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Women to read
Apr. 25th, 2013 09:47 amIt's blog a woman writer day, organized by Kari Sperring under the hashtag #womentoread, see Kari's blog entry here for a little background on the project.
It's going to be hard for me to pick just one sff writer to blog about. I could start with Kari, whose debut novel LIVING WITH GHOSTS inspired me to write her a fan letter, and strike up a friendship.
Or do I reach back to my early years of reading fantasy, and Gillian Bradshaw, whose Arthurian trilogy (HAWK OF MAY/KINGDOM OF SUMMER/IN WINTER'S SHADOW) is indelibly etched in my mind as the standard by which all other Arthurian reimaginings are judged? She drove me to fits of despair when I realized how young she was when she wrote those books. She's since gone on to craft wonderful historical novels, detouring into fantasy and hard science fiction along the way.
Turning back to more recent reads, Rachel Neumeier's Griffin Mage trilogy was a brilliant exploration of non-human magic, and the inevitable clash of cultures that have no common reference points. Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift books combine lush prose, a fascinating magic system, and are grounded in such a sense of place that I gave them to a friend as a tongue in cheek London travel guide (although she's now hoping not to encounter any of the monsters featured in the stories when she ventures to London next month.)
For science fiction, is now a good time to confess that I was tongue tied when I met Kristine Smith at a World Fantasy Convention? It took me at least one drink before I was able to summon the courage to explain that I hadn't just read her Jani Kilian novels, I had read them multiple times. We were both published authors, sitting in the bar with our mutual agent, and I was still overwhelmed.
Glancing at my TBR stack, the majority of it is comprised of women authors-- Rob Thurman, Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, Juliet E. McKenna, Robin Hobb, Patricia Briggs, Elizabeth Bear, Tanya Huff, just to name the ones I can see from here.
Women authors are like chocolate chip cookies-- you can't stop with just one. Go ahead, try one of the authors above, or any of the recommendations piling up on the twitter feed. Read, enjoy and recommend the books to others. Unlike cookies, there's no point in hoarding all the good books for yourself. The best way to ensure that there are more great books to read is to support authors by buying the books already out there, and encouraging others to do the same.
It's going to be hard for me to pick just one sff writer to blog about. I could start with Kari, whose debut novel LIVING WITH GHOSTS inspired me to write her a fan letter, and strike up a friendship.
Or do I reach back to my early years of reading fantasy, and Gillian Bradshaw, whose Arthurian trilogy (HAWK OF MAY/KINGDOM OF SUMMER/IN WINTER'S SHADOW) is indelibly etched in my mind as the standard by which all other Arthurian reimaginings are judged? She drove me to fits of despair when I realized how young she was when she wrote those books. She's since gone on to craft wonderful historical novels, detouring into fantasy and hard science fiction along the way.
Turning back to more recent reads, Rachel Neumeier's Griffin Mage trilogy was a brilliant exploration of non-human magic, and the inevitable clash of cultures that have no common reference points. Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift books combine lush prose, a fascinating magic system, and are grounded in such a sense of place that I gave them to a friend as a tongue in cheek London travel guide (although she's now hoping not to encounter any of the monsters featured in the stories when she ventures to London next month.)
For science fiction, is now a good time to confess that I was tongue tied when I met Kristine Smith at a World Fantasy Convention? It took me at least one drink before I was able to summon the courage to explain that I hadn't just read her Jani Kilian novels, I had read them multiple times. We were both published authors, sitting in the bar with our mutual agent, and I was still overwhelmed.
Glancing at my TBR stack, the majority of it is comprised of women authors-- Rob Thurman, Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, Juliet E. McKenna, Robin Hobb, Patricia Briggs, Elizabeth Bear, Tanya Huff, just to name the ones I can see from here.
Women authors are like chocolate chip cookies-- you can't stop with just one. Go ahead, try one of the authors above, or any of the recommendations piling up on the twitter feed. Read, enjoy and recommend the books to others. Unlike cookies, there's no point in hoarding all the good books for yourself. The best way to ensure that there are more great books to read is to support authors by buying the books already out there, and encouraging others to do the same.