I've mostly been reading books by guys lately. Haven't read many women authors lately -- the only ones I can think of being J. K. Rowling (book 7) and Nancy Farmer (The Sea of Trolls).
Some female authors I like = Ursula K. LeGuin, Lisa Mason, Susanna Clarke, Diana Gabaldon, Audrey Niffenegger.
A few I don't like = Connie Willis (too dry), Marion Zimmer Bradley (too angsty), Laurel Hamilton (too repetitive).
Any recommendations? Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :
Madeline l'Engle. Specifically, A Wrinkle in Time.
Jean M. Auel- Clan of the Cave Bear.
Kristen Britain- Green Rider and First Rider's Call.
Those are some of my favorites, anyway.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
I am currently reading a series by Carol Berg- Bridge of D'Arnath (first book Son of Avonar). I liked it enough to read the second one and would like to read the third.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I cannot recommend Octavia Butler enough.
Seriously, if you haven't read her stuff, you need to do so right now.
I also really enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold.
Posted by Amilia (Member # 8912) on :
Connie Willis is too dry? And Susanna Clarke isn't? Which Connie Willis did you read?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I cannot recommend Octavia Butler enough.
Seriously, if you haven't read her stuff, you need to do so right now.
Seconded!
I also think you should sign up for GoodReads, so you could see what a bunch of us are reading and get recommendations that way. Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
What they said about Octavia Butler
I’ve also read great stories by all of the following ladies:
Katherine MacLean Vonda N. McIntyre Nancy Kress Zena Henderson Elizabeth Moon Margaret Weis C J Cherryh Anne McCaffrey
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Let's not forget Diane Duane, Barbara Hambly, and Jean Lorrah & Jacqueline Lichtenberg.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I enjoy Connie Willis' short stories, but I didn't enjoy her novels To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book nearly as much.
Posted by Amilia (Member # 8912) on :
I'll admit it took me forever to get into To Say Nothing of the Dog. Our first person narrator was so timelagged he was very hard to follow. I only persisted because it was so highly recommended by people whose judgment I trust. But once I got going, I found it to be incredibly funny. And then, years later, I discovered that there really was such a book as Three Men in a Boat, and it reads just like To Say Nothing of the Dog, and I felt like I had missed half the joke.
Have you read any of her shorter novels? What did you think of them? Say, Bellwether or Lincoln's Dreams? I got all weepy and goosebumpy just now trying to tell my baby sister about Lincoln's Dreams.
(and here I am rambling on and on without adding anyone new to the list)
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
Has no one mentioned Robin Hobb yet? Her Farseer trilogy (starting with Assassin's Apprentice) is amongst my favourite fantasy books ever. She also writes as Megan Lindholm, though I've understood the Lindholm books are currently only in print in the U.K.
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I enjoy Connie Willis' short stories, but I didn't enjoy her novels To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book nearly as much.
My problem with Doomsday Book was how the future aspects of the book were set in somewhere like 2050 yet basically the whole future storyline relied on the problem of the main characters not being able to pass important information to one another because they can't get to a phone booth due to some pesky people spending ages talking to their relatives on the phone. OK, so the book was written in the early 90's but cell phones and the Internet did exist back then too, so just maybe Willis should have foreseen this not necessarily being a problem in the future...
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Only things I've read by Barbara Hambly were those two Star Wars books, which I didn't enjoy at all, and haven't read since the first time I did.
On the flipside, I really enjoyed A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy.
Other than that, I haven't read much female written fantasy or sci-fi lately, though when I finish His Dark Materials, I'm going to start on The Dark is Rising, which is Susan Cooper. I'll let you know.
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
Tamora Pierce is a long-time favorite of mine. Fun YA fantasy series.
Mary Doria Russell is a more recent favorite. The Sparrow and its sequel, Children of God are just plain awesome.
I'll also jump on the Madeline l'Engle and Octavia Butler bandwagons.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Since no one else did, I will second MPH's recommendation of Lois McMaster Bujold.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I also love Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, Robin Hobb, Margaret Weis, Madeline L'Engle.
Goodreads. Huh. Hadn't heard of them before, and am just in the process of signing up. Who here is on it? ETA: And how do we find each other? I signed up as Laurie and I have a pic of myself wearing my elephant hat.
[ September 11, 2007, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: quidscribis ]
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Judith Tarr Esther Friesner Julian May Anne McCaffrey Lynn Abbey Pamela Dean Diane Duane Ursula K. LeGuin Robin McKinley Karen Ripley Mary Stewart
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Maureen McHugh is a must-read that hasn't yet been mentioned.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Lois McMaster Bujold
Emma Bull
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I cannot recommend Octavia Butler enough.
Seriously, if you haven't read her stuff, you need to do so right now.
I also really enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold.
Double ditto to this!
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars series is excellent.
--Mel
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: Goodreads. Huh. Hadn't heard of them before, and am just in the process of signing up. Who here is on it? ETA: And how do we find each other? I signed up as Laurie and I have a pic of myself wearing my elephant hat.
Indeed you do.
(Man, there are a LOT of Lauries on there!) I just sent you a friend-me-please invite. About half the people on my friends list are Hatrackers/sakeriverites.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Thanks, rivka!
Yeah, I figured there would be a lot of Laurie's, and I didn't think to add quidscribis since it said name, not username... I could change it... I might... But meanwhile, I used the elephant hat as a distinguishing feature to sort me out from the rest of the riffraff. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Well, the middle and last names were rather a give away as well.
Edit: Well, they were. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Well, ya know... I figured adding (quidscribis) would make me easier to find, ya know? Except for you, since it would seem that you remember my surnames... Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Not remember. Recognize. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Close enough. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: Since no one else did, I will second MPH's recommendation of Lois McMaster Bujold.
Agreed, and the same with Hobb as well.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Kage Baker is an author that I discovered a couple of weeks ago, and whose work I'm enjoying quite a bit. I've actually read some of her short fiction before, but I hadn't associated a name with her work.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Woo! Lotsa names! Thanks!
I knew I'd forget some folks I like... Jean Auel's first book, yep, still a fave... Madeleine L'Engle... Octavia Butler, though she's intense enough that I haven't been able to pick up the second Parable book yet... Jacqueline Lichtenberg -- I read her first Sime/Gen book and liked it a lot, but found the other ones after that too overly complicated, has she written stuff that's not Sime/Gen?
Connie Willis: I did try reading both The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog... they just didn't grab me -- the SF part wasn't interesting -- the people didn't act any differently because they now had access to this amazing time travel technology, they were all dry and stuffy and pompous, and in a not-very-interesting way. Whereas in Susanna Clark's book, a lot of the fun came from how the 19th-century figures reacted to magic -- approving of it, disapproving of it, ignoring it, etc.
(That said, I do remember reading a Connie Willis short story -- "Even the Queen" -- that I found much more interesting than the books I tried.)
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Laurie, I think you're the only Sri Lankan I've seen on there, too. At first I was lost in the sea of Lauries, too, but then when I zeroed in on your profile, it wasn't hard to figure out it was you. I wonder if there are many Tatianas. <goes to look>
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
You probably haven't heard of her if you don't read The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, but Mary Rickert (M. Rickert) is awesome. After I'd finished her "The Girl Who Ate Butterflies" I was thinking that it was the most beautiful fantasy story I'd ever read.
She has a collection of short stories out called Map of Dreams.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Great female SF writer - Kay Kenyon. Tropic of Creation is one of my all-time fave SF novels. She has recently started a new fantasy series, I believe.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Here's a link for another thread about female scifi/fantasy authors.
Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
Jane Lindskold Octavia Butler (It's not helpful for me to mention her... But I consider it obligatory) LeGuin (You've already mentioned her) Jane Lindskold Pamela Dean Elizabeth Moon Jane Lindskold Kate Elliot Jane Lindskold Anne McCaffery
And... Emma Bull (Jane Lindskold has recommended one of her books before.)
I've heard good things about Patricia McKillip, but I couldn't tell you about her firsthand. Diddo with Judith Tarr.
Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
Katharine Kurtz Katharine Kerr
(not the same person, I discovered, but both good)
Ni!
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
If you don't read Octavia Butler, your life will never be complete.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
Mercedes Lackey
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: If you don't read Octavia Butler, your life will never be complete.
I've never read anything by her. What would you recommend?
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
I don't want to derail this thread with a debate, but I want to offer a counter-recommendation to Christine's. Namely, don't read Mercedes Lackey.
Or if you do, then read it with a grain of salt. Or, a lot of grains of salt. A toxic amount of salt, even. Read it with so much salt that it would make a cop want to arrest you and send it off to a lab for testing.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: I don't want to derail this thread with a debate, but I want to offer a counter-recommendation to Christine's. Namely, don't read Mercedes Lackey.
Or if you do, then read it with a grain of salt. Or, a lot of grains of salt. A toxic amount of salt, even. Read it with so much salt that it would make a cop want to arrest you and send it off to a lab for testing.
Mercedes Lackey has two kinds of books: very good and very bad. The ones that I think are very good, I absolutely love. Most of her Valdemar books are good.
Her books set in the real world (both the past and the present of the real world) do not tend to be good.
Posted by Misha McBride (Member # 6578) on :
C.S. Friedman
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I have even more friends on goodreads now. Woohooo! And Fahim even signed up! Wooohooo!
Tatiana, there's two Sri Lankans on goodreads, now. And by Sri Lankans, I mean people who are residing in Sri Lanka, not those of Sri Lankan ancestry. Or something. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lisa:
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: If you don't read Octavia Butler, your life will never be complete.
I've never read anything by her. What would you recommend?
Kindred The Xenogenesis trilogy (aka Lilith's Brood) Everything else she wrote
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: Tatiana, there's two Sri Lankans on goodreads, now.
Everybody else has been mentioned, but I'll second Diane Duane.
Posted by The Flying Dracula Hair (Member # 10155) on :
I loved Elaine Cunningham's Starlight & Shadows series, which I especially recommend if you're into Forgotten Realms novels.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
quote:Originally posted by Misha McBride: C.S. Friedman
I really liked the Coldfire Trilogy Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, and Crown of Shadows but the next two books of hers I read I didn't like much, so I gave up.
C. J. Cherryh's Cyteen was great, and I hear there's a sequel coming out (which I think is needed).
I also love Lois McMaster Bujold - everything I've read by her so far has been wonderful.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: Tatiana, there's two Sri Lankans on goodreads, now.
Knowing Fahim, he'll know at least half of them...
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Yeah, I really, really liked the Coldfire series as well. Excellent books!
Kurtzs' Camber series was wonderful as well. I just saw she just came out with a new book, actually....
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
whomever wrote the who want to be a wizard series.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
That would be Diane Duane. Love, love, love her Star Trek books, like the Young Wizard series, varying degrees of like for her other work. You can download a free copy of her book "A Wind from the South" here.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
I'll echo many of the ones listed here, and add Kate Wilheim, Elizabeth Ball, and Holly Lisle.
I liked Lackey's urban fantasy works more than the Valdemar ones, but I'm also a sucker for a well-reasoned magical system. Most of her stuff is mind-candy for me. Also a fan of her Aerie series.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
And Gael Baudino. Liked her elf series, was left cold by her elements series, and "Gossamer Axe," problems and all, remains one of the favored books I reread at least once a year.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
She was a Wiccan and a free spirit when she wrote Gossamer Axe, the elf books and the dragon trilogy. And then she became a Quaker and apparently decided that all of that was wrong. It shows in her writing. I couldn't even finish that Water! series.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
I don't know; I read some Kate Wilhelm stories in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and I thought them a little sloppily written. The language was quite unmemorable to me.
Joyce Carol Oates has also written some fantasy/horror stories for that magazine. At least in those stories, she has a very tough style that I find appealing.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Ha! I knew if I listed a favorite book Lisa would know about it. It's kinda eerie.
Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
I love hatrack.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: You can download a free copy of her book "A Wind from the South" here.
She has a free short available for download as well. I liked the short; Wind was too long and winding for my tastes. And while I did like reading about the founding of Switzerland (something I only know a very little bit about), and enjoyed the Romansch folktales woven in, that wasn't enough. Especially since it was only the first book in three. Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: Ha! I knew if I listed a favorite book Lisa would know about it. It's kinda eerie.
It's one of my favorites.
Posted by Nathan B. (Member # 10093) on :
JKR of course. I also like Ursula Le Guin's EarthSea series and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I'm sure there are other SF and Fantasy books by other female authors I have read and liked, but I can't think of any more off the top of my head. However, I can't think of many male SF/Fantasy authors I like off the top of my head either (Card of course, Tolkien, and Rick Riordan).
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
I have to say, I'm halfway through the first Harry Potter (at the point where they're about to start flying lessons) and it isn't drawing me in as much as I'd hoped. There doesn't seem to be much driving the story along; it's just Harry going through various situations at school. I know from the movie that Voldemort (or is it one of his servants?) enters the story by the end, but I don't get the sense that the story is heading toward a confrontation with him.
I know OSC says the later novels are better than the early ones, so I suppose I'll stick with it.
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
Seeing as this thread came back up I can't understand how I failed to recommend Tove Jansson in my earlier post. Her Moomin books are the best young adult fantasy ever written. The first book is called The Moomins and the Great Flood, though I'd recommend reading Comet in Moominland (the second book) first as that's a better book and more similiar in tone to the later ones.
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
Alice B Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr
I couldn't remember her names earlier. She's a SF author who wrote under a male pseudonym for a long time.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by Miro: Alice B Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr
I couldn't remember her names earlier. She's a SF author who wrote under a male pseudonym for a long time.
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