Yup. As @Beanolini says:
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Margaret Atwood is my all time favorite author. For a couple of more that really delve into female psyche, I recommend these two (never was the biggest fan of Handmaidās Tale):
Alias Grace is the easier read and has some good historical insight into womenās roles whereas Catās Eye is richer, more about what itās like to be a preteen/teen girl.
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Thanks! Iāll add these to my list, because I actually liked Handmaidās Tale, so if you think these are better works I look forward to reading them.
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The āchallengeā would be that I often donāt know the race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation of most authors. I have hundreds, maybe thousands of books here even now, and only for a very small subset do I know these things about the authors. When it takes me more time to research their life story than it does to read the book, Iād say this is a case of diminishing returns.
But as regards daneelās original post, I have been hoping to check out Octavia Butlerās work.
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Nooooo. One reads an author based on merit. As a child, I loved Anne McCaffrey. Her gender had absolutely nothing to do with it. If someone tried to tell me I MUST read Anne, that would make me a bigot, I would have responded accordingly. Just as I am responding to you now.
I think some issues are getting confused here, something like:
who wrote a particular book, and whether and how that matters
versus
who writes the books that most people read, and whether and how that matters
I thought the OP was getting at the latter. If so, can we get back to that topic?
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One possible goal of this exercise is to find out if you have actually been doing that.
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Yup. So if like, 90% or more of what you read is by white cis-gendered men, and you think that what you read is actually based on āmerit,ā then what are you implying about other types of writers?
Saying that politics doesnāt matter is really just another political move, ya know?
ETA: Not that Iām directing those rhetorical qās at you, KarlS.
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I fucking loved The Etched City. And yeah, itās a beautiful cover. It reminded me of Viriconium-Era M John Harrison.
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I thought the beginning and end needed better editing, but the middle was so good that I forgave their weakness.
Definitely looking forward to see what she writes next. Her style felt like a more accessible (less unnecessary circumlocutions) Mieville IMO.
I tried volume 1 of Dial H after Cory blogged about it, havenāt read any of his other stuff. Worth a look?
Iād start with Perdido Street Station, itās his strongest work so far and shows off the āsurrealist fantasy/scifi/whateverā at his best. If youāre not into that one, you probably wonāt dig any of his others any more. (Though being a white dude, I think heās out-of-bounds for the purposes of this discussion.)
After that, I liked (in order of how much I liked them) Dial H, Iron Council, The Kraken, The City and the City.
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Iām not sure if I was supposed to be keeping track, but thereās a whole lot of genderbending in SF. Iām not that sure that I will Fear no evil was pioneering in this regard.
Iām super down for this! (Once I finish A Scanner Darkly)
Especially some Octavia Butler. Is there a reading list somewhere thatās useful if you want to do this and really like sci-fi?
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This made me think of the difference between reading a book ā borrowed from a friend, say, or free online ā and BUYING one (whether dead trees or pixels). Which is more helpful to support the writers themselves? Seems to me, if I were to buy 100 books in a year, ALL by non-WSCM authors, it wouldnāt matter how many books I actually read, or by whomā¦in a country that equates sales with value, Iād be casting a very clear vote.
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I havenāt found any lists yet, but hereās my recommendations based on my quick start:
- Lois McMaster Bujold (Shards of Honor if you want scifi, Chalion if you want fantasy)
- Octavia Butler (anything)
- Ursula K. LeGuin (anything, the Powers trilogy is her newest and is good)
- Connie Willis (time-travel: To Say Nothing of the Dog)
- Jo Walton (anything)
And Iāve had good luck using Goodreads ratings and just picking random books by women authors.
Oh, and Cixin Liu if you want a male non-westerner sci-fi. He is very good.
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Also Nicola Griffith.
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This list has apparently prompted enough visits to Amazon that searching for one entry will now pretty reliably get you the next several as well.
Iām stocked with a few short story collections as well - āMothership,ā which I funded on Kickstarter, āWomen Destroy Fantasyā and āWomen Destroy Horrorā (bonuses from the āWomen Destroy Science Fictionā fundraiser for Lightspeed Magazine, which was EXCELLENT), and āLong Hiddenā which I also funded. āQueers Destroy Science Fictionā should come out later this year, plus its bonus issues, and when that runs out, Iāll probably turn to some Octavia Butler and Samuel Delaney that Iāve had in the queue for a while. Iāll be out of N.K. Jemisin pretty soon sadly.
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I read āSlow Riverā due to a friendās recommendation and it was absolutely fantastic, and not at all like many things Iād read before.
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