And her fantasy is awesome.

She is also the editor/force behind the Women at War anthology, which is said to be “the first-ever original anthology of military SF by women, about women at war.” Most of the stories are, ah, not what I’d call explicitly feminist, but the project is definitely feminist in nature.

I think everyone should read every one of Joan Slonczewski’s books and I think she should write a lot more of them.

And I can’t say enough good things about Arnason’s Woman of the Iron People.

I wish she’d finish the series but I still strongly recommend Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman books.

And I like to give some kudos to Jack McDevitt for being one of the few male scifi writers who consistently writes great women characters (plus I love the archeology).

In an extremely well-argued Locus review of Oryx and Crake, Gary K. Wolfe treats Atwood’s claims—that she does not write SF, that Oryx and Crake is not SF at all because SF is “about spaceships” and squiggly things, and that she writes “speculative fiction” instead, though without mentioning Robert A. Heinlein, who first used that term half a century ago—as quite possibly representing a natural aversion to the less attractive aspects of genre marketing; that “she’s not demeaning the SF market so much as protecting the Atwood market.” I believe this is almost certainly the case. But words do have consequences, even words Atwood well may have taken down verbatim from the publisher and parroted. Atwood’s utterances, made in public to the world, are palpably untrue or misleading, and every slurry in the face of honest discourse damages that fragile world, even untruths about forms of literature.

Ohhh Alien Sex - another fine choice! ‘Roadside Rescue‘ is a great story (interesting how Cadigan is still largely recognized as a ‘cyberpunk’, even though the majority of her work isn’t even SF.)

Re: Pat Cadigan, maybe I should have reocmmended Alien Sex. :-)

(Personally, I just repeat the words Handmaid’s Tale like a mantra, which is surprisingly ineffective.)

Yeah, ’cause Handmaid’s Tale is teh serious, TLS-approved capitol-L Literature, and thus couldn’t possibly be Sci-Fi [sic]. ;)

(Sidenote: IMO Atwood takes unfair lumps in the SF community for her supposed ‘disdain’ for the genre; I think she’s just stuck in the now-antiquated ‘Speculative’ vs ‘Science’ dispute from the ’70s. A lot of what she says about SF could easily have come from Merril or Damon Knight back in the day.)

McHugh taught at Clarion West last year. A friend of mine who was in her class told me that he recommends China Mountain Zhang to anyone who complains that science fiction doesn’t produce good work. (Personally, I just repeat the words Handmaid’s Tale like a mantra, which is surprisingly ineffective.)

Pat Murphy’s short story collection Points of Departure (featuring the amazing ‘Women in the Trees’ and the better-known award-winning novelette ‘Rachel in Love’) is well worth seeking out. The book is unfortunately not in print, but Amazon has a list of used booksellers with copies available (oh how I miss the Spectra Special Editions line :(). Her Nebula-award winning novel The Falling Woman, though more fantasy (or magical realist/interstitial/slipstream, if you prefer), is also a great read.

Also highly recommended (though non-fiction) is Better to have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, an entertaining, informative, and at times infuriating portrait (begun by Merril prior to her death and completed by her granddaughter, Emily Pohl-Weary) of the iconoclastic writer, editor, OG Futurian and New Wave champion, without whom Canada’s SF scene would not be what it is today (ie, in existence). The section where Merril recounts her on-the-ground impressions of the ‘68 Democratic National Convention (which led to her emigration to Canada) is riveting. I first discovered the ex-pat Merril at a very young age (around 3 or so) during her stint ‘hosting’ Doctor Who on Ontario’s public broadcaster, TVO. I give her, the good Doctor and Luke Skywalker credit for cultivating my life-long love affair with SF.

Continuing with the Canuckistan theme, anything by Candas Jane Dorsey is worth tracking down, especially her (solo) debut novel, Black Wine (which, like TFW, is only nominally SF, but whatevs :P).

Oh, and kudos to you, Mandolin, for including China Mountain Zhang, one of my favourite SF novels published in the ’90s. McHugh is an underappreciated talent. And I too think Charnas’ work deserves more attention outside the SF community. The Vampire Tapestry is another unfairly obscure masterpiece which should be universally acclaimed (but isn’t).

:)

Pat Murphy’s short story collection Points of Departure (featuring the amazing ‘Women in the Trees’ and the better-known award-winning novelette ‘Rachel in Love’) is well worth seeking out. The book is unfortunately not in print, but Amazon has a list of used booksellers with copies available (oh how I miss the Spectra Special Editions line :(). Her Nebula-award winning novel The Falling Woman, though more fantasy (or magical realist/interstitial/slipstream, if you prefer), is also a great read.

Also highly recommended (though non-fiction) is Better to have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, an entertaining, informative, and at times infuriating portrait (begun by Merril prior to her death and completed by her granddaughter, Emily Pohl-Weary) of the iconoclastic writer, editor, OG Futurian and New Wave champion, without whom Canada’s SF scene would not be what it is today (ie, in existence). The section where Merril recounts her on-the-ground impressions of the ‘68 Democratic National convention (which led to her emigration to Canada) is riveting. I first discovered the ex-pat Merril at a very young age (around 3 or so) during her stint ‘hosting’ Doctor Who on Ontario’s public broadcaster, TVO. I give her, the good Doctor and Luke Skywalker credit for cultivating my life-long love affair with SF.

Continuing with the Canuckistan theme, anything by Candas Jane Dorsey is worth tracking down, especially her (solo) debut novel, Black Wine (which, like TFW, is only nominally SF, but whatevs :P).

Oh, and kudos to you, Mandolin, for including China Mountain Zhang, one of my favourite SF novels published in the ’90s. McHugh is an underappreciated talent. And I too think Charnas’ work deserves more attention outside the SF community. The Vampire Tapestry is another unfairly obscure masterpiece which should be universally acclaimed (but isn’t).

:)