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Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy: an Incomplete List

The list is confined to primary Feminist SF/F texts, as determined by their influence on Feminist SF/F or their overtly feminist subject matter.

The list is alphabetical by author. Entries are confined to one novel or story per author. Editors, however, may have more than one anthology listed.

In 2002, the now-deceased British magazine 3SF published Cynthia Ward's article "Readers Guide: Feminist Science Fiction." By necessity, the accompanying list of recommended works was too short. Many SF titles and all fantasy titles were excluded.

So Cynthia has posted the long list here.

The list is alphabetical by author. Entries are confined to one novel or story per author. Editors, however, may have more than one anthology listed.

This list is necessarily incomplete. Good starting places for further exploration are the James Tiptree, Jr. Award website and L. Timmel Duchamp's "Science Fiction and Utopias by Women, 1818-1949: A Chronology."

Cynthia makes no claim to have read (or recommended) every title. (*Entries marked by an asterisk denote an essential Feminist SF/F author.)

Novels & Collections

Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits.

*Eleanor Arnason, A Woman of the Iron People.

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale.

Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Shattered Chain et seq. (collected in The Saga of the Renunciates).

Gerd Brantenberg, Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes (a.k.a. Daughters of Egalia).

Dorothy Bryant, The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You.

Katherine Burdekin, Swastika Night.

*Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower et seq.

Anne Cameron, Daughters of Copper Woman.

Angela Carter, Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories.

*Suzy McKee Charnas, Walk to the End of the World et seq.

Sybil Claiborne, In the Garden of Dead Cars.

Samuel R. Delany, Trouble on Triton (previous title, Triton).

Candas Jane Dorsey, Black Wine.

Julie Doucet, My Most Secret Desire: A Collection of Dream Stories.

*L. Timmel Duchamp, Love's Body, Dancing in Time.

*Suzette Haden Elgin, Native Tongue et seq.

*Carol Emshwiller, Carmen Dog.

Katherine V. Forrest, Daughters of a Coral Dawn et seq.

Esther Friesner, "A Birthday."

Sally Miller Gearhart, The Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women.

*Mary Gentle, The Book of Ash (published in the U.S. as 4 books, A Secret History et seq).

*Karen Joy Fowler, Sarah Canary.

Carolyn Ives Gilman, Halfway Human.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland and Selected Stories.

Jewelle Gomez, The Gilda Stories.

Hiromi Goto, The Kappa Child.

*Nicola Griffith, Ammonite.

Nalo Hopkinson, Brown Girl in the Ring.

*Gwyneth Jones, Divine Endurance.

Phyllis Ann Karr, Frostflower and Thorn et seq.

Mary E. Bradley Lane, Mizora.

*Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness.

*Elizabeth A. Lynn, Watchtower et seq.

Maureen McHugh, Mission Child.

*Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake.

Judith Merril, Daughters of Earth and Other Stories.

Naomi Mitchison, Memoirs of a Spacewoman.

C.L. Moore, Jirel of Joiry.

Pat Murphy, The Falling Woman.

Gloria Naylor, Mama Day.

Rebecca Ore, Gaia's Toys.

Tamora Pierce, Alanna: The First Adventure et seq.

Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time.

*Joanna Russ, The Female Man.

Geoff Ryman, The Child Garden.

*Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Tomoe Gozen et seq.

Pamela Sargent, The Shore of Women.

Joan Slonczewski, A Door Into Ocean.

Mary Staton, From the Legend of Biel.

Theodore Sturgeon, Venus Plus X.

Sheri S. Tepper, The Gate to Women's Country.

*James Tiptree, Jr., Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.

*Elisabeth Vonarburg, In the Mothers' Land.

Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lolly Willowes.

Kate Wilhelm, "Baby You Were Great."

Connie Willis, "Even the Queen...."

Virginia Woolf, Orlando.

Philip Wylie, The Disappearance.

Jane Yolen, Sister Light, Sister Dark.

Pamela Zoline, The Heat Death of the Universe and Other Stories.

 

Anthologies

Angela Carter, editor, The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book.

____, editor, The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book II (U.S. title: Strange Things Sometimes Still Happen: Fairy Tales from Around the World).

____, editor, Wayward Girls & Wicked Women: An Anthology of Subversive Stories.

Jen Green & Sarah Lefanu, editors, Despatches From the Frontiers of the Female Mind.

Sarah Lefanu, editor, Letters from Home: Stories by Pat Cadigan, Karen Joy Fowler, and Pat Murphy.

Helen Merrick & Tess Williams, ed. Women of Other Worlds: Excursions through Science Fiction and Feminism.

Debbie Notkin, editor, Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

*Jessica Amanda Salmonson, editor, Amazons.

____, editor, Amazons II.

____, editor, What Did Miss Darrington See: An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction.

Pamela Sargent, editor, Women of Wonder: The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s.

____, editor, Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Susanna J. Sturgis, editor, Memories and Visions: Women's Fantasy and Science Fiction.

____, editor, Tales of Magic Realism by Women: Dreams in a Minor Key.

____, editor, The Women Who Walk Through Fire: Women's Fantasy and Science Fiction Volume 2.

Lucy Sussex & Judith Raphael Buckrich, editors, Ursula K. Le Guin, foreword, She's Fantastical: The First Anthology of Australian Women's Speculative Fiction, Magical Realism and Fantasy.

A. Susan Williams, editor, The Lifted Veil: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Women.

Connie Willis & Sheila Williams, editors, A Woman's Liberation.

Irene Zahava, editor, Hear the Silence.

Nonfiction

Sonya Andermahr, "The Worlds of Lesbian/Feminist Science Fiction" in Outwrite. Lesbianism and Popular Culture, Gabriele Griffin, editor.

Anne Balsamo, Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women.

Marleen Barr, Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond.

Frances Bartkowski, Feminist Utopias.

Jane L. Donawerth, Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction.

Jane L. Donawerth & Carol A. Kolmerten, Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference.

Gwyneth Jones, Deconstructing the Starships: Science, Fiction and Reality.

Annette Kuhn, Alien Zones.

Justine Larbalestier, The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction.

Sarah Lefanu, In the Chinks of the World Machine.

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction.

____, Dancing at the Edge of the World.

Constance Penley et al., editors, Close Encounters: Film, Feminism and Science Fiction.

*Joanna Russ, How to Suppress Women's Writing.

____, To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction.

Tom Staicar, editor, The Feminine Eye: Science Fiction and the Women Who Write It.

Jeffrey D. Smith, editor, Khatru Issues 3 & 4: Symposium: Women in Science Fiction.

Jenny Wolmark, Aliens and Others: Science Fiction, Feminism and Postmodernism.

____, editor, Cybersexualities: A Reader on Feminist Theory, Cyborgs and Cyberspace.

 

* An essential Feminist SF/F author: all her SF/F (in many cases, all her writing) is feminist, and is highly recommended.