Feminist Science Fiction Fans discussion

Woooo ok I've been MIA for a while, but I'm hoping to be able to get involved a bit more again this year. The selections we made last year are almost through, so we will need some new ones. Let's start fresh, feel free to thrown your nominations into the ring.

I'd be interested in doing some more anthologies, here are some suggestions:

How about some Pat Cadigan? I would like to nominate Tea from an Empty Cup.

I'd like to nominate The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo.

These all sound great! Which one are we reading in February?

February is supposed to be Regenesis by C.J. Cherryh. I'm looking forward to it!

I'm definitely down for some Pat Cadigan (finally!!)

I also set up the thread for this months selection for those of us who are reading along. I really enjoyed Cyteen and I thiiiiink I already have a copy of Regenesis so I have no excuses! I don't even know where I have been lately haha.

Any other noms to add? I'll send out a reminder message to the group to see if we can drum up anything else.

Jo wrote: "I'd like to nominate The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo."

This looks great!

I would also be really interested to see what the group thinks of

I have read it already and it definitely fits the theme of the group. I can also see it being fairly divisive which is good for discussion.

Oh yes, I would love to read that!

Also, how about Karen Memory or Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang?

Or also Sarah Canary?

I also really love Women Destroy Science Fiction, as well as the companion horror and fantasy collections, although maybe these would be thought of more as magazines.



Octavia's Brood is one that I have been interested in reading for awhile, although I would have to get myself a copy.

I'm definitely excited about the Lightspeed issue, it's been on my list for a while (did it really come out in 2014?? Ugh I'm so far behind)

Here is a rough schedule based on what has been proposed:

April Lightspeed Magazine, June 2014: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue
May Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
June Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction
July The Girl in the Road
August Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements
September Tea from an Empty Cup
October The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future
November Karen Memory
December The Core of the Sun

Thoughts?

I've been wanting to read Octavia's Brood :) And the Lightspeed Magazine special issue looks like a must-have. Great proposals!

A problem with a number of anthologies is availability. Perhaps that ought to be considered (and perhaps we could help each other as far as electronic copies are concerned).
I don't know how many of you use electronic reading devices and libraries. What's easily available for one group may not be for the other and vice versa. For library users: does your library stock the main FSF zines which have freely available electronic content like Clarkesworld or BCS? The regular issues (as opposed to the Kickstarter specials) have many stories which might be of interest for the group. Also, as some of you might know, I don't think a stories written by women (or queer folks) and feminist stories are the same thing.

I'm currently reading a UKL collection which may not be easily available for some of you but I think it's all reprints and she of course has other collections which ought to be available in North American libraries. Often times, a particular story will have after some years been printed in quite a few books and/or periodicals.
So I'm wondering: what do y'all think about dedicating a month to whatever short fiction penned by a particular author people can get their hands on? Or possibly to a few well-printed stories? In any case, not to a particular collection or anthology.
Besides the most obvious choices, there are quite a few short fiction writers the group hasn't touched (or just barely).


As far as well-known novels are concerned, I was looking at Dreamsnake... and I can't remember if I've read it already. I couldn't say if it'd a fit the group and for all I know it's badly overrated. If anyone has a good recollection of it, do you think it'd be a good group read?

I haven't read that particular Cadigan so I don't know if that book is a good choice but I certainly agree the group ought to do something she wrote.

I agree that finding copies of some of these collections is tough. I'm a total hoarder so will freely admit that I order most books for myself, but those utilizing library collections or other community sources may have a hard time tracking things down. For this reason I was going to hold back from suggesting another option as I think it is hard to find and/or expensive to purchase, but Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora looks super interesting.

Outis I like the idea of a month of short fiction, are there some specific authors you had in mind?

Another good one if we want to do more graphic novels/comics is



It is excellent!

Unlike some of the anthologies selected as group reads, Dark Matter isn't hard to find as an ebook.
Different group members have different availability challenges. There was even one well-known novel which was not available (outside of unauthorized channels anyway) as an ebook and I remember that was a problem for another group member who didn't live in North America.

Taylor wrote: "Outis I like the idea of a month of short fiction, are there some specific authors you had in mind?"
Your plan already has many months of short fiction but as who I had in mind when writing the above, well, because there are so many writers, I'll be sticking for the moment to fairly to very prolific authors using a feminine name and who haven't been featured in any of the group reads so far...
Here are two award-winning authors I've read fairly extensively (as far as short fiction goes anyway) and who have some more or less group-topical stories:
DeBodard: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1...
Nagata: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?784
Then there are authors who I was thinking about reading more extensively but I'm not sure they wrote much short fiction that's group-topical (anyone knowledgable about their output, please speak up!). Examples:
McHugh: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?422
Singh: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2...
Robson: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?983
Valente: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2...
Note that McHugh has a story in the Lightspeed special so the group will have an opportunity to read her anyway.

Of course there are well-known authors such as Fowler I'd also be interested in reading but who the group has already covered in some form. And obviously there are authors using masculine names such as Egan the group hasn't read even though they've written group-topical stories.
Finally, like I said I'm looking forward to reading quite a few UKL stories this year anyway so if anyone wants to talk about her short fiction at some point, I'll of course be up for it.

Goodness do I have some reading to do. This is great!

Outis wrote: "...As far as well-known novels are concerned, I was looking at Dreamsnake... and I can't remember if I've read it already. I couldn't say if it'd a fit the group and for all I know it's badly overrated. If anyone has a good recollection of it, do you think it'd be a good group read?..."

That would be an excellent group read! It's possible to have a great conversation about gender around that!

The Women Destroy Collections, which could also be considered digital magazine issues, are easily available for $3.99 eBooks. Of course even at a fairly low price money can add up easily.

However, while there a good deal more content in the eBook versions, several of the stories and essays are available for free from the magazines' respective websites, including some in audio podcast format.

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/
http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/

I would second Dreamsnake - it sounds most intriguing.

I am certainly finding it difficult to track down anthologies via my library service though most seem to be available as e-books here in the UK. The Women Destroy Science Fiction is very reasonably priced, but some of the others are very expensive in this format.

Thanks for the heads up on the free stories and essays Tony :-)

If price is a concern, the Heiresses of Russ anthologies are affordable at Weightless Books which is a good place to get zines, whether it is subscriptions or the Women Destroy specials. It's also got the Apex Book of World SF series and other affordable anthologies and best-of's.
Oh, and they've currently got Letters to Tipree for $1.

Not that I want to discourage anyone from supporting the zine but in case you didn't know, BCS ebooks are free if you get them from their website. Other well-known zines post the content for free, but not in such a convenient format.

We can definitely cram Dreamsnake in here somewhere, it's a good one.

What do we think of this schedule? There are so many good books we'd be set up for a while unless we want to venture into having 2 selections for some months, like maybe over the summer.

April Lightspeed Magazine, June 2014: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue
May Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
June Dreamsnake
July The Girl in the Road
August Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements
September Tea from an Empty Cup
October The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future
November Karen Memory
December The Core of the Sun
January 2017 Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction

For better balance between the novels and anthologies, how about something like this:
April Women Destroy SF
May Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
June Octavia's Brood
July Dreamsnake
August The Girl in the Road
September The Feminist Utopia Project
October Tea from an Empty Cup
November Beyond Binary
December Karen Memory
January 2017 The Core of the Sun

I have read the original novella for Dreamsnake: Of Mist and Grass and Sand. It was very good and I look forward to the novel version. It is available through audible if anyone is interested in an audiobook version.

Awesome, let's do it!

April Lightspeed Magazine, June 2014: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue
May Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
June Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements
July Dreamsnake
August The Girl in the Road
September The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future
October Tea from an Empty Cup
November Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction
December Karen Memory
January 2017 The Core of the Sun

What an excellently awesome collection of stuff to read!!!

Alexa wrote: "What an excellently awesome collection of stuff to read!!!"

I'm really looking forward to it! And since we have planned so far ahead everyone has the opportunity to troll used books stores for cheap copies of the selections further down the line.

Yay! What an excellent selection! My reading calendar is duly updated...can't wait to get started!

Are we still discussing Walk to the End of the World in March (it was on previous nomination thread). I've just read it and keen to know what others thought...

I'm sitting that one out, sorry.
But there are at least a couple of group members who are reading it or have just read it. The thing is, they may not be reading this.
You could simply create a thread in "Group Selection" as we've been doing every month and ask people what they thought and stuff. This way, it'll be more apparent that someone wants to discuss the book.

Outis wrote: "I'm sitting that one out, sorry.
But there are at least a couple of group members who are reading it or have just read it. The thing is, they may not be reading this.
You could simply create a thre..."

Oh, OK, I thought that a moderator would have to do it but I'll go ahead and create a thread then. Thanks.

Viv wrote: "Outis wrote: "I'm sitting that one out, sorry.
But there are at least a couple of group members who are reading it or have just read it. The thing is, they may not be reading this.
You could simply..."

Anyone can create threads, which is helpful because I usually forget haha. Saw that you started one, thank you! I'm excited to chat about this one!