October SFFKit - Women Authors

Though science fiction and fantasy still have a lingering reputation as being written by men, for men and boys, women have been writing these genres from the beginning. Frankenstein, after all, is often cited as the first true science fiction novel.

Particularly through the middle of the 20th century, women often chose to write under masculine or gender-ambiguous pseudonyms, e.g. James Tiptree Jr., Andre Norton, and C.L. Moore.



Moving forward through the decades brings us to great authors like Ursula LeGuin, Madeleine L'Engle, and Anne McCaffrey, among many others.



And of course once we get to the present, the choices are too many to count, but I have to put in a good word, or at least a good cover image, for a few of my favorites:











Enjoy the wealth of choices before you, and whatever you pick, be sure to add it to the wiki!

I think my most likely choices are In the Company of Others by Julie E. Czernada or Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Planning to read Arkady Martine’s A Desolation Called Peace.

Currently reading a trilogy by Maria V. Snyder, so will probably go with the last book in that, Defending The Galaxy.

I hope to finally get to A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir, the second in the An Ember In The Ashes series.

>2 Robertgreaves: I like both your choices quite a bit. I actually reread In the Company of others several times, but I found out that Julie E. Czernada was a member of Scientology, and after that, nothing else I read by her could overcome that knowledge.

>6 amberwitch: I did not know that. I can't remember what caused me to add her to my Wishlist or TBR pile.

I’m likely to re-read Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. I’m currently reading her biography, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips, who refers to some stories that I don’t remember, so it will be illuminating to re-read them. But there are also a bunch of newer books that I’d like to read, including Emergent Properties by ‪Aimee O‬gden, We Are Satellites by ‪Sarah Pinsker, and the somewhat older Ammonite by ‪Nicola Griffith‬.

I am planning on reading The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey.

This will be the perfect opportunity to finally read at least the first of Three Hainish Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin

I just read Green Rider, the first in a fantasy trilogy by Kristen Britain. Not groundbreaking, but entertaining if you enjoy classic sword and sorcery!

>11 christina_reads: Oooh, this does sound good. I love me some good classic sword and sorcery!

I finished Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik for what I suspect will be several reads in this category over the course of the month.

And that didn't take long at all--I just finished Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick.

I read a science fiction/thriller mashup with The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. I didn't love it, but it certainly makes you think about things.

>12 threadnsong: I liked it enough that I'm excited to continue with book #2 next month.

And another one: Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale.

Yesterday I finished The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, an enjoyable series opener with a multiverse and steampunk vibes.

And I continue to rack up reads in this category with Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett.

>16 christina_reads: Well that says a lot about its quality and readability!

I finished Rocannon's World by Ursula Le Guin and just loved it. It's got tragedy in it which I had not expected. But oh my, the world-building and language and storyline are just beyond any expectations.

I’ve been reading Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. and loving it. I’d read it before when I was much younger, and I have to say it more than withstood the test of time. I’ve been able to appreciate much more the quality of the writing and the fascinating concepts she dealt with in her work, which, because they deal more often with questions of humanity, stand up over time much more than gee-whiz technological SF.

Unfortunately, the only copy I could locate was on the Internet Archive, which is currently down to a DDoS attack. I’ll probably just buy myself a copy, but unless the Internet Archive comes back up soon, I won’t finish it this month. I want to say that hackers who bring down public services like hospitals and libraries are the lowest kind of scum.

To complete this month’s challenge, I also read Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden, a small novella that still managed to be a huge disappointment. A blurb compared it to Murderbot, but it’s not like Murderbot at all. I could forgive the attempt at coat-tail-riding if it had something else to offer, but it was altogether an unpleasant book to read: The main AI character was unsympathetic; the writing, when it attempted to portray machine communications, was almost incomprehensible; and I couldn’t care enough to try to figure out what was going on with the mystery that made up the plot.

Finished A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine.

November thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365009

Starting Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

COMPLETED Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty and diving straight into the next one in the series, Chaos Terminal

I have set up the 2025 group here: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24518/2025-Category-Challenge. Feel free to stop by anytime, start suggesting CATs and KITs, and post your threads for the 2025 challenge!

(I'm posting this notification to a bunch of threads, so sorry if you see it multiple times!)

I have finally read Daggerspell by Katherin Kerr. This has been sitting on my shelf since 2011 and I am kicking myself for not having read it sooner. Enjoyed this one quite a bit.

COMPLETED Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty

Read the newest entry in the Elfhome series, Storm furies by Wen Spencer.
Then I started over from the beginning, and am making my way through the whole series again. Currently reading Project Elfhome.
I am not sure that I like it as much this time as I used to, but it is still a good read.

I just finished The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope, an excellent historical fantasy novel.

I finished another one for this month, The City in Glass by Nghi Vo.

I read The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer at the end of October. Archer is a woman, and the book is a historical mystery with magical elements.

I read all 3 of the novels in Three Hainish Novels by Ursula Le Guin this month (well, the last 15 pages this afternoon, but still!) and I am glad I waited until adulthood to read them. They are brilliant, but with a depth my younger self would not have been able to fully understand.

And for any of the Ursula Le Guin fans out there, was her concept of the League of All Worlds or her topic of the Hainish novels something she carried through into her other writings in the 60's - 70's? My 13-year-old self seems to remember conversations by the older kids and adults who talked about her works being more than the Earthsea trilogy. The references to other worlds and a sort-of interconnectedness in this 3-in-1 volume makes me wonder if I recall that about her earliest writings.

>34 threadnsong: The Left Hand of Darkness, probably her best known book for adults, is also part of the Hainish universe. For more books see Hainish Cycle

>35 Robertgreaves: Wonderful - thank you! Yes, I read The Left Hand of Darkness, and good to know it is part of the Hainish universe.