"Ladies in SF" Meme

[theweaselking]

Via publius1 via montoya via rimrunner



The Rules of the Game Are:
Bold the women by whom you own books
Italicize those by whom you’ve read something of (short stories count).
*Star those you don’t recognize
Unmarked are those whose work you have not read

Joan Aiken*
Eleanor Arnason*
Catherine Asaro*
Ellen Asher*
Margaret Atwood
Camille Bacon-Smith*
Kage Baker
Elizabeth Bear
Eluki bes shahar*
Anne Bishop
K. J. Bishop*
Leigh Brackett*
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Lois McMaster Bujold
Emma Bull
Octavia E. Butler
Pat Cadigan*
Rachel Caine*
Jayge Carr*
Angela Carter*
Jeanne Cavelos*
Karen Chance*
Joy Chant*
Suzy McKee Charnas*
C. J. Cherryh
Susanna Clark*
Storm Constantine
Louise Cooper*
Susan Cooper
Joan Cox*
Kathyrn Cramer
Ellen Datlow
Debra Doyle*
Tanarive Due*
Rosemary Edghill*
Kate Elliott*
Carol Emshwiller*
Jane S. Fancher
Sheila Finch*
Karen Joy Fowler*
Esther Friesner
Mary Gentle
Laura Anne Gilman*
Lisa Goldstein*
Kathleen Ann Goonan*
Theodora Goss*
Nicola Griffith*
Eileen Gunn*
Barbara Hambly
Elizabeth Hand*
Charlaine Harris
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Zenna Henderson*
Nina Kiriki Hoffman*
Nancy Holder
Nalo Hopkinson
Tanya Huff
Kij Johnson*
Diana Wynne Jones
Gwyneth Jones*
Leigh Kennedy*
Caitlin Kiernan
Rosemary Kirstein*
Ellen Klages*
Mary Robinette Kowal
Nancy Kress*
Katherine Kurtz
Ellen Kushner
Madeline L’Engle
Margo Lanagan*
Deborah Layne*
Sharon Lee*
Tanith Lee
Ursula Le Guin
Anna Leonard*
Kelly Link*
Jane Linskold*
Elizabeth A. Lynn*
Katherine MacLean*
Ardath Mayhar*
Anne McCaffrey
Shawna McCarthy*
Maureen McHugh*
Vonda N. McIntyre
Patricia A. McKillip
R. M. Meluch*
Farah Mendlesohn*
Judith Merril*
Stephenie Meyer
Barbara Michaels
Laura Mixon
Judith Moffett*
Mary Anne Mohanraj*
Elizabeth Moon
C. L. Moore*
Cheryl Morgan
C. E. Murphy*
Pat Murphy
Edith Nesbit
Andre Norton
Naomi Novik
Rebecca Ore*
Rachel Pollack*
Cherie Priest
Marta Randall*
Kit Reed*
Laura Resnick
Anne Rice
M. Rickert*
Justina Robson*
Michaela Roessner*
J. K. Rowling
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Joanna Russ*
Mary Doria Russell*
Jessica Amanda Salmonson*
Pamela Sargent
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Melissa Scott
Ekaterina Sedia*
Nisi Shawl*
Delia Sherman*
Sharon Shinn*
Kristine Smith*
Sherwood Smith
Wen Spencer*
Nancy Springer*
Margaret St. Clair*
Caroline Stevermer*
Mary Stewart*
Judith Tarr
Sheri S. Tepper
Amy Thomson*
James Tiptree, Jr.
Mary Turzillo*
Lisa Tuttle
Catherynne M. Valente
Ann VanderMeer
S. L. Viehl*
Joan D. Vinge
Evangeline Walton*
Jo Walton
Martha Wells*
Kate Wilhelm*
Sheila Williams
Connie Willis
Terri Windling*
Patricia C. Wrede
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Jane Yolen*

Comments

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

There are a few really noticeable omissions from this list. Check mine for them (they're underlined).

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I don't recognise most of the ones you've added.

Margaret Weis, absolutely, and CS Freidman, and Katherine Kerr is ringing bells, but the rest?

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

Picking one name completely at random: you'd probably like Wen Spencer. Take a look at "Tinker".

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

Well, most of the rest of those really aren't terribly successful, but they're probably about as successful as some of the women who did make the list. Those three, though, are glaring.

I think a lot of these folks are very notable within the SF community, but not really known to your average bookstore shopper.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I don't know if her SF would be to your taste, but you certainly have appreciated some of Leigh Brackett's work already; she did scriptwriting for The Big Sleep and The Empire Strikes Back, for example.

-- Steve doesn't remember for certain if he's read any of Leigh's pulps; some of the descriptions sound familiar, but not distinctly so.

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

Guide to the rest (and Pete where available):

Gael Baudino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gael_Baudino) - Not unpopular 20 years ago
Kristen Britain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristen_Britain) - Pretty popular a decade ago
Sara Douglass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Douglass) - Pretty big in the 90s
Diane Duane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Duane) - Kind of a big deal...and has been for a while
Karen Haber () - Robert Silverburg's wife, moderately successful in her own right for some time.
Patricia Kennealy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Kennealy-Morrison) - Apparently was sorta married to Jim Morrison? Huh. Moderately popular in the late 80s.
Jean Lorrah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lorrah) - Best known as one of (IMNSHO) the better ST tie-in novelists.
Sarah Monette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Monette) - Kind of a huge deal right now...
Janet Morris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Morris) - Moderately successful in the 80s and early 90s, mostly co-authoring with her husband. Apparently now an expert in non-lethal weapons...
Julie Dean Smith (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/530535.Julie_Dean_Smith) - The only author minor enough to not merit a Wikipedia entry, apparently, she had some success in the early 90s.
Liz Williams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Williams) - Current, moderately successful.

[jjk.livejournal.com]

Doris Lessing.

She won the Nobel for her work, and (contrary to some of the others) she's not afraid to admit that some of her books are SF.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Susie McKee Charnas and Joanna Russ I understand, though I am saddened by it.

But Joan Aiken, K. J. Bishop, Pat Cadigan, and Jane Yolen? Really?

I have stuff to loan you.

[thornae.livejournal.com]

No Janet Kagan (http://www.janetkagan.com/)? No Margaret Mahy (http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/MargaretMahy/MoreInfo/)? No Anne Spencer Parry (http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A$nI)?

Okay, so the last one's a little obscure if you didn't grow up in Australia.


And IMHO, Janet Kagan's Mirabile ranks alongside Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds. I tend to accidentally re-read both of these every couple of years.

(Let's try that again without the buggered italic tag).

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

Nope. I've heard of Kagan, but never read anything by her. The other two are unknown to me.

[fatfred.livejournal.com]

Jo Clayton. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Clayton)

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

The omissions are staggering. I started going through my shelves and came up with at least 30 more names.

Biggest omissions IMO:
Robin McKinley.
Patricia Briggs who's been on the NYT bestseller lists.

Joan Aiken

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

I received about thirty seconds of "Thank you thank you ..." on my answering machine after a friend of mine received the copy of The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories that I had sent her.

(ISBN 978-193152057-7 for those of you who want to try it out.)

[dominitus.livejournal.com]

The first thing I did was scan the list for Weis. Was surprised she wasn't there.

[opaqueplanet.livejournal.com]

Authors hate me for this, but when I'm reading an anthology I don't pay attention to the author's name. I may have read half of these women in high school (it's likely I read many of them anyway, as my English teacher was a SciFi geek and a 2nd Waver - god I loved her) but don't recognise their names for the life of me. I don't know who writes the comics I have 12 trade paperbacks of on my shelf. I don't know if they're male or female. For years I thought Terry Brooks was a girl (BOTH his names are girls' names - come on).

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I still have to think twice when taking about Tracy Hickman.