Janeway the most inept starfleet captain, really?
Inept at keeping an audience maybe?
Yeah but a lot of stuff that is called âscience fictionâ is like that. It doesnât have to be literally about science or technology â dystopian dictatorships established after the fall of our current civilization are a pretty common topic in science fiction. And lots of horrifying stories arenât labeled âhorrorâ either (that smells of Koontz and King and is a no-go for literary work as well). Even notice how bookstores have sections for Science Fiction, Romance, Horror â and then âLiterary Fictionâ.
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Certainly there are many women writers, female fictional characters and such that could have been included on this list. But I found it informative and informed.
Until I reached Janelle Monae. Thatâs really reaching. If you want to talk interesting female pop musicians, science fiction-inflected or not, there are many many many that pre-date Janelle with a more distinctive (imo) approach to music and male-gaze-indifferent visuals.
No love for C.J. Cherryh?
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Wasnât Janeway better at everything than everyone else on her ship? I didnât watch a lot of Voyager because it sucked (an objective fact!) but I recall often wondering why anyone but Janeway was even around (especially Neelix⌠why?!?).
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How about those kick-ass ladies of Avatar (Both human and Naâvi), or Trinity from The Matrix or the Major from Ghost in the Shell.
Not particularly fair when you consider how many Enterprise ships Picard destroyed.
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Except for Scissors-Paper-Stone.
No one crosses Signy Mallory.
Iâm a little surprised that no one has mentioned James H. Schmitz. His usually competent, level-headed protagonists were mainly women, (e.g., Telzey Amberdon, Nile Etland, Trigger Argee) presented in the most matter-of-fact way. (Actually, that was Schmitzâs strength as a writer - he never wasted time explaining. You would be dropped in a world, seeing it the way its inhabitants would.)
That kind of matter-of-fact attitude is perhaps the most positive feminist statement possible: competence, in whomever it arises, is take for granted.
Besides, no one crosses the Leewit. 
Totally on board with you on that; the divide between genre literature and âliterary fictionâ is as stupid and pointless as the one between âfine artâ and⌠whatever is not considered fine art, I donât even keep track. I just didnât feel this particular article was endorsing this position with the use of the term speculative fiction. I think itâs useful to have various labels for genres and sub-genres, solely for clarity and descriptiveness and not with the goal of drawing pretentious lines in the sand.
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Iâll just stick this link to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database here (set to Sheri T. Tepperâs page). 
I think of speculative fiction as a broader set of genre fiction, which includes Sci-fi. Harlan Ellison has no problem using the terminology, why should we?
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Honestly - and I think you maybe agree here - but good fiction is good fiction and maybe thatâs how we should start putting them in book shelves. I think genres are a short hand for the industry to know how to market a book, but all too often, itâs leads to people who look down on those types of fiction not giving it chance - which is probably the core reason people use speculative fiction.
Frankly, they do the same with African American literature as well. Why shouldnât Their Eyeâs were Watching God, Native Son, and The Color Purple be in with the lit fiction (or American fiction, maybe), because thatâs what they are. They offer stories that would be of interest to anyone, not just African Americans. And they do it with gay literature, too.
Thanks for clarifying. Iâll be sticking with my initial response, thanks.
Well you should probably give the series another go. She definitely has the back story to explain her emotional instability around a few of the other crew.
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