reading female authors 2015 -- which next?

[Rob B]

Not the biggest fan of female fantasy authors tbh

Wow.

Back to the topic at hand. You could do far worse than diving into Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Rising, which I recently read on audio and reviewed for SFFWorld. A fantastic tale.

 

[Contrarius]

Contrarius, you must have subconsciously convinced me. Quite by accident, I realized that I've just picked up books by Katherine Addison, Ellen Kushner, Diana Wynn Jones, Patricia McKillip, Melanie Rawn, Helene Wecker, and Martha Wells, individuals who (I think) all happen to be women.

Good for you! I've enjoyed all of those -- except for Melanie Rawn, whom I haven't read yet.

Which Ellen Kushner? Swordspoint is an excellent tale, though I hated the audio production.

This has caused me to consider whether I'm not being fair to male authors.

Ha! Go back to reading them later. ;-)

 

[Contrarius]

Wow.

Back to the topic at hand. You could do far worse than diving into Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Rising, which I recently read on audio and reviewed for SFFWorld. A fantastic tale.

Yup, I saw your review. I've definitely got it in mind.

Right now I'm really enjoying Juliet Marillier's latest, Dreamer's Pool. It is not nearly as meandering as the only other book of hers that I've read, Daughter of the Forest. Still with a bit of fairytale vibe, though. I don't much like the audio production -- using a different narrator for each POV -- but so far it hasn't driven me away from the book.

 

[DJ94122]

Which Ellen Kushner? Swordspoint is an excellent tale, though I hated the audio production.

Yep! But it's not my first Ellen Kushner: I purchased Thomas the Rhymer a while back, although I haven't gotten around to it, yet. Sometimes I have more success building my TBR pile than actually reading through it...

 

[Contrarius]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I noticed you didn't put Lindsay Buroker on your list. Have you tried her series, The Emperor's Edge? It's a fun read.

I just discovered another series by her, the Dragon Blood series. Evidently steampunk. The first three books in the series are currently available on Amazon in a bundle for $0.99 total, and they have good reviews on GR, so I bought the bundle. We Shall See.

 

[N. E. White]

Dragon Blood

I've been meaning to try that series. It looked like YA so I didn't. Please let us know what you think.

 

[Davis Ashura]

Here's a list from Buzzfeed about 11 of the best fantasy series you never heard of. It's Buzzfeed, so the list is going to be for people who don't usually read fantasy. Notice that 10/11 of the writers on this list are women. Thankfully, they're all well known in the general fantasy community. Or at least they should be.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kayetoal/sorry-i-didnt-include-wheel-of-time#.ddEYbNxNP

 

[Ryan Mueller]

Here's a list from Buzzfeed about 11 of the best fantasy series you never heard of. It's Buzzfeed, so the list is going to be for people who don't usually read fantasy. Notice that 10/11 of the writers on this list are women. Thankfully, they're all well known in the general fantasy community. Or at least they should be.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kayetoal/sorry-i-didnt-include-wheel-of-time#.ddEYbNxNP

I haven't read all of them yet, but I have heard of all of them. None of them seem that obscure to me.

 

[Contrarius]

Here's a list from Buzzfeed about 11 of the best fantasy series you never heard of. It's Buzzfeed, so the list is going to be for people who don't usually read fantasy. Notice that 10/11 of the writers on this list are women. Thankfully, they're all well known in the general fantasy community. Or at least they should be.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kayetoal/sorry-i-didnt-include-wheel-of-time#.ddEYbNxNP

Interesting list. Looks like it's heavily weighted to YA?

 

[Davis Ashura]

Interesting list. Looks like it's heavily weighted to YA?

I would say 4 of the choices in that list are YA, but what I'm discovering is that YA is quite different than I remember or imagine.

There's just as much violence and bad doings and adult themes in YA as what you would see in something labelled an 'adult' fantasy. Some of it is even on-screen so to speak. In general, though, it simply isn't quite as detailed and the protagonists are young adults ie 16-20ish but how much it strikes me emotionally is about the same ie if it's a good YA book, it's a good book.

 

[bard`s song]

Wow.

Back to the topic at hand. You could do far worse than diving into Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Rising, which I recently read on audio and reviewed for SFFWorld. A fantastic tale.

Haha, this is not a sexist thing. I just struggle to get into most books written by females. Or German fantasy authors.
I have finished Stella Gemmel`s "The City" not too long ago which has been a good read.

On my pile are the first 2 books of the Farseer trilogy and the first book of a trilogy written by Claudia Kern. Who is a female German fantasy author.

 

[Contrarius]

Update --

I've had a lot of fun reading female authors so far this year, but I'm not sure whether I've actually learned any Mysteries of the Universes or Secrets of the Genders while doing it. It is my impression that women tend to write stories with a closer focus on character than men do, but I could very easily be wrong about that -- anecdotal evidence, personal filters, choice of materials, and all that.

Anybody got new startling revelations, or personal prejudices, or anything else to share?

(btw, right now I'm just about halfway through The Sparrow. Really interesting book, but I'm just getting to the seriously depressing part. Not sure I'm looking forward to it!)

 

[DJ94122]

Anybody got new startling revelations, or personal prejudices, or anything else to share?

Is prejudice necessarily negative? I tend to think of myself as prejudiced in favor of mink chocolate chip ice cream. Or perhaps my fondness for mink chocolate chip means I'm necessarily prejudiced against peach ice cream (which, of course, is not really a very controversial statement since everybody will admit peach ice cream is disgusting). I don't know.

As far as female fantasy authors goes:

Revelation #1 which is caused by a prejudice: My opinion of the works of both men and women is affected by extreme selection bias; that is, I read what I think will interest me. In this regard, I generally find no differences between male and female authors.
Prejudice #2: Women seem to write less grimdark (disclaimer: I really have no idea what that word means, anymore); I don't like grimdark, even though I can't define it. Anyway, I am prejudiced to believe that if I pick up a woman author, I am less likely to be blindsided by a stealth grimdark novel.

There is probably more, but I really have to get to work.

 

[Contrarius]

mink chocolate chip ice cream.

Mink chocolate chip sounds expensive. Is it even legal? Maybe in hunting season?

Women seem to write less grimdark

I agree with you, partially. More specifically, it seems to me that men may write the the-world-is-hopeless-there-is-no-point sort of grimdark, while women can write very grim tales but typically with more hope hiding somewhere under the debris.

Disclaimers again: anecdotal evidence, personal filters, selection bias, yada yada.

 

[DJ94122]

Mink chocolate chip sounds expensive. Is it even legal? Maybe in hunting season?

Very expensive. Not legal. But I find it much less slippery than weasel chocolate chip ice cream.

Amazing that I managed to misspell that not once, but twice.

 

[Randy M.]

And there I thought it was ice cream that was extremely smooth, if ticklish.


Randy M.

 

[Contrarius]

Very expensive. Not legal. But I find it much less slippery than weasel chocolate chip ice cream.

Just don't let PETA find out.

Amazing that I managed to misspell that not once, but twice.

Looks like your brain was stuck halfway between mint and milk!

 

[Contrarius]

It's the end of the year!

The final list of my "sff by female authors" reading is updated in the first post of this thread. I ended up with 57 new books (or, as with the McKillip, books that I read so long ago I didn't remember at all), 1 recent reread, and 4 dnfs. Of those 4 dnfs, I intend to go back and read 2 of them -- I just wasn't in the mood at the time.

All in all, I think it was a great challenge. I got exposed to a whole boatload of authors I'd never read before. And although this was a very biased sample, selected based on my own personal preferences (so I can't really draw objective conclusions), in general I was very happy with both the quality of the writing and the emphasis on character in most of the books.

My 5-star reads for the year:

The Liar's Key -- Mark Lawrence -- I just really, really love the main characters in Mark's new series, and the narrative voicing. It's hard to imagine having more fun with a book. -- yes, he wasn't on the female authors list. Tough.

The Riddle-Master of Hed -- Patricia McKillip
Harpist in the Wind -- Patricia McKillip
Heir of Sea and Fire -- Patricia McKillip -- She's poetic and beautiful and moving.

The Sparrow/Children of God (which absolutely should be read together) -- Mary Doria Russell -- I love the way this story and its themes unfold from beginning to end. Just when you think you know what it's about, it isn't. Russell had a very clear vision of what she wanted to do, and she carried it out admirably.

Station Eleven -- Emily St. John Mandel -- how worlds end ("the" world, "your" world, "his" world, "their" world), and how they haven't ended after all.

For all my reviews, see my reviews on Goodreads -- username Contrarius.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with recommendations on books and authors. My average rating on GR has soared this year because of all the *good* books I've been reading, as opposed to run-of-the-mill random books. I'm going to try to keep reading more female authors, and I'll especially try to read a few of the books that I had on my list this year and didn't get to. It was a good challenge!

 

[Alchemist]

Have you read NK Jemisin? I've only read The Fifth Season, but it was excellent.

 

[Contrarius]

Have you read NK Jemisin? I've only read The Fifth Season, but it was excellent.

I read The Fifth Season during this year's challenge. I thought the worldbuilding was great, but some parts of the plotting -- especially the ending -- annoyed the heck outta me. I'll definitely read the sequel, though.

I also tried reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms a coupla years ago, but I bounced off of it. I may try it again one of these days.