Women in SF&F Month: Kelley from Oh, the Books!
Apr
23
2015
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Today’s guest is Kelley from Oh, the Books! She and her co-blogger Asti run an excellent blog full of great book reviews, compelling discussions, and comprehensive round ups containing links to all kinds of interesting bookish articles. I discovered their blog last year when they co-hosted the second Sci-Fi November with Rinn and have enjoyed reading their site ever since! (Just like the previous year, Sci-Fi Month was fantastic. It’s a really fun event in which bloggers spend November writing about science fiction media in all its forms, and nearly 100 people signed up as participants last year!)

Oh, the Books!

Science Fiction Book Covers — Are They Different for Female Authors?

One of the first YA science fiction books I heard a lot of buzz about was Insignia, by S. J. Kincaid. The ladies at my favorite bookshop just kept raving about it, so I read that book as soon as I could get my hands on it (and loved it). When S. J. Kincaid visited that same bookshop later in the year, I was one of many eager readers in attendance.

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid

The entire event was fantastic, but a few things stuck out in my mind from that day.

  1. The book cover was intentionally “sci-fi” in style, most likely to attract a more male audience.
  2. The author likely went with her initials + surname, to maintain gender ambiguity (again, likely so that male readers wouldn’t be turned off by a female author).
  3. This author is extremely adept at writing in the voice of a teenage boy.
  4. The combination of 1-3 just plain sucks.
  5. The audience was entirely female (what?!).

Ever since that day, I began paying closer attention to the covers of YA sci-fi books. Much of the time, if the book had a female author and/or female protagonist, the cover art would have a girl in it. If the author was male, or the book has a male protagonist, the cover art would likely NOT have people on it (or if there were people, the design would be very “sci-fi” or masculine overall).

Obviously, this was just my general observation, and I did no thorough investigation or data collection about this, so don’t hold that against me. But still, I think it’s clear that when a female author writes a science fiction novel — especially if it’s YA — the cover art seems to either clearly appeal to girls, or try to cover up any feminine parts.

Alas.

In a wonderful contrast, I was lucky enough to attend an event with Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman for their release of This Shattered World. During the event, there was some great discussion about the cover design, women reading science fiction, and how all of that blends together.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What’s interesting about this series is that it seems to cross gender (and genre) boundaries quite nicely. That event was one of the few I’ve been to that had multiple guys in attendance; this series is clearly appealing to male readers, somehow, despite the fact that there are TWO female names on the cover! This series also gently eases readers who are new to sci-fi into the genre, and encourages them to realize that they might like it! (The books contain more and more science fiction elements as the series progresses.)

Where am I going with this? Good question. My point here, I think, is that all kinds of people like science fiction. Why should women writers have to hide their genders in order to appeal to their target audience? Is that even working? I’d love to see more science fiction YA book covers that just look cool — much like the classic science fiction books (or, like, every single middle grade book!), and don’t attempt to catch the eyes of any particular gender.

Women in SF&F Month: Genevieve Cogman
Apr
22
2015
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Today’s guest is Genevieve Cogman! Her debut novel, The Invisible Library, was released by Tor UK earlier this year. I read it because I loved the premise—the main protagonist, Irene, travels to alternate worlds as a spy recovering books for the Library, which exists outside of time and space—and I also ended up loving the book as a whole. It’s a lot of fun to read; in fact, it’s my favorite book I’ve read in 2015 so far!

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

In retrospect, I was not a very perceptive child. Or teenager.

When I was starting in on fantasy and science fiction – which, to date it, would be in the late seventies and early eighties – I went through the usual range of stuff, from the good (Tolkien, Hambly, etc) to the exotic (Moorcock) to the, shall we say, very much a product of its time. (The entire EE Doc Smith: all the way through the Skylark of Space, Lensman, and Family d’Alembert series.) I was a very hungry caterpillar very voracious reader, and shovelled down everything I could get my hands on.

I’m not sure why I failed to notice a lack of female characters, or their frequent relegation to stand-around-and-wring-hands-and-get-rescued. When I read Tolkien, I imagined myself as Gandalf just as much as Eowyn. When I read Michael Moorcock, I imagined myself as a companion of Elric and sort of ignored Zarozinia. But I never really thought of him in a romantic way. He was the Doomed Albino Prince with the Black Sword. I was like Moonglum, his true companion. Only better and cooler.

(As I said, I managed some truly huge failures in perception.)

When I read Barbara Hambly’s The Time of the Dark, I noticed a comment in a review about it: that it was a little unusual (though not unwelcome) that the female protagonist took up the sword and the male protagonist took up wizardry. And I thought, hm, you know, that’s true, I have been reading more novels where the men do the swordplay and the women (if they do anything) provide some sort of magical support.

And then I mostly forgot about it. Except to wish, now and again, that there were more women who got as much of a share of the limelight as Gil-Shalos did in the Darwath books.

It took me a while to actually start reading books analytically. Is there a better term for this? When you read a book and start thinking about it as a work which could have been different, rather than a glorious piece of art which is simply experienced and does not actually require conscious thought from the reader. Where you simply dive in and come out the other side after a happy “swim” in that author’s universe. For a long time I didn’t think. I simply noted that “character X has done something stupid” or “character Y has behaved in a specific manner”, rather than wondering “what if character X had done something else”, or “why should character Y be behaving in such-and-such a manner”?

Why, in so many futuristic worlds, did the women stay at home to mind the house while the men went out there with the rayguns? Especially if genetic engineering and super-science meant that men could be given ideal physiques and sleep-taught all sorts of skills? Why weren’t there any female space cadets? (Yes, I read and at the time loved the Heinlein, but I was beginning to think, “Where are all the women training to join the Space Patrol?”) Why was it always Seaton and Duquesne and Crane who had the amazing brains and starkly incomprehensible computers and velocities, while their wives designed clothing and kept house and got kidnapped?

Why did there have to be actual separate anthologies of short stories about sorceresses and swordswomen? And if the answer to that was “because they weren’t being published otherwise”, then why weren’t they being published otherwise? Come to think of it, why did so many of my fantasy books have the women in chainmail bikinis?

Why was the default pronoun in so many of my roleplaying game sourcebooks “he”?

What is the difference between James T Kirk and a green-skinned Orion space babe, when it came to responsibility for their actions, personal agency, and being a cool hero or a wanton irresponsible girl? (I always preferred Spock, anyhow.) Discuss.

Where were all the female characters who were as cool, as intelligent, as cunning, as strong, as elegant, as charming, as prone to make mistakes, as able to recover from them, as capable of sacrificing themselves to save the day, and as able to have character development… as the men? The heroines – and the villainesses too, the ones who weren’t vamps or crones? The scientists? The spymasters? The tycoons of business? The long-lost family members? “Luke, I am your mother…” Why were there so many teams where the main characteristic of the single female team member was that she was female?

Things do change, and they are still changing. But my complaint remains the same. I want to read (and to write) female characters who are as crafty as Locke Lamora, as wise as Gandalf, as self-sacrificing as Sam and Frodo, as doomed as Turin Turambar, as prone to casual romance and not being blamed for it as James T Kirk, as capable of being angsty and obsessed by justice and the past as Batman… in short, everything that male characters can have. I want them to have Spock’s degree of history, emotional conflict, and character development, Doctor Who’s ability to fast-talk and his hatred of cruelty, and the Winter Soldier’s tragic past history. And I want them to be able to stay at home and do the cooking and patchwork, too. And I’d like all that for men as well.

I am still a very hungry caterpillar.

All I want (all, she says) is for the female characters to be as fully human as the male characters.

We’re all working on it.

Genevieve Cogman is a freelance author, who has written for several role-playing game companies. Her work includes GURPS Vorkosigan and contributions to the In Nomine role-playing game line for Steve Jackson Games, contributions to Exalted 2nd Edition and other contributions to the Exalted and Orpheus lines for White Wolf Publishing, Hearts, Swords and Flowers: The Art of Shoujo for Magnum Opus, and contributions to the Dresden Files RPG for Evil Hat Productions. She currently works for the NHS in England as a clinical classifications specialist.

She has had three books of her series about the multidimensional Library accepted by Tor Books, and the first book The Invisible Library is now available. Her novels are represented by Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

Women in SF&F Month: Leah Petersen
Apr
21
2015
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Today’s guest is science fiction and fantasy author Leah Petersen! Her trilogy, The Physics of Falling, is a completed series comprised of the following: Fighting Gravity, Cascade Effect, and Impact Velocity. She also has published short stories in the anthologies When the Villain Comes Home and When the Hero Comes Home 2.

Fighting Gravity by Leah Petersen Cascade Effect by Leah Petersen Impact Velocity by Leah Petersen

Finding the Fantastic through Depression

Women don’t have a monopoly on mental illness or depression, but statistically, women report depression at higher rates than men. We have risk factors that men won’t face, such as hormonal imbalances or pregnancy and childbirth. I’d suffered through depression most of my life, but it was postpartum depression that almost ended me.

I’ve seen several well known fantasy authors come out lately to openly talk about depression. Perhaps it’s become no more than a stereotype as fantasy and scifi go mainstream, but for a lot of us growing up, just identifying as a fan was a pretty good indicator that we already felt alienated or othered by society, even if it was only in the privacy of our heads. Maybe I’m wrong in thinking this disease afflicts our genre more than others. I’m torn between the scifi writer in me that says “data or it didn’t happen” and the fantasy writer who says everything’s possible, and perception is everything.

Either way, for every one of us who talks about mental illness, there are a dozen more who suffer in silence. Admitting you’re having a hard time is hard. And the worse it gets, the more difficult, paralyzing it becomes. For so many of us, depression is what brought us together as genre readers. When we share those experiences in the writing, we’re talking to each other about something many of us know and most endure in silence.

Depression can affect your ability to do anything at all, but maybe some things, creative endeavors, like writing, take a bigger hit. What for one person is cathartic would be devastating for another. I chose this topic for my post because I’m dealing with what many call writer’s block but for me is more properly named “depression.” There have been times I’ve felt that my depression was what drove my writing, and that not-depressed writing wasn’t my best. There have been other times I’ve been numbed, hollowed out by depression. If the words are there, they don’t make it from my head to the page. Then I wonder if the inability to write through depression is the cause or the effect. Both?

Well life’s complicated like that. You can’t plug in 1+1 and expect anything at all. It might be 2 or -2 or 2000. I think that’s why fantasy is such a draw for the mentally ill among us. You can rewrite the equations for a universe that works differently than yours. You can lose yourself in worlds where someone else imagined you—just as you are—as the hero you don’t feel like.

Which is why I love seeing authors write mental illness or disability into fantasy. The project I’m not working on right now, as I find my way through this phase of depression, has a character who is bipolar. It’s a secondary world fantasy in a Bronze Age civilization, so naturally, their idea of mania and depression is more “demon possession” and less “mental illness.” But I find it striking how the ways my character approaches and lives with her “demons” is so similar to my own. Hiding it all, self-medicating, trying to use the Need. To. Move. of a mania to offset the periods of I’ll-never-get-out-of-bed-again depression. Finding ways of surviving a mania without getting killed, and the strange contrast when you return to a suicidal depression.

The methods may vary, the experience is universal. Speculative, fantastical, futuristic fiction is a way we can talk about things that terrify us from a safe distance. A way we can share and connect even if the connection is one made months or years later when the reader picks up a story and finds herself and her suffering in it. It’s so tempting to take fantasy and scifi and scrub them of the things that hurt us personally, because the world is ours to shape. But find and support those authors who make genre fiction a place where they can share this with others. It can be very lonely, on both sides of the page, but we’re in this together.

Next time you write your pain, or read yourself in a story, maybe stop a moment to put your fingers to the page or the screen and send a silent message of support to the person on the other side. She’s in this with you.

Leah PetersenLeah Petersen lives in North Carolina manipulating numbers by day and the universe by night. She prides herself on being able to hold a book with her feet so she can knit while reading. She’s still working on knitting while writing.

Leah is the author of the Physics of Falling trilogy: Fighting Gravity, Cascade Effect, and Impact Velocity.

Women in SF&F Month: Marjorie M. Liu
Apr
20
2015
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The first guest of the week is New York Times bestselling novelist and comic book writer Marjorie M. Liu! She has written books in the Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series, as well as graphic novels for Marvel such as Astonishing X-Men, X-23, Black Widow, and Dark Wolverine. Her novels have received many honors, including multiple Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards and nominations, PEARL Awards, a RITA nomination, a PRISM Award nomination, and a Kiss of Death Daphne du Maurier Award nomination. She has also earned a GLAAD Media Award nomination for her work on Astonishing X-Men. A new comic she is creating with Sana Takeda, Monstress, is coming out this summer (and it looks amazing!).

Monstress X-23, Volume 1

I’m often asked what it’s like to be a “woman in comics”, and while I’m sometimes tempted to reply with, “Gosh, darn, I just strap on my ovaries before I start writing each morning,” the truth is that it’s an important question.  The fact that it’s asked means there’s still misunderstandings, some apprehension, a sense that it’s different for women than it is for men inside the world of comic book publishing. It’s no surprise that young women creators might have that impression — for years we were told that comics are for boys, that women who read comics are outliers, that they need special “girl” comics.  That’s not true, of course — but it’s also not very welcoming, either.  And neither are the various misogynistic marketing snafus, the tired gender tropes, and all the other micro-agressions that litter the field.

We need more women (and people of color).  We need these voices, we need women to be in comics, on every level — as writers, editors, artists.  And the good news is that things are changing — and things have changed.  For the girls who ask me what it’s like (code-speak for, “Can I do this, too?), I want to reassure them that being a woman in comics is like any profession where you love what you do: there are going to be highs and lows, a lot of awesome mixed in with equal or lesser or greater amounts of disappointment; and yes, sometimes your gender (or race) will get mixed up in all of that, because this is still a world where women aren’t always treated the same as men, where the patriarchy protects itself and holds on to its stereotypes in a tight little fist.

But I’m here to say that you can do it.  And if you ask me what’s it like to be a woman in comics?

It’s so much fun.

I’ve put together a list of comics written and drawn by women — books that I absolutely love.  It’s not comprehensive, but if you want a place to start, this is it.

 

A Bride's Story I Think I am in Friend-Love with You

A BRIDE’S STORY by Kaoru Mori: a lush, gorgeous tale set in 1900’s Central Asia, about a 20 year old nomadic woman who is sent to marry a twelve year old boy.

I THINK I AM IN FRIEND-LOVE WITH YOU by Yumi Sakugawa: a heartbreaking short comic about love, friendship, longing.

Friends with Boys Skim Persepolis

FRIENDS WITH BOYS by Faith Erin Hicks: a homeschooled teen goes to a public high school for the first time, and has to deal with making new friends, handling old family trauma — and trying to help a ghost that haunts her local cemetery.

SKIM by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki – a goth biracial teen in Canada tries to figure out love, friendship, and her own identity.

PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi – a graphic memoir about an Iranian girl growing up before, during, and after the Islamic revolution.

Hark! A Vagrant Aya

HARK! A VAGRANT by Kate Beaton – a hilarious online comic that takes jabs at everything and everyone — from myths, comic book superheroes, historical figures, classic novels, and more. Love it: http://www.harkavagrant.com/archive.php

AYA by Marguerite Abouet – a lovely, uplifting graphic novel about a young woman’s life in Ivory Coast during the late Seventies.

Women in SF&F Month: Week 4 Schedule and Week in Review
Apr
19
2015
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It’s hard to believe it’s nearing the end of the month, but week 4 begins tomorrow! Last week was once again filled with great recommendations and discussions, thanks to last week’s guests. In case you missed any of their posts, here’s what happened:

I was hoping to post a mini-review or discussion yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to write anything up since I am preparing to move later this week. There probably will not be a new post next Saturday also due to moving.

Book List: If you haven’t already submitted 10 of your favorite speculative fiction books by women this year, there is still time to add up to 10 of your favorites to the list! It currently contains over 1,000 titles recommended during Women in SF&F Month in 2013 and 2014, and Renay and I are collecting more recommendations this month.

Upcoming Guests: April 20 – 24

Now, it’s time to announce the schedule for Monday-Friday! The next guests are:

Women in SF&F Month Week 4

April 20: Marjorie M. Liu (Monstress, X-23, Astonishing X-Men, Hunter Kiss series)
April 21: Leah Petersen (Fighting Gravity, Cascade Effect, Impact Velocity)
April 22: Genevieve Cogman (The Invisible Library)
April 23: Kelley (Oh, the Books!)
April 24: Karen Miller (The Falcon Throne, Godspeaker series, Fisherman’s Children series)

Women in SF&F Month: Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow
Apr
17
2015
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Today’s guest is Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow! She reviews both speculative fiction books and short fiction on her blog, which also features bookish news, interviews, and guests posts. Those who enjoy in-depth discussions about books might also want to check out some of the read-along posts since she frequently participates in these with others. Earlier this week, she posted her responses to the first part of a read-along discussion of Max Gladstone’s Two Serpents Rise.

Over the Effing Rainbow header

So You Think Women Don’t Like SF/F…

When I got an email from Kristen inviting me to write a blog post for this site, my very first reaction was an excited one. See, I am a fan of what Fantasy Book Cafe have done with their site as a platform. Women in SF/F? Hey. I’m a woman. I read SF/F. I do this blogging thing too. Right up my street! Then came her explanation of the whole thing, and why it’s a thing at all. Cue an eye-roll so severe I nearly hurt myself:

 
“I started running Women in SF&F Month in April after there were some discussions online about women’s books not being reviewed as often as men’s and women who blogged about SFF not being suggested when recommending blogs for the Hugo Fanzine. One response to these was that women were not reviewed or mentioned because they weren’t writing or reviewing SFF…” (emphasis is my own.)

Pardon me while I use these eye drops.

I mean, really? We’re all over the place, you know. With that thought waving its sarcastic little arms wildly in my mind, I started looking at the blogs and review sites I tend to frequent for examples, and there are plenty to pick from. Writers, reviewers, bloggers, even my favourite podcast – women, women, women, and you guessed it, women. Here, I’ve narrowed down the list to give a few shining examples, where you can find them and why you should…

Sarah Chorn (http://www.bookwormblues.net/)

Sarah has been high on my list of SFF bloggers to pay attention to ever since she began running a regular column, ‘Special Needs in Strange Worlds’, to focus on representation of disabilities in SF&F. That spectrum is far broader than I’d imagined, both in fiction and in reality, and it’s clearly an exploration that Sarah takes seriously. It’s done well enough that the column has since been picked up by SF Signal, and it’s a signal boost that this column, and Sarah herself, thoroughly deserves.

Rinn (http://rinnreads.co.uk/)

Rinn is one of my favourite British bloggers, and one that I got to know in the last couple of years thanks to her handling of the hugely enjoyable Sci-Fi Month event in November. I’ve featured reviews of SF books as a contributor both in 2013 and 2014, and if this online community event returns this year you can bet your buttons I’ll be looking at what else I can throw into the mix. The name of this game, as far as I’m concerned, is fun, variety, fun, enthusiasm and fun – and Rinn Reads’ Sci-Fi Month has it all.

Andrea Johnson (https://littleredreviewer.wordpress.com/)

You know, I’m fairly certain my foray proper into the online SF/F community is Andrea’s fault. Her annual celebration of vintage science fiction (happens in January, do check it out if you haven’t) both got me properly hooked on SF, and opened that door into the world of People Like Me. Nowadays she still runs her own blog, but you can also find her between the digital pages of Apex Magazine as one of their interviewers. On a related note, my discovery of and subsequent love for Apex is probably also Andrea’s fault. She is a truly world-class geek, and does what she does very well. She didn’t even pay me to say any of that. (I don’t mind. Much.)

Emma Newman (http://www.enewman.co.uk/)

Emma Newman is a British writer with an urban fantasy trilogy, The Split Worlds, already under her belt and a new venture into science fiction on the horizon, with her next novel, Planetfall, due out later this year. Her books are marvellous, but I’m featuring Emma on this list thanks to her podcasting efforts. Tea And Jeopardy is basically a bi-monthly podcast interview with a different guest every episode, but what makes it really special is the comedy/”peril” element. It’s well worth checking out for yourself if you’re not familiar with it – it never fails to brighten my day. And all that’s before I even mention the singing chickens…

Kameron Hurley (http://www.kameronhurley.com/)

I’m tempted to end this list right here with a simple “’nuff said”. Kameron Hurley is currently one of the hardest-working writers in SF&F that there is, and with last year’s fierce victory at the Hugo Awards (she won the awards for Best Fan Writer and Best Related Work) to prove it, not to mention her epic (and epically diverse) efforts in her books, it certainly looks like it’s starting to pay off for her. In short, there was no way she wasn’t making it onto this list, and if you want proof that women’s voices are not only being raised but being heard, look no further*.

* Well, you should, really. Like I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of us out there. Go. Find. Listen.

Lisa McCurrach is 31 and lives in Glasgow, Scotland. She’s been blogging and reviewing SF/F since 2012, and reading since she learned how to. (Her optician can probably back that up.) Tea and cake is her fuel of choice, and also how she survives most encounters with reality. You can find her at her blog (http://overtheeffingrainbow.co.uk/), or on Twitter – @EffingRainbow.