March 2009

Recommended Reading, Official and Otherwise
by Lettie Prell

It was great to open up my copy of the February LOCUS and see some excellent works by women — and some others I hadn't heard of — on the 2008 Recommended Reading List. Women's works in just two of the many categories are listed below. Pick up an issue or go to LOCUS On-Line to browse the full selection.

Science Fiction Novels:

• Spirit, Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz)
• The Company, K.J. Parker (Orbit)
• Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor)

Fantasy Novels:

• The Island of Eternal Love, Daina Chaviano (Riverhead)
• Varanger, Cecelia Holland (Forge)
• Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)
• The Bell at Sealey Head, Patricia A. McKillip (Ace)
• The Engine's Child, Holly Phillips (Del Ray)
• The Alchemy of Stone, Ekaterina Sedia (Prime)

The rest of the LOCUS list mentions many other women authors I've personally enjoyed reading, including Kelly Link, Nisi Shawl, Leslie What and Maureen McHugh to name a few. The LOCUS list also includes many books published on small presses, including L. Timmel DuChamp's Aqueduct Press. Insert enthusiastic applause here.

Yet even with an extensive list of 142, there are great works by women out there that were missed, and deserve attention. Finding them is like going on a treasure hunt. Where to look? For starters, browse through the Broad Universe catalog. Read book reviews in the current issue of the Broadsheet, and then go to the Archives for past reviews. Find Broad Universe on Facebook, see who is a member, and get their books and stories to read.

Notice how all these suggestions involve Broad Universe? BU exists to raise awareness of women writing in the sf/f/h genres. We're not here to compete with LOCUS (we can't, anyway) or any other list-maker out there. We're here to celebrate women authors — those who make the lists, and those who aren't getting the attention they deserve.