tremendous response to my questions, "Why do I read more male SF writers?" posited last week. There were so many great suggestions (I did ask for them) of speculative fiction authors who happen to be female that I thought I would compile a list for my readers from the comments given last week. I love lists.

But before I dive into the list, I'd like to point you in the direction of Robert Appleton's posts on Romance: Bookvana and The Galaxy Express. Robert Appleton explores the topic of romance in speculative fiction and comes at it from a unique perspective, that of a male writing romantic speculative fiction. It's definitely worth checking out. There's also a book giveaway tied to the first blog I cited.

Now, the list, in no particular order, of speculative fiction authors who were mentioned that I should read if I want spec-fic without romance. Some of the commenters may have fudged a bit on the no-romance thing, but the list is still populated by authors they enjoy reading.


Mary Rosenblum
Octavia Butler
C.J. Cherryh
Connie Willis
Lois McMasters Bujold
Anne McCaffrey
Madeleine Le'Engle
Ursula K. LeGuin
Sharon Shinn
Andre Norton
Elizabeth Moon
Jo Clayton
Kathleen Ann Goonan
Julie Czerheda
Joan Vinge
Jacqueline Carey
Janet Kagan
Nancy Kress
Susanna Clark
Chris Moriarty
Linda Nagata
Robin Hobb
Steph Swainson

And the following list from Nancy Jane Moore:

Gwyneth Jones
Laurie J. Marks
Vonda N. McIntyre
Anne Harris
Brenda Clough
Sarah Zettel
Rebecca Ore
L. Timmel Duchamp
Sue Lange
Sheri Tepper
Suzette Haden Elgin
Suzy Charnas
Nisi Shawl
Nicola Griffith
Kelley Eskridge
Kelly Link
Mary Gentle
Lisa Tuttle
Molly Gloss
Andrea Hairston

And one commenter suggested looking at Women Writing Sci-Fi, Your Picks and Tip Tree Award winners.

That ought to keep us busy supporting female spec-fic writers! And don't forget to check out all of the fine ladies I've interviewed. A complete list can be found to the right.




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2 comments:

Polenth said...

I'm surprised Anne McCaffrey would be listed as no/low romance, as her books are heavily romantic. I enjoy her books despite the romance, but they're not ones I'd recommend to someone trying to avoid romance.

Ann Wilkes said...

Thanks for the heads up on Anne McCaffrey. These were all names I lifted from the 27 comments on the original post. I did mention that somee commenters may have fudged on the no-romance thing. I did try to read her years ago, but the book I was given to read was too knights and dragons for me as I recall. I'm extremely picky about fantasy and prefer SF. I don't like swords and sorcery for the most part.

My tastes in fantasy run to urban fantasy, Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde and Gregory Frost.