Thank you to last week’s guests for another great week! This month has flown by, and it’s hard to believe the last week is about to begin. Before announcing the schedule for the final week, here’s what happened last week in case you missed any of it:
- Rachel Cotterill (Strange Charm, Watersmeet, Chronicles of Charanthe) analyzed realism and idealism of representation in science fiction and fantasy and several books that explore social issues through both approaches.
- Susan Jane Bigelow (The Extrahuman Union, Grayline Sisters) discussed the difficulty of finding science fiction/fantasy books with older women as protagonists, shared a few books she enjoyed that do feature them, and asked about your own favorites.
- Kari Sperring (The Grass King’s Concubine, Living with Ghosts) shared why Justina Robson’s Quantum Gravity series matters when discussing women in science fiction and fantasy: “This is an important series, a brilliant series, which cuts to the heart of what is wrong with a world that tells women to work and be nice and run households and be kind and be ambitious but know our place.”
- Dina (SFF Book Reviews) discussed her experience with discovering great women writing SFF through reading challenges and some of her favorite underread authors (and ended with a long list of authors she recommends, which I was very excited to see included a few new-to-me names to check out!).
- Janny Wurts (Wars of Light and Shadow, To Ride Hell’s Chasm, Master of Whitestorm) wondered if mainstream success is selling out imagination in SFF in favor of apocalyptic cynicism.
- I’m running an international giveaway of Karen Lord’s wonderful science fiction novel The Best of All Possible Worlds.
Also, Renay and I are once again collecting favorites to add to the giant list of recommended SFF books written by women (which now includes nearly 1500 books with many recommended by multiple people!). Thank you so much to everyone who has added some recommendations! If you haven’t already added some recommendations this year and would like to do so, you can add 10 of your favorite SFF books by women you read in the last year here. These books can be old or new.
And now, the schedule for the final week of Women in SF&F Month, starting tomorrow!
April 25: Emma Newman (The Split Worlds, Planetfall, Tea and Jeopardy podcast)
April 26: Lisa (Tenacious Reader, The Speculative Herald)
April 27: Laura Anne Gilman (The Devil’s West, The Vineart War, Retrievers)
April 28: Joanna (Strange Charm)
April 29: Laura Lam (False Hearts, Micah Grey)
April 30: Bone and Jewel Creatures Review
