Monday, January 26, 2009

Science Fiction 6 - Feminist SF Part 1

Probably there is more feminist fiction within the Science Fiction genre than in the mainstream. I have always been quite a fan of feminist fiction and have quite a collection of feminist science fiction novels.

Foremost of these is Suzy McKee Charnas' Holdfast Chronicles. I have the first three novels and have yet to acquire the last in the series "The Conqueror's Child".

They are a terrific read, set in a future where women are enslaved, and how one woman, escaping into the the wilderness plots, and eventually carries out her revenge.

charnas_walk charnas_motherlines charnas_furies

Joanna Russ' best known book is The Female Man which I just realised must have been the inspiration for Sheri S Tepper's latest novel "The Margarets". I can't remember anything much about The Female Man, but having just read the wikipedia entry on the book, it suddenly struck me.

russ_femaleman russ_chaos russ_picnic


The Motherland Chronicles by Canadian writer Elizabeth Vonarburg are another feminist dystopian trilogy which began with The Silent City and also make for a good read.

vonaburg_silentcity vonaburg_mothersland vonaburg_reluctantvoyagers

Yet another trilogy... more lesbian fantasy than feminist science fiction, but quite enjoyable novels all the same.

Elizabeth A Lynn's Chronicles of Tornor

lynn_watchtower lynn_dancers lynn_northerngirl

And to finish off this entry - the strange, yet compelling Mutagenisis by Helen Collins

collins_mutagenesis
More feminist science fiction to follow - Sheri S Tepper etc.

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