3 By ♀

I've read a couple of articles - tor.com, gizmodo maybe? - about male authors still dominating science fiction. I'm curious with regards to my reading - I'm going to do a spreadsheet for the last year and count. Meanwhile, I read 3 mostly sci-fi books by females.

1st, "How Long 'til Black Future Month?", by N. K. Jemisin, 2018, 416 pages. I had read Ms. Jemisin's 1st fantasy trilogy several years ago. Hmmm, per my blog post on it, I liked it more than I remember. But I had not read any more of her work. I liked the title of this short story collection which just came out, so I gave it a go. I was very impressed, hard sci-fi as well as fantasy stories, all very good. I got teary-eyed reading the story "Red Dirt Witch" - damn, I miss the Obamas! So I actually gave this book a 5 star rating, which is very unusual for me. Wow, Ms. Jemisin appears to have been awarded the Hugo the last 3 years in a row for each of the novels in her latest trilogy. I don't think that has ever happened before. I guess I will need to check those out.

2nd, "Semiosis", by Sue Burke, 2018, 336 pages. Not sure where I got this from. A very good story of colonizing an exoplanet over 6 generations. Interesting speculation on an intelligent plant-based super-organism. The ending seemed a little abrupt, but, still, a good read. Ah, there is another book planned. That makes sense, I will look forward to it.

3rd, "Implanted", by Lauren C. Teffeau, 2018, 400 pages. Again, not sure where I got this from. The 1st novel from Ms. Teffeau. It definitely has a YA feel, although the protagonists are mostly in their early 20s. Humanity has been driven into domed cities by the climate crisis but now repair and reconstruction outside may be to the point where humanity can emerge. It reminded me very much of some YA movies I have seen - fast-paced, lots of action, lots of hormones. Interesting speculation of the impact of implanted net links on human interaction and culture but, an extremely unrealistic and naive take on the climate crisis.

Spreadsheet results for 2018:

• Males: sci-fi, 20 books by 12 authors; fantasy, 9 books by 7 authors (funny that Charles Stross has 2 fantasy books);
• Females: sci-fi, 10 books by 9 authors; fantasy, 2 books by 2 authors;
• Other: 3 sci-fi short story collections.

I am somewhat surprised by this result. Slightly skewed by 1 each sci-fi and fantasy trilogy by males vs. no trilogies by females but still > 2/1. So I guess sci-fi is still male dominated. The fact that I am surprised I think shows how much this is default thinking. Well, upwards and onwards I guess. Several great new female authors out there, yay!